Biblical Invitations

O Lord Jesus, Servant and Master, Bringer of Peace and Reconciliation, with deep sorrow and concern, we cry out to you for the beginnings of this war now occurring in Ukraine. We long for you to arrest this violence and destruction, to bring this war to a just end, and for your protection for all innocent victims and everyone directly involved in military action, in Ukraine and in Russia. Lord, in your mercy.

Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son. And he sent out his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding feast, and they were unwilling to come.

With the recent change in law,  it will now be possible to hold a wedding ceremony wherever a couple may choose. There reference to weddings in scripture is quite significant. From the first miracle in Cannan to the Christ’s teachings to the Church being described as the bride of Christ. N.T. Wright claims for example that, “John’s gospel is all about the marriage of heaven and earth in Jesus Christ. That is the final purpose of God in creation – not the separation of heaven and earth but their wonderfully fruitful combining.

I invite you to read the whole passage from Matthew 22:1-14

This passage is once more about God’s generous call, this time to a sumptuous feast. Once again, however, he expects us to accept his invitation. Being invited places on us a real responsibility. Yet it is so easy to take God’s generosity for granted, and we find excuses not to respond, “they made light of it and went away!” What is God inviting me to at this point in my life? Am I as good at finding excuses not to answer his call? Am I the procrastinator, postponing my response to a more suitable moment? Once more I pray not to be deaf to his call, but ready to respond generously, to the best of my ability.

God’s generosity is not blocked by our carelessness or lack of response: he sends his servants to invite those who would not have qualified in the first place. This is another reference to the universality of God’s offer of salvation. It is all God’s gift. I thank God for his goodness to me and my people, and pray for a Church that is always open, seeking others willing to listen to God’s generous offer.

There is no room for complacency in this parable. The Swiss Protestant theologian, Karl Barth, sums it up: “In the last resort, it all boils down to the fact that the invitation is to a feast, and that he who does not obey and come accordingly, and therefore festively, declines and spurns the invitation no less than those who are unwilling to obey and appear at all.”

We are all invited to God’s banquet. However, some do not accept the invitation. Some even attack the messengers that bring the invitation. Let us pray for all God’s messengers.

God, thank you for the invitation to freely come to you and receive.  We confess our greatest need is for you and the living bread that you provide through a relationship with Jesus Christ. In Jesus’ name, Amen.