{"id":20669,"date":"2023-03-22T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-03-22T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mailchi.mp\/urc\/urc-daily-devotionwednesday-22-march-2023"},"modified":"2023-03-22T06:00:00","modified_gmt":"2023-03-22T06:00:00","slug":"urc-daily-devotion-wednesday-22-march-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/urc-daily-devotion-wednesday-22-march-2023\/","title":{"rendered":"URC Daily Devotion\u00a0Wednesday 22 March 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"
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inspiration in your inbox<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
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Wednesday 22 March 2023 <\/strong><\/span> <\/p>\n
St Matthew 22: 1 – 14<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n
Once more Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying: \u2018The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding banquet, but they would not come. Again he sent other slaves, saying, \u201cTell those who have been invited: Look, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready; come to the wedding banquet.\u201d But they made light of it and went away, one to his farm, another to his business, while the rest seized his slaves, maltreated them, and killed them. The king was enraged. He sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city. Then he said to his slaves, \u201cThe wedding is ready, but those invited were not worthy. Go therefore into the main streets, and invite everyone you find to the wedding banquet.\u201d Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered all whom they found, both good and bad; so the wedding hall was filled with guests. \u2018But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing a wedding robe, and he said to him, \u201cFriend, how did you get in here without a wedding robe?\u201d And he was speechless. Then the king said to the attendants, \u201cBind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.\u201d For many are called, but few are chosen.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n
Reflection<\/strong> Some years ago members of a URC congregation read their way through Matthew\u2019s Gospel during Lent, meeting weekly to share reactions. In discussion, one member commented, \u201cwe do a lot of wailing and teeth gnashing when we read Matthew.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n
Weeping and the teeth gnashing feature in this parable of the wedding banquet, but that\u2019s only one element in what\u2019s alarming about it.<\/p>\n
The king, who has issued an invitation to his son\u2019s wedding banquet, takes rejection badly. Those who declined the invitation and mistreated royal messengers are killed by his army, and their city is burned to the ground.<\/p>\n
Even those who accept the king\u2019s invitation are not safe. One guest, who has been brought in off the street, is consigned to outer darkness (with tears and teeth gnashing) because he is improperly dressed. (How many of us habitually walk down the street dressed so as not to look out of place at a wedding?) If the king in the parable represents God that\u2019s a frightening picture.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s a hint, though, that this picture is not complete. In the parable, although we hear from the king, and only from the king, the son, for whom the banquet is given, is silent.<\/p>\n
Certainly, if I\u2019m rich, I\u2019m unwise to reject God (as did landowners and business owners in the parable). I might find myself replaced by the poor. Even if I\u2019m someone who has accepted the invitation to God\u2019s party (as we Christians tend to picture ourselves) once I\u2019ve done so I\u2019m expected to behave in the right way. If the image of God in this parable still worries you, take care to read it as part of the bigger Gospel story, where the Son also speaks, and we find that God is \u2018With Us\u2019, not against us.
Prayer<\/strong> O God, May I never take your loving invitation for granted. May I always listen out for what your Son is saying. May I be ever mindful that you are with me day by day. Amen.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
The Rev\u2019d Dr Trevor Jamison, Minister, Saint Columba\u2019s URC, North Shields.<\/span><\/h4>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
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New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright \u00a9 1989, 1995 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
inspiration in your inbox Wednesday 22 March 2023 St Matthew 22: 1 – 14 Once more Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying: \u2018The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his slaves to call those who had been invited to the … <\/p>\n
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