December 6, 2016 – 18 Days Until My Head Explodes, Or Devotions to Prepare Us For Christ’s Coming

“Once more Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding banquet, but they would not come. Again he sent other slaves, saying, ‘Tell those who have been invited: Look, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready; come to the wedding banquet.’ But they made light of it and went away, one to his farm, another to his business, while the rest seized his slaves, mistreated them, and killed them. The king was enraged. He sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city. Then he said to his slaves, ‘The wedding is ready, but those invited were not worthy. Go therefore into the main streets, and invite everyone you find to the wedding banquet.’ Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered all whom they found, both good and bad; so the wedding hall was filled with guests.
“But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing a wedding robe, and he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding robe?’ And he was speechless. Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ For many are called, but few are chosen.” Matthew 21:1-14

The Armadillo never needs to worry about not being dressed appropriately, because they have one outfit – it is an armor-like shell. Now, this still does not warrant putting an armadillo on the Christmas tree, though I am sure the armadillo is the favorite animal of many, many people.

Did you ever have the dream where you showed up for some important event, but were not dressed properly? While I was in the Blue Band, I used to have the dream that I could not find my band uniform and it was time to leave for the football game. It was always troubling that I could not find what I needed – and I knew that I could not go to the game without being dressed properly.

In the parable of the Wedding Banquet, many are invited but none of them want to come. Finally, the king gathers anyone that his slaves can find and they are brought to the banquet – but one man is not dressed properly. We might say, “Well this is unfair, because he was hastily brought to the banquet without time to prepare.” But, the parable seems to tell us that we need to always be prepared, because we never know when our invitation will come. Jesus is warning us to start our preparations now – for the great heavenly feast could be upon us at any moment. Therefore we can’t wait until our invitation comes to prepare – by then it will be too late. Begin the preparations now, while you can, because we have already received our invitation – for Jesus says, “Knock, and the door will be opened unto you.”

Pastor Dave