At the beginning of Matthew 21, Jesus is welcomed as a Zealot Messiah when he arrives in Jerusalem, which causes him to weep for the city. The path of the Zealot was not going to bring his people peace. That urge was going to bring destruction, which happens in A.D. 70 when the Temple, the priesthood, and the Zealots are destroyed by Rome.
When Jesus entered Jerusalem, he promptly cleansed the temple and withered a fig tree, which we noted was a visual representation of the lack of fruit of the Sadducees and a foreshadowing of the withering of the religious rulers (Sadducees) and the shift from the Temple in Jerusalem as the center of God’s fruit-bearing plan to the church, the new Temple of God, the new spiritual nation with a priesthood of all believers. (1 Peter 2:9)
To no one’s surprise, the Sadducees are going to promptly question his authority. This brings us into today’s text.
Jesus entered the temple courts, and, while he was teaching, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him. “By what authority are you doing these things?” they asked. “And who gave you this authority?”
When Jesus went back into the temple he had just cleansed (#bold), the Sadducees basically asked, “Who made you a rabbi?” People couldn’t appoint themselves into that position. They would have trained for years under another rabbi who would then appoint them if he considered them worthy. The most likely rabbi of Jesus was John the Baptist, an Essene who had left the Sadducees because of their corrupt connection with Rome.
Jesus replied, “I will also ask you one question. If you answer me, I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things. John’s baptism—where did it come from? Was it from heaven, or of human origin?”
They discussed it among themselves and said, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will ask, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’ But if we say, ‘Of human origin’—we are afraid of the people, for they all hold that John was a prophet.”
So they answered Jesus, “We don’t know.” Then he said, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.”
After this, Jesus goes into three parables that stay on the theme started with the cleansing of the Temple and the withering of the fig tree. God’s plan for His Kingdom is going to be handed off to those who will actually build the Kingdom, who will actually display the fruit of righteousness for the world to see.
“What do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work today in the vineyard.’ “‘I will not,’ he answered, but later he changed his mind and went. “Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, ‘I will, sir,’ but he did not go. “Which of the two did what his father wanted?” “The first,” they answered.
Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him.”
“Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and moved to another place. When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit.[2]
“The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third.[3] Then he sent other servants to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way. Last of all, he sent his son to them.[4] ‘They will respect my son,’ he said. “But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and take his inheritance.’ So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.
“Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end,” they replied, “and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants, who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time.”
The listeners would know the parable was about God and his people because of Old Testament imagery, such as that found in Isaiah 5. However, Jewish listeners would not think they were the tenants in this parable. The tenants would be evil people - the Romans, who were trampling God’s vineyard. They were “wretches who deserve a wretched end.” Then, finally, the Sadducees will be in their full glory of leadership! But...
Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: “‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes’? [5] “Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people/nation[6] who will produce its fruit.[7] Anyone who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces;[8] anyone on whom it falls will be crushed.”[9]
This is almost a direct quote from Isaiah 8, in which Isaiah described what happened when the people put their trust is Assyria rather that Yahweh, much like the Sadducees had put their trust in Rome. First, God gave them what they wanted – Assyria, who invaded them and almost won. The Sadducees got what they wanted – Rome – which is about to destroy them. Jesus was warning them in good rabbinical fashion not to forget what history had shown about seeking the power of empires rather than the power of God.
When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus’ parables, they knew he was talking about them. They looked for a way to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowd because the people held that he was a prophet.
Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying: “The kingdom of heaven can be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his servants to summon those who had been invited to the banquet, but they would not come.
“Again he sent other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who have been invited, “Look! The feast I have prepared for you is ready. My oxen and fattened cattle have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.” ’
But they were indifferent and went away, one to his farm, another to his business. The rest seized his servants, insolently mistreated them, and killed them. The king was furious! He sent his soldiers, and they put those murderers to death and set their city on fire.[10]
Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding is ready, but the ones who had been invited were not worthy. So go into the main streets and invite everyone you find to the wedding banquet.’ And those servants[11] went out into the streets and gathered all they found, both bad and good, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.
“But when the king came in to see the wedding guests, he saw a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes.[12]And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without wedding clothes?’ But he had nothing to say. Then the king said to his attendants, ‘Tie him up hand and foot and throw him into the darkness outside, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth!’ For many are called, but few are chosen.” [13]
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1. Jesus’ primary concern is for the purity of His people.
He didn’t show up and cleanse a Roman temple filled with pagan worship. He cleansed His temple of its sinful mold. There is sooo much he could have said about the terrible fruit of Artemis and Zeus. He talked to the Sadducees about their terrible fruit; he told the Pharisees they were making disciples of Gehennah.
God’s plan for the world, starting with the children of Israel, was to place a holy group in the world that would be the center of a grassroots expansion of the lived-out Kingdom of God into all the world. They were to be a light to the nations; they were to be salt in society.
But Jesus once warned that if light becomes darkness, that darkness would be great. If God’s people aren’t the kind of people who represent God well, then a moldly kingdom could permeate all of society to the destruction of both the church and the culture. Making disciples under the banner of “Jesus” doesn’t guarantee that we are actually making disciples of Jesus.
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; leave Me, you who disregard God’s law.’” (Matthew 7:21-23)
This is what is happening with the dude who had the wrong wedding clothes on.[14] In Jesus’ time, there was a code for wedding dress. Often the host would provide everyone with clothes so that the guests were clothed on the host’s terms. A guest didn’t get to say, “I’d like to join the feast on my terms.” We cannot have the kingdom on our own terms. The kingdom must shape our identity so that we have a whole different set of priorities, loves, and perspective as we surrender our heart, soul, mind and strength to the formation of the King.
Everyone was invited, but to feast, they had to put on the robes of the King, which are the righteousness provided through Jesus:
· “Let your priests be clothed with righteousness,and let your saints shout for joy.” (Psalm 132:9)
· “I will greatly rejoice in the LORD; my soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness.” (Isaiah 61:10)
Righteousness = living in right relationship with God and others. Alec Motyer defines “righteous” as those “right with God and therefore committed to putting right all other relationships in life.” It’s God’s heart change demonstrated by a life change. God transforms our souls, and we express it in our skin. Amos 5 and Job 29 parallel righteousness with justice. Paul wrote,
Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. (Colossians 3:12-14)
That’s what we will look like if we have indeed responded to the gospel invitation by dressing ourselves the way the King would have us dress.
What is the feast that nourishes us? Maybe think of the food as:
· Jesus, the Bread of life (John 6:35). We taste and see that the Lord is good. We commune with him like we commemorate when we take communion. We pray; we talk to God; we follow in His path to learn the goodness of His ways.
· God’s Word taken seriously, ingested, digested, nourishing us. (Jeremiah 15:16)
· The Fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindheartedness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. (Galatians 5) When we display that fruit, those around us feast on the fruits of our presence.
Bottom line: the wedding guests are living in God's space where God is king and where everything that is done is God's will. [15]
If we are not willing to be in spiritual space where God is king and we are committed to aligning ourselves with God’s will, we are not at the feast. We are always invited – many are called - but not all will take their seat – far too few take their place among the guests.
Weddings were typically at night in Jesus’ time. Jesus gives this image of someone who wants to be part of the celebration being put out into the darkness, forced to watch the party from a distance. [16] I suppose he can put on the proper wedding attire that the king offers at any time – I assume the invitation is still open – but until then, the King will not compromise on the kind of robes one must have to sit at his table. It must be the King’s attire, on the King’s terms.
Initial responses are not ultimate responses. An initial refusal does not have to stay a refusal, and an initial agreement is not enough. The response to the invitation must be lived.[17] Do we live in an ongoing spiritual space where God is king and we are committed to aligning ourselves with God’s will? Are we dressed in the fashion of the King?
Jesus’ primary concern is for the purity of His people. The plan as I understand it is that God’s people, as salt and light, will carry that righteousness with which the King has covered them into all the world so that the world is, in fact, transformed. But that starts in the House of God. That starts in the Temple. That starts with us, in us.
2. The King’s servants gathered both bad and good.
· Bad: “properly, pain-ridden, emphasizing the inevitable agonies (misery) that always go with evil.” (HELPS Word Studies) In Luke, the substitute guests are explicitly the poor and disabled (14:13), the marginalized of society. Jesus mentions tax collectors and prostitutes.
· Good: “(agathós) describes what originates from God and is empowered by Him in their life, through faith.” (HELPS Word Studies)
You might think, “If they are both there, this is the opposite of what you just said. This doesn’t look like a consistently righteous crowd.” The king called the good and the bad, yes, but what do they all have in common now? The King has dressed them all in righteous robes. They are with the King, at the King’s invitation, on the King’s terms.
I have been pondering something this week: do I, as a servant of the King, invite those “pain-ridden with the agony that comes from evil” into the Kingdom knowing that Jesus invites them into the Kingdom?
Do I live like Jesus by “eating with sinners” as part of the invitation to enjoy not only an earthly feast but a heavenly one? The kingdom is a banquet at which the expected are often absent and the unexpected are often longing to be present.[18] Am I so focused on what the unexpected currently look like covered in their current robes of sin, that I don’t think about what they couldlook like covered in robes of righteousness? To use a Prodigal Son analogy, am I so busy sneering at those lost in mud and finding their food in the garbage of the wages of sin that I forget our Heavenly Father longs to throw a party for the lost who have been found?
“The witness of the church should be characterized by the joy of inviting people to the banquet God has prepared, a banquet that is both present and future. Far too often the joy has been so muted that people are left with no pointers to the presence of the kingdom. Do we not have the responsibility to offer the invitation with the announcement that all is ready? Should not the joy of the celebration of the kingdom be so evident that the invitation becomes compelling? And should we not be alert enough to know that the invitation to those on the margins, whom we would not normally think of inviting, is essential?” Stories With Intent: A Comprehensive Guide To The Parables Of Jesus, Klyne Snodgrass
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[1] This description echoes Isaiah 5, in the context of which Israel was the vineyard (Isa 5:7). The “tenants” are the chief priests and the elders.
[2] Which means the vineyard was bearing fruit. This parable is not going to condemn Judaism as fruitless; it’s going to condemn the Sadducees, the Jewish leaders in the Temple, reminiscent of the cursing of the fig tree i.e the Sadducees.
[3] Beat, killed, stoned is what the prophets experienced throughout OT history (1 Kings 18:4; Jer. 20:1–2).
[4] “Ancient hearers would have expected the landowner to seek to destroy the tenants before this point, and would regard the gesture of sending his son as naively gentle.” NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible
[5] A quotation from Psalm 118:22-23.
[6] Check out Isaiah 61:1-6, which ends with. “Strangers will shepherd your flocks. Foreigners will work your fields and vineyards, and you will be called priests of the Lord.” In other words, a different people – Gentiles - will have the privilege of bringing in the harvest.
[7] The leaders have failed to carry out their obligations to God. Therefore their privileged role is being taken away and given to a people producing its fruits. The church will be a new “people” consisting of both Jews and Gentiles.
[8] Isaiah 8:13-15 “The Lord Almighty is the one you are to regard as holy, he is the one you are to fear, he is the one you are to dread. He will be a holy place; for both Israel and Judah he will be a stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall. And for the people of Jerusalem…Many of them will stumble; they will fall and be broken, they will be snared and captured.”
[9] On the stone as a messianic image, see Isa 28:16 and Dan 2:44-45.
[10] Snodgrass says, “Israel’s past is the lens through which the parable announces a warning of urgency and judgment on all those who oppose God.” Adam Clarke says, “Our Lord caused them to pass that sentence of destruction upon themselves which was literally executed about forty years after.”
[11] “The first group (v. 3) is interpreted to be Moses and those with him, while the second group (v. 4) is composed of the prophets…The third group (v. 9) represents the apostles sent to the Gentiles, those not initially invited, but now called.” Interesting perspective from the Orthodox Study Bible
[12] Proper clothing was often provided by the king (see Genesis 45 and Esther 6. Zephaniah 1:7-9 notes, “The Lord has prepared a sacrifice, he has invited his guests. And it shall come to pass, in the day of the Lord's sacrifice, that I will punish the princes, and the king’s children, and all such as are clothed with strange apparel.”
[13] As Jennings put it, “All are called to enjoy the feast, but not all are willing to trust the Giver to provide the robe that fits for the feast.” Believers Bible Commentary
[14] “This might insinuate a person who wants to be a part of the celebration but not recognize God’s desire, design, or authority. He wants to be a part of God’s will, he just doesn’t want to do it God’s way.” (Marty Solomon)
[15] That’s the Bible Projects definition of the Kingdom of God/Heaven.
[16] “The Jewish marriages were performed in the night season, and the hall where the feast was made was superbly illuminated; the outer darkness means, therefore, the darkness on the outside of this festal hall; rendered still more gloomy to the person who was suddenly thrust out into it from such a profusion of light.” Adam Clarke
[17] Stories With Intent: A Comprehensive Guide To The Parables Of Jesus, Klyne Snodgrass
[18] Matthew 7:21-23/Luke 13:25-27; Matthew 8:11-12/Luke 13:28-30; Matthew 11:25/Luke 10:21; Matthew 21:28-32, 43; 25:1-12, 31-46).