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Hear the devotional here: https://bit.ly/3lhX93o
1 Once more Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying: 2 "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son. 3 He sent his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding banquet, but they would not come. 4 Again he sent other slaves, saying, "Tell 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.' 5 But they made light of it and went away, one to his farm, another to his business, 6 while the rest seized his slaves, mistreated them, and killed them. 7 The king was enraged. He sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city. 8 Then he said to his slaves, "The wedding is ready, but those invited were not worthy. 9 Go therefore into the main streets, and invite everyone you find to the wedding banquet.' 10 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. 11 "But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing a wedding robe, 12 and he said to him, "Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding robe?' And he was speechless. 13 Then the king said to the attendants, "Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.' 14 For many are called, but few are chosen." (Matthew 22:1-14 NRSV)
I swore I would not do it again! But, given my age, and several other factors, I wrote a devotional based on the Scripture, specially the Gospel reading for the 18th of October, and not the one for this coming Sunday!! Please forgive me, and just save yesterday's one for next Monday, and I will take the day off! And my thanks for a dear reader's sharp eye in catching the error; thank you, Mr. Ken Smith! And I pray this finds you well, dear Friend; I share some news. Our friend Dick Goss was set to have his ankle replacement surgery today, but an unforeseen need near the area to be operated made it necessary to reschedule the operation three weeks from today. So, thank God the surgeon found that area and we continue to pray for Dick as this means more pain until they can repair that ankle! Hang in there, Dick! I also got word that Mrs. Gwen Grout, dedicated Christian servant and widow of The Rev. Dr. Ted Grout, of the Rio Grande Conference, died on Monday in her nursing home in Bastrop, Texas. May God comfort the children and grandchildren of the Grout family. Please pray for their comfort.
The gospel for this coming Sunday, the 11th of October is a powerful parable that Jesus uses to try and explain further the kingdom of heaven. He said, "A king gave a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his slaves to call those who had been invited to the banquet, but they would not come. He tries a second time, this time mentioning the menu of this lavish affair; barbecued oxen and fatted calves, with all the trimmings, and still no one wanted to come. This time, though, they laughed at the invitation and those who delivered it. Some of the invited guests did more; they grabbed the slaves, mistreated them, and killed them." You can imagine how the king felt about this rejection of this banquet. He sent his troops to destroy those murderers and to burn their city. Then he said yet again, those folks were not worthy, go now into the main streets and invite everyone you meeting to come to this feast! The slaves found plenty of people, both good and bad and filled that wedding hall with many guests. When the king came into the hall, he saw a man who was not wearing a wedding robe, and asks him, "Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding robe?" The man was speechless. And the king ordered him bound and thrown out into "the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." And Jesus ends His parable with this profound statement, "For many are called, but few are chosen."
The (late) Rev. Chuck McCullough and I were campus ministers are the same time; he at then-Texas A&I in Kingsville, and I at then-Pan American University in Edinburg, TX. We both knew well the challenges of attracting students at commuter campuses to return back after hours for events at our ministries. For the first years of our ministries, the fact that we taught university-level credit courses within a Bible department, helped us meet many students, who, either for a better grade, or so they hoped, or just for fellowship with other students, we would have some results in attracting some crowds, but we never truly knew how many. I remember him taking a church in Mission, when I was back in the local church as well, and his saying to me, "It sure is nice publicizing an event and having people show up!" We laughed because we knew exactly what he was talking about. To borrow the response of the prophet, somewhat paraphrased, "It wasn't so much a rejection of us, as it was of God and what God wanted to share with those who would show up."
Jesus knows that in the end of all time, there will be a lavish feast to which we all have been visited. In fact, it has been a life-long invitation that most of us have, I believe, already said yes to; while some are taking their time or just plain ignoring and others outright rejecting God's invitation. Many say, what is there to fear? I'm not sure there really is a God, and I know that there is really not a hell where we will be sent! Those are just stories made up to scare the children who don't behave. And sadly, many have been the pastors I long respected who have said very publicly they no longer believe in a literal hell. These include some pastors with huge churches and successful television ministries. And it was interesting to find on Youtube a video by a former Buddhist monk who died and spent time in hell. Yes, quite a departure from the beautiful and wonderful stories of heaven. This monk who served for over twenty years as a teaching monk, found that his mentor, a revered teacher and leader in Buddhism had ended up in hell. He also saw The Buddha in hell as well, for misleading people away from Jesus, whom he realized while there, was indeed the long-awaited Messiah. He also saw, what he called, "the biggest and tallest man I have ever seen with a wound in his forehead, who was suffering the fires of hell for having blasphemed the holy name of God." Once he became a Christian and started studying the scriptures, he learned that was the giant Goliath. I don't want to discount the validity or truthfulness of this man's testimony, but it serves as a reminder, that there will be eternal separation from God for those who do not accept His invitation to be in a relationship with Him. And that "man who was there in the banquet without a wedding robe" might just be the one who has started this rebellion and chaos that will lead many to him who will discover that he is indeed the father of lies, and quite the enemy of God as the Bible presents him.
Dear one, God cares for you, and loves you very much as the Bible says. We take the words of John 3:16 as just one example of many found in our holy scriptures of that eternal love that is ours for the taking. I share this in love as well, for your wellbeing, for your benefit, and for your future. To live a life that rejects God can lead to nowhere good; I say choose the goodness of God's love for you and yours.
PRAYER: Heavenly Father, as we pray, we pray for ourselves. We want to be found worthy of being in a loving and trusting relationship with You. We want to be among those You have invited to spend not just a meal, but an eternity with You. And we don't want to wait until our time in heaven, we want the fellowship to start now; so lead us on, by taking our hands and walking with us into the fullness of life. And this we pray in Christ Jesus' strong name, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord! Remind someone of the great banquet Jesus will celebrate with us one day in paradise if we but accept His invitation.
Receive my blessing of hope and joy,
Pastor Eradio
