You are Invited!

“Come to the feast.” Matthew 22:4

Last Sunday we had a surprise celebration for my sister Tina at a restaurant she especially wanted to go to. Tina has plenty of friends, the space was small, so we had a difficult time keeping the guest list to just enough that it would not be uncomfortable for the guests. So if one person said they could not come, we would invite someone to take his or her place. Thankfully, the celebration was a success, the guests came, and made Tina very happy. 

In the Gospel for today, the opposite happened. The invited guests refused to come even if they were invited twice and told that the King had prepared a banquet. There were fattened calves, and choice meats awaiting them. The guests ignored the invitation and went about their day to day business. 

In this parable of Jesus, it’s easy to see that the King is God who eagerly invites us to a relationship with Him. Most of us refuse for all sorts of reasons. I was just talking to a friend of mine from the U.K., and she said that God was irrelevant to most of the people there. All around the world, people are refusing God’s invitation. So sad when He “has prepared a table for us, so that our cup overflows, His goodness and love will follow us all the days of our life, and we can dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” (Psalm 23)