God's Invirtation

And again Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son, and sent his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come. Again he sent other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, “See, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast.”’ But they paid no attention and went off, one to his farm, another to his business, while the rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them. The king was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding feast is ready, but those invited were not worthy. 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. “But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment. And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ For many are called, but few are chosen.” (Matthew 22:1-14 ESV). This is actually two parables, both in accordance with Jewish custom, about the Kingdom of God. In them, the invited guests to the wedding feast for the king’s son refuse to come. Again, after everything was prepared, the final summons was delivered. The guests still refuse the invitation. After the king had the original invitees killed, he told his servants to go out and invite all they found. William Barclay says, "this parable has much to say on a much wider scale" by reminding us that: God's invitation is to JOY. "It is to joy that the Christian is invited; and it is joy he missed, if he refuses the invitation." God wants us to realize the wonders of eternal life. The people, who refused the king's invitation, lost the joy of the wedding. We allow ourselves to become so involved with the present we ignore the future. "... Some day our greatest pain will lie, not in the things we suffer, but in the realization of the precious things we have missed." Most importantly God's invitation is also an invitation of GRACE. In the latter verses of the parable Jesus describes a guest who came to the wedding without the proper garment. The king orders him bound and thrown into darkness. The garment, of course, represents the preparation each person should make in order to respond to God's invitation. The way we come to God often demonstrates our preparation. You have been issued an invitation to the greatest of all celebrations. Have you prepared yourself?