It is all part of the extreme selfishness of our time - and a measure of our priorities! In the course of the Olympic Games coverage, did you hear about the man who shook the hand of a man who shook the hand of the President of the United States? Some people really thrive on being able to drop names, even when the connection is a bit remote!
I suspect most of us would move things over to accept an invitation to a meal in the Buderim Memorial Hall with Queen Elizabeth II. No matter what your views on constitutional monarchy versus republicanism, you would be there. Other engagements would be cancelled. The event would be clearly ringed in your calendar. You might well visit the shops to ensure you were suitably dressed for the occasion.
It was customary for there to be an initial invitation, followed by a call to all those invited that the feast was now ready. The invited guests showed no interest in coming and, when the second urgent call went out, "the invited guests paid no attention and went about their business: one went to his farm, another to his shop, while others grabbed the servants, beat them and killed them." It was clear defiance of the king's authority, aggravated still more by political murder.
The king in his anger sends out troops to suppress the offenders. He now calls his servants and says to them, "My wedding feast is ready, but the people I invited did not deserve it. Now go into the main streets and invite to the feast as many people as you find." Soon the wedding hall was filled with all sorts of people - good and bad alike.
The king goes in to look at the guests and sees a man not wearing wedding clothes. Perhaps he arrived in his working clothes, without taking the trouble to prepare himself for the feast. Augustine has suggested, however, that the king provided wedding garments for all his guests. This man has either neglected or refused to wear the provided garment. Either way, he has seriously insulted the king and is summarily thrust outside. Jesus speaks here, as he does elsewhere, of the pain and suffering of those excluded from the feast.
Jesus then sums up the teaching of this parable with the words, "Many are invited, but few are chosen."
God's gracious invitation had gone out to them through the Old Testament prophets. Now in John the Baptist and in Jesus himself the call to come was going out with urgency, "The Kingdom of heaven is at hand. Repent and believe the good news!" - "My feast is now ready... Come ... !" But the invited people - the Jews as a whole and their leaders - were either ignoring the invitation or acting in positive defiance of it.
Because of their rejection, the invitation would go out to the Gentiles, to anyone on the highway of life - none need be excluded.
We need to understand that parables usually make a limited number of points. We have to resist the temptation to squeeze meaning from every detail of the story. Jesus is not suggesting by this parable that God's original purpose did not include an invitation to those who were non-Jews. We do well to recall the Lord's words to Abram in Genesis 12, "I will bless you and make your name famous, so that you will be a blessing... And through you I will bless all the nations" (vv. 2-3). Most Jews certainly failed to remember that broad sweep and wanted divine blessing that was exclusive to them. That is why Jesus has told them this story in this way - those despised Gentiles are going to receive the invitation and many will respond positively to it.
Have you heard the invitation? Do you know that God loves you? Do you realise that God has invited you to be part of his Kingdom and to share in the great celebration? Up to this point, you may have paid no attention, ignoring God as you go about your daily business. Perhaps some have been more deliberate in their rejection and have openly made their jibes about those who have "got religion". But it is also possible to have been involved for years in the life of the church, appreciating the values taught, enjoying the music, involved in the activities... but never really grasping the invitation or responding to it.
You don't get to heaven by association - otherwise the Jews should all be there already, and Jesus wouldn't have bothered to tell this parable! We get there by invitation - God's gracious invitation to us. Have you heard the invitation? What have you done about the RSVP?
But who is this other lot? They are brought in - "good and bad alike". That seems so unfair! The good, perhaps, but not the bad. How can they in any sense be said to "deserve" to be at the feast?
We note again the words from the parable of the two sons, "I tell you: the taxcollectors and the prostitutes are going into the Kingdom of God ahead of you" (21.31). How can such people in any sense be said to "deserve" a place within the Kingdom of God?
The answer is "They can't!" They can only come by gracious invitation. But they do have to respond to it. You are worthy of a place, not because of how good you are, but because God is good and you have been willing to respond to his call.
And this gives point to the wedding clothes. If we follow Augustine's suggestion, they represent God's gracious provision. Of themselves the people off the streets aren't fit to be there. We can only come, clothed in a righteousness which is not of our own making - clothed in the righteousness of Christ our Saviour.
All right, so you have heard the invitation. You know that God is calling you to be part of his Kingdom, part of his family. But you don't feel good enough. You believe yourself to be unworthy. You cannot make any claims. You dare not call yourself a child of God. But it is the Father who is saying, "I welcome you! You belong to me!" Who are we to doubt the welcome that follows the invitation?
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