- Matthew 21
Recap. The wedding banquet was one of the most important and joyous occasions in
the Jewish life and could last for up to a week. Christ compares Heaven to the
wedding banquet that a king had prepared for his son. Certainly a royal wedding
would far surpass that of a commoner. The mention of the oxen and fattened
cattle having been butchered in vs. 4b indicates it is being prepared and will
be fresh, a royal feast where the best of everything is available and
plentiful. Indeed, Christ first public miracle was at the wedding feast of Cana
in supplying an abundance of the best wine.
Resume. To the Pharisees, the sending of the first servants would
have spoke of the Old Testament prophets, while the sending of the second set
of servants is representative of John the Baptist, the first prophet in over
four hundred years, and also Jesus’ disciples mentioned in the tenth chapter of
Matthew. It is also representative of God’s long-suffering nature toward man.
The invitation is an invitation to salvation, first offered to the Jews, who,
for the most part ignore it, and then to the Gentiles.
Note that it is not because they could not come to the
wedding feast, but that they would not come to the wedding feast, that some of
the guest failed to respond to the invitation. This speaks not only the Jews,
but to mankind in general who fail to seek out God. Everyone at one time or
another wonders about the big questions of life. Who am I? Why am I here? Where
am I going? Everyone at one time or another wonders about the question of God,
but we become so enamored with ourselves that we fail to seek the answers to
these questions where they can be found, the Bible. We become so involved with
the everyday practice of life that we fail to find its meaning. We take the
path of least resistance and seek comfort. We answer those questions with what
will please us, only to find that after a lifetime of trying to satisfy
ourselves, we are never satisfied. That is because we live in time, but were
made for eternity (see Ecclesiastes 3:11).
The rest of the invited guests who failed to respond to
the invitation took it upon themselves to mistreat and murder the servants.
While this describes the Jewish ruling class of the day, it also represents
mankind at various places and times throughout history, Mankind who has made
God into its own image and will not tolerate the truth. Jesus said “I am the
way, the truth, and the life, no one comes to the Father except through me” (see John 14:6).
The Pharisees and others throughout history have wanted
people to believe that they were acting for their good while trying to achieve
their own agenda; more often than not, an agenda that would place them above
all others, an agenda that actually sought out wealth and power while the
people they governed came in a distant second. John 11:45-53 is a most revealing passage pertaining to true
concern of the Pharisees. It concerns the plot by the Pharisees to murder Jesus
because of His popularity. Note
verse forty-eight; note their primary concern; that the Romans would take away
“their place.” For these type people, both then and now, murder is preferable
to losing “their place.”
Playwright Janet Irene Thomas
Founder/CEO
Bible Stories Theatre of
Fine & Performing Arts
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