In reading through the Gospel accounts of the this the Passion week. I was struck this morning by two separate encounters Jesus had with the religious leaders.
In Matt. 22, Jesus tells the parable of the wedding banquet. Verse 11 stuck out to me,
But when the King came in to see the guests, He noticed a man who was there not wearing wedding clothes. Friend, he asked, “How did you get in here without wedding clothes?” The man was speechless.
The man was thrown out and missed out on an eternity in God’s presence.
The second passage was was in Luke 20 where Jesus is answering a challenge about the resurrection and marriage. He makes this statement in verse 35,
But those who are considered worthy of taking part in that age in in the resurrection from the dead will neither marry nor be given in marriage.
I was reminded as I read both these passages about how I used to cringe in fear at the thought that I’m not worthy. I would read about the wedding clothes and think how dirty I was and I certainly did nothing that made me “worthy”. That was the mindset I lived with for years until I realized Jesus accomplished everything on the cross to make me worthy.
This morning as I read I stopped and thanked my God that it He who has chosen me. It is His garments of righteousness in which I am clothed and He has made me worthy. All I did was respond to an invitation of grace.
I still feel unworthy of God’s gift of salvation. I tend to focus on my emphasize my failures and downplay any good things in me, but God sees the completed work.
I certainly don’t deserve all of His love and the blessings I experience but it sure makes me grateful.
I noticed that verse, too, about the wedding guest. The footnote on it in my Bible said that the “guests would have been supplied with robes by the king’s servants, since all the guests came in a hurry and were unsuitably attired.”
Definitely and amazingly wonderfully, it is God who fashions the robes, but it did also make me think that as His servants, we can offer the same robes to others.
I also was moved that the king called him “friend.” Even though he wasn’t willing to receive the robe, He still loved him to the end. Wow. Make me more like you, Jesus.
Thanks a lot for sharing your heart and insights, and also for making up the reading schedule; I’m thankful not to waste this week, but to let it have meaning and help me to see Jesus more.
Amy