Matthew 22:1-14

1 And again Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying, 2 "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a marriage feast for his son, 3 and sent his servants to call those who were invited to the marriage feast; but they would not come. 4 Again he sent other servants, saying, 'Tell those who are invited, Behold, I have made ready my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves are killed, and everything is ready; come to the marriage feast.' 5 But they made light of it and went off, one to his farm, another to his business, 6 while the rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them. 7 The king was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. 8 Then he said to his servants, 'The wedding is ready, but those invited were not worthy. 9 Go therefore to the thoroughfares, and invite to the marriage feast as many as you find.' 10 And those servants went out into the streets and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good; so the wedding hall was filled with guests. 11 "But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment; 12 and he said to him, 'Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?' And he was speechless. 13 Then the king said to the attendants, 'Bind him hand and foot, and cast him into the outer darkness; there men will weep and gnash their teeth.' 14 For many are called, but few are chosen."

“Changed By God’s Grace”

Two thoughts and a challenge capture something of the meaning of this parable.
The first is summarized in the words of Dr. Helmet Thielicke:
“Christian satiation is worse then hungry heathenism.”

Indifference and complacency are both dangerous to faith. They take the life out of it.

The second is pointed to by the words of Nietzsche:
“If you expect me to believe in your Redeemer, you have to look more redeemed.”

God expects to see something different in our lives because we have been to his banquet.

We are shocked and surprised by the treatment of the one who came to the feast without a wedding garment. We do want to have our cake and eat it too. Again as Dr Helmet Thielicke says, “We seat ourselves at the banquet table without a wedding garment when we allow our sins to be forgiven but still want to hang on to them.”

When we have no intention of being changed by God’s grace!

God’s intention is to change us into God’s likeness - like it or not. If we refuse to be changed; we will not be welcome in God’s Kingdom. Make what you can of that!

“THEY MADE LIGHT OF IT”

When the Roman Emperor Constantine became a Christian, the Christian faith lost something. It lost its cutting edge. Nominal Christians appeared in vast numbers for the first time. It no longer cost to be a Christian. It became easy to make light of it.
We can see something of this today in:

Indifference - “Christianity without Sweat.” No call to discipleship; no costly grace freely given. No sacrifice in love until it hurts. Just easy going, rocking chair religion which isn’t too important and doesn’t get in the way.

Insincerity -”Christianity without tears”. No confession of sin; no tears shed for the wrongs of the past; no cross to bear in the present, just a name on a roll and a sometimes present body in a pew.

To be invited to the banquet is to fellowship with God at the Banquet table filled with grace; to share in the joys of being a part of Gods Kingdom, and to share in the work load of spreading this Kingdom on earth. It is a high calling, a great gift, and a life consuming challenge.