Topic: The Wedding Invitation
Matthew chapter 22, Jesus as entered Jerusalem on what is called Palm Sunday. Probably less than 48 hours before His crucifixion Jesus shares three parables directed at the religious leaders in Jerusalem. Matthew 22 is the third parable that teaches about the invitation to a wedding celebration.
The message here is clear. God invited Israel into His kingdom, but they had rejected His invitation. So God sent additional servants, like the prophets and people like John the Baptist to extend one last invitation. But the Israelites were indifferent and even hostile to those servants and some of them, like John the Baptist, were even killed. The outcome of rejecting God’s invitation is judgement. God did judge Israel and destroy Jerusalem. That promise came true when the Roman rule Titus conquered the city of Jerusalem and destroy the temple about 40 years later, in 70 AD.
Because Israel had rejected Him, God sent His servants out into the rest of the world, particularly to the Gentiles, and invited them to enter His kingdom. And many of those people responded. The apostle Paul later goes into great detail about this aspect of the kingdom of God in Romans chapters 9-11.
A closer look at this parable, you will notice that the king issues a number of invitations, but never an edict. He never forces or requires anyone to come to the party. The choice of whether to accept the invitation rests with each individual. That means that every one of us here this morning has to respond individually to the invitation that God has issued to each one of us to be part of His kingdom.
If you have never accepted God’s invitation to enter His kingdom or if you’re not sure whether you’ve done that, you need to be aware that your current joy and your eternal destiny depend on your response to God’s invitation to you.
God has issued His invitation to enter His kingdom by sending His Son, Jesus, to this earth to die on a cross and make it possible for you to enter God’s kingdom. In His conversation with one of those Jewish religious leaders, Nicodemus, Jesus described God’s invitation like this (John 3:16),
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
Three barriers to accepting God’s invitation: indifference, hostility, and selfishness.
If you have never moved beyond those three barriers and accepted God’s invitation to enter His kingdom. God has given you an invitation to join Him for eternity. He provides the clothing of the righteousness of Jesus. If you accept his gracious offer, then you will enjoy the presence of the King of Kings for all eternity.
See you Sunday,
Dr. Scott Kallem