You’re Invited To The Wedding Feast

Make Sure That Put On Your Wedding Garments:

In this weekend’s gospel we hear Jesus speaking a parable about the Kingdom of Heaven. It is a parable that for many years has been somewhat confusing to me; that was until someone explain it to me then it made a whole lot of sense. The part that confused me for so long was the part with the person who somehow got into the banquet without his wedding garments.  Maybe it confused you as well so read on. This may be a kairos moment for you as it was for me when I first heard the explanation

This parable has its roots in the old testament – the second book of Chronicles, chapter 30 to be more precise, when king Hezekiah who was king of Judah, sent messenger to all of Israel and Judah and also wrote letters to Ephraim and Manasseh bidding them to come to the temple of Yahweh in Jerusalem to celebrate the pass over in honour of Yahweh God of Israel. Verse 10 tells us that the courtiers went from town to town through the territory of Ephraim and Manasseh and as far as Zebulon but the people laughed and scoffed at them. Sound pretty much like what Jesus is saying in the parable right?

Later traditions about this even states that some of the prophet who went about inviting people to the pass-over feast were killed.

Chronicles then blames the destruction of the ten tribes of Israel by the Assyrians on their failure to repent and come to the banquet. Chronicles also says that there were quite a few who heeded the call and came including not only Israelites but also a number of Gentile – the good and bad.

In Jesus’ parable, the king refers to God the father and son refers to Jesus himself. The invitation in Jesus’ parable of the Kingdom of heaven is not to a pass-over feast but to a wedding banquet. Many of the old testament prophets referred to the end of time, the coming of Christ as a wedding banquet between God and his people. So in this Kingdom of Heaven parable, the invitation goes out to everyone.  The gospel passage mentions that both good and bad alike were invited to the banquet.

This is the incredible thing about God.  He makes no distinction about whom he calls; about who he invites to this banquet; this wedding feast. So no matter how wicked you or I may have been in the past, or maybe we still are, God still issues an invitation to us to come to the banquet, our wedding feast with Jesus. Now here’s the catch – before the wedding feast is consummated in Heaven, we must first convert our hearts. This is precisely what King Hezekiah was trying to get the people to do in the book of Chronicles. So I suppose, in the same way wedding invitations come with a gift list request that itemizes what the bride and groom would like, so too does this invitation from Jesus come with a gift request – if you may call it that – and it is that our hearts be transformed. So this invitation from God to the marriage feast of the Lamb, has contained in it the grace for repentance, the grace to be transformed, the grace to change our hearts and our lives so that we can be found wearing the wedding garments of true repentance and a clean and contrite heart so that we can fully enter into the marriage feast. If we accept the invitation we must also accept the grace to change our lives. Can’t have one without the other.

Now in the parable that Jesus shares about the Kingdom of Heaven, He makes mention of one of the guest who did not have on the wedding garments – and this is what always confused me, that was until fairly recently when it was explained to me. You see this person like all of us, received the invitation to the marriage feast of the Lamb and they also received the Grace to be transformed, the grace to repent and be converted but they did not want to repent. The bible tells us that when questioned, the guest was reduced to silence. He just wanted the free food. Sounds like a Trini right?

The inviting of both the good and the bad in this parable reminds me of verse from 1 Timothy 2:4 and 2 Peter 3:9 where the Word of God says that He wants everyone to be saved. It also testifies to the insurmountable Love of God. So God sends this wedding invitation to every single one of us good and bad alike; and not only does he issue the invitation but he also provides us with the wedding garment, the grace of true repentance and conversion, the grace to be transformed, and it is entirely up to us to decide whether we want to put on the wedding garment of true repentance and conversion, whether we want to put on the wedding garment of transformation, whether we want to allow the grace of God to be fully at work in our lives or whether we want to be like this guest who tries to “storm” the wedding feast without of wedding garment.

Gospel Matthew 22:1-14

Jesus again in reply spoke to the chief priests and elders of the people
in parables, saying,
“The kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king
who gave a wedding feast for his son.
He dispatched his servants
to summon the invited guests to the feast,
but they refused to come.
A second time he sent other servants, saying,
‘Tell those invited: “Behold, I have prepared my banquet,
my calves and fattened cattle are killed,
and everything is ready; come to the feast.”’
Some ignored the invitation and went away,
one to his farm, another to his business.
The rest laid hold of his servants,
mistreated them, and killed them.
The king was enraged and sent his troops,
destroyed those murderers, and burned their city.
Then he said to his servants, ‘The feast is ready,
but those who were invited were not worthy to come.
Go out, therefore, into the main roads
and invite to the feast whomever you find.’
The servants went out into the streets
and gathered all they found, bad and good alike,
and the hall was filled with guests.
But when the king came in to meet the guests,
he saw a man there not dressed in a wedding garment.
The king said to him, ‘My friend, how is it
that you came in here without a wedding garment?’
But he was reduced to silence.
Then the king said to his attendants, ‘Bind his hands and feet,
and cast him into the darkness outside,
where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.’
Many are invited, but few are chosen.”