Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying: ² “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. ³ He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come. ⁴ “Then he sent some more servants and said, ‘Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.’ ⁵ “But they paid no attention and went off—one to his field, another to his business. ⁶ The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them. ⁷ The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.

⁸ “Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. ⁹ So go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.’ ¹⁰ So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, the bad as well as the good, and the wedding hall was filled with guests. ¹¹ “But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. ¹² He asked, ‘How did you get in here without wedding clothes, friend?’ The man was speechless.” Matthew 22:1-12

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 to go to the football game. It was always very distressing to me that I could not find what I needed – and I knew that I could not go to the game unprepared – without being dressed properly. Jesus tells 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 prepared – 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 also tell us that we need to always be prepared, because we never know when our invitation will come. The parable seems to warn us that we need to prepare for what we know is to come – a great heavenly feast. But, 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

⁴² Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures:

“‘The stone the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;
the Lord has done this,
and it is marvelous in our eyes’?

⁴³ “Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit. ⁴⁴ Anyone who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; anyone on whom it falls will be crushed.”⁴⁵ When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus’ parables, they knew he was talking about them. ⁴⁶ They looked for a way to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowd because the people held that he was a prophet.” Matthew 21:42-46

I read the Gospel text, and am reminded of one of my favorite hymns.

The Church’s one foundation Is Jesus Christ her Lord, She is His new creation
By water and the Word.  From heaven He came and sought her To be His holy bride; With His own blood He bought her And for her life He died.

She is from every nation, Yet one o’er all the earth; Her charter of salvation,
One Lord, one faith, one birth; One holy Name she blesses, Partakes one holy food, And to one hope she presses, With every grace endued.

’Mid toil and tribulation, And tumult of her war, She waits the consummation
Of peace forevermore; Till, with the vision glorious, Her longing eyes are blest,
And the great Church victorious Shall be the Church at rest.

O happy ones and holy! Lord, give us grace that we Like them, the meek and lowly, On high may dwell with Thee: There, past the border mountains,
Where in sweet vales the Bride With Thee by living fountains Forever shall abide!

Pastor Dave