Today’s scripture: Matthew 22:11-14 (NRSV) (The Message) (KJV) What might God be saying to me?
My thoughts (Melody Merida):
Yesterday Genese shared with us her wonderful insights on the first half of this story from the gospel of Luke. Matthew’s version is slightly different in that the invitational event is a wedding rather than a simple banquet. But the story is basically the same: Invitations go out, no one wants to come to the big event, strangers/common people are invited to fill the empty seats, and the celebration is marvelous.
However, the Matthew version of the story includes an ending we don’t see in the Luke text. It’s the story of the wedding robe, which is today’s scripture reading. So, why this addition in Matthew? What does it mean that the host threw a guest out of the wedding banquet because he wasn’t wearing the right clothes?
Just this past week as I was sitting with a group of folks from church, I had one of those God moments. You know what I’m talking about? It was one of those moments where you intuitively feel God interacting with you. The group and I were talking about spiritual gifts, our talents, our unique abilities and features. In that moment, today’s scripture passage came to mind.
I felt God whispering a powerful message to me from today’s text as we gathered in our group together. I came away from that moment with the voice of God ringing in my ear, saying that everyone is invited to the party — everyone. But that sometimes we choose not to wear our wedding robes — our little black dress, if you will. By this I mean that we don’t always engage the world with everything God has gifted us to do. Our pretty wedding robe hangs in our closet because we are too scared to try it on. You see, God wants us to show up with everything we have. That means digging deep to find out what our special wedding robe looks like and then living into it. The world needs you to put on your specialness and do what you’ve been put here on this earth to do. We fall short without you. The party just isn’t as awesome without you in your special robe joining in the fun.
That is precisely why Jesus closes the story saying that many are called but few are chosen. What I hear him saying is that we’ve all been called to live into our own unique greatness, to ascend to heights of humanity that we think are beyond us; but only a few of us actually do. Instead, we often shrink back into timidity and fear, thinking that our wedding robe isn’t as pretty or fancy as someone else’s robe. When we think that way, the whole world loses.
I hope you know that the party is going strong, but it just isn’t the same without you in your gorgeous robe. We all need each other, dressed to the nines, so to speak, to make this earth a little more like the kingdom of heaven. Whether you know it yet or not, you have been called. What will you choose?
Thought for the day: What little light has God lit inside you? Are you sharing it with the world or are you keeping it hidden? It’s time to take your little black dress out of the closet and join the party!
We encourage you to include a time of prayer with this reading. If you need a place to get started, consider the suggestions on the How to Pray page.