40 Days to the Cross - Day 8

Day 8 The Wedding Banquet

Scripture

Matthew 22:1-14 (HCSB) ¹ Once more Jesus spoke to them in parables: ² “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son. ³ He sent out his slaves to summon those invited to the banquet, but they didn’t want to come. ⁴ Again, he sent out other slaves, and said, ‘Tell those who are invited: Look, I’ve prepared my dinner; my oxen and fattened cattle have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet. ’ ⁵ “But they paid no attention and went away, one to his own farm, another to his business. ⁶ And the others seized his slaves, treated them outrageously and killed them. ⁷ The king was enraged, so he sent out his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned down their city. ⁸ “Then he told his slaves, ‘The banquet is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. ⁹ Therefore, go to where the roads exit the city and invite everyone you find to the banquet.’ ¹⁰ So those slaves went out on the roads and gathered everyone they found, both evil and good. The wedding banquet was filled with guests. ¹¹ But when the king came in to view the guests, he saw a man there who was not dressed for a wedding. ¹² So he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without wedding clothes?’ The man was speechless. ¹³ “Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him up hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ ¹⁴ “For many are invited, but few are chosen.”

Devotion

The Kingdom is like a banquet! Sounds great! But wait. Those who were invited chose not to come. But there is good news - The King sent someone to invite others to come – fill the house with guests. But then comes bad news again - some who came were not properly clothed for the banquet.

For us this means there is the good news that we are invited to come to the King through the Son, but there is the caution that we must be “dressed properly” – that is we must have “put on” Jesus Christ!

Many want to wait until that day and pleas their case before God, but in this story the man was speechless. He had nothing to say. God has put His terms on salvation, and it is only through Jesus !

Come to the banquet – come to Jesus!

Questions

What can you remember about coming to Jesus?

How does knowing Jesus effect your life today?

What can you do to plan to share the answers to those questions with someone who needs to be invited to the banquet?

Prayer

Dear God: help me share with others that they are invited too! Amen