Invitations or Tickets

Invitations vs  Tickets

So, when was the last time you were invited to something that you were really excited about attending?  When was the last time you invited someone to something that you were really excited about? There is something about the experience of being invited, or extending an invitation, that impacts us on a pretty profound level. Unlike the experience of purchasing a ticket, receiving an invitation is much more personal, and relational, and perhaps even transforming. 

Reflecting on the parable of the Wedding Banquet in Matthew 22, Pastor Ken explores a bit of what it means to respond to the invitation that God extends to us, and the kinds of responses that the characters in the parable make to that invitation.  Whether we see this as more of a ticketed event, or something we are graciously invited to, and whether or not we read the story in it context, turn out to be pretty significant when it comes to understanding what Jesus is up to in this parable.  In the parable of the wedding feast, Jesus not only rescues some rich Old Testament imagery of the Messianic Banquet from the distortions that had taken place over the years, He also reminds us of what it means to be invited. 

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Matthew 22

NIV

 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 servantsto 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.

13 “Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

14 “For many are invited, but few are chosen.”