Matthew 22:1-14 [Pentecost 20 A]
Pastor Ron Koehler
Grace—Tucson, AZ
October 15, 2023
The Foolish Rejection of a Gracious Invitation I know for certain that some of you watched Monday Night Football this last week, just like I did. If you caught the intro, you heard Aloe Blacc sing Lionel Richey’s old song “All Night Long.” Some of you know it: Well, my friends, the time has come, to raise the roof and have some fun. Throw away the work to be done. Let the music play on (play on, play on, play on...) …We’re going to Party, Karamu, Fiesta, forever. The night is going to be fun, a party! You could just as easily play that song at a wedding reception—and many have! Because that’s how wedding receptions are, right? No one’s worried about work; it’s a party—a party we want to go on and on. There is a story of a gracious king who invited all kinds of people to join in him at a wedding banquet he was hosting. What an honor to enjoy an elaborate meal and celebrate with the king and his son! Jesus is the one telling the story, so you know where he’s going with this—well, maybe. What at first might seem like an easy parable to understand does have some tricky parts. God, in his grace, invites all people to believe in his Son as their Savior. There it is. That’s what Jesus’ story is about—and he has in mind for us to learn a number of things from it. So instead of working through the parable and then discovering the point, let’s do it this way today—know up front that this story is about God, the king, extending a gracious invitation to all people to experience the joy of salvation that comes only by faith in his Son, Jesus. This is a story that really requires us to understand what was going on when Jesus told it…and who he told it to. It was not on just any Jerusalem-Tuesday that Jesus told parables to the religious leaders of every kind, it was Tuesday of Holy Week. There was a parade of them—the chief priests, the teachers of the law, the elders of the people, the Pharisees, the Herodians, the Sadducees. Every group questioned Jesus that day and he responded to them all. He preached, he taught, he told stories. He spoke to the men who had been plotting and planning to put him to death and who were still doing so at that very moment. He knew this was coming, and he could see right through to their stony hearts. If we didn’t know this, it would be hard to fully appreciate why Jesus told this parable. But now that we know, we might ask, “Why waste time and effort on these people?!” Well, it wasn’t a waste. There is sharp law and indictment in his words, but Jesus was not simply condemning them; he was offering them a last chance…for them to listen this time…to see him for who really was…to accept God’s invitation to trust in him. The loving heart of Jesus that was propelling him to the cross wanted all of them to be saved. So, he told them a story.