You have to admire the genius of Jesus. Every conversation, every word, every occasion….all of it is used to illustrate the grand decision that lies before the human race.
Two things about the wedding banquet (the first one mentioned in today’s reading). Jesus tells us to pick our seat wisely, and pick our guests wisely. Both are counterintuitive; let me explain. The wedding banquet isn’t the best contemporary example for us…let’s use the concert instead…or the movie theatre. In both cases there are “prime” seats. At the concert (or the football game) the closer you can get to the front the better, and at the movies it isn’t necessarily the front row…but the center of the room about halfway back…prime seat. You will notice that those seats are filled first, and in some cases cost more. If you go to the broadway theatre, you will notice that prime seating always costs more. Let’s talk parking at church, or at the mall….what parking spaces are the first ones to be snapped up? The ones closest to the door, obviously.
Jesus is saying here “deny the desire of your original nature and take a lower position”. We aren’t talking about where we sit at a meal, that was just the example. We’re talking about where we park! Are you willing to park further away, even if it’s raining, so that someone else can be closer? HEY! Are you willing to sit in a front seat in church, so that someone else can have the back? (back seats in church are more popular). Jesus is calling attention to where we insert ourselves into the social order. The demands we make on the environment around us says something about us. What we should see is people joyfully accepting duties and “seating” below their position. After all, who are we to say how important we really are? Does any of us really know what reward awaits us in heaven? We know that we will be rewarded, and honored…but do we know anything beyond that? We don’t. So, when you work around the church, or around the community, don’t be unwilling to do the smaller, menial jobs.
Then there is the issue of who we invite to OUR party. Once again, common sense says “invite people who are fun and lively who will add something to the affair”. You don’t want to invite a grump to the party, they will just “bring everyone else down”. And you don’t want to invite people who clearly don’t fit in, because that will make others uncomfortable. No, when you invite using worldly wisdom you select people who are like you, and who occupy a station in life above you. But Jesus tells us to to the opposite. Invite people who are unlike you…people who have nothing to contribute to your advancement, people who cannot repay with favors or connections. Invite those who aren’t networked in with the power brokers and the social movers and shakers. And God will reward you for it. Don’t look out for your own interests, but rather look out for God’s interests…and when those “unimportant” people sit down at the table, take a lower position, or dress yourself to serve…and God will honor you for that.
The second wedding feast: Here Jesus is talking about who responds to the invitation. We’ve already covered who gets invited and where they sit if they should choose to attend. I notice here that the one invited declined because they had other things to do. Clearly, there isn’t anything more significant or important that we have to do than to respond to the invitation of Jesus, but that’s just what happens….day after day. Jesus invites, and people decline. Why? Probably because we are caught up in the short term…in the immediate, and we aren’t looking at the future.
If God invites you to join Him, drop whatever you are doing and accept the invitation. A little later on in the reading today it talks about “counting the cost”. There is a cost to accepting the invitation…sure, you might not be able to finish what projects you started, but seriously….who cares? When you are invited to spend time with the King you don’t say “I can’t make it, I have to mow the grass”. (14:33 says give up everything in order to follow Jesus) In a sense, Sunday mornings are a time when we are invited to spend time corporately with the King of Kings. Don’t make excuses…make time. Give up whatever you need to. And don’t demand special treatment. Does the church apologize for inviting you to worship? Of course not, this is an invitation to spend time with the highest power in the universe. There should be a line at the door! Since that doesn’t happen, and there are still seats “at the table” the invitation is extended to a far larger group of people.
I just realized today that even though God invites people from much lower positions in life, He still expects that we will come dressed appropriately. We haven’t received a “dumbed down” invitation…we have in our hands the gold embossed invitation that was meant for dignitaries. And, like you would expect of a dignitary, we should come dressed appropriately. If we don’t, then we will be promptly escorted out.
The garb of the Christian is righteousness, which is seen outwardly by the good works that we do. It is accompanied by a humble heart, but that’s harder to see from the outside.
A quick comment on Chapter 15 (just so you know I read it)
Three things lost: a sheep, a coin, a son. Probably each one was worth more than the last. In each instance the owner valued what was lost so greatly that the absence of it disrupted every day life. And the discovery of it was cause for great celebration.
If you lost your wedding ring, you would probably call all over town to every place you’d been. You would ask your friends to pray about it, and maybe they would even help you look. When you later found the ring in the washing machine…you would be quick to call everyone and celebrate, right? That’s what it’s like in heaven when we accept Christ as our Savior. There’s a celebration going on everytime someone comes to their senses and comes home.
Faithfully,
PR