A little while ago, I was going through messages on my phone and discovered an invitation for me and my husband to a friend's 50th birthday party. The party sounded very nice; it was a barbecue at their house. The problem was that it was for May 2025. I realised that I had looked at the invitation, worked out that we couldn't make it, and then forgotten to reply to our friend. I quickly apologised and hoped they had enjoyed their birthday and the party in 2025, and also their birthday this year. We had a fun conversation, and we ended up going out for a meal with our friends.
I felt quite rude, to be honest. Thankfully, my friend understood and found it funny. This was not the case for the king in the parable that Jesus told in Matthew (22:1-14) . In this parable, a king held a wedding party for his son. He was met with replies from people who could not make it to the wedding. One explained that he needed to look after his farm, another had business interests, and others reacted with hostility.
This wedding, as the wedding of the king's son, would have been extremely important and an incredible honour to have been invited to. Rejecting the invitation would have been seen as the same as rejecting a friendship with this family.
Jesus was making a point as He told this parable. People had been offered a wonderful relationship with God, but they had rejected Him. They had turned to their own ways. They had followed their own instincts and thoughts, and by doing this they had pushed God out. This may not have been deliberate; it may have happened because of the busyness of life, the demands placed upon them, and the needs of others. Of course, it may also have been a choice to follow other gods, to put keeping laws first, and to put the order they had planned for their lives first.
I wonder if we can honestly say that we have never done any of this. I remember being at a Christian conference where I was discussing all the different workshop options with a friend. We couldn't work out how we would have time to fit in one on time management. We couldn't, and I think that was a lesson in itself. There wasn't time to fit in a session on time management, suggesting that this was probably the one I needed the most.
In this parable, the king doesn't respond with anger. He is practical; the wedding hall was booked. The king decided to fill the hall with anyone who could attend. Those who would never have expected an invitation were suddenly attending this very special event.
Of course, Jesus is making another point here. God had offered His salvation, but people had ignored it. By doing this, they had missed out on the best invitation ever. Those who would have been the least likely to be invited were receiving God's goodness in their place. Jesus was showing that His grace was wider than anyone could either have expected or imagined.
There is a problem, though. The reading ends with someone being thrown out of the wedding. This sounds wrong to us. After all, surely God wouldn't throw people away? The point is that the person who didn't have the right outfit on represents someone who wasn't ready, someone who wasn't prepared to join in the wedding banquet. Or, to put it another way, we need to be ready and prepared to accept the goodness that God offers us. It is not on our terms but on His. All He asks is that we love Him and accept Him.
God is there for us. We were reminded of this in Paul's letter to the Philippians (4:1-9). In this passage, we came across the beautiful words that we are not to worry because we can turn to God and ask for His help. The words are beautiful, and I think they become even more so when we remember that Paul wrote this letter while he was in prison. I really like the fact that this is the letter in which the word "joy" appears most often. Paul had joy because he knew God's love and protection. He trusted that God would always be with him. He had received the invitation to know God, he had responded, his life had been changed, and now he faced the future with assurance. He had discovered that faith was not about pretending difficulties did not exist. It was about placing those difficulties into God's hands.
This is where our best free gift ever comes in. The more time we spend in prayer, the more like God we become. This might sound strange, but in prayer we can enjoy the peace of God, a peace that is beyond our understanding and which reminds us that God is with us. As we pray, we change.
Following God should constantly shape us and change us as we approach life thinking as He does, as we love as He loves, and as we place our faith in Him. We remember His faithfulness to us and that, with His power, the power of the Holy Spirit, we can be different.
What an amazing gift. What a fantastic opportunity. One with life-giving promises. Paul describes it as dwelling on whatever is true, honourable, just, pure, and lovely. In other words, faith is not simply about being invited; it is also about becoming the people God created us to be.
The wonderful news in both readings is that God has not given up inviting us. Day after day, moment after moment, the invitation continues. Come to God. Come with your worries, your questions, your failures, and your hopes. Come not because you have everything sorted, but because God loves you.
How wonderful that before we had achieved anything, before we had succeeded or failed, before we had got our lives neatly organised, God died for us and reached out to us.
This is all because He loves us. All He wants is for us to turn to Him. We turn to Him with our worries and concerns so that we can know His peace.
God loves us, and as we enjoy a relationship with Him, may we seek always to praise His name.
Amen.
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