Title: Parable of the wedding feast
Contents
parable of the wedding feast
<Luke 14:16-24>
[1] The story of the parable of the great feast
Jesus compared the kingdom of God to a story related to a great feast.
This made the owner angry. Because attending the feast is already reserved. No matter how much you buy a field, buy a cow, or get married, breaking the promise you made in advance and not attending is a disgrace to your partner. Food, tables, and other events have been arranged for those who have been scheduled in advance, and if those people do not attend, it is the same as ruining the feast.
It is said that for the people of the Middle East at that time, refusing an invitation to a big banquet such as a wedding was considered even a declaration of war against the other party. In the case of Matthew, the king is supposed to send 'servants', and some of the invited ones catch them, abuse them, and even kill them (Matthew 22:3-6), which means that it is a declaration of war. .
In any case, when they broke their promise and did not participate in the feast, the feast was in danger of being broken, so the master ordered his servants, “Go quickly to the streets and alleys of the city, and bring the poor, the handicapped, the blind and the lame. !” he commanded. Therefore, servants walked through the streets and alleys of the city, calling people to attend the feast. Even after doing so, there are still empty seats here and there at the feast. Therefore, the servants report that there are still many vacancies. Then the master again commanded his servants, “Go here and there by the roads and by the hedges (paths and hedges), and compel them to take them in and fill the void!” (14:23). If 'streets and alleys' in verse 21 refer to the area within the city, 'roads and hills' in the text refer to the area outside the city.
In the last part of the parable, Jesus speaks words that it is difficult to tell whether the master is speaking to his servants or to his disciples. “None of those whom I had invited before shall taste my banquet” (14:24).
[2] The meaning of the parable
‘Feast’ means ‘a feast in heaven’ that God gives when the saved saints enter the kingdom of God. Jesus spoke several times in the parable of the 'wedding feast', referring to the feast held in heaven on the day that the saints enter the kingdom of God.
Since ancient times, God has saved people from the world, but He did not save anyone. He chose the nation of Israel, the descendants of Abraham-Isaac-Jacob, and God revealed Himself to them to save them. He also tried to call the people of the world to God through them. Even when Jesus was sent into the world, it is meaningful that He sent Him to the land of Israel. But the Israelites rejected God's invitation.
Therefore, Jesus approached people who were not the mainstream in Jewish society, such as people from the outskirts of Israel, poor people, sinners, and people of mixed Samaritan blood, and many of them were saved. The poor, the sick, the blind, and the lame mentioned in the previous parable refer to those who were marginalized among the Jews and condemned by the legalists, while the latter refer to the Gentiles.
And the second invited people were those who attended the banquet under the command, “Go out into the roads and hedges, and compel people to take me and fill my house.” These are people from outside the realm of Israel. That means Gentiles. This means that all people, including Gentiles, are invited to the invitation feast of the kingdom of God.
[3] Application of analogy
God has a purpose in creating the world.
When building a building, think about a certain purpose and build it. Whether it is a school or a department store, the building is built for its purpose. Even when God created people, they had a purpose.
God created man as the being who made the world, conquered the world, and was to rule. He created men, but in the image of God. The Bible says that he was made with great honor. In order to select and nurture people who will share in the Kingdom of God full of perfect love without any sin in the future, God created people to be honored in God's image like this.
The ‘Kingdom of God’ that God wants to establish is a place where you have unlimited freedom, but you do not betray God, trust God, and obey God’s laws. Therefore, it is the eternal kingdom of God where there is no sin and death, there is no sorrow and misery, and there is eternal joy and happiness.
But what kind of existence is Satan who opposes God? He was the most beautiful and wisest angel God made to serve him, but he betrayed God by his own free will. As a creature of God, he betrayed God, set aside God, and tried to ascend to the position of God.
No matter how much God tries to give grace, it is impossible to build a “perfect kingdom of God without sin and misery” through those who betray that grace and plan evil. Therefore, Satan or those who follow the same line of life as Satan are thrown away, and those who trust and obey God are chosen as the people of the kingdom of God.
In the case of angels, once they have sinned, they have such a disposition that they cannot be renewed. In other words, no matter how beautiful an angel is, once he falls, he becomes a devil forever. Therefore, God created human beings with the potential to sin, and even though they are beings with this potential, He created people to overcome sin and create beings who stand in righteousness.
Therefore, God tested us humans from the beginning. The purpose of the tree of knowledge is to test humans. You may or may not eat the Fruit of Good and Evil, but if you eat it, you will die, and if you do not eat it, you will have eternal life. However, we humans chose to eat the fruit of the forbidden fruit. That is, he chose the same path as Satan who resisted God.
However, the difference between man and Satan and demons (demons) is that they cannot be renewed again. However, although people were stained by sin, He opened the way for them to overcome their sins and become new. God made His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, as a sacrifice for sin, and He solved the problem of sin through my sacrifice.
If we commit a sin, we must receive retribution and judgment, but the way has been opened for us to receive forgiveness of sins through Jesus who was crucified. Only when this path is opened can those who have committed sins repent of their sins and return to God. Otherwise, because of one or more sins, all would be compelled to be sinners.
Even after we believe in Jesus, we are always prone to sin. That is why we always look back at ourselves with the Word and repent. Then, our God forgives sins through the merits of the blood of God the Son on the cross. There is something God wants to accomplish through this process of repetition. To teach us how to make good use of our freedom in our infinite freedom. It is to teach us to obey God's commands, rather than sinful human beings with our freedom. Therefore, it is to nurture those who obey God's law with their own free will. In this way, you receive such people as members of the perfect kingdom of God to be established.
The kingdom of God is a country where complete freedom exists. Therefore, God nurtures our saved saints to be obedient beings to God's Word.
God's invitation is to make the people of God's kingdom.
This work of God has been put in a really precarious situation twice. The first was in the days of Noah, and the second was in the days of Abraham. Almost everyone in the world rejected God's invitation and lived according to their own preferences. Therefore, God judged the world, leaving only Noah and his family, who were the only people of faith at the time.
Therefore, after Noah, it was hoped that more people would respond to God's invitation like Noah, but in the time of Abraham, the same situation as in the days of Noah was reproduced. However, since he had already promised that he would never again judge the world by water at the time of Noah's Flood, he did not judge again. He specifically called Abraham to raise those who would respond to God's invitation through his descendants. This has been done with some degree of success. Those who continued through Abraham-Isaac-Jacob maintained their faith in God, and later developed into a great nation in Egypt. After leaving Egypt through Moses, they returned to the land of Canaan and formed a nation-state that served God. Of course, the nation of Israel also went through many crises of being rejected from the faith to serve God, but it has been maintained as a nation receiving God's invitation through numerous ups and downs until Jesus Christ.
But again, in the time of Jesus, Israel faces a crisis. Through Jesus and his disciples, God first tried to save the nation of Israel, the descendants of Abraham-Isaac-Jacob. But they rejected Jesus. They did not want to acknowledge Jesus as the one sent by God.
So Jesus is speaking through this parable. Because you rejected God's invitation and did not want to go the path God wants you to go, you are going to choose the poor, the sick, the sinners, and the Gentiles whom they despise to build the kingdom of God. Therefore, on the contrary, in today's world, the Jews of Abraham's blood are not worthy of the kingdom of God, and now we, who were Gentiles who had no relationship with the Jews, were invited by God.
Today, we who believe in Jesus are people who have accepted the invitation to the kingdom of God as people who promised to respond to the invitation of the kingdom of God. When the time comes and God calls us, we will enter the kingdom of God with this invitation.
Believing in Jesus is not just a religious life. It is to know the God who made all things in the world. It is to know what kind of plan God has made us, and to be invited to become members of the kingdom of God that God wants to achieve through our lives. If you respond to this, you will become noble people of the kingdom of God. But to refuse makes us unnecessary to God's creation. ◎