베델 크리스천교회 10월 11일 (성령강림 후 제19주) 예배 영상, Sermon Summary (English)
10월 11일 주일예배 영상입니다.
메시지: 잔치에 참여한다는 것 God’s kingdom as a wedding banquet (마태복음 22장 1-14절) – 김백희 목사
이곳에 오신 모든 분들을 환영합니다. 샬롬.
Bethel Christian Church – Sunday Sermon (October 11, 2020)
God’s kingdom as a wedding banquet (Matthew 22:1-14) by Baek Hee Kim
- God’s kingdom as a wedding banquet
- Many of us are not familiar with God’s image, throwing a fun party with a big smile. We usually think of God as a figure with solemnity and seriousness. But when Jesus used to describe God’s kingdom, there is often a joyful feast at the center. Jesus says that many people will gather from the east and west and be seated at the feast with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. The Gospels proclaim that God’s kingdom is like a feast, banquet, and party.
- In today’s scripture, Jesus asserts, “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son.” We all hope for God’s kingdom. For some, God’s kingdom is where we go after our earthly life. And some believe that God invites us to build God’s kingdom together on earth. Let me ask you first. Do you want to go to God’s kingdom? Do you want to experience God’s kingdom? What, then, would be the first impression when you enter God’s kingdom? Express in one word without too much interpretation or explanation. What would be God’s kingdom? Just one word. Before we discuss today’s parable, we need to contemplate God’s kingdom’s image and nature. It is all about the purpose of our life as a disciple.
- Wedding banquet and joy
- Again, Jesus proclaims that the kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet. Imagine a wedding reception. Bride and her father dance together on the dance floor. People raise their glass in a toast. Flowers, smiles, dances, foods, cheers, ultimately, joy is the core of a wedding banquet and so as in God’s kingdom.
- When one invites people to his/her wedding banquet, it means he/she wants to share their joy. Likewise, a king, who prepared a wedding banquet in today’s parable, wanted to share his and his son’s joy with all the people. God wants us to restore joy in our lives, and God wants us to experience God’s kingdom through our joy.
- There are many parables in the Bible that God invites people to rejoice together. When a shepherd found a lost sheep, he says, “Let us rejoice with me. I found the lost sheep.” A woman who lost one coin out of the ten coins and found the coin says, “Let us rejoice with me. I found the lost coin.” In the story of the prodigal son, the father says, “Let us rejoice with me. I lost and found my son.” Here are some essential characteristics of God’s kingdom. There should be joy, and joy should be shared and celebrated together. And joy can be found in a small part of our lives. God is not pleased because all the world’s problems had been solved, nor was he pleased because all the human troubles and pains were over, nor because all nations repent and praise God. Joy can be found in a small part of our lives.
- Finding the hidden joy, helping each other find hidden joy, and joining together in that joy is the image of God’s kingdom.
- Invitations met with rejection
- In the parable, an initial invitation to come to a feast is met with rejection. A second invitation was rejected too. Those invited are apparently unimpressed; they return to business as usual. Then, the king went to war against his own people and destroyed the city. This story is hard to understand since God’s violent image is not matched with God’s gentle kindness. Probably the author of this gospel thought of Jerusalem’s destruction at the hands of the Romans in 70 CE. He would have reflected their rejection of Jesus and failure to receive the good news of God’s kingdom.
- Yet, the party resumed, the king invited people again, and the party was in full swing. The king entered the banquet hall, and he found that one of them is not dressed properly. He has the poor guy bound and thrown out. There are many interpretations of this story. Among those interpretations, I like Dr. Lance Pape’s interpretation. He says, “Maybe Matthew originally intended this as a stern warning to live up to the rigorous standards of a higher righteousness, but the story, pushed down and contorted by allegorical demands for too long, rises at the last to assert its own delightful possibility. Within the world of the story as told, the problem with this guy is not that he is not taking things seriously enough. No, his problem is a failure to party. The kingdom of heaven is a banquet, after all, and you’ve got to put on your party dress and get with the program. The kingdom music is playing, and it’s time to get up on the dance floor.”
- We easily lost our hope for joy in God’s kingdom since we experience darkness, death, lies, sorrow, rejection, pains, and wound. But life becomes a feast if you choose to find and joy in all suffering and decide to join God’s kingdom. God invites us to a banquet, a feast of joy. Let us find and restore our joy together.
