Have you refused an invitation from God?

Once more, today's Gospel reading is another parable... it is known as the Parable of the Wedding Feast and you will find it in Matt.22: 1-14;

"1 Jesus again in reply spoke to them in parables, saying, 2 "The kingdom of heaven may be likened to a King who gave a wedding feast for his son. 3 He dispatched his servants to summon the invited guests to the feast, but they refused to come. 4 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." 5 Some ignored the invitation and went away, one to his farm, another to his business. 6 The rest laid hold of his servants, mistreated them, and killed them.

7 The King was enraged and sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city. 8 Then he said to his servants, "The feast is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy to come. 9 Go out, therefore, into the main roads and invite to the feast whomever you find.' 10 The servants went out into the streets and gathered all they found, bad and good alike, and the hall was filled with guests.

11 But when the King came in to meet the guests he saw a man there not dressed in a wedding garment. 12 He said to him, 'My friend, how is it that you came in here without a wedding garment?" But he was reduced to silence. 13 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. 14 Many are invited, but few are chosen."

Offhand, I'm sure you must be pondering how come someone or anyone for that matter would refuse an invitation to a wedding... much more a royal wedding, after all it is the wedding of a prince? I'm sure that none of us would dare miss the opportunity to attend a royal wedding if ever we get so blessed to be invited to one. But then, in this particular parable, isn't the Lord Jesus Christ giving a story in a kind of reference to the kingdom of heaven? Therefore, if one gets invited for instance to join a charismatic group... isn't this then a form of royal invitation to join a group belonging or related to the kingdom of heaven? I would like to believe that this is so.

Those who refuse the invitation of the King are people who went to their farms or their respective businesses. In a sense, they are the people who are so engrossed in doing their own thing... their work or their businesses that they do not have time to honor any invitation coming from God... be it a real wedding or to join a prayer group.

Hence you can say that when one refuses such an invitation... he is actually refusing God himself! Let me refer you to Matt.10: 32-33, which goes; 32 Everyone who acknowledges me before others I will acknowledge before my heavenly father. 33 But whoever denies me before others, I will deny before my heavenly father." Indeed, this is a powerful reminder to all of us... that when God calls upon us... we must respond positively... otherwise we lose.

Again, this parable is in reference to the relation of God and his first born children... Israel. If you read Bible history you will note that the Israelites are so blessed that God gave them a first chance at gaining salvation through father Abraham and a promised land away from the bondage of Egypt through Moses. But what do the Israelites give God in return? Well as the Parable of the Wedding Feast suggests... they do not honor the invitation of the King to attend the royal wedding.

Because the first born children of God refused his invitation, we who are considered as one amongst the Gentiles, from the bad ones to the good ones were called out from the streets and given this invitation and many responded to the invitation of the King. But when the King noticed a man who wasn't dressed for the royal occasion, the King ordered his attendants to bind him and cast him into the darkness, sending the message to one and all, "Many are invited, but few are chosen."

In a kind of parallelism, you can say that friends who invite you to join a charismatic or prayer group are akin to the attendants of God... they are not really acting on their own, rather they're mere vessels that God uses to invite you to be with him in his Kingdom. Of course, many people refuse this invitation simply because they only see the face of their friend who is talking to them and inviting them to join their group. Obviously, they don't see the hand of God working through that friend.

But to those who accept this invitation and a few months later they go back to their old sinful ways... I look at them as the man in the wedding feast who didn't come in the proper attire. Indeed, a lot of people are called or invited, but few... very few are chosen to become servants of God. Ask yourself... are you among those invited by God? Have a Blessed Sunday!

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For e-mail responses to this article, write to [email protected]. Bobit Avila's columns can also be accessed through www.thefreeman.com