Daily Devotional For Tuesday, January 27, 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).
As we pick up today where we left off yesterday with this parable, just as the invited guests to this wedding reacted with the attitude of “ they paid no attention” in verse 5, here is Jesus the Messiah walking around them and they are paying no attention to Him. The Messiah has arrived and everyone is going about business as usual as if nothing of important or significance was happening. These invited guests added rejection to their apathy.
This story reveals how God the Father sent His Son, Jesus and invited Israel only to come to Him. Israel refused, rejected and reverted to business as usual. It has to make you wonder how patient God is. From the earliest stories in the Old Testament down through the New Testament, God has continuously and consistently been attempting to bring people to Himself through invitations through His prophets, priests, pastors and preachers. For most who hear the invitation, they refuse and reject the invitation.
People sit in church every week hearing the Word of God, but are apathetic and resistant to it. They walk out of church the same they walked into church – defiant. Can you imagine the patience and love God must have to put up with this every day 24/7? It’s not that they want church doors closed; they simply do not want their ears opened. They think their goodness is good enough which Scripture says just the opposite. “Good or goodness” is subjective to the user. When we compare ourselves to the goodness of God, we all fall short. This is the point of Romans 3:10-20. People may tell their pastor “good sermon,” but they go about their more “important” business as usual with no change or desire to change. If you are familiar with Alice In Wonderland, you know the mantra of the rabbit: “I’m late. I’m late for a very important date. No time to say ‘Hello, goodbye.’ I’m late, I’m late, I’m late.” New Testament scholar Douglas Sean O’Donnell writes this:
“We live in a world where people are so busy that they simply find no time to stop and listen to the generous invitation, no time to see the Mad Hatter’s tea party (I mean, the Messiah’s banquet) set before them” (Douglas Sean O’Donnell, Preach The Word, “Matthew,” p. 624).
If you ever fly a plane, as you are in the terminal (interesting dark name for arrivals/departures), you’ll see very good people going about their business as usual. You have good people doing good work but ignoring the Good News that our Good God has for them. They damn themselves to an eternity of darkness in the fiery torments of hell. The point Jesus is making here is that God sent prophets and priests to Israel and they rejected them, even killing some of them as in our parable. Then God lovingly, patiently, and graciously sent His Son and we killed Him as well. Since Israel, God’s chosen people rejected God, God sent messengers out to the Gentiles and invited them to the Messianic banquet.
In verse 7, God issues justice. We now live in a culture that no longer wants a God of justice, but just a God of love. We have cities all over America that are the murder capital cities of their states. We have terrorists all over the world who murder innocent people with no thought to their actions. And then, we have a culture that wants us to treat such cold-hearted murders with such love as if they were being invited over for Sunday dinner. Former atheist and now Christian apologist C.S. Lewis this on this subject of God’s justice:
“People today do not want so much a father in Heaven as a grandfather in Heaven—a senile benevolence” (Source: C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain, p. 35).
The king sent in his troops and killed all those murderers and burned their city to the ground. Some might read this and think God is unfair and unjust, but Scriptures affirm He only does such after all hope of repentance from people is gone. It is time that preachers today stop watering down the Gospel to keep people in their churches and to attract new people to their church. A Judgement Day is coming. Hell is real. Eternal damnation is assured to those who reject Jesus Christ. A “soft” Gospel is not a saving Gospel. A watered-down Gospel does not get you the Living Water, Jesus. In this parable, God sent messengers out to the most unlikely people – Gentiles and they responded.
In this parable about a wedding, Jesus did not end with, “And rode off into the quiet sunset and lived happily ever after.” No. In verse 12 someone tried to sneak into the wedding banquet. And this person was addressed by the king as “friend.” The same term, “friend,” Jesus used to call Judas when Judas kissed Jesus with a kiss of betrayal in Matthew 26:50. In the parable, this fake disciple is thrown into hell. Not everyone who gets an invitation gets in. Not everyone who responds to the invitation gets in. It is not an issue that you paint yourself all up to be in church; it is have you gone through the penance to be in Christ? Just like the Jews had no faith in God or Jesus and thus are rejected for entrance into the Messianic Banquet, so are others who faithfully come to church but their lives show no faith in the Son of God.
Without faith in Jesus, no one can remain at the banquet. This is why Jesus ends this parable in verse 14 the way He did: ”For many are called, but few are chosen.” This is why all of us need to heed Jesus’ words in Matthew 7:21-23. Judgement Day is coming for the lost and a Messianic Banquet is coming to the saved and redeemed (see Isa. 25:6-8, Ezek. 39:17-24, and Rev. 19:17-21). I conclude with an outtake from an anonymous letter written in the second century to someone named Diognetus explaining what Jesus did for us:
“He Himself gave His own son, a ransom on our behalf, the Holy for the lawless, the innocent for the guilty, the righteous for the unrighteous, the incorruptible for the corruptible, the immortal for the mortal. For what else than that one’s righteousness could cover up our sin? In who else than in the Son of God alone could our lawlessness and ungodliness possibly be justified? Oh, the sweet exchange! Oh, the fathomless creation! Oh, the unexpected benefits that the lawlessness of many should be concealed in the one righteous, and righteousness of the one should justify many lawless” (Source: “Letter To Diognetus,” The Apostolic Fathers, Vol. 9, pp. 2-5).
Reflection Assignment: Do you ever find yourself comparing your goodness to the lack of goodness in others? Do you ever seriously compare your goodness to the goodness of Christ? When you hear the word of God through a sermon or podcast or a Bible study or community group, do you choose to change to be in obedience to the Word or do you sit there thinking of others who need to change? The invitation has been given. The Messianic Banquet has been scheduled. The only question remaining is this: will you make or or be kicked out of it?
Scripture to Meditate On: Luke 13:23-24, “And someone said to Him, ‘Lord, are there just a few who are being saved?’ And He said to them, (24) ‘Strive to enter through the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able’” (NASB).
Prayer To Pray: “Dear Lord, thank You that You chose to make the great exchange for me. I do not deserve such love, grace, mercy, compassion and forgiveness. Lord, I do not want to get to the banquet only to be kicked out of it to where there is “weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Give me a passionate heart to share the Gospel fully to others. I love You Lord. In Jesus’ name, Amen!”
I love you Southside! – Pastor Kelly