Following our recent study of Matthew 22, a number of people had questions, and so in this teaching, I will be going over chapters 21 and 22 in order to answer those questions.
Let us Pray:
Our Father in Heaven, we say thank you for this privilege to hear from you again, and so tonight we pray for timely words for this season, that as we hear from you we receive the capacity to obey in Jesus name.
Question 1
So here is the first question that was asked from The Parable of the wedding feast in Matthew 22, and the question basically is, "Why was the king angry at the guest who received a sudden invitation for the wedding and did not dress appropriately for it?"
We will have to read the entire passage. We cannot isolate the wedding garment from the invitation or the invitation from the rejection. Every detail is important and is a buildup to the final verse in that passage, which is verse 14:
Many are called but few are chosen
The second thing I want us to note is that the parables of Jesus are metaphorical. They are earthly stories designed to reveal spiritual truths. Every image used (the king, wedding guests, garments, etc) is a symbol pointing us to deeper truths about God.
Finally, when reading scriptures, it is important that we never read them in isolation or try to interpret them directly. Scripture must interpret scripture; we must look at cultural context, too.
This protects us from arriving at the wrong answers and helps us see plainly what Jesus was saying.
Now, back to Matthew 22:1-14.
I’m going to be doing a verse-by-verse exposition of this scripture so we understand exactly what is happening here.
1. And Jesus answered!
“And Jesus answered and spoke to them again by parables and said:” Matthew 22:1 NKJV
You see those first 3 words, that’s what I need us to pay attention to first. It is the foundation that we will build on.
“And Jesus answered...”
This is the beginning of a new chapter, yet it looks like a continuation of something, like a reaction to something that already happened.
What happened before Matthew 22:1?
What was He answering?
What was the question?
We will have to go back to Matthew 21 to make sense of it.
In Matthew 21 and the preceding chapters, we’d see that Jesus had done so many miracles. But in chapter 21, in addition to the miracles, He got upset and drove out those who were buying and selling in the temple. He went to another place after this, and that was where He spoke to the fig tree. When He came back to the temple (vs 23), the Pharisees came to confront Him and ask, Whose authority He was performing the miracles by.
They were not just questioning the miracles or His right to preach; what they really questioned was His claim to be sent by God. And this is funny, because there was before them every proof that Jesus was indeed sent by God.
In fact, they walked round that proof a lot. See what they did when Jesus asked about John’s baptism, if it was from God, so He could use it to direct them to the truth;
“The baptism of John—where was it from? From heaven or from men?” And they reasoned among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say to us, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ But if we say, ‘From men,’ we fear the multitude, for all count John as a prophet.” So they answered Jesus and said, “We do not know.” And He said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.” Matthew 21:25-27 NKJV
See their response.
A part of them knew, but they were stubborn in heart.
How dare Jesus?
They wanted the Messiah to look a certain way and to be exclusive to the Jews.
It was right after here that Jesus then began to speak to them in parables as answers to the stubbornness of their heart.
The first answer was the parable of the 2 sons, which Jesus used to expose their disobedience. (Matthew 21:28-32)
The second answer was the parable of the wicked vinedressers, which Jesus used to show them how they rejected the prophets and are now even rejecting Him, the Son of God.
The third answer is what we now see in chapter 22 that we are talking about: The parable of the Feast.
2. The King arranged a marriage
Like I said earlier, we must pay attention to everything closely.
Verse 2 of chapter 22 opens with this: that the kingdom of Heaven is like a king who arranged a marriage for His son.
In scripture, one of the ways God describes our relationship with Christ is that of a bride and her groom. A marriage!
The Pharisees had an issue with this arranged marriage. They wanted to be its custodian; they wanted to determine who the groom would marry and what the groom should like.
But Jesus was clear, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a king who arranged a marriage for His son.
The subject of Salvation is determined only by the Almighty!
Salvation is God’s idea,
Salvation is God’s invitation,
So only God determines who enters into it.
The Pharisees and teachers of the law did not have a say.
This is where this chapter opens.
From verse 3-6, we see how the king sent his servants to call those already invited, but they refused to come. Not just a set of servants o, he kept sending people, yet they refused.
These invited guests represent Israel, specifically the religious leaders who had the Scriptures and were the first to be invited to God’s kingdom, but rejected Christ.
When we look at that verse 3, there is a breakdown of the response of people to the invitation:
The first set was not willing. They just were not interested.
The second set made light of the calling and were busy with their business and personal affairs.
The third set attacked/killed the messengers.
You see these 3 responses in the parables? They are scattered all over the Old Testament.
Jeremiah, Elijah and Zechariah were ignored completely.
Did Elijah not warn Ahab?
It’s even a good thing that we are currently reading the book of Jeremiah.
Were the prophets not persecuted by men who didn’t want to hear the truth?
In fact, the only time we saw Elijah “weak” in OT was because Jezebel was trying to persecute him.
Jesus was pointing out to the religious leaders how they were repeating Israel’s pattern of rejecting God’s messengers, and their actions now culminating in the rejection of Jesus Himself.
What we are seeing in this parable is an explanation of what was truly happening.
3. The wedding is ready
“Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy.” Matthew 22:8 NKJV
God had a plan for salvation. Promised to Abraham, his blood descendants were meant to come into this covenant first. The plan for salvation was ready but a people rejected it.
Their worthiness was based on only one thing: their acceptance or rejection of the invitation.
“Therefore go into the highways, and as many as you find, invite to the wedding.’ So those servants went out into the highways and gathered together all whom they found, both bad and good. And the wedding hall was filled with guests.” Matthew 22:9-10 NKJV
4. The invitation is for all—good and bad!
Since the first invited guests rejected the king, He opens the invitation to everyone:
“Go into the highways… gather all you find, both bad and good.”
It doesn’t matter their background or nationality,
It doesn’t matter if they are good people or bad people,
Invite ALL into the kingdom!
This is the grace of God revealed!
How people did not have to do to earn anything!
The King called for a feast and sent invitations to everyone.
The Pharisees wanted an exclusive Messiah. They wanted to be custodians badly and carry their noses up for other people.
The part I like about this verse:
And the wedding hall was filled with guests.
If I hear that we are not many!
If I hearrrrrrrr!
The body of Christ is expanding daily!
Don’t be deceived by what the media says,
We are manyyyy!!
Now, to the part where our questions came in,
5. The man without the wedding garment
“But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there who did not have on a wedding garment. So he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’” Matthew 22:11-13 NKJV
…He saw a man there who did not have on a wedding garment.
What a heavy statement.
My own is, if we say there were a lot of poor people who came in, street guys, the possibility of having a lot of them not having a garment is high.
But he saw just a man.
Why was it only one out of all the poor men who did not wear garment?
Where did the rest see garment?
We will pick and answer these questions both literally and metaphorically.
Let’s start with cultural context,
In those days, according to Jewish cultural practice, when a king or a really noble man invites people for a banquet, they provide the garments that people will wear. The “aso ebi” is supplied freely by the host. The king was providing everyone with what to wear. The minute you accepted the invitation to come to the wedding, it means you have accepted to wear the king’s garment.
But there was a man who did not have the garment on?
Why?
Is it that someone forgot to give him?
How we know that they didn’t forget to give him a garment was that the man was speechless when he was confronted.
If someone forgot to give him a garment, the right response would have been “ah sorry o, where are they sharing?”
“I didn’t know I’m supposed to collect garments o.”
“It’s your servant, e dey beef me so he didn’t give me garment.”
This is not the case.
This man was offered a garment like everyone else, as it was customary in those days, but he didn’t wear it.
Friend, how did you come in here without a garment?
I kept looking at that verse, and I’m like, I’ve seen this before and then I remembered
"Friend", is what Jesus called Judas when he came up to betray Him.
It is that expression of, "I offered you everything I gave the rest of the disciples",
I gave you my love as I did Peter,
I gave you my time,
I gave you my heart,
I washed your feet too,
Yet…
That same expression.
I invited everyone just like I did you,
I didn’t care your background,
I didn’t care what you have done or not,
I didn’t care about worthiness or unworthiness,
I invited you,
Yet you rejected my offer,
You rejected my garment.
Random, but in my head ehn, that guy just wanted to come and eat party jollof. ðŸ˜
He did not like or honor that invitation. There was no form of reverence for the one who invited or love for the one who was wedding, and this is the same as so many people in the kingdom who come to Christ.
A lot of us are believers based on what we can get.
There is no love for the son,
There is no reverence of the Father,
We just want to take and take.
Now, let’s move to the spiritual breakdown of this verse.
In scripture we’d see from the very first man that God clothed His own.
“Also for Adam and his wife the Lord God made tunics of skin, and clothed them.” Genesis 3:21 NKJV
Adam and his wife had sinned, and they were trying to cover their nakedness. But this was insufficient; they still did not understand it.
God had to step in and make clothes for them.
You see that part of without me you are nothing? We must get it completely. Adam missed it.
Even though they had sinned against God, it was still that same God who tried to cover their shame. He did not need their effort because their effort didn’t even cover them well. It wasn’t covering enough. They still needed to hide, even though they had tried to cover themselves.
What does this garment symbolize spiritually?
Righteousness, provided by God!
None of us can provide righteousness for ourselves.
Though all men have been invited to the presence of God, the King, the tenets of God is that His throne is established on righteousness.
To appear before Him, the demand is righteousness.
This good king, knowing that people cannot help themselves, then goes ahead to help us by providing exactly what we need to stand before Him.
“I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, My soul shall be joyful in my God; For He has clothed me with the garments of salvation, He has covered me with the robe of righteousness, As a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments, And as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.” Isaiah 61:10 NKJV
Even the prophet Isaiah saw it and prophesied,
“For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” Galatians 3:27 NKJV
See how Paul puts it,
As many of you were baptized into Christ, have put Him on. Like we now wear Him as a garment, He is now our righteousness.
We are saved from doing but relying instead on the finished works of Christ.
You must understand this clearly, the invitation was “invite all, invite the bad.”
The bad!
They were unworthy too, but someone had earned the righteousness that allows them access.
And this is the gospel that the Pharisees were refusing; they wanted people to earn.
But Jesus was telling them this parable that, here, in this kingdom, we don’t earn, we step into finished works.
We don’t rely on works, we wear the righteousness of Christ.
My God!
And that one man who refused to wear the righteousness?
He couldn’t continue in the feast because his own clothes were rags before the King!
The answer to the Pharisees was simple:
You cannot approach God,
The Holy God,
The Righteous God,
The Living, all-powerful God in your own righteousness earned by works.
You must come through this Son that you have rejected.
There is no other way.
You must wear the son as your garment of righteousness.
This is what the prophets were saying, and you rejected them.
The son is here now, and you still reject Him.
Jesus was telling them this was the only way.
The man who refused to wear the garment was cast out to where there is gnashing of teeth.
This message to the Pharisees stands for us today:
You cannot work to receive salvation.
You are saved by Faith in Christ not works.
Righteousness is not by deed.
Instead your deeds are influenced by the righteousness of God that you now are in Christ.
Now to the climax of this passage:
“For many are called, but few are chosen.” Matthew 22:14 NKJV
This is where Jesus was going to
The invitation was sent to all:
The Pharisees
The Sadducees
The gentiles
The Jews
The good
The bad
Everyone is called, Everyone of us gets invited.
But you see that chosen part? It is not based on being a direct descendant of Abraham.
It is your response to the seed of Abraham, who is Christ.
Jesus was in essence pointing the Pharisees and teachers of the law back to Himself.
There is no way to the Father except through Him!
They’d need to put aside their self-righteousness and accept the very one they were rejecting.
This message is the same and true for us all.
I will end with this scripture:
“Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” Acts 4:12 NKJV
Let us pray:
Thank You Father for your word and your truth
Thank You Father for Jesus Christ, our righteousness
Thank you for Salvation
Thank you for teaching us tonight.
Let these things we’ve heard not be mere words, they provoke something inside of us.
These words are alive in us.
In Jesus name,
Amen
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