The Invitation

What is the Kingdom of God like? Jesus shared many parables with his disciples in His life about the kingdom. Reading Matthew 22:1-14, God started to unfold to me the reality of one of the parables “the Kingdom is like…” and I want to share what I saw.

“The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come. “Then he sent some more servants and said, ‘Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.’ “But they paid no attention and went off—one to his field, another to his business. The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them.”

Matthew 22:2-6 NIV

This is a parable of Jesus “The Kingdom of God is like…”

King sent his servants to notify all that had already been invited to come to the banquet. Notice, they all HAD BEEN INVITED before, and now it is just the notification, “Come the banquet is ready”. But no one really paid attention. 

The king sent his servants to notify for the SECOND TIME. But instead of coming, some went to the field, some did business, but ANOTHER seized the king’s servants, treated them shamefully, and put them to death.

I was reminded of Psalm 23 that says, “He prepared a table before me in the presence of my enemy“. Where did He prepare a table, and can I come to the table? 

God is here right now – He has a table ready every single day for you and me. Often he sends his servants, the pastors and preachers, to invite us to come because everything is ready. God has food for us for every day; He has a beautiful banquet, but are we running to this call, or we are too busy to come and have that meal with Jesus? All of us already HAVE BEEN INVITED, we know the King, but we refuse to come to have a closer relationship with Him. Through spending time together we get to know each other better, and most of the time it happens at the table. After all, only those who come can be chosen… “for many are called, but few are chosen.” Matthew 22:14

God is calling, He sends His servants, but we might be too busy – fields, businesses, and some of us are even so tired of these preachers that we might even say something back to them, or even tear them apart with our words or actions. 

The next verse is describing the consequences for the  actions of violence against sent servants. 

“The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.”

Matthew 22:7 NIV

It shows me that God cares about His servants, He cares about His children, and yes, He is patient, He is waiting, giving the time to repent and come back. Joel 2:13 says that “He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity“, but… when the cup is overflowed, He comes with His vengeance.

Today I invite everyone not to ignore, but to come to taste and see the goodness of the Lord.

“Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. So go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.’ So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, the bad as well as the good, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.“

Matthew 22:8-10 NIV

The king asked His servants to go to the streets and even out of the city, to find and invite ANYONE THEY FIND – both bad and good, so the room in which the wedding feast was held WAS FILLED WITH GUESTS. Sometimes we become very judgmental, thinking bad about people. But those who were not worthy in the eyes of people, when they heard the invitation they accepted it and they came.

God’s table will never be empty, but there is still a place for you. Ask yourself, am I at the God’s table? Am I accepting the call of God? Or maybe, sometimes, I am so busy and just do not have time to even think about it. 

I hope no one will find himself to be a person who seizes the King’s servant and treats him shamefully or more… But even if yes, and you feel conviction of the Holy Spirit, you have time to repent. God loves you and the invitation to His table is still open. Just come and join the table that is already prepared for you.

At the table the heart to heart conversation is happening. For you the Kingdom of Heaven can begin when you open your heart and let Jesus in. He never comes empty-handed, He gives Life, He gives Peace, He is the best Comforter, He is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, but at the same time He is a Good-Good Father. Just listen… He is knocking on the door of your heart.