22 Jesus also told them other parables. He said, ² “The Kingdom of Heaven can be illustrated by the story of a king who prepared a great wedding feast for his son. ³ When the banquet was ready, he sent his servants to notify those who were invited. But they all refused to come!

⁴ “So he sent other servants to tell them, ‘The feast has been prepared. The bulls and fattened cattle have been killed, and everything is ready. Come to the banquet!’ ⁵ But the guests he had invited ignored them and went their own way, one to his farm, another to his business. ⁶ Others seized his messengers and insulted them and killed them.

⁷ “The king was furious, and he sent out his army to destroy the murderers and burn their town. ⁸ And he said to his servants, ‘The wedding feast is ready, and the guests I invited aren’t worthy of the honor. ⁹ Now go out to the street corners and invite everyone you see.’ ¹⁰ So the servants brought in everyone they could find, good and bad alike, and the banquet hall was filled with guests.

¹¹ “But when the king came in to meet the guests, he noticed a man who wasn’t wearing the proper clothes for a wedding. ¹² ‘Friend,’ he asked, ‘how is it that you are here without wedding clothes?’ But the man had no reply. ¹³ Then the king said to his aides, ‘Bind his hands and feet and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

¹⁴ “For many are called, but few are chosen.”

Matthew 22:1-14

Dear God, this is one of the many parables Jesus taught that indicates there will be a sorting one day. He doesn’t definitively define a “cut line,” but it’s hard to read this parable, the parable of the sheep and the goats, Lazarus and the rich man, and others and not see that we aren’t all with you in the new earth. How could we be?

I’m not going to pretend to know where the cut line is. And any answer I come up with would be no better than partially correct. So I won’t try. But I also won’t just accept the idea that everyone gets to be with you in the afterlife. So what does that mean for those who are and those who aren’t? All of us will experience something. I know what I hope it will be (even for those who are not with you). But there’s no way for me to understand you and all your ways, so there’s no way I’ll even get close to knowing what’s next. I don’t even know what will happen one minute from now.

So what’s the point of this story? Why did Jesus tell it? First, he was setting up that Gentiles are in this too. The way he tells it, they weren’t at the beginning, which is surprising. Especially given the stories of people you loved before Abram came along. Then looking at the Gentiles you loved after your covenant with Abram/Abraham. I’m looking at you, Hagar. I’m looking at you Naaman. I’m looking at you, widow who helped Elijah. Second, he was letting the current Israelite leaders know you are disappionted and frustrated with them. Finally, he added a tag to the end of the story about this one man who thought he’d get into the banquet with no effort at all.

Father, I’m about to go to a church and represent our nonprofit. Help me to more interested in every person I talk to than I am in how they can help our nonprofit. Help me to discern if being involved with us would be a blessing for them. In fact, each person I meet today, help me to love and encourag them to love you more. Help me to point them to you. Help me to experience you for myself. Help me to make myself presentable for your banquet. Not really through any actions I take or things I achieve, but through a heart that is submitted to you.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen