By Allen White
Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come.
“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.’
“But they paid no attention and went off—one to his field, another to his business. The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them. The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.
“Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. So go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.’ 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.
“But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. He asked, ‘How did you get in here without wedding clothes, friend?’ The man was speechless.
“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.’
“For many are invited, but few are chosen.”
Matthew 22:1-14
This parable aims at a hard truth – not everyone will make it to Heaven. Even among those who traffic in church circles -- not all of them belong to God. How do you know? How do you know who’s in and who’s out?
Some guests were invited to the banquet, but they were distracted by other things. Their business and their interests kept them from the party.
Others were invited, but were actually resistant to the invitation. Their response was met with severe punishment.
Then others, who prior to Jesus’ day, were never invited to the party suddenly received invitations. Who let them in? God did.
We can see from this parable that God’s people, Abraham’s descendents, who rejected Jesus, also refused entrance into God’s Kingdom. They may yet change their minds.
The next invitations went out to Gentiles. This would include most of us who are Christians today. We are not the natural born children of Abraham, but spiritually we are part of God’s family.
Then, there’s the poor guy who was wearing the wrong clothes. Was grandma right? Do we need to wear our Sunday best instead of our Sunday whatever to church?
The correct attire for this party is God’s righteousness that only comes through our relationship with Christ. We can’t earn it on our own. In fact, our futile attempts amount to garbage (Philippians 3:8). This man was wearing the filthy rags of his righteous deeds instead of the pure righteousness of Christ.
Admission to God’s party comes only through accepting His invitation. Not everyone who’s invited will come. That’s unfortunate. God paid the ultimate price by sending His Son to save us. Those who reject God’s gift will not make it to Heaven. God desires to forgive everyone for all of their sins, yet there are some who cling to their sins rather than to Christ.
Who needs to be invited to the party? God has an open invitation. Maybe invite them to church with you next Sunday. Maybe serve them in some way to show them the love of Christ. Definitely pray for them, before you do anything else. You never know who just might show up at God’s party.
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I loved this!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Eileen. I hope it was encouraging to you.
ReplyDeleteThanks for reading,
Allen