Come; for all things are now ready

Although Matthew records for us a parable about a wedding supper, Matt. 22. 1-14, Luke gives us a similar parable, told on a separate occasion, highlighting the feebleness of some people’s excuses. One is hardly likely to buy a piece of ground one has not seen, to buy ploughing oxen without first having proved them, or to decline an invitation to a supper because one has just married. Behind each feeble excuse lay a more deep-seated problem: a reluctance to accept an invitation. Each excuse seemed, on first hearing, to be acceptable but subsequently proved not to be.

The exclamation from the lips of the pious, ‘Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God!’ indicated his assumption that it was his right to be there, as it was for all God-fearing Jews like him. In response, our Lord indicated that presence at that feast depends upon two things: a generous invitation, and a willing acceptance. An invitation to a supper was followed up by a personal visit to special guests announcing that the time for the supper had come and all was prepared and ready. Yet, an unspoken prejudice seems to have arisen in the intervening time, for none of those invited, accepted. Were they now indifferent to their would-be host? Were they just too preoccupied? Were they hoping for another invitation which would make them feel more important? Their reasons for refusal were too pathetic to be genuine. Instead, the host sent out his servant into the hedgerows and lanes of the city inviting, nay cajoling, others to come so that the feast was full. No further invitation to the initial guests was forth-coming. By this our Lord first of all challenged the assumption that presence at the heavenly feast is dependent upon worth or birth. It is not. It is dependent upon a willingness to be there, which is shown by an acceptance of an invitation. Those preoccupied by other things will be passed over. He then challenged received opinion that that banquet will be reserved for Jews only; those who eventually filled the banqueting hall were from the highways and hedges, a metaphor for Gentiles. In much the same way, the gospel goes out now to men and women of all races, but only those willing and humble enough to accept will be in heaven.