Daily Devotional For Monday, January 26, 2026
Good morning Southside. It looks like we missed the worst of this storm. I am praying for all those people who are without power in such freezing temperatures. We are making our way through Matthew’s Gospel. Today we come to Matthew 22:1-14:
“And again Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying, (2) “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son, (3) and sent his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come. (4) Again he sent other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, “See, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast.”’ (5) But they paid no attention and went off, one to his farm, another to his business, (6) while the rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them. (7) The king was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. (8) Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding feast is ready, but those invited were not worthy. (9) Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find.’ (10) And those servants went out into the roads and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good. So the wedding hall was filled with guests. (11) “But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment. (12) And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. (13) Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ (14) For many are called, but few are chosen” (NLT).
To do justice to this parable by Jesus, we will be taking a couple of days to go through it thoroughly. The theme of this parable by Jesus is that God gives an invitation to everyone to participate in His kingdom. If we accept His invitation that leads to joy but if we reject His invitation that leads to punishment. In this parable, Jesus said something shocking – the kingdom of heaven is offered to those who least expected to enter it.
In this story, a king gives a wedding banquet for his son. Here the King represents God and the son represents the Son of God – Jesus. At this point Jesus may have had in mind the Messianic Banquet found in Matthew 25:6-8 and in Revelation 19:7-9. In a Jewish culture, when there was a wedding, two invitations went out. The first invitation asked guests to attend without a specific date and the second invitation announced when everything was ready to attend with a specific date. So, in this parable, when the king sent his servants or slaves to call those who had been invited, this was the second invitation.
This means these invited guests had already accepted the first invitation. At this second invitation, though these guests had initially said they would come from the first invitation, now they refuse or decline to come. In verses 4-6, oxen and fat calves were the meat that only the wealthy could afford. This was going to be a grand feast. But after the 2 invitations and then finally a third one, the invited guests refused to come. Everything was ready but these invited guests placed a higher priority on their own lives and activities than on the king’s invitation. They acted as if nothing of importance and significance was happening. They made light of the king’s invitation and went about their own business as usual. The seizing and killing of the king’s servants seem hard to imagine. Surely, there would be repercussions from the king for doing this. Here, as in the previous parable, the king’s servants represent God’s prophets. New Testament scholar Craig Bloomberg writes this about this parable:
“Here is the third in this series of parables about a master and his subordinates, this time a king and his citizens. As in the parable of the wicked tenants, rebellion and murder intrude, as some of the townspeople kill the king’s emissaries. Again the rebellious subordinates are replaced by less antagonistic ones. This third parable brings hostilities to a climax. In Matthew 21:28-32 the disobedient son stands for those who reject John and Jesus, but his fate is left open-ended. In Matthew 21:33-46 the wicked tenants murder the son, but the master merely evicts them from his property. Now we see God, in the person of the king, destroying those who spurn his advances. The execution of God’s sentence against faithless Israel begins to unfold. The somewhat parallel parable in Luke 14:15-24 probably reflects Jesus’ use of similar imagery to make slightly different points on a different occasion” (Source: Craig Bloomberg, New American Commentary, “Matthew,” Vol. 22, p. 326).
In this parable, the invited guests' reaction is both shocking and appalling on a spiritual level and personal level. After hearing this parable, Jesus’ listeners would have been shocked by their rejection to come plus by the king’s patience. Verse 5 says, “. . . they paid no attention.” This means they were apathetic and indifferent. Then the parable takes a dark turn. After the king sends more of his servants to invite people to the wedding of his son, those who were invited resort to violence and murder.
Reflection Assignment: Everyday God sends you an invitation to join Him where He is already working. Do you see and receive those invitations? It might be at work or school or in the supermarket to have a conversation with someone about your faith in Christ. Are you apathetic to God’s invitation or emphatic in your response?
Scripture To Meditate On: Psalm 86:5, “O Lord, you are so good, so ready to forgive, so full of unfailing love for all who ask for Your help” (NLT).
Prayer To Pray: “Dear Lord, I do not want to be calloused or apathetic to Your invitations to join you where You are already working. Open my eyes to see your invitations and my heart to receive Your invitation. I love You Lord. In Jesus’ name, Amen!”
I love you Southside! – Pastor Kelly