Matthew 22

Matthew Chapter 22 is packed with stories about the religious leaders trying to trap Jesus.  I want to look at the one parable that doesn't deal with that.  So, take time to read this chapter, but I'm going to focus on the Parable of the Wedding Feast.

In this parable we see a king preparing a wedding feast for his son.  The king sends out servants to get those who were invited to come to the feast.  The invited people refuse the king and in some cases kill the servants who come with the message of the wedding feast.  The king becomes upset and tells his servants to invite people off the street, both good and bad, to come to the feast.  The table was filled with guest, but the king noticed one man who wasn't wearing wedding clothes.  The king had this man tied up and thrown out where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.

That is the quick version of the parable.  In this parable I see three ways we can react to God's invitation to the wedding feast, the banquet that lasts eternally.

1) Some refuse God's invitation.

Some, like the nation of Israel, were invited to share in God's glorious feast and refused Him.  Some, like maybe you, have heard God calling and pursuing you and have chosen to ignore Him.  God wants these people at His feast for His Son's wedding; however, there comes a point when God stops pursuing and lets these people live with their choice.

2) Some accept the invitation, but not the wedding clothes.

In those days it was custom to give guests clothes to wear at a wedding banquet.  Throughout the Bible God speaks of the clothes He want us to wear.  Below is one example.

Colossians 3:12-14 "Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.  Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another.  Forgive as the Lord forgave you.  And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity."

God has invited you to His banquet table, but He's also provided us with clothes to wear.  If we refuse to put on His virtues and righteousness we will be thrown out of the feast to where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.  This does not mean that works save us; it does mean that we cannot refuse to be clothed with His righteousness and think we can be at the wedding feast for eternity.

3) Some accept the invitation and the clothes.

I hope this is you.  If it is you, rejoice.  You are at the wedding feast of His Son!  You were invited whether you were good or bad, it had nothing to do with how good you were but rather how good He is.

So, make your choice.  Which of these three are you?  Choice to accept God's invitation and to be clothed with His virtues and righteousness today.