Have you ever shown up to an event and been completely under-dressed? Or perhaps over-dressed? It’s super embarrassing and I don’t wish it on anyone. You have a way of feeling ‘left out’ of the group and that everyone can tell! Yikes. So imagine a grand ball, or a banquet that you have been invited to where they have a whole bunch of different forks and spoons and you have NO idea which to use for what. All of that embarrassment could be avoided if you KNEW what you were getting into. If you knew the host, you would know both how to dress and how to navigate all the forks and spoons on the fancy table, right? But if you went to the feast because ‘everyone else was doing it’ or because you wanted some free food, you would likely stick out like a sore thumb. Now, the readings this Sunday tell us of such a banquet! God’s blessings for those in eternity with him will be spoiled rotten, all needs met! He will provide for those on earth too, just as long as they stay his people. The Israelites for example were God’s chosen people… and “He would be their God and they would be His people”… but they stopped being his people eventually… they stopped being faithful to God and started worshiping false gods… they distanced themselves from Him and their lives fell apart. They were kicked out of their city, returned to beggars. You’d think we would learn from them… Jesus then tells a parable in the Gospel. A parable of a wedding feast! The King wants all their invited guests (the chosen people, Israelites) to attend and NONE of them came. The King invited them yet again, telling them of all they would receive! And yet, they still did not come. In fact, the invited guests (Israelites) beat and killed the Kings Servants (prophets and God’s servants sent to tell the Israelites how God wanted them to be). Then, angry and probably hurt, the King invited Any and ALL to his son’s feast. Well, it is free food after all, so many came, both good and bad people alike. The Gospel parable continues… The king sees someone at the wedding banquet and the guest is NOT dressed appropriately. The king KICKS HIM OUT “into the darkness outside”. When I first read this, I was kind of shocked… I mean, hello? It’s just an outfit!? But I realized… Do you think this underdressed man was kicked out because he chose the wrong clothing style? No! He was kicked out because the man OBVIOUSLY did not know the son, nor did he care to. His lack of dressing up or making any effort told the King that he was at a party to which he did not belong. This parable tells us of the blessing God has in store for us! And ALL, every single one of us, is invited to partake in those blessings! But only a few or chosen to stay. And really, those few who are chosen are chosen because they want to stay, they put effort into knowing the son and respecting the son. Let’s ask ourselves this question… If Christ has invited me to his banquet, what would I wear?
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWord up. I am Stacy, the youth minister of this amazing group of teens. I have 4 kids of my own, 2 heaven babies and like 60 teens I consider very large children of my own. Archives
March 2018
Categories |