Word for the day by Christian Education Forum
Preparation
for the Kingdom
Matthew 22:1-14
VS.
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)
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)
Aby George, Jerusalem Mar Thoma Church, Connecticut
Christian Education Forum, Diocese of NAE of the Mar Thoma Church