Weekly Devotion: Dressed for the Occasion
Weekly Devotion: Dressed for the Occasion
Share Christ with others. Help them grow.
Sometimes we have to dress for the occasion.
I love dressing up on special occasions like weddings. I can remember my late father who had suits upon suits all for going to church. If he was going to go to church he was going to look his best.
Today’s text is well, it’s hard to accept, let alone understand. We have a king that invites people to a wedding and those invited don’t want to go. Some are so adamant against going that they kill the servants bringing the message, which leads the king to go and kill them. He then tells the servants to go and invite people off the street, the good and the bad. Now, that should be the end of the story, and reading the counterpart in Luke, that is the end of the story. But Matthew keeps going. The king finds someone not wearing the proper clothes for the event. He is thrown out for not wearing the right things.
This parable has a lot of uncomfortable things going on with it and it’s hard to understand. What in the world is going on here?
There are many ways to look at this story, but let’s focus on evangelism and discipleship; sharing the gospel with people and being invited into the kingdom of God.
Like a lot of churches, we look around and wonder if more people can come into the doors of our church. Especially within mainline Christianity, we wonder where all the people went. During the heyday of mainline Christianity, which is the first half of the 20th century the culture was one where Christianity was well suited to the prevailing culture; church was something that you did. But the culture has changed. We are less trustful of institutions. It isn’t as shameful to not go to church on Sunday. Mainline churches are having to understand something that evangelical churches understood a long time ago; that we are not to keep some status quo, but instead we are going to have to go into the streets, and tell our family and friends about the good news of Jesus. The people who might have filled our pews a long time ago, now spurn the king’s invitation. The king, God is now asking that we go to invite those people who are out in the streets and bring them into God’s banquet. I’m not saying we need to pester people to “come to Jesus.” But I do think we are to model a Christian life where we can talk to people about our faith in a way that is natural. Methodist minister Adam Hamilton talks about how he has met people and shared his faith, not to tick boxes, but to share his life with those who have spiritual questions. The Christian life is the banquet, are we inviting people to come and take part?
This parable is a reminder that we are to go and tell people the good news because there are people who are begging to go and be fed. Since the church began, the thrust of the church has been to talk about God’s love and to share that message with others.
But we have to do more than get people in the door. Church is not just something that we do every Sunday and then go back to the workweek acting like nothing’s changed. Instead, those who enter are also called to grow and change. Being part of a congregation, and being part of the banquet should have an effect on us that will change us.
This is why the man who wasn’t wearing the right clothes was kicked out; he was welcomed into the palace, but the environment he was in didn’t change him. He was at a wedding, but he didn’t feel he had to change his clothes. Churches are to tell the good news and we hope they will enter the church, but we don’t leave them at their pew. We not only tell the good news, but we also help people grow and become followers of Jesus. Are our churches places where people grow in the faith? As a congregation, how are we helping people learn what it means to follow Jesus?
Church is not about just showing up. It’s about growing up as well.
So, let us be about the king’s business: let’s go into the streets of our lives and invite people and once they are here, help them to grow.
The banquet is ready. Invite the people. Make sure they are dressed and ready to go.