Messiah - Gospel of Matthew - Week 29

0:00 I love that song. Thank you, Alistair and the band. Matthew chapter 22 in our series on Messiah. And we're just going to dive straight in to read this intriguing parable with which it begins. Jesus spoke to them again in parables saying, 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 him to come, but they refused to come. Then he sent some more servants and said, tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and fatted cattle have been slaughtered and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.

0:50 But they paid no attention and went off, one to his field, another to his business. The rest seized his servants, ill-treated them, and killed them. The king was enraged. He sent his army, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city. Then he said to his servants, the wedding banquet is ready, but those who are invited did not deserve to come or were not worthy. So go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find. So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, the bad as well as the good, and the wedding hall was filled with guests. But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes.

1:37 He asked, how did you get in here without wedding clothes, friend? The man was speechless. Then the king told the attendants, tie hand and foot, throw him outside into the darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, for many are invited and few are chosen. Now this dramatic parable is unique to Matthew and can come as a bit of a shock, especially in its descriptions of judgment. It is a parable about a wedding banquet, but I think you can see immediately we are way beyond normal weddings here. And unlike the parable about a wedding banquet in Luke 14, that you may know, this wedding is not merely of a father's son, but of the king's son. this is not a normal wedding. It is a royal wedding.

2:44 And it's not just any royal wedding. This is the kingdom of heaven we're talking about. It is the royal wedding, the wedding with which the kingdom of heaven will open. And through these chapters, we've noticed that Jesus is building a picture of what God's kingdom is truly like. And this is another part of the picture. And we've noticed two major reactions to Jesus' teaching about the kingdom. There are those, including Jesus' own disciples, who discover that their thinking about this kingdom, about the character and values of the kingdom, is so radically out of step with Jesus, for example, when it comes to issues of love, of loyalty, commitment, the meaning of true greatness, and so on, that some of them wonder, including wondering aloud, is it worth being part of it? And then the other reaction is the reaction of the chief priests, the religious leaders, the teachers of the law, those who see themselves as the guardians and builders of the kingdom, and yet who don't recognize the king and are about to reject and kill him.

4:09 This parable was particularly spoken to them. So let's pick up the flow from the previous chapter. So we go into chapter 21, verse 42, and the reading will come up on the screen behind me. It's not that reading, so I don't know how that has come in there, but it isn't that. Anyway, I will continue to go. Oh, it is that reading. Sorry. I'm getting confused.

4:39 Jesus said to them, have you never read in the scriptures the stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone? The Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes. Therefore, I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit. Anyone who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces. Anyone on whom it falls will be crushed. And when the chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus' parables, they knew he was talking about them. And they looked for a way to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowd because the people held that he was a prophet. So here's the big question this raises.

5:26 How had it happened that the guardians of the kingdom, if you like, those who should have been building, ended up rejecting the very stone that was to be the cornerstone of this new building? How was it as we saw the blind men could recognize the true king? Children could recognize the true king, but the chief priests, the Pharisees, couldn't. They perceived this much. They perceived that Jesus was talking about them, but instead of repenting and believing, they looked for a way to arrest him and get rid of him. They couldn't make a public move. They were afraid of the crowd, Matthew tells us, because the people held that Jesus was a prophet. Even the people could see there was something different, and the people were right as far as that went.

6:35 But still, the chief priests and the leaders persisted in rejecting him. So Jesus warned them that the kingdom would be taken from them and given to others who would produce its fruit, and that the stone they had rejected would be their own downfall. So the parable that we have just read in chapter 22 is dealing with this question, analyzing how had it come to this? It is set in the context of a royal wedding. Now, I have to say that Heather and I didn't get our invitations to the most recent ones. We just thought they got lost in the post. But just imagine the fuss, the excitement to get an invitation to a royal wedding. Well, this was no ordinary royal wedding.

7:37 This was the royal wedding. To be invited to join the king of the universe in the celebration of the wedding of the king's son. That great wedding banquet that Revelation tells us heaven is going to begin with and then simply to refuse it. They didn't see the value of the invitation. Why not? Because they didn't see the value of the king. They didn't recognize him as king. And repeated invitations made no difference.

8:23 They saw no value in this. That would take them away from the daily preoccupations of their lives, their daily business, their fields, their entertainment, whatever else. And then there were others who took rejection further. They treated the messengers, the ones who came with the invitation, they treated them with contempt, some with violence, including murder. Now that may sound extreme to you, but that is the historical reality. As Stephen, the first Christian martyr that we know of, would later remind them in Acts chapter 7 when he said to the same leaders, was there ever a prophet? Your ancestors did not persecute it. They even killed those who predicted the coming of the righteous one, and now you have betrayed and murdered him.

9:31 Jesus came with his great invitation. Matthew 11, come to me. All you're weary and burdened and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and humble in heart and you will find rest for your souls. But they wouldn't come. He presented evidence upon evidence of his true identity as the divine son of God and Messiah, but they refused to believe him. They didn't take him seriously. They denied his deity.

10:11 And not only would they not come to him, but like the tenants in the vineyard in the parable in chapter 21, and the invitees to the banquet in chapter 22, they mistreated him and they were about to kill him. But let's just bring it up to date. How seriously do we take the invitation? Because the gospel is an invitation from the king of glory to the wedding of his son. Do we really believe it? Do we really believe that heaven is going to begin with a wedding, the marriage supper of the Lamb, when his church become his eternal bride companion to administer the world to come with him. The invitation of the gospel is for us to be part of that, part of that magnificent celebration that is just the beginning point of that future dimension of the kingdom of heaven.

11:45 And yet, it can happen that we come week after week. We like church. We like the music. We think it's good for our kids. The church provides a healthy moral center for their lives in a dangerous world. But we have no real interest ourselves in cultivating a relationship with the king. My question again, do we really see the value of the invitation? Because if we do, we will be preparing for it.

12:30 We will be savoring it in advance. Or do we find that the daily stuff of life with which we have filled our lives is much more attractive and demands our heart? In the parable, reality caught up with those who refused the invitation, especially those who responded with violence. The king sent his army to destroy them their city. Now this is a parable. It is an illustration of deeper spiritual truth in terms that people in that culture could easily relate to. The point is clear. We do not live in a universe where we can simply ignore the king to whom we owe everything and not think that there will ever be consequences.

13:36 The king said to his servants, the wedding banquet is ready. Think of the preparations that have gone in to getting heaven ready for us. Think of what Jesus said to his disciples, I'm going to prepare a place for you. That's an amazing statement really when you think about it. What will the preparations be like? Some of you are into home decor and all that kind of thing. I mean, what will the decor be like? What will that experience be like?

14:10 What will the color scales, what will the science be like? How is it going to be possible for us in a new physical body to enjoy and live and exist in that world? These are all mind-boggling things. But Jesus said, he's gone to prepare a place for you. Like the king saying, look, I've prepared everything. The animals are slaughtered. The steak is ready. The pavlova is done.

14:34 Everything is there. The musicians are finished. Come to the wedding. But they wouldn't come. As the king says, those I invited, well the NIV translated, did not deserve to come. Better were not worthy. What did Jesus mean by that? Not that they didn't deserve an invitation.

15:03 They got an invitation. No one deserves an invitation. It's freely given. But as the parable reveals, they weren't interested in it. And some were even violently opposed. In that sense, they weren't worthy. In Acts chapter 13, later we'll find Paul speaking to some Jews in Pisidian Antioch who were opposing the message and abusing him and the other messengers. And he says to them, we had to speak the word of God to you first, but since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, now we turn to the Gentiles.

15:42 They didn't consider themselves, they just weren't interested. We don't need this. We don't time for that. That's stupid. That's silly talk. God offering the gift of eternal life, for that is what salvation is, to reject that invitation and simply to cling to morality or religious observance is to reject the gift of eternal life. It is to consider yourself unworthy of it, not interested. So the invitations go out to the streets, to everyone, and anyone that could be found, the good and the bad.

16:22 It's not about deserving. And so many accepted the banquet's going to be full, but the parable doesn't end on that high note. The parable ends with this intriguing twist because the king noticed a man who turned up at the wedding without the proper attire. Now, I don't think there is a chance in a million years that that would ever happen in our house. Because the first thing my wife thinks about when it comes to weddings is, what am I going to wear? Imagine what it would be like for a royal wedding. Now, that would be serious, scarring the countryside. no price too high to pay to get this dress for this wedding oh the agony of it i hear you say

17:27 but here's a guy who obviously decided i'm good enough as i am i don't need to change dress up for the king no thanks i'll come on my own terms can't you just picture the scene sitting there careless and then the king comes and says to him, friend, how did you get in here without the proper clothes? And he's nothing to say. He's speechless. Or as Paul would put it in Romans 3, every mouth will be stopped, nothing to say in their own defense. you see people who seriously and genuinely accept the invitation anticipate and prepare for the event they think about what they will wear they prepare the preparation doesn't earn the invitation nothing does but if there is no preparation it indicates that the invitation wasn't taken seriously. So I go back to my question.

18:45 How seriously do we take the invitation to join the King and his Son in the eternal celebration? This affects us all. To put it in Paul's language, in Ephesians, for example, We're to put on, and Colossians, we're to put on the new clothes that the king has chosen for us. Put off the old, the clothes of the new life. The invitation is a gift. The response we make indicates if we truly value it or not. And it is the sad reality that many have been attracted to Christianity and to the church for all kinds of reasons. but it eventually comes clear that they were really only into it for themselves

19:48 for power perhaps for friends for self worth to find a church that will condone their sin or for more sinister reasons because they have an unhealthy like for children. Sadly, we've seen all of this. Claims you have accepted the invitation, but they're not serious about putting on the king's clothes. And so Jesus ends with this statement that has puzzled many down the years. Many are invited.

20:34 but few are chosen. And the best way to work out what that means is to simply ask what it meant in the parable. A king chose certain people to invite to his wedding. All the invitees chose to reject his invitation. They clearly had that freedom. They either ignored the invitation or violently rejected it. The king then chose to issue invitations of those out in the streets and anyone and everyone they could find, and they accepted. Again, they had the freedom to do so.

21:05 Their decision to accept the invitation was not any indication of merit on their part. They didn't earn their invitation or their attendance, but like those who rejected the invitation, they had the capacity and freedom to respond. This makes it clear that it was the reaction to the invitation that determined who was eventually chosen. The kingdom of heaven is like this. Invitations go out. The king is inviting you to join in the eternal celebrations of his son's wedding. The issue is not, am I good enough? The issue is, will I accept the invitation?

21:54 Will I take it seriously? Or will I treat it with apathy? With hatred? Or simply with careless disregard for the honor of the king? Well, we know what the response was of the chief priests and the elders and religious leaders. Rather than repent and believe, they set out now to trap him. And their first tactic was to try to trap Jesus in his words, to trap him into saying something in public that would discredit him in the eyes of at least one of the various religious or political groups in Jerusalem, to give them a reason or excuse to arrest him and destroy him, a tactic that's been around a long time. These groups didn't have Twitter or Facebook to stir their tribes into angry protest, but angry tribalism wasn't simply invented by social media.

22:55 It's been around a long time. And two of these tribes joined forces, the followers of the Pharisees, we could call them perhaps the religious right, and the Herodians, who as the name suggests were strong supporters of Herod, who owed his authority to the patronage of Rome. Perhaps we would call them the secular left. I don't know. These are just modern terms. They were political and religious opposites. And they to trap Jesus, obviously hoping that he would side with one group against the other. And then they had him.

23:29 So let's read now from chapter 22 from the next verse. Teacher, they said, we know that you are a man of integrity, that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren't swayed by others because you pay no attention to who they are. Flatter, flatter, flatterer. Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay the poll tax to Caesar or not? Notice either or, yes, no answer. But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, you hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me?

24:06 Show me the coin used for paying this tax. So they brought him a denarius. It must have really galled them to have to hand a coin with Caesar's image on it. And to rub it in, Jesus said to them, whose image is this? Whose inscription is on it? Caesar's, they replied. And then he said to them, so give to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's. And when they heard this, they were amazed.

24:36 So they left him and went away. So the first trap then was political. It's the issue of political authority. They used the topic of compulsory taxation, which was a sore point for many. Some for economic reasons, as they could ill afford to pay this tax. Others for nationalistic reasons. We're not going to pay a tax to Rome. The religious right were particularly opposed to them.

25:05 Paying a tax to Rome was an offense God. In their view, therefore, if Jesus had any legitimate claim to be Messiah, he would have to advocate the non-payment of tax to Rome. After all, the prophets had said that Messiah would deliver his people from Gentile domination. But if Jesus agreed with them, then the Herodians, who were supporters of King Herod, working in cooperation with Rome, they would report him to the Roman authorities and they would get him that way. So it is a very clever, careful trap. Is it right? Yes or no? Always be very careful with questions like that.

25:52 Instead of accepting the yes or no formulation of their questions, Jesus replied with those famous words in the old English, render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar and to God the things that God. The issue is ownership. You'll notice that. It's a question of ownership. What belongs to Caesar? What belongs to God? It wasn't yes or no, either or. It was both and.

26:22 The coin used to pay the poll tax bore Caesar's image, like it or not. He was the emperor, like it or not. He had certain rights. And Jesus doesn't say that in demanding taxes from Israel, Caesar was usurping God's ownership rights. For God has ordained it that there is administration in the world. There is government, human leadership, even if on occasions that means a Caesar. It is a confusion of categories to claim that if we genuinely love and trust God, We must oppose pagan government and refuse to pay our taxes. God is not an alternative government.

27:09 He is not another politician or an emperor in competition with Caesar. He is God. He is Lord of all. He owns everything. The real problem these people had in the end was not giving Caesar what belonged to Caesar. They were doing that anyway, however grudgingly. The problem, as highlighted in the parable of the vineyard, was that they had usurped God's ownership. They weren't giving God what was his.

27:44 They persecuted and killed the prophets, and now that he sent his son, their attitude was, let's get rid of him, and then all of this can be ours. Ownership again. Who owns my life? And soon they would publicly state, we have no king but Caesar. There was no coin there with God's image on it. God had forbidden images to be made of him. But every human being standing before Jesus that day bore the image of the creator. Ultimately, he owns everything.

28:26 God is God. He's not looking for a poll tax. He is the Lord of the entire universe. He is seeking the allegiance of my heart. And as part of his rule in my life, I'll be asked to pay my taxes to Caesar. While the disciples of the Pharisees and the Herodians were left amazed at his teaching. Their trap had failed, so now it was the turn of another group, the Sadducees.

28:57 So they were kind of more secular religious group, if I can put it that way. They were the power brokers, the rich, the powerful, the top priests were Sadducees, the high priest was. And unlike the Pharisees, they didn't believe in the resurrection or the spirit world or the afterlife, so they tried to trap him with a question about marriage and the afterlife coming up with a scenario which in their view made the idea of resurrection sound absolutely ridiculous. One family of seven brothers. The eldest got married, then he died, and according to ancient law, the widow then would become the wife of the second brother, but he died, so she became the wife of the third brother. Great system, this, and so it goes on until she married all seven, they all died, and then she died. So they asked their question. At the resurrection, whose wife will she be of the seven?

29:50 Since all of them were married to her. And Jesus said, you are in error because you do not know the scriptures or the power of God. At the resurrection, people will neither marry nor be given in marriage. They will be like the angels in heaven. But about the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what God said to you? I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob. He is not the God of the dead. He is the God of the living.

30:18 And when the crowd heard this, they were astonished at his teaching. The Sadducees' argument was based on the false idea that if there is a resurrection, which of course they didn't believe, life will be ordered there exactly as it is here. And therefore that marriage relationships entered into here will continue there. Well, that is not true. In the resurrection, the redeemed will be like angels in two respects. They will not die and they will not marry. They also believe that the relationship between God and the human individual forged in this life is only temporal and will end at death. Sadducees believed in God, but not in resurrection life in the spirit world and so on.

31:08 That also isn't true because God is eternal. The relationships that God makes are therefore eternal. So Jesus points out, God describes himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I am their God, Not I was their God when they were still alive. Hundreds of years after their death, he says, I am their God. God is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living. The eternal God does not describe himself as the God of those who no longer exist. God is eternal.

31:52 The relationships he established are eternal. is required by the eternal nature of God himself. The Sadducees were wrong. And whether the Sadducees were just seeking argument for argument's sake, I can't tell you, but the issue couldn't be more important. The resurrection of Jesus is at the heart of Christianity, because if there is no resurrection, there will be no heaven, and therefore no wedding celebration. Without the resurrection, there is no gospel, no Christianity. If there is no resurrection, Jesus claimed that he would be killed and then rise again on the third day was completely bogus. Jesus is still in the tomb.

32:37 He is not Messiah. Now just a little brief side note. Some people when they hear what Jesus says about marriage and heaven are relieved. and others are deeply unsettled. What does it mean and imply for loving, rich relationships that many have enjoyed in this life? Well, Jesus doesn't spell it out here. He's answering the issue they raise by dealing with their false assumptions. He isn't saying that there was no such thing as relationships in the kingdom of heaven, Still less that we won't know each other or that unique individuality will disappear as we blend into some impersonal spirit.

33:30 Relationships will be at a higher level, not a lower level, than what we've enjoyed in this life. The value of each individual will be fully displayed in relationship with one another. Now, what that is going to mean, we are going to have to wait to find out. Isn't that exciting? But there will be no disappointment. And all legitimate longings in this life for value, understanding, love, intimacy, relationship will be fulfilled at the next level, at a joy that can only be hinted at down here. but finally while the traps failed jesus hadn't finished and it ends with him going on the offensive by asking the pharisees a question of his own what do you think about messiah verse 42 whose son is he the son of david they replied he said to them how is it then that david speaking by the spirit calls him lord for he says the lord said to my lord sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet. If then David calls him Lord, how can he be his son?

34:50 And then no one could say a word in reply. And from that day on, no one dared to ask him any more questions. This was the end of it. Jesus is quoting from Psalm 110, which is the most frequently quoted Old Testament chapter in the New Testament, worthwhile having a good study of that. And he uses it here to expose the fact that their view of Messiah as son of David was inadequate. Didn't go far enough. If David called him, my Lord, how could he be David's son? No king in that culture would ever dream of calling his son Lord.

35:36 The Lord, that is the Lord God, said to my Lord, that is Messiah, sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet. No merely human son of David would be invited to sit at the right hand of God. Messiah is the divine son of God, but there's more as we finish. This is pointing forward to the climax of history, when finally evil will be dealt with. and all the enemies of Messiah will be subdued. Messiah has been invited now currently to sit down until that day. So in this chapter, Matthew 22, we've had the great future wedding celebration. We've had the reality of resurrection life, and now the reality of this time until Messiah will rise up again and return as the true king.

36:35 We live in that time until. The authorities and powers of this world are still massing against God and against his anointed Messiah. Evil has not yet been put down. It will one day. Jesus, therefore, was calling them to face the reality and live in that reality of the time until under his lordship, while the Caesars of this world are still permitted to have power. And as Alistair said in his comments about those brilliant statements about loving God and loving our neighbor, this is not easy. It's simple, but it's not easy. This is complex.

37:22 This is sometimes painful. Loving God, loving our neighbor. But let's allow the hope of this royal banquet, the invitation. Let's savor it. Let's learn to anticipate it. Let's not pile everything into of this life and just think that heaven is pie in the sky when you die. It's meant to be the motivational cry of our life. That's where we're headed.

37:55 And everything about our life demonstrates that that's where we're going because we are putting on the king's new clothes of love and joy and gentleness and forbearance and forgiveness and self-control, becoming more and more like Christ, learning to love God, love our neighbor in this time until, because this is not the final story. It's only the introduction. And one day heaven itself is going to begin with a massive wedding celebration. Let's take the invitation seriously. Let's pray. Thank you, Lord, for this fabulous, glorious hope that you have set before us. The King is going to come back. The invitation to join in the celebrations and be part of this eternal bride companion, this community of the world to come.

39:06 There's no offer, no invitation, No call in this life that comes anywhere close to this. By your spirit, make its reality real to us. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.