Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Matthew chapter 22 verses 1 through 14:
Once more Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying:2‘The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son. 3He sent his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding banquet, but they would not come.4Again he sent other slaves, saying, “Tell those who have been invited: Look, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready; come to the wedding banquet.” 5But they made light of it and went away, one to his farm, another to his business, 6while the rest seized his slaves, maltreated them, and killed them. 7The king was enraged. He sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city. 8Then he said to his slaves, “The wedding is ready, but those invited were not worthy.9Go therefore into the main streets, and invite everyone you find to the wedding banquet.” 10Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered all whom they found, both good and bad; so 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 a wedding robe, 12and he said to him, “Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding robe?” And he was speechless. 13Then the king said to the attendants, “Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”14For many are called, but few are chosen.’
Now here is a story about the kingdom told in the parable of a wedding a king gives for his son.
Many are invited; but not all come. There is refusal — even to the point of violence. War breaks out. The city is reduced to rubble.
Finally, order is restored. The wedding day is set. The good and bad — both sides of the fight — are invited. But then on the wedding day, one recalcitrant person refuses to dress up. He’s still at war in his spirit. He’s still at enmity with the king and with the couple and with his world. His world has changed, but he himself is unwilling to change — literally; he is unwilling to put on the wedding clothes.
His behavior is insulting. But even more than that it’s sad. I feel sad and sorry for him. He seems lonely and angry and scared. And yet, his protest can’t be allowed to disrupt the wedding. The wedding must go on.
This story has played out millions of times over since Jesus told the parable. There’s a wedding that’s to take place at some point in everyone’s life. The invitations have gone out. RSVP is asked and change is required — change of heart, change or mind, and change spirit. Everyone is invited. But like always, not everyone is ready to come.
That’s too bad because the wedding is going to be beautiful. And, it could be our very own . . .
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