Our series of studies has focused on Enormous Lessons from Small Parables. In the parable of the celebration of the wedding banquet, Jesus is teaching us two important things about heaven. The passage is found in Matthew 22:1-14 NIV. Some people also see Luke 14:16-24 NIV as a parallel passage. Let’s examine this familiar story about the kingdom of heaven being like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son.
Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying: 2 “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. 3 He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come.
4 “Then he sent some more servants and said, ‘Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.’
5 “But they paid no attention and went off—one to his field, another to his business. 6 The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them. 7 The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.
8 “Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. 9 So go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.’ 10 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.
11 “But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. 12 He asked, ‘How did you get in here without wedding clothes, friend?’ The man was speechless.
13 “Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
14 “For many are invited, but few are chosen.”
There are two nuances in the phrase in the Greek that are not usually translated into our English versions. The tense of the verb we translate “is like” is aorist passive – a historical event with no understood agent implied. A better translation would be “The kingdom of heaven became like ….”
The meaning breezes past us – until now. The events that have occurred over the last several years have changed our understanding of many things within our history and our culture. Let me give you an example.
I grew up watching American League baseball which included games and history of a team called the Cleveland Indians. The mascot of the team was a caricature named “Chief Wahoo.” I lived in Indianapolis, the home of a minor league baseball team, the Indianapolis Indians. Indianapolis had once been associated with the Cleveland club and took its name and mascot.
Not once did I associate the images with the actual Native Americans. This was the image of Bob Feller, Lou Boudreau, Lary Doby, and Bob Lemon, Hall of Fame Cleveland players. They were a storied baseball team.
Recently I read an announcement that the team will soon be changing their name to the Cleveland Guardians instead. There is history and meaning behind the name change, but that is information for another story. The point is the name and character were offensive to many people.
My use of this illustration is not to focus on the offense. It is to highlight the change.
Our understanding of the Cleveland baseball team is about to change dramatically. While its essence is the same, how it is represented to us and to others will be incredibly different.
The Jewish nation had an idea of the kingdom of heaven. It was an earthly kingdom and it really centered upon the strength and expanse of the nation of Israel and its leaders. They saw God as the king, but they just wanted him to be on his throne. They wanted to be the ones who did the ruling and enjoyed the spoils.
The idea of the kingdom became like … already happened. Past tense. Don’t use old terms. They are offensive. Change your understanding. Get with the program.
The second nuance in the phrase “The kingdom of heaven became like” is that heaven is actually plural. It literally says “the kingdom of the heavens.” Matthew uses this phrase 32 times. He is the only gospel writer to phrase it this way. He is saying “the kingdom which belongs to the heavens.” This is God’s kingdom. It has nothing to do with the things that we usually identify with an earthly kingdom. It doesn’t have territory. It wasn’t formed by battles and conquering. It doesn’t need taxes. You won’t need licenses or agencies.
No more tears. No more sickness. No more squabbles or problems. No more drama.
This is a kingdom whose very nature is the heavens. As others have said, “This changes everything!” It certainly changes what Jesus is trying to teach us.