Parable of the Wedding Banquet
Audio Recording
Sermon Outline
Speaker: Rev. Scott Strickman
Sermon Series: Parables of the Kingdom in the Gospel of Matthew
Matthew 22:1-14 (ESV)
1 And again Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying, 2 “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son, 3 and sent his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come. 4 Again he sent other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, “See, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast.”’ 5 But they paid no attention and went off, one to his farm, another to his business, 6 while the rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them. 7 The king was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. 8 Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding feast is ready, but those invited were not worthy. 9 Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find.’ 10 And those servants went out into the roads and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good. So the wedding hall was filled with guests.
11 “But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment. 12 And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. 13 Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ 14 For many are called, but few are chosen.”
Sermon Outline
Why do we resist God’s gracious invitation? (v3)
1. Resisting God’s Call
v5 “they paid no attention and went off, one to his farm, another to his business”
v6 “the rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them”
v11 “a man who had no wedding garment”
2. Responding to God’s Call
v4 “he sent other servants… ‘Tell those who are invited… everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast.’”
vv9-10 “…those servants went out into the roads and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good. So the wedding hall was filled with guests.”
Prayer of Confession
Almighty and most merciful Father: with generosity you invite us to life with you. We admit our confusion, our resistance and our rebellion. With pride and self centeredness we have been apathetic, angry, and unwilling to change. We acknowledge our thoughts and actions towards you and others require forgiveness. We humbly ask that you forgive our sins, as we respond to your gracious call to turn from our sin and towards you to receive life in the name of Christ. It is in his name we pray. Amen.
Questions for Reflection
What do you find most appealing or intriguing in Jesus’ call to life with him?
What in the Christian message and invitation does not appeal to you? What troubles you? What do you think is missing?
What do you recognize in aspects of who you are – your life experience, your attitudes, your patterns, your expectations – that resists Jesus’ call? What do you need to resist in yourself, or correct?
Who in this parable are you most like: the disinterested who don’t come because they have other things to do? The angry who respond with aggression towards the ones inviting? The individual who comes but does not change as appropriate for the occasion?
If you received an invitation to attend a celebrity party, how would you feel? How does the invitation to join the kingdom of the Creator of Heaven and Earth land differently in you? Why?
Why is it important to recognize that we don’t earn our way into God’s kingdom but we enter because of the generosity of the king? What spiritual health follows from a foundation of grace?
How does belonging in God’s kingdom help with life in this world? How can a Christian identity provide sufficient security for you to navigate places in our world where you don’t feel good enough?
Reflect on the process of change in the Christian life. How are you being called to put off what you have had on, and put on the things of Christ (Colossians 3)? What do you need to set aside, and what do you need to take on?