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This parable is a familiar one, yet that doesn't stop it packing a powerful punch. Or, more accurately, several powerful punches.

'The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son, and sent his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come. Again he sent other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, See, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast.’ But they paid no attention and went off, one to his farm, another to his business, while the rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them. The king was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding feast is ready, but those invited were not worthy. Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find.’ And those servants went out into the roads and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good. So the wedding hall was filled with guests.

But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment. And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ For many are called, but few are chosen.' (Matthew 22:2-14)

It's quite straightforward to see that it's most easily presented in two parts. The structure of the first section is similar to the parable of the tenants which we looked at last week, so we won't go over that again, but we'll look at three key points in this passage.

Joy

I'd like us to start by seeing the simple foundation for this parable. The occasion Jesus is talking about is a wedding feast - a time of great joy and celebration! We have been invited to a wedding feast; that's what our life after this physical life will look like, and it's what we get brief tastes of when we experience the joy of the Holy Spirit today. There is a horrible idea that seems to be popular nowadays that says that if you're a Christian, the basic truth is that we've got to be unhappy; being a Christian means making sacrifices for God and for others, so we ought to make sure we're not doing something that makes us happy, or else that would be selfish...it's a lie. The Christian message is one that is all about joy! Come and join the celebration!

Challenge number one: Has your Christian life become one more of duty than of joy?

Responsibility

Of course, one could say that with great joy comes great responsibility. We have received a free invitation to this wedding feast, but have a responsibility to pass that invitation on. Note that in the parable '[t]he king was angry', and his immediate response was to tell his servants to 'invite...as many as you find'. The king wants as many as possible invited to the wedding feast. Non-Christians that we know will not listen to God...but they may listen to us. It is our duty to invite everyone we know, whether bad or good; everyone must be invited!

Challenge number two: Has every single non-Christian that you know been invited to the wedding feast by you?

No wedding garment

We finish with a question that plagued me when I read it: what does Jesus mean when he says that 'many are called, but few are chosen?' I was filled with fear - I know I'm called, but am I chosen? The answer to that question is found in the all-important context. The one who was identified as not being chosen was the one who 'had no wedding garment'. What does this mean? Does it mean we ought to add good works to Jesus' work on the cross? I don't think so, and let me explain why. If you do a quick search for the word 'garment' in the Bible to see if Jesus was referring to something else in the Bible we find lots and lots of passages, which tend to fall into one of two camps. I've chosen one example of each.

The first talks about our good works, which is sensible - but look at Isaiah 64:6: 'all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment'. If we come into the wedding feast wearing our good works, it would be like wearing something shocking. The literal Hebrew translation of this verse refers to bloody menstrual garments - it would surely be shocking, disrespectful attire for a wedding feast. In contrast, we can look at the second category, a few chapters previously, from Isaiah 61:10: 'he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness'. Note that the writer did not clothe himself, the robe of righteousness was given him by God! Wearing the wedding garment is a picture of fully receiving God's gift of grace, and knowing that we enter this joyous wedding feast only because of him.

Challenge number three: Do you rely, even a little bit, on your good works to get into God's good graces? Or are you aware that without him you would be arriving at the wedding feast naked, or worse?

"Refreshment in Refuge" from Gina Burgess

Things that go bump in the night