Ready To Eat?

Are You Ready to Eat?

Ah, the wedding feast. I love weddings. Doesn’t anybody need to get married around these parts? I’m available to do the ceremony. One of the best parts of a wedding is the food. It seems that most don’t spare any expense in preparing the food for a wedding. It is as though there is some secret contest going on as to who can have the best food stuff at a wedding. I’m not complaining!

In our scriptures this morning, we hear about a king who has a wedding ceremony about to take place. His son is about to get hitched. One of the biggest parts of the weddings of those days was the wedding feast. Can you imagine the wonderful foods prepared by the royal chefs? Oh how it must taste. The delectable delights awaiting the most particular palate would be surely do more than just satisfy.

All was ready, the food, the decorations, the furnishings. The invitation went out to the invited guest. The guest had more important things to do. Some were busy farming; others were too busy at their jobs to attend. Others simply were so annoyed at the persistent urging of the king that they killed the messengers. Maybe this is where the phrase “don’t kill the messenger” came from!

The king finds out about how his messengers were treated and became extremely ticked off. He was so furious that he sent his armies to kill those who treated his messengers so harshly. Not only did he get revenge for the death of his messengers, he burned their dwelling places and cities. I know if I ever get an invitation from a king, I’m surely going to clear my schedule! What about your?

Well, the king has a wedding feast ready but no guest. The king does the only thing he can and sends out more messengers to invite all who will come. Well it wasn’t long before the wedding hall was filled. We are told that even the bad folks were invited!

The king comes in and checks out those who came. He finds one that hasn’t prepared himself for this royal wedding. The king notices that this particular guest doesn’t have the proper clothes on. Well how persnickety can that be? I know I’ll be sure to check with Mrs. Manners on what to wear to a royal wedding if I’m ever invited!

The king has this man thrown out because he hasn’t prepared himself for this royal event. Not just thrown out, but bound hand and foot and sent to a place of torment. I’m not sure where this was, possibly a dungeon of sorts, but I don’t imagine the accommodations were anywhere close to a four star rating. This place causes those who are sent there tears and “gnashing of teeth”. I’ve been troubled in my heart many times in my life, but I can’t remember anytime where I felt I needed to gnash my teeth. Whatever torment was to come to this poor fellow was obviously very serious. We must also note that there was no time limit on this special place of torment. I would assume that this torment was forever since there is no exact sentence.

What does this parable mean to us today? Oh, it’s just a cute story of how a king didn’t let his wonderful food go to waste. I don’t think so friends. If we are careful, we can glean exactly the meaning of this parable.

Jesus spoke this parable about things that would soon happen. God is the king, Jesus is the son, the nation of Israel are the special guests. Israel rejected the wedding invitation and even killed kings son (along with the prophets and disciples). God destroyed the murderers along with their precious city of Jerusalem. After the carnage was over, the invitation came to everyone. By the way that means you and me. Whether you were Jew or Gentile, you had/have an invitation. What you do with the invitation is totally up to you. Have you accepted God’s royal invitation to come and dine with Christ? Have you rejected this invitation? Are you too busy with the farm or perhaps too busy at your job and your precious career?

The sentence given the unprepared guest is nothing less than hell. Hell is an eternity folks, there is no special presidential pardon that can be given. Bill Clinton cannot give you a reprieve if you haven’t prepared yourself by accepting Christ into your life.

Well, the feast comes to an end eventually. What then? What is next on God’s agenda after this feast with Christ? The answer is quite simple, eternity! To begin eternity means that this old corrupt world must go by the wayside. The beauty, the grandeur of the mountains, streams, lakes and skies all will fade away one day.