When was the last time you had a party and sent out a variety of invitations? It may have been for a birthday, wedding, baby shower, graduation, or other occasion where you wanted to invite your network to celebrate with you something significant.
What if you sent out these invitations and no one came? What if you addressed, stamped, mailed, and emailed dozens of invites without a single RSVP . . . what would you do?
This very scenario is discussed by Jesus in a parable in Matthew 22:1-14. In this true-to-life story, Jesus talks about a King who is having a weeklong celebration for his son who is getting married. The King invites all the usual suspects inside his kingdom to come and party . . . but none of them come! So wrapped up in their own agendas, all of those originally on the invite list are NO SHOWS to the wedding feast of the king’s son!
In this parable that Jesus tells, what happens next reveals an incredibly important principle that ALL OF US need to remember today. In this one parable Jesus:
- prophesies about a cataclysmic event that was soon to come (something that happened just a few decades after this parable was told),
- promises the extended invitation to salvation for all, yet also
- predicts the actual salvation of only some.
What is this event Jesus is talking about? Are we really invited to the party? How do we clothe ourselves appropriately for this celebration? And what does this reveal to us about the Father’s Heart for each of us?
Join us this Sunday, June 16 at Wildwood Community Church in our 9:45 or 11:00 service as we will be looking at Matthew 22 together in part 2 of our “Father Heart of God” series. We will also be celebrating the Lord’s Supper together on this Father’s Day weekend. Hope to see you Sunday . . . and bring friends!