Thought of the Day 10.24.08

In Matthew 22, Jesus compares heaven to a wedding feast thrown by a wealthy king for his son and attended only by poor people. Shockingly, when the king finds one of them inappropriately dressed, he furiously has him thrown out of the hall.

In the past, this parable frightened me because it seemed to say that God’s final judgment would reject anyone who wasn’t wearing the appropriate works. But I recently realized a very different (and obvious) message.

The only way any of these destitute people could have been properly clothed was if they had been offered the king’s own robes. The rejected man was thrown out for having the audacity to refuse this lavish gift and stand there in his rags.

And once I saw that, at God’s feast, I get to wear the white wedding gown Jesus’s perfect life earned for me, this story stopped causing me to tremble in fear and inspired me to fall down and worship in overwhelmed gratitude.