An invitation you can’t refuse
by Pastor Reid Matthias
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For many are invited, but few are chosen (Matthew 22:14).
Let’s face it – weddings can be a drag.
The fact that, in Jesus’ parable, the invitees to the prince’s wedding don’t want to come to the banquet resonates deeply in the 21st century. Be honest, like me, you’ve been to a wedding that is entirely about the photos. Or there is the professionally created video montage of a beautifully decorated bridal party placed in awkward poses with just the perfect lighting. The rest of the invitees engage in multiple hours of polite, if not painful, conversation with long-lost relatives or semi-inebriated friends of the bridal party.
I might be sounding curmudgeon-ish, but to me, that’s the way the invited guests sound in Jesus’ parable.
Maybe one invitee asks another, ‘Are you going to the king’s banquet?’
The reply: ‘I thought about it, but the big game is on Saturday night. Oh, and I promised my spouse I would clean the boat this weekend. On Sunday, the kids have a birthday party to attend and …’
‘I know’, says the first. ‘It’s just one more thing … We’re just too busy.’
As the invitees do everything in their power to avoid attending the banquet (including killing the king’s servants), Jesus ends this parable with, ‘Many are invited, but few are chosen’.
In the 21st century, theologically, we might understand this parable is directed to the Jews who choose not to come to the king’s party and the Gentiles who are given the next go. In the 1st century, though, no one would turn down the invite. Thus, it’s a strange moral of the story. It feels like it should read, ‘Many are invited, but few accept’. Right? But chosen?
When someone is chosen, they are selected for a purpose or mission. Perhaps the invitation to the kingdom of heaven is an invitation to participate in God’s banquet celebrating Jesus’ love for the entire world. Perhaps Christians have been chosen to serve rather than simply attend.
What does your invitation look like? Are you too busy? What do you think you have been invited and chosen to do?
King of the banquet, thank you for the invitation to celebrate and participate in Jesus’s work of bringing about the kingdom of heaven. Amen.
Reid Matthias is the school pastor at St Andrews Lutheran College in Tallebudgera, Queensland. Reid is married to Christine, who is part of the Grow Ministries team. Together, they have raised three incredible daughters, Elsa, Josephine and Greta. Dedicated to the written word, Reid has recently published his fourth novel, Blank Spaces, maintains the blog ireid.blogspot.com and regularly contributes to The Lutheran magazine.
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