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    IF YOU'RE INVITED, HAVE THE COURTESY TO R.S.V.P.
 Summary Reflections on the Parable of the Wedding Banquet
                    Matthew 22:1-14
                by Dr. Ralph F. Wilson
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If you had been invited to be a guest at the wedding of
Prince Charles and Lady Diana in 1981, I don't think you
would have made other plans. You would have been honored to
be a guest of the Royal Family at the reception to follow,
as well. To fail to attend would have been considered a
personal insult to the Quenn, and rightly so.

Jesus said, "The Kingdom of Heaven is like...." And then
went on to tell an allegory of a king who planned an
extravagant banquet in honor of his son's wedding. He sent
his servants to invite all the finest people in his
kingdom, and they all nodded their heads and looked
agreeable. But when the servants fanned out again, just
before the dinner was ready to be served, to remind the
guests that the hour had come, the guests refused. The king
was nonplussed, but not discouraged. He sent out more
servants, but they were met with disdain. The invited
guests couldn't be bothered, and when the servants
persisted, the rude guests beat them up, and even killed
some.

In this thinly veiled story, Jesus relates the sad history
of the Jewish people. Prophet after prophet had announced
gracious invitation of God, but time after time they had 
been ignored and slandered, stoned, and murdered. Jesus'
disciples could still remember the last prophet who had
preached, "Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand!" John
the Baptist had been killed for his trouble. Jesus alludes
in verse 7 to the horrible destruction of Jerusalem that
took place in 70 AD: "He sent his army and destroyed those
murders and burned their city."

But Jesus continued. The king, he said, sent still other
servants out to the street corners to invite anyone they
could find to fill up the places set for the banquet. If
the nobles wouldn't come, he mused, they weren't deserving
anyway. "Invite whoever you find," the king ordered, "good
and bad." And so the wedding hall was filled with guests,
honored to have been invited to the event of their lives --
and they just normal, undeserving citizens. No, they didn't
deserve an invitation, but got one anyway out of the
graciousness of their king. They were tickled to death, and
came in their finest clothing. What an honor!

"Good and bad," the king had directed. These were the
common people Jesus preached to: the poor, the oppressed,
the dregs of society, the tax collectors and prostitutes.
They flocked to Jesus and their lives were changed. These 
were also the Gentiles. The Greeks and the Romans, the
French and the Americans. Good and bad, decent and
decadent, Jesus invites them all to the banquet, and they
come. They come with a sense of great honor to be chosen by
a king to attend.

They take their seats at the great tables in the hall,
commoners next to businessmen, debauched men and women
across from hardworking middle class, poor and wealthy,
male and female, from all nations, from all walks of life,
seated at the great banquet to honor the king's son.

And the king himself gazes over the packed hall of happily
chatting guests. He strolls among the tables, pleased to
see so many of his loyal subjects who have accepted the
honor of his invitation. These people want to be here, the
king realizes. They were delighted at the invitation. They
aren't too busy, or too proud, or too preoccupied. They
want to be here on this wonderful occasion to honor my son.

And then the king stops still in his tracks. Among the
crowds of guests wearing their finest to his royal dinner
part is a young man dressed in thongs and cutoffs, with a
scroungy sweatshirt sheared off like a tank-top. He's
seated along with the others. The king comes up to him.

"Friend, how could you come dressed like this?" Perhaps he
expected a story of poverty, or the press of time, or
clothes not washed and inability to wear anything else. But
the man is speechless. He stops with the wedding cake
almost to his mouth when he realizes the king is addressing
him. He has no reason, no excuse, no overriding, compelling
story. He just came because he heard there was great food
at this party. He was present at the banquet to honor the
king's son, but he had no honor to bestow. He didn't even
care enough to dress appropriately for the occasion.

"Get out!" says the king quietly. The man doesn't move. The
king motions to his guards. "Tie him up and throw him out
of my banquet hall," he orders, and the rude guest is
carried off and thrown out.

We're troubled by judgment here. The first-invited guests
have their city destroyed, and then a man who has neglected
protocol is unceremoniously ejected from the banquet. Is
the king overreacting? I don't think so.

We Americans find monarchy hard to understand. Absolute
loyalty to the person of the king is difficult for us. We
believe in due process, innocent until proven guilty, and
Miranda rights. But Jesus' hearers understood. The king's
word is law. To reject the king's invitation is to openly
show disdain for him, to reject his authority. Kings do not
stay in power by ignoring rebels. To come to the party for
the food rather than to celebrate with the guest of honor
is an outrage. To dress casually at such a formal occasion
shows disregard for the king and his son. A king who passes
over such flagrant disrespect is extremely unwise.

But this is first a parable of grace. Of a king who invites
his desired guests a second time, who gives them the
benefit of the doubt for perhaps having misunderstood the
first invitation. It tells of the graciousness of a king
who invites undeserving people to his banquet, and is
delighted to have them present. Good or bad, he invites
them, and they respond with appreciation at the honor. This
is a parable of grace. Judgment comes only when grace is
spurned.

It is also a parable of the servants' present duty to
spread wide the king's gracious invitation to any and all.
That's what we're called to do. Never mind that some people
are too busy, or too rude, or abusive to the king's
servants. Our King knew rejection, and we bear just a bit
of the rejection that is directed at Him. We are to go out
to whosoever will respond and come. We bear a wonderful
message of open invitation. No wedding gifts required, just
come and honor the son by your presence.

Finally, this is a parable with a difficult message: that
not all will respond. Jesus had been instructing his
disciples on this point with numerous parables. The Parable
of the Sower illustrated that the harvest depends upon the
quality of the soil, not the seed or the sower. The Parable
of the Good and Bad Fish points out the separation again.
The Parable of the Wheat and the Tares emphasizes again the
mixture in the harvest. And now this conclusion: "Many are
invited, but few are chosen." Not all who hear will
respond, and not all who show up are there for the right
reason.

But some ARE chosen. YOU are chosen by a king to be present
with other close family members at this occasion of great
joy, the wedding of the king's son. You have been honored
with a personal invitation from the king, and you have come
in response.

You are chosen, not because you were so great. You were
just out on the street when the inviters came inviting.
Good, bad, you listened, and went home and dressed up and
were honored to attend. You, in the presence of the king!

The Kingdom of God is like this banquet, Jesus explained.
There will be a time when people will come from east and
west and sit down at table with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob
in the Kingdom of God, and the first-invited guests will be
outside looking in (Matthew 8:11-12). Jesus ate bread and
drank wine with his disciples at the Last Supper, and then
said, "I will not drink this fruit of the vine with you
until I drink it anew with you in my Father's kingdom"
(Matthew 26:29).

This is the feast to which you and I have been invited: the
great Marriage Supper of the Lamb. "Blessed are those who
are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!" John
records in Revelation 19:9. Yes, many have been called, but
you have been chosen -- by God's sheer grace -- to be
seated with the Kingdom greats around a table presided over
by none other than the King of king and the Lord of lords,
at the consummation of the Kingdom of God!

"The Spirit and the bride say, 'Come!' And let him who
hears say, 'Come!' Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and
whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of
life" (Revelation 22:17). Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!

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Copyright 1997, Ralph F. Wilson, all rights reserved.
Joyful Heart is a trademark of Joyful Heart Ministries. For
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