Do I Accept?

 

 Matthew 22:1-14

The Parable of the Wedding Banquet

22 Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying: ² “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. ³ He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come.

⁴ “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.’

⁵ “But they paid no attention and went off—one to his field, another to his business. ⁶ The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them. ⁷ The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.

⁸ “Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. ⁹ So go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.’ ¹⁰ 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.

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.

¹³ “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.’

¹⁴ “For many are invited, but few are chosen.”

We are all invited to the wedding banquet, but not surprisingly, as with the folks in the parable, we find excuses not to attend. How can we be so short-sighted? Is what we "need to do" more important than being a guest at this celebration? Or would we be the person without the wedding garment and so be cast outside? There are rules, norms, protocols we must observe if we are to enjoy this wedding banquet and being a guest there certainly outweighs whatever excuses I can come up with. Let us  not be foolish enough to reject God's invitation but participate as fully as we can at the wedding feast.

Bro. Rene

Dear God, with your grace I can accept your invitation to the wedding feast. Help me to be wise enough to welcome your invitation gladly and gratefully. Amen.