Will you be there? Matthew 22.2-14
Matthew 22: The King and His Law (1)
Pray Psalm 110.3, 4.
Your people shall be volunteers
In the day of Your power;
In the beauties of holiness, from the womb of the morning,
You have the dew of Your youth.
The LORD has sworn
And will not relent,
“You are a priest forever
According to the order of Melchizedek.”
Sing Psalm 110.3, 4.
(Aurelia: The Church’s One Foundation)
Filled with the Spirit’s power, in holy robes of love,
from early morning’s hour they serve their Lord above.
Christ reigns a priest forever, the King of Righteousness
and King of Peace who ever His chosen ones will bless.
Read and meditate on Matthew 22.1-14.
Prepare.
1. Who would not come to the wedding feast?
2. How did the king respond to their excuses?
Meditate.
As they journeyed toward Jerusalem, Jesus repeatedly explained to His disciples that, once there, He would be crucified, buried, and raised from the dead. Jesus did not want His disciples to be undone by the specter of Him hanging on the cross. He pointed to the resurrection to give them hope. But He also taught about life in the Kingdom, the coming of which would follow upon His being enthroned in heaven (Ps. 110; Dan. 7.13-18). And, beyond even that, Jesus taught that a great wedding feast is being prepared in the Kingdom of God.
In Hebrews 12.2 we are instructed to look to Jesus, “the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Jesus could go to cross because He wasn’t fixated on it. He was looking beyond the cross to His resurrection and enthronement, the coming of His Kingdom (Ps. 22.21-31); and even beyond that, He was looking to the coming of the new heavens and new earth at the wedding feast of the Lamb (Rev. 19-22).
We glimpse this distant focus here in the parable of the wedding feast. It is self-explanatory: The king is giving a feast, to honor his son and his son’s bride; and he intends that all should make ready and attend (vv. 1-4). Not everyone who heard the announcement would prepare, however. Some even treated his messengers with scorn and abuse, even death (vv. 5, 6).
The king would not be thwarted. He sent armies to destroy those who opposed him (v. 7). Then he sent his messengers beyond the local confines “into the highways” beyond, to call all people, “bad and good”, to come to the feast (vv. 8-10).
But they must prepare, lest, when they show up, they are not properly dressed, and be cast into judgment with those who ignored or opposed the king’s plans (vv. 11-13). Only the few who were actually chosen would join the king in his feast (v. 14), and they would be identified by the wedding garments in which they arrived. They would be few, but enough to fill the king’s great wedding hall (v. 10).
Jesus could see all the way to the wedding feast of the Lamb, and He was calling all to prepare for it. The religious leaders and most other Jews would not; instead, they killed the Son and then persecuted, even to death, His messengers and servants. So He would send His messengers to the world, throughout all ages, to call people to prepare for the feast.
We must heed the call and look forward to the feast, making ready now by putting on the garments of Jesus’ righteousness (Rom. 13.12-14), which will prove that we are among the chosen of the Lord, Who have received and acted on His invitation, and will present ourselves in Him on the day of His great wedding feast.
Reflect.
1. Why is it important that the followers of Christ look to Jesus?
2. To what was Jesus looking, as He faced imminent death on the cross? What should we learn from that?
3. How should we make ready for the Lamb’s coming wedding feast?
What then must we understand by the wedding garment but love? That person enters the marriage feast, but without wearing a wedding garment, who is present in the holy church. He may have faith, but he does not have love. We are correct when we say that love is the wedding garment because this is what our Creator himself possessed when he came to the marriage feast to join the church to himself. Only God’s love brought it about that his only begotten Son united the hearts of his chosen to himself. Gregory the Great (540-604), Forty Gospel Homilies 38.9
Clothe me with Jesus and His love, O Lord, and help me to…
Pray Psalm 110.1, 2, 5-7.
Jesus is preparing the world for His coming wedding feast. He intends to use you today as His messenger. Commit this day to working at the preparations for the coming wedding feast of the Lord, both in your life and in your Personal Mission Field.
Sing Psalm 110.1, 2 5-7.
Psalm 110.1, 2, 5-7 (Aurelia: The Church’s One Foundation)
“Sit by Me at My right hand,” the Lord says to my Lord,
“Until I make Your foot stand on all who hate Your Word.”
From in His Church the Savior rules all His enemies;
while those who know His favor go forth the Lord to please.
The Lord at Your right hand, Lord, in wrath shall shatter kings,
when judgment by His strong Word He to the nations brings.
Then, all His foes defeated, He takes His hard-won rest,
in glorious triumph seated with us, redeemed and blessed!
T. M. Moore
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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. All quotations from Church Fathers from Ancient Christian Commentary Series, General Editor Thomas C. Oden (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2006). All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter (available by clicking here).
