Parable not Prophecy

July 28, 2019

Summary

I was challenged in the fall of 2017 to preach on this passage from Matthew and believe me, it was a challenge!

This parable of the wedding banquet is the last in a series of three parables that Jesus tells following his arrival in Jerusalem and the clearing of the temple courts. The first two parables are stern and trend toward violence, but this last parable…wow! There are mutinous wedding guests, an angry king, torture, arson and murder! How was I, a peace-loving Mennonite, to sort all of this out? Each time I read through this passage I became increasingly unsettled. At the time, I was working at Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary, and while I was sitting in my office I had the brilliant idea to ask our New Testament professor, Loren Johns, what I was supposed to do with this passage and he said, “Yeah. What do you do with that?” Thanks, Loren.

Bible References

  • Matthew 22:1 - 14

Topics