Not Ready for Greatest Invitation of Them All?

In his parables Jesus spoke about being ready 2,000 years ago. Now, Dr. Michael Balcomb delves into the vital question if you are not ready when the great day comes

Spirit and bride — *Illustration 24th Nov. 2024. Screenshot*

Michael Balcomb: Are you not ready? — *Dr. Michael Balcomb speaking 24th Nov. 2024. Photo: Screenshot from video recording by FFWPU*

Part 2 of extracts from a sermon titled “The Spirit and the Bride Say, ‘Come!’”, that Dr. Michael Balcomb, the President of the Europe and the Middle East Region of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, gave at the Sunday service at the River South branch in London, UK on 24th November 2024. Slightly edited.

See part 1, part 3

Jesus said,

“My kingdom is not of this world.” (John 18:36)

But we know that actually it was supposed to be of this world, right? Jesus came to build the Kingdom of Heaven on the earth. And it was only the disinterest of the people of his time that forced the alternative path of the cross.

Jesus himself did not talk about the “marriage supper of the Lamb” in the Gospels. That Revelation comes later in the Book of Revelation [Editor’s note: Revelation 19:6-9], but he did talk a lot about marriages and gave several illustrations of good and bad behaviour at a wedding.

How many people here have been to a wedding? I think you all have, right? How many of you have been here a wedding and been silently appalled by some of the guests?

[…] Weddings are meant to be happy, joyful occasions, and they are. But sometimes, people get out of hand, and they either say the wrong thing or do the wrong thing or drink too much. And what should have been a glorious celebration, can be a little spoiled by the behaviour of the guests – hopefully not by the behaviour of the bride and groom.

Wedding feast — *Parable of the wedding feast. Illustration: Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, Netherlands. Public domain image. Cropped*

I just want to share with you two parables that Jesus spoke about, explaining about marriage feasts. And it’s interesting that Jesus chose a marriage as the metaphor or illustration of what it’s like to be invited to the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus wanted people to think of it in terms they understood, right?

Almost everyone’s been to a wedding, so Jesus used that as a sample of what it would be like. And there are two parables. They’re almost the same, but they’re a little bit different.

The first one is in the Gospel of Luke. I think we’re familiar with it. It’s Luke 14:16-24.

“Jesus replied, ‘A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests.’”

You know this story.

“At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who’d been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’”

Here’s that word again – come!

“But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said, ‘I have just bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please excuse me.’”

How lame is that, right? Nobody buys property without looking at it first.

“Another said, ‘I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I’m on my way to try them out. Please, excuse me.’”

Just like that. He couldn’t wait. And perhaps the strangest is,

“Still another said, ‘I just got married, so I can’t come.’”

What could possibly stop a young married couple from going to another wedding, right? The excuses are laughably bad; they’re so weak. It’s like almost not trying. And we used to laugh at that. Remember that song we used to sing, “I cannot come, I cannot come to the banquet.” We used to laugh. It used to be a famous workshop song. […]

The other parable – a bit more pointed – is in the Gospel of Matthew, and in this case, it really is a marriage supper. Just to remind you,

“The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused.
Then he sent some more servants and said, ‘Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fatted cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.’”

Messengers beaten up — *The messengers were beaten up. Image: Biblical illustration of Gospel of Luke. Distant Shores Media/Sweet Publishing. License: CC ASA 3.0 Unp*

But they don’t. In fact, not only do they not; they go off, one to his field, another to his business, and the rest actually seized the messengers and beat them up.

The king was infuriated, and the servants were sent out to invite other people, anybody, and even to force them to come in.

To give you a little bit of context, how it worked in Jesus’ time with marriages and weddings. Usually, the bride and the groom would be introduced by their parents, and the parents would make the marriage contract and there would be a signing, a bit like our dedication ceremony [Editor’s note: engagement ceremony practiced in the Family Federation].

And that might be the very first time that the bride and groom actually met each other. It might sound familiar for some of us here.

I actually witnessed this for myself live in Jerusalem about 20 years ago, because we were staying in a hotel that was popular with Orthodox Jewish families.

And on a Sunday, normally you’d see these nervous young people come in and meet each other for the first time, basically to agree, “We’re going to get married.”

*Marriage contract being signed by young Jewish couple. Illustration: Microsoft Designer Image Creator, desember 2024.*

But then if they agreed and signed the contract, what would happen is that the bride would go back to her parents, and the bridegroom would go to get ready. It was not just to change his suit, but to get a house, to prepare everything so that he could welcome his new bride.

And of course, that would take time. It could take days, could take weeks, could take months. So there’s this period of time when people are expecting the bridegroom, but nobody’s quite sure when he’ll come. That’s why Jesus told other parables about people who got tired of waiting and let their oil run out. But that’s not today.

This is the metaphor that Jesus used twice. There’s a banquet. It’s great. In fact, everyone needs that invitation. It’s the hot ticket in town. […]

You get the invitation, but then for whatever reason, you start to get distracted. You start thinking about other things that you feel would be more important, that you need to do.

And finally, almost unexpectedly, the great day comes, and you’re not ready. And I put it to you that this is not just a cautionary tale for the Jews of Jesus’ time, or for guests at a workshop 40 years ago, or even to Christians that Mother has asked us to reach out to right now.

But first of all, what about myself? Am I really ready for that invitation? Am I ready to prioritise that day above everything else? When the Spirit says, “Come!”, will I come?

As I mentioned, we’re not just talking in spiritual or vague terms here. We’re talking about a practical, real invitation that is coming soon, and to which you are invited again.

Continued in part 3.

See part 1, part 3

Featured image above: Not ready. Illustration: Microsoft Designer Image Creator, desember 2024.

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