Cause You’ve Gotta Have FAITH-a FAITH-a FAITH!

We just went over a bunch of parables in theo class…this one kinda stuck out at me…or got me going? idk. but heres some stuff i wrote on it.

There are consequences for failures in faith found throughout the Bible. In Matthew, Chapter 22, Jesus is explaining the parable of the wedding feast.

In the first part of the parable the king invites guests to the wedding feast to celebrate his son. They decide not to come. He sends his servants a second time, and again the invitation is turned down and his servants are met with hostility and some are even murdered. The King, angry at the treatment of his servants, burns down the city of the people of whom he had invited to the wedding feast.

Okay, so we all know parables…they are moral and religious lessons that are metaphoric in nature.

the king is God, the father
the invited guests are his people, the jewish population
the wedding feast represents the community of believers
the son is Jesus Christ

The invitation to the wedding feast represents the invitation to faith in Jesus Christ. The refusal to accept this faith is met with fire and death. The invited, who turned down the invitation to faith, refused to join the community of believers, and killed the messengers, were already spiritually dead. They had set themselves up for disaster. “Burning the city down” does no more harm to the unbelievers than they were already doing to themselves. By refusing to accept the faith they were throwing themselves into the flame.

But there is more to the parable than that…

There is a second dilemma that is presented in the parable of the wedding feast…

Finally, the king tells his servants to invite anyone they see to the wedding feast. One man, who arrives at the wedding feast, is not wearing a wedding garment. Because of his unpreparedness he is thrown out of the party and into the darkness where he will suffer the “wailing and gnashing of teeth”–not a good time.

God allows all people to join into the community of believers, not just the descendants of Abraham. The man without the wedding garment represents someone who goes to the “party” but is just there for the free ride. He hasn’t prepared his heart and soul for the journey into the community of believers. He didn’t put any investment into his faith and hasn’t earned the right to be there. Maybe he doesn’t really believe. He just heard about the consequences of not joining this party and is like “Well, just in case this ‘God thing’ is real, I better show up”. As George Michael once sang you’ve, “Gotta have faith”. You have to believe.

It is not enough just to “show up” you have to put an effort into your faith if you are to be accepted. Let God know you are serious! Don’t be like the unprepared visitor. Work on your faith, fill up on the Word, and “let your light shine before men.” Make an effort to join the community of believers!