Bulletin Articles
An Invitation for All
One of my favorite parables that Jesus teaches is in Matthew 22:1-14, typically titled the parable of the Wedding Banquet. I encourage you to read this quick passage when you can in order to help follow along.
We are told of a King who prepares a wedding feast for his son. Dinner is ready, the absolute best food has been prepared to celebrate this occasion. If you have kids, you get it. But this excitement soon died down when no one paid attention to the invitation. Even some the of messengers were beaten and killed for simply delivering these wedding invitations. This enraged the King to the point that these murderers were destroyed and even had their city burned to ashes for such a response. So, what now? The King is not going to let this prepared feast go to waste, is he? Not at all! His servants went out and invited anyone and everyone they could find! The original guest list was done and gone. The new guest list was open to everyone.
In Christs parable, the King is God, and the Son is Jesus. Those “first invites” represent the nation of Israel who are rejecting the Son and the invitation to feast with the Father. Even going as far as killing Gods prophets (Messengers) in the process. God, being fed up with Israel, now opens the invitation to the feast to the Gentiles, to anyone who could be found. These new guests came to the feast and filled the hall.
Lastly, we see the Kings interaction with a wedding guest who was not wearing the proper clothes. “11 “But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. 12 He asked, ‘How did you get in here without wedding clothes, friend?’ The man was speechless.
This new guest accepted the invitation and came to the Kings banquet. But why was he rejected and thrown out? In biblical times, wedding feasts were regarded as a big deal and an occasion to wear your best clothes. You changed into something better. Our guest who was kicked out thought he could accept the invitation without changing. He thought he could enjoy the feast without first discarding his old self and robes. The clothes represent change. That’s what is needed to partake in the feast in Gods Kingdom. Change of heart, change of mind, and change of soul, stripping that old man and replacing it with the new.
The Parable of the Wedding Banquet is an invitation for all. Just like the king in the story, God desires a relationship with you. "For many are invited, but few are chosen" (v14). Will you accept the invitation, but more importantly change the person you are to wear these new garments that God requires? Are you willing to change, in order to enter the feast?
