The Invitation, the Feast

"I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet." But they paid no attention and went off - one to his field, another to his business. (Matthew 22:4-5)

The preparation has been centuries in the making. This feast is what everything was made for. The sun, moon, and stars to light it. The trees to wave joy over it. The animals to play in the midst of it. And people to enjoy it.

The people have been taught and led through the ages to come to expect and to anticipate such a feast. They were sent invitation and explanation through teachers and scriptures and even in basic human wisdom. It was all done to warm and soften their hearts to their Maker.

The final call for the feast was the most amazing. Last of all, he sent his son to them. "They will respect my son," he said. (Matthew 21:37) But it was not so. Even as his own Son came to share the good news of the Father's goodness and greatness through word and deed, all sorts of people gathered together to kill him.

The people may have thought this was the end, the last straw. But even then the invitation went out. News came back that the Son could not be killed, the invitation could not be quieted, and the people could not be unloved by the Father. Because of their disregard for his Son, they faced deep suffering. They had allied themselves with evil and now evil had them in its clutches and had its way with them. Still the invitation goes out. It's not too late. If, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! (Romans 5:10)

We have been brought back to God through Jesus. God's forgiveness was with us even to in the depths of our own disregard, hatred, and abuse. He stayed with us even to the limits of our own evil. God is still with us. His invitation shines even more brightly than ever. Some people do not want to be reconciled. They still find reason to avoid God. Some people think that the invitation is not open to everyone, but only to a special few. But we are not locked out; we have locked ourselves in. God opens wide his door by making peace with each person through Jesus. That is the invitation. The feast is deliverance from a dead, meaningless, empty life of trying to avoid pain, justify oneself, or impress others.

This is an old story. We tire of God's persistence and insistence for us to come. It is so common that it is met with disregard. We pay no attention and go off to our pursuits. It does not have to be that way. The feast is a wedding feast, uniting God with each person and with his people. Now that unity is finally found in God-made-human, Jesus. That unity is one of living life with Him in prayerful response to his voice which always echoes the BIble, in work and play that resounds with joy and power unexplainable, and in caring for other people in a way that brings about goodness and wholeness in their lives. 

The doors are open. The feast is ready. The guests are already arriving. Join the feast. Do not just listen to the gathering from outside. Do not sit on the doorstep frustrated about who is invited. Do not fuss about how inconvenient it all is. Your response to the invitation will reveal your heart to you. Entering will show you why both laughter and tears are part of real life together with God.