Matthew 22 is interesting for a lot of reasons but it is pretty sad as well. You may not have noticed but Jesus says to go to those who have already been invited and the indication is, they already accepted the invitation. You see in the time of the bible, invitations to such events were sent without an exact date for the event.
When the event was ready then someone would go out and announce, it is ready, it is time, come on.
It is pretty self explanatory after that. Many of the people who had said yes to the banquet invitation decided they didn’t want to come. Maybe they didn’t have time, too many things keeping them busy. Since making the decision to accept the invitation they had made better friends, found new hobbies, got a raise and moved on to bigger and better things?
I am sure you know by now hat Jesus is telling a story about Heaven. He has sent out an invitation and everyone has been invited. Many people have accepted the invitation, but Jesus says when the time comes, not everyone who said they wanted to come will be read to come.
The problem is, we received the invitation and it sounded great so we accepted. But then we got busy we other things. Many times we get busy with the answered prayers God gives us and we forget him and relish the blessing. How sad is that?
If you’re reading this and you accepted the invitation at some point but you wouldn’t recognize the one who invited you now, it’s time to turn around, it’s time to get to know him again, it’s time to get your priorities right.
Read Matthew 22 again.