The Invitation
“Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. So go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.’ 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.
Matthew 22:8-10 (NIV)
The parable of the Wedding Banquet is directed at Jerusalem’s religious leaders. Jesus is trying to teach them that they are instituting a religious system that holds people hostage with laws and commandments, while all the time failing to accept that God really wants, above everything else, for people to enjoy and rejoice in a relationship with Him.
Jesus Christ was and is the living invitation telling people how to enjoy life with God, like attending a prepared banquet. But instead of saying yes, the religious Jews said no. And because they rejected the invitation, God then extended the invitation beyond the Jews to the population of the Gentiles.
Why is it that God has such a hard time getting us to accept Himself? It’s clear from this parable that it’s not from lack of effort on God’s part! He prepares the banquet. He makes sure we are on the list of invitees. He brings the invitation to us. He patiently waits on our response. He absorbs our refusals and denials and gives us, instead, grace. He sends out another invite and lets us live in spite of what we do to disregard His Son.
You have an invitation to enjoy the banquet of a King whose crown can never be removed. He will wear His crown, He will be seated upon His throne, and He will extend you yet another invitation. Earlier, in verse 4, his invitation says, “Everything is on the table waiting for you.” One translation says, “The prime rib is ready for the carving.” This isn’t a hamburger or hot dog! He says, “Come to my banquet.” His banquet is lavish and extravagant and superlative. He is sparing no expense in how He wants you to enjoy your life with Him!
No matter what is going on in our world that causes us stress and worry, we need to give God praise that He extends to us an invitation for us to join Him to celebrate and eat at His table—to taste, to see, and to experience that the Lord is good.
