Word for the day by Christian Education Forum
Connecticut Mar Thoma Congregation
14 For many are called, but few are chosen.”
The Parable of the Wedding Feast
is one of the many parables through which Jesus Christ has taught about the
Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus told this parable while He was teaching at the temple
in the city of Bethany, when the chief priests and the elders of the people
came to Him questioning His authority (Mat. 21: 17, 23). The Jews believed that
they were the only chosen nation on earth. So He tells them The Parable of the
Two Sons (Mat. 21: 28-32), The Parable of the Tenants (Mat. 21: 33-46) and
eventually The Parable of the Wedding Banquet to make them understand that the
invitation to the Kingdom of God is not limited to the Jews but to all the
nations on earth; and more importantly, only those who earnestly respond to the
invitation will enter into God’s Kingdom.
The
Jews were not only the first to be invited to the Kingdom of God (through the
prophets in the Old Testament), but they were invited repeatedly - through John
the Baptist who preached that the Kingdom of God is near and urged them to
repent (Mat. 3:2) and eventually by the Son of God himself. But they did not
heed to the repeated invitations. So the Lord God extended the invitation to
the Gentiles as well; thus the invitation to the Kingdom of God is to all the
nations of the world – every one, both good and bad (verse 10).
But
who gets to enter into the Kingdom? Everyone who responds to the invitation?
No! What matters is how we respond to the invitation. In the parable,
Jesus explains how the response has to be. Only those who came dressed in
wedding clothes were allowed at the feast; those who did not were thrown out.
One could ask how can a man who got invited to the feast while he was at the
street be expected to come prepared to attend the feast in wedding clothes. The answer is that in such situations of the
Mediterranean culture, the king would make sure to provide proper wedding
clothes to all of his guests as they arrived (Malina, Synoptic Gospels, 111. Cf. also Stern, Jewish NT Commentary, 64, and Pilch, Cultural World of Jesus, 148-150)ₐ. We can infer that the person
who wasn’t in the wedding clothes did not accept the wedding clothes that the
king would have offered him on his way into the wedding hall and therefore got
thrown out.
God
wants all of us to enter into His kingdom, but He wants us to come prepared to
attend the feast dressed in wedding clothes. Mat. 26:31-46 helps us to better
understand the wedding clothes we need to wear – the clothes of righteousness.
Only the righteous are chosen to enter into His kingdom (Mat. 26: 34-36,
Mat. 13: 47-50). It might sound then that following the law (as the Jews
believed) would alone make us righteous. St. Paul tells us no one will be
declared righteous in God’s sight by observing the law, rather through the law
we become conscious of sin (Romans 3:20). He further teaches us that apart from
law, righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who
believe (Romans 3:21-24). Paul also clarifies ‘Do we, then nullify the law by
this faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law.’ (Romans: 3:31) and reminds us to
put our faith into action as did Abraham (Romans 4).
Let
the Son of God’s teaching guide us and make us all worthy to enter the Kingdom
of Heaven - “Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom
of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.”
(Mat. 7:21)
References:
References:
PRAYER
Heavenly Father, we
confess that we have sinned against You and have fallen short of Your glory.
Please pardon our sins and guide us so that we may do Your will all the days of
our lives. Amen.
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:
“Not everyone who
says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the
will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.” (Mat. 7:21)