God Makes Us Ready

Sometimes, we are just not prepared to respond to an invitation.

We often get invited to a party or even more special occasion, like a wedding or even a funeral and we might not know how to dress appropriately.

Sometimes, we are given a range of formal or semi-formal attire, but unless someone demonstrates what that looks like for us, we can remain confused and end up under-dressed.

That is embarrassing, not just for the person invited but also for the host.

It might look like the host did not properly communicate what was required for that activity.

One time I showed up to an interview in a suit, and the job simply did not rate that kind of appearance, though it landed me the job. I still felt kind of embarrassed for over-dressing.

In this case the gravitas of the occasion and the importance of the person inviting should indicate how important it was to dress well.

This text like the last two are about the kingdom of God and the just judgement of God on those who reject his gracious deliverance.

The difference is this text concerns the church, the Body of Christ and not just to those Jews who rejected the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

The guests gathered from the streets are those who are gathered to make up the church.

The marriage-feast of the Son that the guests are invited to is the “marriage” of the God-human in Jesus Christ, and the king that gathers the guests is a representation of the Father God.

Those who were invited to the marriage feast are the ones Jesus came to call first, the Jews.

Unfortunately, those who were invited had many excuses, and though they were credible reasons, one managing a farm and the other a business, they chose the lesser things over the greater.

The king, the one they owed their lives to, the one who gave them legitimacy, authority and provided for their safety asked for their presence. They couldn’t seem to return proper respect by showing up. “How many have perished by misusing lawful things!” – JW

Not only did some of the invited pay no attention, but others capture, beat and murdered the servants sent out to call them to the marriage feast.

Understandably and rightly, the king became angry at the ungrateful and violent response, and he sent his army out to punish them. Both Luke and Matthew use the word “destroy” to describe their actions on the people and their city.

It would be easy to ignore the words on the pages of the text drawn from the Gospel, because they do not sound like good news to us.

It also would be easy, as many have done to overemphasize the wrath of God on those who disobey God.

It is not easy to say that it is Jesus who makes this statement, though through allegory, its apparent harshness is no easier to hear.

We may ask ourselves, How can we call God good when God is ready to destroy?

Did they not unlawfully imprison, beat and murder? Should such evil be allowed to continue without punishment?

Can we really think that we are prepared to immediately leave behind what we invest in, nurture to grow, and gather for ourselves when the king calls?

It was said, the invited “did not deserve to come” as evidenced by their ignorance and violence.

When we do answer the call of God, will we be prepared (dressed properly)?

Will we be chosen?

The answer to that question is far from certain like the initially invited assumed.

Because the king’s invitation was rejected so readily by the first group, the king sent out the servants to invite anyone off the street.

How amazing is that? How many of us have the opportunity to feast at the invitation of our nation’s leaders? How grateful would you be to receive such an invitation?

How many of us have the ability to drop everything and attend that celebration?

When we are formally invited like the first group, there is plenty of time to prepare, to set aside our best clothes and figure out who our “plus one” will be. But, not everyone has the same amount to time to prepare.

They would be very grateful.

In Jesus time, if someone did not have the proper attire, they would have to borrow from a neighbor, but it would be likely that those invited to a royal wedding would have it already.

Expectations from those invited from the streets would be less certain. For the response, one would hope there would have been time to prepare, but the meat had already been butchered.

Some of those that are invited are known to be bad.

This should tell of what Jesus thinks God is like. That no matter the condition of the person before they are invited into the kingdom of heaven, God is willing to receive them if they respond to that invitation.

And what is expected once they are invited? To be prepared for the occasion.

Did you get that? The order is reversed from what we expect to happen.

We expect to prepare ourselves so that we are “worthy” to be invited.

God expects us to prepare ourselves after we are invited.

God already knows who we are, and yet we are invited into the kingdom.

God expects us to prepare ourselves because of the invitation.

God clothes us in the image of his son. He provides the clothing, if we only made the effort of receiving them and putting them on.

We can only know what to look like if someone models it for us.

Since we can’t afford the clothes or know how to wear them, Jesus provides them and models them for us, so that we can be ready to celebrate in joy.

Because of what he has given for us, we can be certain that we are chosen.

God does not leave us without knowing what to prepare for and how to prepare for the kingdom of heaven.

Jesus announced throughout his Galilean ministry to repent and be prepared for the kingdom of heaven coming now.

The invitations are out, how are your preparing, and how are you helping others to prepare?

Just as good clothing is shared among neighbors when there is a feast, we can share the invitation, mind and character of Jesus Christ so that all will be prepared.

How are you allowing the Holy Spirit of God to prepare you and your neighbor for that day?