| Home | Our Hope | |
| Bible Study |
|
June 5, 2016 |
| Marriage Supper of the Lamb | ||
We know the Messiah is coming again for us.
There are many lodgings in my Father's house, and if not, I would have told you, because I go to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go prepare a place for you, I shall come again and bring you to join me, that where I am you shall be also. (John 14:2-3)
Jesus is speaking about the future event we call the Second Coming and what the Bible calls the resurrection. Part of this event is a feast to celebrate the coming together of God and his people. Jesus speaks of this feast and he also speaks of the entire event as a marriage feast. It is the marriage of the Son of God to his bride, his people.
Revelation speaks of this as well.
7 "We rejoice and celebrate! We give him glory, because the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has prepared herself!" 8 And it was given to her to wear fine linen, pure and bright, for the fine linen is the uprightness of the holy ones. 9 And they said to me, "Write, 'Blessed are they who are called to the wedding supper of the Lamb!'" And one said to me, "These are the true words of God." (Revelation 19:7-9)
This joining of the Lamb to the bride is described in terms of the marriages of the time.
This feast is discussed in a parable in Luke 14:12-24. The main focus of this parable is who will be attending the feast. Jesus tells this parable while he is eating at the house of a prominent Pharisee with other Pharisees also in attendance.
12Then Jesus said to his host, "When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. 13But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, 14and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous."
Jesus' point is that we will be rewarded for the good things we have done that earned no reward in this life. This concept appears in other places, for example "give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven"1 Stated more generally, if we do good things in this life expecting to be repaid, our focus is on worldly things and our reward is of this world. ""Be careful not to do your 'acts of righteousness' before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven."2
Jesus also speaks of the resurrection of the righteous. This event happens at the same time as the Second Coming.
15When one of those at the table with him heard this, he said to Jesus, "Blessed is the man who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God."
One of the guests responds enthusiastically to what Jesus has just said. He probably assumes that he and the other Pharisees will be at that feast. In effect, the man is wishing a blessing upon himself and his friends.
As a side note, it's interesting to see that the Pharisees had this level of understanding, that there would be a feast. We know they believed there would be a resurrection.
16Jesus replied: "A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests.
The parable Jesus is about to tell is not only appropriate to the occasion - a parable about a great banquet, told at a banquet - but it is also an answer to the guest's comment. As we will see, it is also a warning to that guest, the other guests, and even to us.
17At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, 'Come, for everything is now ready.' 18 But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said, 'I have just bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please excuse me.' 19 Another said, 'I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I'm on my way to try them out. Please excuse me.' 20 Still another said, 'I just got married, so I can't come.' 21 The servant came back and reported this to his master.
When the time comes, the host called the invited guests to come to the banquet. But his servant brought back news that the invited guests would not be attending. Not only that, but the excuses they had given are particularly lame, to the point of being rude.
The first guest asked to be excused because he had just bought a new field and needed to inspect it. The guest knew of the coming banquet and could have planned his purchase so he wouldn't have missed it, if he had really wanted to attend.
Like the first guest, the second guest had made a purchase. So his response indicates that neither the banquet nor the host are that important to him.
The third guest is probably misusing a special Biblical provision as his excuse. For one year a newly married man was not to be forced into military service or similar duty that would take him away from his wife.3 So his excuse is worse than the others. Not only did he not care enough to arrange his marriage around the feast, but he views the feast as a duty instead of a privilege.
To Jesus' audience these are ridiculous excuses. The guests at the banquet would have immediately recognized this as a shocking breach of etiquette.
Each of these quests represent a type of person. First is the person who lets possessions and wealth run his life. Second is the person whose concern for having enough food runs his life. Third is the person who lives for the Torah but misses the truth. The Pharisees were all these things.
21 […] Then the owner of the house became angry and ordered his servant, 'Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.'
The host for the banquet also understood the meaning of the lame excuses and it angered him. The ones he had invited, those closest to him, have rejected his invitation. So he invites others in the town who are likely not as close to him.
Notice that inviting "the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame" is just the advice Jesus gave to the Pharisees in verse 13. Jesus is showing here that God will do the same.
22 'Sir,' the servant said, 'what you ordered has been done, but there is still room.' 23 Then the master told his servant, 'Go out to the roads and country lanes and make them come in, so that my house will be full. 24 I tell you, not one of those men who were invited will get a taste of my banquet.' "
The host opens the invitation to people who are not in the town, people who do not know him at all. He also denies the benefits of the banquet to the original invitees.
As with any parable there is a deeper meaning and the major elements are symbolic. The theme of this parable is "do not refuse my invitation". But there is more to it than that. This parable is aimed directly at the priests and religious elite, those who should have been closest to God. The parable describes what is about to occur.
The guests who refused the invitations, who loved wealth, safety, and the law, more than they loved God, are the religious elite. They were rejecting Jesus and would have him killed.
In killing Jesus they would destroy their covenant and a new covenant would come into effect. In that covenant both Jews (townspeople) and gentiles (outside the town) would be invited, the Jews first and then the gentiles.
The Banquet in the parable is the banquet of the marriage of the Lamb which comes soon after the Second Coming. But the banquet is more than just a meal. It represents everlasting life in a place that has been prepared for us by a groom who loves us dearly.
Behold, I come at once, and my reward is with me, and I shall give to every person according to his work. (Revelation Rev 22:12)
The guests from the highways and the hedges are the gentiles. The gospel message was always to the Jew first and then the gentile.
And Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly and said, "It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken to you first; since you repudiate it, and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles. (Acts 13:46)
The marriage of the lamb comes up in many places in the Bible. To understand those references we need to understand a little more about how marriages normally worked in Israel in Jesus' time.
When it was decided that a couple would be married, a covenant was made between them. They were not immediately married though. We see this in Mary and Joseph. The Bible says that they were pledged to be married but they were not yet married or living as married. There was not even a firm date set for the marriage.
The groom would spend his time preparing the place where they would live and also preparing the place where they would be married. The bride would spend time preparing herself to be married to the groom
When the preparations were about complete the other members of the families would be notified of the day of the wedding. They would assemble at the bride's house on that day and prepare for the arrival of the groom.
When everything was ready the groom would assemble his male friends and family members and head for the bride's house. The bride and bridesmaids would be waiting there for them. Usually he would plan to arrive in the evening. Things didn't always go according to plan and the groom could be later than planned
When he arrived, there was a great celebration and everyone headed off to the place where they would be married and would hold the wedding feast.
This is the model for everything leading up to the marriage feast of the Lamb.
1. One web page says, "This parable teaches that no one may enter the kingdom of God without an invitation from God."4 That may be a true statement, but is that what this parable teaches? If not, what does this parable teach about who may enter the kingdom of God?
2. This same web page also says, "It also is a warning to heed the invitation when it is heard; the invitation does not last forever." What do you think of this? Does the invitation last forever?
3. Who do the other characters in this parable symbolize? The host / master? The servant (singular)?
4. When the host revokes the original invitations, does this have a deeper meaning?
We are all invited to the great banquet. But to attend it, the banquet must be more important to us than the other things in our lives like property, marriage, or other worldly matters.
"The invitation to join God's community is not without cost. God's invitation demands the right to override all other claims on our time and resources. While it certainly does not demand that we abandon our families, quit our jobs, or throw away our financial assets, it does demand the invitation come ahead of them in priority. At times we may experience conflicts that are far more pressing than the foolish excuses of Jesus' parable, but God's call must always come first."5
In addition to being invited to the banquet, each of us is the servant instructed to take the invitation to the Jews and gentiles. As such we are commanded to "make them come in, so that my house will be full".
1 Mark 10:21
2 Matthew 6:1
3 http://www.carm.org/christianity/parables/great-banquet-luke-1415-24
4 http://www.carm.org/christianity/parables/great-banquet-luke-1415-24
5 NIV Standard Lesson Commentary, 2009-2010, Teachings on Community, Unit 2, Inclusion in Community