Lessons from the Gospels – The Wedding, Part 1

If you tried to stick to a budget when you got married, you likely found yourself trimming the guest list. Maybe rethinking if your best friend from third grade should be invited or if all your 20-person work pod really need to make the list.

Seems like God has the opposite problem when it comes to the marriage of the Lamb.

Matthew 22:1-10 [NLT] 1 Jesus also told them other parables. He said, 2 "The Kingdom of Heaven can be illustrated by the story of a king who prepared a great wedding feast for his son. 3 When the banquet was ready, he sent his servants to notify those who were invited. But they all refused to come! 4 "So he sent other servants to tell them, 'The feast has been prepared. The bulls and fattened cattle have been killed, and everything is ready. Come to the banquet!' 5 But the guests he had invited ignored them and went their own way, one to his farm, another to his business. 6 Others seized his messengers and insulted them and killed them. 7 "The king was furious, and he sent out his army to destroy the murderers and burn their town. 8 And he said to his servants, 'The wedding feast is ready, and the guests I invited aren't worthy of the honor. 9 Now go out to the street corners and invite everyone you see.' 10 So the servants brought in everyone they could find, good and bad alike, and the banquet hall was filled with guests.”

Incredibly, the invited guests placed so little value on this invitation that they went about their daily business, ignoring the big day altogether. I don’t know about you, but I would never miss a wedding or a banquet if I could at all get there!

In a parallel parable found in Luke, we get an ever better look into the kinds of excuses these folks made.

Luke 14:17-20 [NLT] 17 When the banquet was ready, he sent his servant to tell the guests, 'Come, the banquet is ready.' 18 But they all began making excuses. One said, 'I have just bought a field and must inspect it. Please excuse me.' 19 Another said, 'I have just bought five pairs of oxen, and I want to try them out. Please excuse me.' 20 Another said, 'I now have a wife, so I can't come.'

Seems like any old excuse would do for these folks. I mean, was there no “plus one” option for the guy with the new wife? Are you telling me that the field couldn’t wait a day or two? Or that the oxen were going to forget how to plow?

The core of the excuses seems to be that their own day-to-day lives were too important to be bothered with the greatest marriage feast of all eternity. Unbelievable!

But then, I have to ask myself just how often I get up in the morning and get busy with prepping my lunch, answering emails, doing a few chores and getting ready for my workday without stopping to spend time with the King who has invited me to His banquet? How often do I find at the end of a day full of chores and errands that I have fallen, exhausted, into bed that I never took the time to study or to pray (other than over a meal)?

How often have I allowed something I wanted to do (or felt was necessary) to take my focus and left Jesus at the door, holding my invitation to a banquet of love, wisdom and fellowship He and the Father have prepared for me?

Motivational speaker and author Steven Covey is known for saying, “Begin with the end in mind”.

God did. When He created this earth and then formed man from the dust of the ground, He had already made plans for a big wedding feast. And He has been doing the prep work ever since.

Sweet sisters, we, too, must begin our days, our weeks, our months, our educational plans and work plans and family plans with the end in mind, if we intend to attend that wedding feast.

Make no mistake, you ARE invited. Jesus has given you an invitation. We must begin each day as one who is ready (or who is preparing to be ready) to drop all our daily tasks should that call of “Come, the banquet is ready” be made that day.

Brides are excited for their wedding day to come, whether they planned a small ceremony or a huge event. A bride may be so excited on that day that she doesn’t notice or care that her second cousin who RSVP’d “yes” failed to show up after all. But if daddy sees place settings empty when he has already paid the bill, HE might be a bit miffed.

It’s actually worse than a wedding guest being a “no show”, though. You see, WE are the bride. What bride would decline to attend her own wedding???!!!

Jesus paid for my place at the Bride’s table, and for your place too. We would do well to remember that the Father will not be amused if we make some sorry excuse for not showing up each day. The price He paid for that seat was very high – the blood of His only begotten Son.

The least I can do is accept the daily invitation to meet Him – to daily live with the end in mind – knowing that it is a banquet like no other AND the soon-to-be bride is me.

I welcome your comments and questions. You can write me now in the comments section or any time at Nancy@DynamicChristianMInistries.org.