Wedding Guests

Want to do another one? Let's go. 

Jesus tells a parable about a wedding feast. The planner of the party has invited a bunch of folks who have all said, with gusto, that they'll be there. Wouldn't miss it for the world. And then, as you know, the time comes and none of those folks decide to come after all because, well, the world. So the banquet-giver goes out into the streets and invites the poor, the disheveled, the outcast. And of course, they come right away and everyone has a great time. 

The cool thing about this parable, just like we saw with the last parable, is that I am both of these groups. 

So are you. 

We are the ones who have the best of us invited into greater things. We have our finer points and all of God's glory at our fingertips. All we have to do is show up. 

But then, we get distracted by the world. We get distracted by the same things that the original wedding guests were distracted by. 

The first got distracted by his new field - all the hopes and dreams that he had for a new season in his life, with all the optimism of what a new space and a long dream were going to provide for him. I've been there - you probably have, too. I'm betting this guy prayed for this field for a long time and he finally got it, so he assumes this field is going to be better than anything he'll find at the wedding feast. The field is God's gift to him...and just look at all it's going to produce in his life. 

The second got distracted by his new oxen - fresh oxen with fresh strength and all of a sudden, he's got work to do. I've been distracted by work, too. I bet you have, as well. Work is the thing that provides for what we need; it gives us the funds to support our lifestyle and it gives us the sense of accomplishment to believe we're making a difference in this world. I bet this guy prayed for the oxen. Every time he saved up a little more of the cost to purchase them, he probably thanked God that he was getting closer to breaking through and now, here it is! A breakthrough! Have you ever been so close to a breakthrough that you forget to take a break for glory? 

The third got distracted by his new wife. Here it is, the love of his life. And so, he doesn't have time to go and celebrate Love at some random wedding because he's already celebrating love in his own life. It's everything he thinks he's ever wanted. And she is God's good gift to him, too, I'm sure. The answer to so many prayer. Her dad said yes! He saved the dowry. He paid the price. He got the bride. Now is not the time to be distracted by an even bigger wedding feast; his little meager one was enough. 

Are you seeing yourself yet? Great. But we're only halfway through. 

Because then, the servant goes out into the streets and starts grabbing anyone he can. The bad and the good, the whole and the broken, the outcast and the rejected. All of them. 

And here, my friends, are we, as well. 

We are the bad and the good. We are the outcast. We are the disheveled, the ones who don't have our lives together. We are the dirty who would have to get cleaned up just to go in...the ones who are depending on the banquet thrower to clothe us in something appropriate. 

And when we're honest about this part of ourselves, when we recognize the gutters we live in and the dirt that covers our lives, we leap at the opportunity to go...

...we are clothed in righteousness, and we have a great time. 

See? Once again, I am both men in the parable - the invited and the outcast. How about you?