Good Morning!
Matthew 22: 9-10; “Go therefore to the main roads and invite to
the wedding feast as many as you find. And
those servants went out into the roads and gathered all whom they found, both
bad and good. So the wedding hall was filled with guests.”
It was to be the wedding
feast of all times. The king’s only son
was getting married, and it was going to be a party to end all parties. All the really important people were invited,
the date was set, and the preparations were under way. There was to be all kinds of special food,
only the choicest cuts of meat, the finest wines, the most delectable desserts,
wonderful music, absolutely the greatest event of a lifetime. People would talk about this for ages to
come.
Then some cracks started
to form. Some of the nobles, who thought
they should have been the king anyway, decided that they “had a prior
engagement” or that they “would be unable to attend.” The banquet hall would not be full. It was rapidly becoming obvious that the hall
would probably be more empty than full.
Eventually, it would be almost entirely empty. Those who were invited thought that the king
was of no importance, and they really did not want to bother with going to a
reception for his son regardless of how good the food was. They assumed that the king would crawl to
them, begging them to come to the party.
The king had a different
idea. He still wanted this celebration
to go on. So, he had his servants go out
into the city and into the countryside and invite anyone they met. They invited the lepers and the
homeless. They invited the sick and the
lame. They invited everyone to fill the
banquet hall. The feast went on and on;
the invited guests were excited because they never expected to be invited to
such a wonderful party and those who were invited but stayed home; they missed
it all.
Jesus told his disciples
this story to show them how great God’s love for us truly is. We are the outcasts. Our sin puts us in that position. Our sin also causes us to feel the pain of
this separation. When we struggle, we
are all alone. When life goes down a
hard or difficult path, we are lost. The
pain of sin is like being a leper; we are left on the outside looking in. Yet God has a better way. He comes to you, and he comes to me, and he
invites us in. We are taken in, we are
cleaned up, given new clothes and then fed a most wonderful meal, the best
ever.
That meal, our heavenly
meal, awaits us. The king’s messengers invite
us in. We are being cleansed even as we
wait for the wonderful feast. God loves
us, cares for us, comforts us, defends us, and gives us hope. We are no longer on the outside looking in;
we are in the banquet hall. We are
waiting for our table to open up. When
it does, the feast will be beyond anything we can ever imagine here on earth.
Father of love,
you bring us to your feast by the Spirit.
You fill us with your splendor.
Renew us by your grace and keep us in the certainty of your tender
mercy. Guard us and guide us. We ask that you especially be with those who
feel excluded from life’s joy. Give them
the comfort of your loving arms and lead them to know your loving will. In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen
God’ Peace,
Pastor Bret
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.