A Wedding Invitation.

^“ And Jesus answered and spoke to them again by parables and said: ² “The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son, ³ and sent out his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding; and they were not willing to come. ¹⁴ “For many are called, but few are chosen.” Mathew 22:1-14

[Wish you all a blessed new year! ]The parable of the wedding feast is a very common scripture but, I am repeatedly inspired to bring out few things from this portion. If we read Mathew-22:1-14 we will get the idea of the story wherein; a King is arranging a big wedding banquet for his prince .He has already send the invitation to many honored people with the anticipation they will be there to give honor to his son. As there was no response he sends out his servants for a second time to remind them about the feast, but they all simply ignored the invitation for silly day to day matters and were not ready to attend the wedding feast. Again the King sends a second group of servants to all the specially invited guests to let them know every preparation is done for the wedding and invited them again, but they took it lightly .They neither paid attention nor set their time apart for the wedding feast. They dishonored the King as well as the Prince. Hearing this the King gets angry and He destroys them and their cities. Now the King tells his servants; those who were invited were unworthy so, go into the highways and find as many as they could gather, both good and bad as the feast is all ready. The servants did as the King said and the wedding hall was full. The King came in to see the guests and saw one person without His wedding garment and the King became angry and He was punished for ignoring to give honor to the King.

 

Jesus mentions in the beginning that this parable resembles the Kingdom of God. Here God Almighty is the King, Jesus is the son of this honored King and the wedding banquet symbolizes the entry to the kingdom of God. In this parable we can see two groups of people, who are invited for this wedding banquet. The first group is a highly qualified group of guests; they all are highly entitled to be the guests of this honored and mighty king. They all have a special place in the invited list. This symbolizes the people of Israel-the apple of God’s eye. But when Jesus came into this world to save them, they could not recognize His call or accept Him as Messiah, they simply did not believe in Him. When the highly favored nation of Israel, failed to receive the saving grace of Jesus Christ, the invitation was extended through grace to the second group. Here the invitation is open to anyone who hears the gospel of Jesus, anyone who believes in Jesus and accepts Him as one’s own Savior and chooses to obey Him is gathered to attend the big banquet, the Kingdom of God. It is by grace that the second selection is made, there was nothing to make you and me, pre-qualify for this selection. When the grace of God shined over the outcast, a Savior was born to the whole world. Here God have not kept any set boundaries to limit anyone to come into the Kingdom Of God. In the parable Jesus says both good and bad were invited, not our righteousness, good deeds, education, family, values, wealth, wisdom none of them makes us eligible to enter the kingdom of God. It is purely the grace of God, 1 Corinthians 1:27“But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.” Today if you feel the need of a Savior, a need to be out from your bondage, the need to be redeemed from sin, you simply have to accept his invitation-Jesus came in search of all the outcast and unprivileged to make them righteous not by law but by faith.

 

In this parable verse 11, speaks about a wedding garment. When the King comes in to see His guests, He saw a man without his wedding garment, and the King asks him, Friend, where is your wedding garment? And he became speechless out of shame and guilt. The above parable talks to us about the wedding invitation which is the call, our readiness to respond being the selection and now comes the need of the wedding garment. What is this garment? Revelation 19:7, 8 “Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.” The wedding garment is the righteousness that we need to wear within our heart. Righteousness is an attribute of the holiness of God. Being in the selected list of the Kings wedding Banquet does not make you and me exempted from judgment, here comes the need of righteousness as our garment. Jesus says “For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven.” Mathew 5:20. If so we need to stop pointing out on the righteousness of others and should deal with ourselves; are we assuming spiritual hypocrisy? How far are we righteous in spiritual matters? Righteousness according to the eyes of God is our holiness, our resemblance to the character of Christ, our obedience to the word of God, our submissiveness to the Holy Spirit. Today you and me are invited to attend the wedding feast with the King, are you ready to accept Him and honor Him as your King and Savior? If you have accepted the invitation please make sure you have the wedding garment, for many are selected but few are chosen. May God bless you abundantly.

In Christ Jesus,

SMITHA SUSAN THOMAS.

The name that protects.

JOHN 17:11

“I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name—the name you gave me—so that they may be one as we are one”.

    I would like to briefly explain the context for the  above verse.  John  chapter 17 is a chapter of prayer ,where Jesus  intercedes to the Father in heaven ,for  his disciples.Jesus knew that His time to be betrayed was near and He knew that His Father would give Him strength to fulfill his purpose in earth but here Jesus is deeply concerned about his disciples, who were with him throughout his ministry .They believed him and  followed him trusting he is Messiah,but Jesus knew once they will be left alone they will go weak in their faith.If the world did not believe the Son of God how could they appreciate His disciples? Jesus knew the trials they are going to face in the  days  ahead  will be great and out of his deep concern,love and anguish ,Jesus   is asking God to  provide protection to His disciples.This protection comes to anyone who believes in the name of Jesus,for he knows that anyone who believes in Him will be hated by the world .Today do you understand that there is a power in the name of Jesus, a power that unites us with spirit of Christ , a power  that instills within us to be conquerors of the world, a power that protects us from all the bindings of flesh- this power is nothing but the power of holy spirit that works within us  to help us  unify  with the nature of Christ.If you are reading this post with a fear that makes you feel lonely,inadequate or being hated by all  just understand if you hold upon the saving grace of Jesus, he will offer protection in all areas of your life.              The protection Jesus offers to you and me is out of his deep love towards us knowing our nature of flesh.Only the name of Jesus can protect you from the power of death and provide you with eternal life.

In Christ Jesus,

Smitha    Thomas

The embodiment of love-Christ.

I Corinthians 13:1-8

  ^“Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.  And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.  And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.
  Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil;  does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth;  bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 
  Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away.”

       I quoted almost the whole chapter as it was difficult for me to extract a single verse to explain the love mentioned in the word of God. The passage is quite self explanatory and I don’t think, I have to add much to it. The first three verses tells us the importance of love or the highest rank love is having over many other blessings or gifts that we  boast about.In the bottom line if love is not the foundation on which: we speak,we prophesize ,we gain understanding ,we do charity,we do sacrifices or we invest our  faith in, the end result is null in the eyes of God.Today identify the truth – what is the foundation on which all our good works are build upon.? If its something other than love,the end result will be like a man who have build his house upon the sand,when the time came to test its real strength, his house collapsed and all his hard work went wasted. Today the word of God advices us to be wise and please do not attempt to belittle the love, God wants to implant in our heart. Verses 4-7 talks to us about the characters of love. Here,I would like to imagine about love as a person ,and if so ; love would be  a perfect gentleman who is kind,patient,who will never envy on others,won’t boast on anything,won’t be rude or proud or self seeking,won’t get angered easily or keep any record of wrong.He will not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.Also this person called love always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.Can you compare or find  anyone with this nature,for me it  quickly took me to the cross, where I saw the very nature of my Savior, as the embodiment of love. Lets take the character of Christ expressed as true love and apply it  in our life today.On areas we are not able to yield ask for the work of holy spirit. I would like to conclude ,in places where all wisdom and spiritual gifts fail – only one thing can sustain,the love of Christ.

In Christ Jesus,

Smitha Thomas.