If you could have three people, past or present, to your home for dinner, who would it be and why? It's fun to think about this ideal dinner situation and the people we would love to meet, serve, and eat a meal with. For anyone, sharing a meal at their house with a group of people is special, but it was even more significant in Biblical times than we could imagine. Sharing a meal meant association and acceptance. This understanding brings even more significant meaning for us as we discover that we have been invited to Christ's table just as we are because of what He has done for us.
Jesus taught in Matthew 22 that God's table is open to anyone who believes in Him and places their faith in Him. He taught this by telling a story about a wedding. In this story, a king planned a great wedding feast. When the preparations were complete, he called the people who had been invited to come, but no one was willing to come. Because of his guests' unwillingness to attend, the king sent his servants to invite any and every person they could find, and the servants did just that. They brought "everyone they could find, good and bad alike, and the banquet hall was filled with guests" (verse 10). This story Jesus told was meant to teach something about heaven. Heaven is open up to anyone and everyone who is willing to put their faith in Him. This includes you and me. We have been invited to God's table. We are accepted, wanted, and invited in. This is the greatest news!
Maybe today, you need the reminder that you are chosen. Perhaps you need to hear that God has given you a seat at His table. Let God's great lovingkindness fill you up today. There is a seat at His table for everyone who puts their faith in Him.
You and I are invited to the table of God. He wants to dine with us. He associates with us, and He accepts us because Christ has paid the price for our sins. This is good news. This is the best news. Spend time singing a song of praise to God. Sing your favorite worship song or the song that first comes to your mind. Thank God for inviting you to His table because of Jesus Christ.
Jesus also told them other parables. He said, “The Kingdom of Heaven can be illustrated by the story of a king who prepared a great wedding feast for his son. When the banquet was ready, he sent his servants to notify those who were invited. But they all refused to come!
“So he sent other servants to tell them, ‘The feast has been prepared. The bulls and fattened cattle have been killed, and everything is ready. Come to the banquet!’ But the guests he had invited ignored them and went their own way, one to his farm, another to his business. Others seized his messengers and insulted them and killed them.
“The king was furious, and he sent out his army to destroy the murderers and burn their town. And he said to his servants, ‘The wedding feast is ready, and the guests I invited aren’t worthy of the honor. Now go out to the street corners and invite everyone you see.’ So the servants brought in everyone they could find, good and bad alike, and the banquet hall was filled with guests.
“But when the king came in to meet the guests, he noticed a man who wasn’t wearing the proper clothes for a wedding. ‘Friend,’ he asked, ‘how is it that you are here without wedding clothes?’ But the man had no reply. Then the king said to his aides, ‘Bind his hands and feet and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
“For many are called, but few are chosen.”
