Many today are attracted to the Lord’s comfortable
words rather than His uncomfortable words that demand holiness and disciplined
living. There are those who fail to see that at some point we must all grow up.
While entering the Kingdom of God requires childlike trust, no one can forever
be living like a careless and carefree child. All of us need to live a life
that is progressively leading toward spiritual maturity and adulthood. And being
an adult demands responsibility and the realization that every action taken has
a consequence. Making right moral choices matters. The choices we make today
affects our tomorrow. Besides, it affects not only us but also the people we
love and care for deeply. God’s forgiveness doesn’t mean that we can do
anything and expect that everything will still be alright.
Jesus told the parable of the wedding banquet
immediately following the disturbing story 0f the wicked tenant farmers in
Matthew 21. The main thrust of the parable is obvious. It is about the coming
of God’s Kingdom, especially the arrival of the Messiah. Though it’s a parable
to rebuke Israel, it shows us how to remain in the Kingdom and celebrate with
the King. In this parable, we see Israel’s leaders and the many who followed them
were like guests invited to God’s wedding celebration. It’s a celebration for
His Son. They rejected the invitation and refused to come. Earlier in Matthew
11:20-24, Galilee and the surrounding towns had refused to come and were
condemned by the Lord. Now Jerusalem was also turning down the invitation. God
had been preparing this long awaited celebration. The Messiah had arrived but
the leadership of the Jerusalem didn’t want to know. They not only harmed the
prophets but also killed them, who came to tell them about it. As a consequence
the city would be destroyed.
Since they refused to come, God sent His
servants to other places and invited everyone and anyone to the celebration,
and they all came in hordes. Matthew, in this Gospel, had already shown us that
they were the social outcasts, comprising of the tax-collectors, prostitutes, the
lame, the blind, the unknowns and even those who felt by-passed. They were
astonished that God’s invitation would include them too. While the outcasts
were invited to the celebration as they were, they were expected to change.
They could not remain as they were; transformation and change must take place. God’s
love may be gentle but it is tough. His love reaches us where we are, but it
refuses to let us remain there.
Even
as we are in God’s banqueting hall, He expects changes in our life. Otherwise
we may find ourselves not in the proper Kingdom attire and be cast out. In the
Kingdom of God, justice, mercy, love and holiness flow unimpeded. These
constitute the clothes we need to put on to remain in the wedding celebration.
Refusal to put them on would be an indication that we don’t want to stay in the
celebration. What’s sad in this story is that what began as an invitation to a
celebration, ended with the warning of eternal punishment. It tells us that the
merriment of the celebration is not for the unprepared. While many of us do not
have the right to expect the invitation, we are already invited nonetheless.
Since we are now in the celebration, we must act responsibly. We must keep the proper
suit on. This is referring to the sanctifying process in our spiritual journey.
We need to collaborate with the Holy Spirit in cultivating a sanctified living.
We must show discipline, justice, love, mercy, holiness and such traits. As the
parable suggests, only when we seek to be properly attired that we are showing
proper respect and honor to the King, who had so graciously granted us the
privilege to the feast
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