In a “feel good” society like ours, there is more interest shown in having a good time than in pursuing spiritual matters. So many people have closed their minds to the call that Jesus has on their lives because Christ’s invitation to eternal life just isn’t as attractive as their own recipe for happiness. Happiness apart from Christ is often measured by the amount of pleasure we experience through the acquisition of wealth and what we then can afford, steamy sexual encounters, early retirement in order to “enjoy life” or just plain hanging out with the boys and/or the girls. Others are too busy pursuing their careers or their hobbies to be bothered by matters that have eternal significance. They take each day as it comes and “life is lived to the fullest” because this is all we have.” It’s my life and I will do with it as I please,” is a familiar “refrain.” “Let the good times roll;” and as long as there is relative peace and prosperity in the land, these attitudes persist without much prospect of change.
When Jesus inaugurated His three plus years of public ministry which ended with His ignominious death and glorious resurrection, He met many people who were so set in their ways and so sure of their “take” on life so that even the Son of God could not reach them. More often than not it was the sick, downtrodden, disenfranchised or the socially ostracized who responded to Him. The “beautiful people” (i.e. the religious leaders) ignored Jesus and eventually plotted to discredit and kill Him because He dared to expose their complacency and lack of hunger and thirst for the things that really matter.
In Matthew 22:14, Jesus tells us a parable about a great king (i.e. God) who sends out invitations to his son’s (i.e. Jesus) wedding banquet. He invites those he thought might be his friends, but too many of them showed no interest. They had better things to do and some of them were downright nasty as they mistreated the ones bearing the personal invitation. So then, invitations were sent to respectable but perfect strangers (e.g. Gentiles) and again his invitation was lightly regarded; evidently, these invitees thought they had a better offer. So, the king who was not to be denied, expanded his invitation to anyone including the “bad” (see verse 10) and this time he met with success. But, someone showed up at the banquet who was improperly dressed. This is the man I am most interested in.
This “intruder” or disrespectful guest, apparently had decided that no one would tell him how to dress (i.e. how to live). He had decided to come on his own terms and was not only confronted by the King, but this “rogue” found himself in big trouble. This parable can be interpreted at various levels including its historical significance which I have briefly alluded to above; but my special interest in the solitary guest just mentioned has to do with the most fundamental teaching of the New Testament which gave rise to the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century and the evangelical awakening in the twentieth century. In each case, we have Paul’s famous quote from Habakkuk: “The righteous shall live by (His) faith.” See Habakkuk 2:4 and Romans 1:17 NIV. Making peace with this wicked world as it is or “playing the cards as they are dealt to us” is not going to get it done. What we are to do is prepare for the new age that God is soon to unveil after the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. The way we begin this “preparation” is accepting God’s invitation to receive Christ as our Savior and Lord (John 3:16) and then live each day in faith and gratitude for the new life he gives us (II Corinth. 5:17). Throughout this journey we do not accumulate “credits” for good behavior which we can trade in for blessings from above, but we daily come to God’s banquet of blessings acknowledging that God freely blesses those who “wear the garments of righteousness” provided by Jesus. What are you wearing?
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