The Wedding Feast

The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son.

He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet

to tell them to come,

but they refused to come.

Then He sent some more servants and said,

“Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner:

My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready.

Come to the wedding banquet.”

Matthew 22:2-4

I recently went to a wonderful out-of-town wedding.  It made me think more deeply about the meaning of weddings.

Including me, there were 4 other women who came from other states for the wedding.  The couple and their families were really appreciative of the fact that we came in from out of town and kept thanking us.  To me, a wedding invitation is a commitment.  Being invited – or not – to a wedding is a test of a friendship.  In theory, the bride & groom are only getting married once, so it’s “do or die”.  It’s like Haley’s Comet, if you don’t see it when it happens, you’ll never have another chance.  It’s an honor to be invited to a wedding. 

It’s also unlike anything else in that the bride and groom (or their families) pay the expenses.  They pay for your food and drink and pay to reserve your seat at the reception table.  If you went to someone’s birthday dinner, it is normal to pay for your own meal and subsidize the birthday girl’s meal as well, plus bring a present.  Same thing is true for showers & anniversaries & celebrations of all stripes; but at wedding, the celebrants do all the work and the guests just get to party along with them.

I never really thought about this as deeply before.   I’ve never thought about the importance of weddings at all.  I think that every time I’m invited to a wedding, I’m going to make my best effort to go.

 “For many are invited, but few are chosen.”

Matthew 22:14

Testimony.Salvation

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Matthew 11:28-30

 I haven’t shared my testimony in a while, so I figured I’d do it again.

Some people remember the exact date & time that they accepted Christ as their savior.  I don’t.  I put the date @ late summer (maybe August) of 2002.  I was at a job that I hated.  Fridays were my favorite day of the week because it meant I wouldn’t have to deal with the folks from my job for 2 whole days.  Saturday mornings were great.  On Saturday afternoons I started feeling mildly anxious because I thought, “I only have 1 day left, then I have to face those people on Monday”.  On Sundays I was in a fairly high state of anxiety.  One day, while I was riding the bus to work, I started crying for no reason.  That never happened to me before.

I was looking for solutions.  I picked up a book by Tony Evans entitled, The Battle is the Lord’s.  It described this war going on between God & Satan.  It was the first time I read about the purpose of angels or that humankind was caught up in the crossfire in this war.  The book also said that I could find safety in God.  Around the same time, I saw Dr. Charles Stanley’s televised sermon about the cross.  I was raised in church, but I’d never been given a clear explanation of the centrality of the cross in the Christian faith and what it signified. Stanley explained the importance of understanding that the cross was where Jesus paid our sin-debt in full, thereby reconciling us to God, ourselves, and the rest of creation.

Before that, no one ever explicitly told me that God was against me, but that’s what I believed.  I thought God was watching me from heaven, looking for me to make a mistake so that he could have good reasons to send me to hell.  After watching Dr. Stanley, I went to bed.  While laying there, it occurred to me for the first time that God was on my side and that he wanted me to submit to his authority so that he could protect me.  So I said the prayer of confession.  Nothing happened.  No music. No lights.  So I said the prayer of confession again.  Again nothing exceptional happened around me.

Yet, something exceptional did happen within me.  I felt relief. I felt peace.