PRODIGAL SUN

                                                 October 2022

 

Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. (Matthew 5:16)

 

A friend of mine recently asked if I had been invited to the wedding. After considering for a moment I gave up and asked, “what wedding?” For the answer to what he meant we need to turn to Matthew 22:1-10. 1.And Jesus answered and spoke to them again by parables and said: 2.3.“The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son, 3.and sent out his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding; and they were not willing to come. 4.Again he sent out other servants, saying, “Tell those who are invited, “See, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and fatted cattle are killed, and all things are ready. Come to the wedding” 5.But they made light of it and went their ways, one to his own farm, another to his business. 6.And the rest seized his servants, treated them spitefully, and killed them. 7. But when the king heard about it, he was furious. And he sent out his armies, destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city. 8. Then he said to his servants, “The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. 9. Therefore go into the highways, and as many as you find, invite to the wedding.”10. So those servants went out into the highways and gathered together all whom they found, both bad and good. And the wedding hall was filled with guests.

We know this parable was spoken by Jesus addressing the Jewish people as a nation, and their rejection of Him as their Messiah/husband/groom. An earlier reference to this I chose is found in Jeremiah 3:14 which reads, “Return, O backsliding children,” says the Lord, “for I am married to you. I will take you one from a city and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion.” We know, because we have the rest of the Book (Bible) that God’s promises, His commitment to Israel as a faithful husband has not wavered. Although many reject throughout all of history and perish, there are those recognizing Jesus as the Messiah today and returning to the family. Many more will, in the season(s) to come, turn to Him also.

 

Meanwhile, we Gentiles have been grafted into the family. Paul speaking to we Gentiles in Romans 11:11-12 writes, “I say then, have they (speaking of Israel) have they stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not! But through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles. Now, if their fall is riches for the world, and their failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more their fullness!

 

We may say pridefully that we Gentiles were grafted in, but Paul warns against this attitude in Romans 11:19-23 which reads, 19 You will say then, “Branches were broken off that I may be grafted in.” 20Well said. Because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear. 21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either. 22Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off. 23 And they also, if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again.

 

Back to that great question that is central to this Prodigal, “Have you been invited to the wedding?” It is a safe assumption to say, Yes. All are invited. John 3:17 says, “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” The only lacking ingredient I can think of can be found in Romans 10:14. “How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they hear without a preacher.” Universally the message of the Cross must be proclaimed. There is no other way except through the blood stained hill of Golgatha.

 

As we know, Marriage Feasts follow the ceremony. Returning to chapter 22 of Matthew we find a very sobering message. Starting with verse 11, “But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there who did not have on a wedding garment.” 12 So he said to him, “Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?” And he was speechless. The custom of the times would have dictated that the king would have supplied the wedding garments as the people attending were gathered up by the king’s servants without prior notification. For some reason he refused the wedding garment. That is a striking parallel to what goes on today. So many, in and out of churches, are seeking their own way to God if they are seeking Him at all. When Jesus said that He was the Way, the Truth, and the Life in John 14:6 he made it abundantly clear no one can come to the Father any other way. Without us being clothed in the righteousness only Christ can provide  we will be as the guest at the wedding feast. In verse 13 we read the outcome. Then the king said to his servants, “Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

 

That is the eternal future of all who do not, by faith, accept Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection as payment for their sin, and the only way to have the relationship with God restored that was lost by mankind in the Garden of Eden so long ago. God desires to show all of us His loving nature as a Father. For many of us that is hard to identify with because of issues with our earthly fathers, but we must give Him a chance. He is incapable of failing us.

 

If we seek our righteousness by anything other than a simple belief in Jesus work on the cross being sufficient we are on thin ice. Ask Him to save you, restore a right relationship with the Godhead, and direct your path from this day onward. Above all (?) ask for a heart of thankfulness for all He has done and desires to do with you.

 

There are some of you who have never truly submitted to Jesus as Lord but been content with some aspect of Him as Savior. Ask to go deeper in a relationship with him, just as what should be in our earthly marriages.

                                                                          Blessings to All,

kenhayesfleming9@gmail.com                                                        Kenneth H. Fleming

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