We all receive invitations in the mail throughout the year requesting our attendance at various functions. Some are decorated wedding invitations from long-time family friends. Others have vivid colors and graphics inviting you to birthday parties, special holiday parties, or graduation parties. Still other invitations call upon us to join others for anniversary celebrations or the opening of a new business or even for a special sale.
You cannot possibly respond to every invitation that comes through the mail. So you have to make some decisions as you sort through the mail. Some invitations impersonally address you as "The Occupant." That normally does not get much attention! Some invitations are actually attempts to lure you into a “business opportunity” where you will spend money that will profit the one who sent the invitation. But there are other invitations that are quite different. They come from close friends who invite you to be part of a very special occasion. You feel honored to be invited. Your attendance is valued by the one offering the invitation, and you dare not neglect it.
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. 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, both good and bad, 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. ‘Friend,’ he asked, ‘how did you get in here without wedding clothes?’ 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, like all of Jesus’ parables, has many layers of meaning. However, the primary meaning of this story has to do with the amazing invitation of our gracious King. The gospel of Jesus Christ is God's invitation for us to have a relationship with Him. This invitation reflects the character of the One offering it, and it comes with the certainty of His honor and our joy! It is given out of His loving kindness with the assurance of grace sufficient to accomplish everything He desires. Such an invitation cannot be tossed aside, and it must not be neglected. The Eternal King is no mere businessman trying to bring in a new customer. He speaks with eternal authority and calls upon us to hear and respond to the invitation of the gospel of His Son, Jesus Christ. This is God’s invitation to us, that we would come to know Him through His Son!
Pastor Jeff Frazier
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