The Wedding Invitation
Matthew 22:1-14
Some people are especially
skilled in finding excuses to miss school. Once upon a time I was school
principal. I encountered very funny situations of people finding some kind of
excuses to not attend class.
Let me tell you some of them:
“Dear Badveli Nerses,
Sako will be absent January
28, 29, 30, 31st and I think 32nd.”
“Dear Badveli Nerses,
“Dear Badveli Nerses,
Koko did not come to school,
we thought he will be sick.”
Once four students came to
class late. These were high school students and one of them was driving. The
teacher asked why they were late. One of them said, the tire was flat, so it
took them a long time to fix it. Apparently they did not have a reserve one.
The clever teacher gave each
student a paper and put them in four corners of the class room. He asked them
to write a short essay indicating which tire was flat.
We play around with each
other giving excuses to miss school, work, or appointments. We also play around
with God. We try to find excuses to not attend “the Wedding.” It is funny
though; people love to attend weddings. I mean people will be angry if they have
not been invited. However, in this parable the invitees did not pay attention
to this wedding invitation.
Let us examine this parable.
In reality, we have two parables, one after the other. The first parable is in
verses 1-10, and the second is from 11-14. These two parables are related to
each other. Let’s start with the first one.
1. The wedding invitation is
an invitation for worshiping our God.
Worshiping God is a feast.
Worshiping God is a wedding Kef (party).
We celebrate the birth, the
death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ our Savior and Lord. Therefore, our
gathering together is important. We all can worship alone during the week. However,
gathering together to worship God is very important. These days TV-Church,
internet sermons or radio programs could satisfy some of us. They are helpful,
but they cannot substitute the joy of coming together for worship.
2. This invitation, the
invitation of God’s kingdom, starts with the groom’s relatives.
“The kingdom of heaven is
like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his servants to
those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come,” (Matthew
22:2-3)
It is very clear that Jesus
is talking to the Pharisees, the priests and the Israelites. Unfortunately, his
own people refused to come to this wedding. It is sad to invite everyone for a
family wedding and your relatives are not coming. The king sends out another
invitation. This time the invitation is more elaborate and “juicy”.
“'Tell those who have been invited that I
have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and
everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.' But they paid no attention
and went off—one to his field, another to his business. The rest seized his
servants, mistreated them and killed them. The king was enraged. He sent his
army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.” (Matthew 22:3-6)
The king eagerly wants their presence at the
wedding. He knows how important this wedding (worship celebration) is. It is
going to affect their whole life.
We will continue in English.