Hello everyone, welcome back.
My name is Elise Brooklyn and this is Scattering Flowers, a podcast where we scatter flowers of faith.
Today is Thursday, August 22nd and we will be reading Matthew 22, 1-14.
Follow along in your Bible if you have one.
Now let’s read Matthew 22, 1-14.
And again, Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying, The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a marriage feast for his son, and sent his servants to call those who were invited to the marriage feast, and they would not come.
Then he sent other servants, saying, Tell those who are invited, Behold, I have made ready my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves are killed, and everything is ready, come to the marriage feast.
But they made light of it and went off, one to his farm, another to his business, while the rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them.
The king was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.
Then he said to his servants, The wedding is ready, but those invited were not worthy.
Therefore, go to the streets and invite to the marriage feast as many as you find.
And those servants went out into the streets and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good, so the wedding ball was filled with guests.
So when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment.
And he said to him, Friend, how do you get in here without a wedding garment?
And he was speechless.
Then the king said to the attendants, Bind him, hand and foot, and cast him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Where many are called, but few are chosen.
What is your favorite thing about birthday parties?
Is it the cake?
Is it the games?
Is it being with the person you are celebrating?
My favorite part is probably being with the person and watching them open the gift I gave them.
Well, and of course, the cake.
Can you imagine, like in today’s parable, if you had a big party planned, but no one showed up?
The king invited all these people and they refused his invitation.
So instead, the king went into the streets and invited anyone and everyone to his feast.
All they had to do was put on a special piece of clothing to be presentable.
A lot of people got to go to the party, but some people refused to wear nice clothes, and so they couldn’t stay at the feast.
What does this mean for us?
It’s an example of how God invites us to be a part of his heavenly family.
God wants everyone to be a part of the party of heaven, and we don’t have to do anything special to do that, except clothe ourselves in God’s righteousness.
I think that’s even better than a slice of cake.
Let’s pray.
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, dear God, thank you for clothing us with Christ.
Thank you for your love.
We love you, God.
In Jesus' name, amen.
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen.
Thank you so much for listening.
I’ll be back tomorrow, scattering more flowers.
See ya!