Invitation and Acceptance

Update:

• If you are interested in participating in the nondenominational Christian outreach to the  Sulphur Springs area, please attend the next meeting on Saturday, March 19 at 5 PM. Call David for details.
•  Dixie is home and starts chemotherapy next week. Please keep praying for a miracle!

Praise Reports:

• David and his crew had a fantastic auction last week.
• Nellie thanks God for all of the people who have offered to help with Lydia's wedding.
• Sandra received a letter from her son thanking the HH Fellowship for bringing him back to God! He also said that he was very proud of his mother.
• Ken's glasses were corrected and he continues to see improvement.
• Vernon was having problems with his arrhythmia, but ever since having hands laid on him in faith he has not had a lot of trouble!
• Barber construction has a lot of business.
• Tyler is home from Afghanistan on furlough for a couple of weeks.

Prayer Requests:

• Izabella asked for prayer for a boy at her school, Johnny Teis, who is suffering from a brain tumor. More information on him here.  If you're on Facebook you can join the Prayer for Johnny page.
• Keep Ace in prayer.
• Pray for "Preacher X" who is battling throat cancer with faith in Arizona.
• Remember Mary.
• Pray for the Allen family.
• The Childresses ask for financial strength and for God to open the door for a job for Vernon, soon.
• Remember Trent and Emily and family.
• Arnie Schmid--for his eye surgery and other health problems.
• Pray for the young people in our fellowship, that they would grow and mature in Christ.
• Byron has been having a hard time lately, struggling with his own physical weakness. Encourage him if you can.
• May Hans and Norma's trip here be a great blessing to Byron and their sons!
• Keep Markus in your prayers.
• Safety and joy for the Augustin family and June as they travel.
• Blessings on Sandra's son, Adam.
• We prayed for Megan Kyle--that she would have great favor with her commanding officers in the Air Force and that she would have comfort in her homesickness.
• Remember the leaders of our town, state, nation, and world, as well as those in the armed services. 

Bobby & Joanna: the cup, originally uploaded by vicki wolkins.

Matthew 22:1-14 


"Many are invited, but few are chosen." (vs. 14) Those words can send chills up our spines. What if I'm not one of the chosen? What if Jesus comes to me at the Wedding Feast and says "Tie him hand and foot...."? But do we really have so much to fear? The punch of this parable hinges on the man who was cast out of the banquet hall because of his lack of wedding clothes. But what are those wedding clothes, exactly? 


The pat answer is that the clothes symbolize righteousness, or being "washed in the blood of Jesus". But that view has some major problems. Vs. 10 says that "the bad as well as the good" were there were at the feast, and this man was the only one singled out for expulsion. In the parable of the fish the net pulled everybody in, so all of the guests were "clothed in Jesus's blood". Some say that the clothes were offered by the king to the man and he refused them--but that may be pushing the symbolism of this parable rather too far. This is not necessarily a point-for-point allegory. What can we learn from this man, then?


This is a parable of invitation and acceptance. We can clearly see that God is a lot like us in way he invites people: he doesn't want people to be at his party if they don't want to be there. Most of us would not want to hire someone to work with us if they were set against doing it; we'd rather do 2x the work sans their negative influence! God wants people to want what He wants. One of the bad things about many churches--people are condemned for deviating from regular attendance. In other words, they are supposed to feel obligated to attend services instead of doing it out of love for God. It's the same sort of idea.


So what did a Jewish wedding look like in Jesus's day?

The first major step in a Jewish marriage was betrothal. The prospective bridegroom would travel from his father's house to the home of the prospective bride. There he would negotiate with the father of the young woman to determine the price that he must pay to purchase his bride. Once the bridegroom paid the purchase price, the marriage covenant was thereby established, and the young man and woman were regarded to be husband and wife. From that moment on the bride was declared to be consecrated or sanctified, set apart exclusively for her bridegroom. After the marriage covenant had been established, the groom would leave the home of the bride and return to his father's house. There he would remain separate from his bride for a period of twelve months. This period of separation afforded the bride time to gather her trousseau and to prepare for married life. The groom occupied himself with the preparation of living accommodations in his father's house to which he could bring his bride. 

At the end of the period of separation the groom would come to take his bride to live with him. The taking of the bride usually took place at night. The groom, best man and other male escorts would leave the groom's father's house and conduct a torch light procession to the home of the bride. Although the bride was expecting her groom to come for her, she did not know the exact time of his coming. As a result the groom's arrival would be preceded by a shout. This shout would forewarn the bride to be prepared for the coming of the groom.

After the groom received his bride together with her female attendants, the enlarged wedding party would return from the bride's home to the groom's father's house. Upon arrival there the wedding party would find that the wedding guests had assembled already.

In Matthew 22:2-3 we can see an obvious parallel in God's "invitation of salvation" to the Jewish nation, His chosen people--but they were not counted "worthy" (vs. 8). Why? Because they didn't accept the King's invitation. They thought their own lives were so much more important than the king's wedding feast. 


So the king invites absolutely everyone (opening the invitation up to the Gentiles), and before you know it the banquet hall is packed and everyone is ready for a party. Everyone, that is, except that one man (we'll call him Harry).


In a traditional Jewish wedding both the bride and groom were dressed like a king and queen with all the fancy get-up they could buy, beg, or borrow. It was understood that the guests would also wear their finest clothes. A parallel might be you being invited to attend William and Kate's wedding at Westminster Abbey. You would probably do everything in your power--sell a car, empty your bank account, write a hot check--to dress properly for this awesome opportunity!

But Harry just came for the food. He did not even bother to act honored or grateful for his once-in-a-lifetime chance to attend a prince's wedding feast!  He's just along for the ride. Harry is just like so many churchgoers who are only doing what others are doing; they join the church to get on the softball team.


So in the end, the clothes are all about attitude. Even those not trained etiquette can make little changes to show respect. Harry was insulting, showing no respect to the royal family. He was really no different than the Jews who rejected the king's invitation in the first place. And Jesus was careful to point out that the man was "speechless" when accused. He could not  defend his right to be at the feast the way he was. 

The doors were blown wide open--good and evil, Jew and Gentile were all welcome--but there was still a requirement: they had to want to be there.  

Even though the guest list changed along the way there was no change in the king's agenda or standards. It's like the parable of the talents--you have to give at least something back. In the Old Testament the invitation equaled acceptance for the Jews. It's not like that now. Our response matters. 


Vs. 14 is often seen as a commentary on poor Harry's predicament, but it really sums up the entire parable. "For many are invited, but few are chosen." How do the numbers stack up? Out of the entire gathering of people who came to the wedding only one was thrown out! So Jesus can't be saying "few who come will remain". No, he is clearly speaking of the whole world. Many are invited--all are invited! Everyone is called, but comparably few are chosen to remain--those who accept the invitation and show a true desire to be at the feast. 


-Wedding information from www.biblestudymanuals.net