Lime Green Bell Bottoms

A few weeks ago we were reading from the book of Matthew in church.

Yeah, it's going to be one of those posts, so if you feel like you might want to leave, you have my permission. I'd like you to stay and just hear me out, but I understand if you can't. Or won't. Either way, I love you still.

Are you still there? Sweet.

As I was saying... Matthew 22:1-14. You can go here and read it yourself, but I'll be paraphrasing if you are unfamiliar.

Here's the story:

There's this king and his son is getting married, so he decides to throw him a party. This is a Kardashian variety party. Now this in and of itself is strange because, just like today, it's the bride's family who throws the party, not the groom's. But this king decides after the week long party that the bride's parents throw, that he wants to get in on that action, so he throws a party too. He invites all the big wigs and high ranking officials. A-list types for sure. And guess what? No one shows up. Seriously, no one. They all have other stuff going on. Can't be bothered. Well the king can't upset his son by throwing a party that no one shows up to, so he sends his servants out into the town to just start inviting anyone they can find. Anyone at all. Sad people. Happy people. Poor people. Young people. Old people. Pretty people. Ugly people. People with disease. People without proper "credentials." People just like you and me. Regular old folks. And guess what?? THEY show up. Not surprising... we aren't passing up on a free week of meals, right?! And the party is awesome.

This parable that Jesus told had an obvious message for the Jews and gentiles of his time that still is relevant to all of us today. The king is God and of course the son is His Son. The party he's throwing is symbolic of the promise of heaven. Initially this promise is made only to the people of the family of Israel. Just like in the parable, the invitations are sent but no one RSVPs. Thankfully, instead of giving up on the party (and the entire human race) altogether, God decides to invite the rest of us to his party. The gentiles. Good news, right?!

But here's the thing... you have to keep reading. Because the rest of the story goes like this:

Everyone is arriving at the party, ready to have a great time, except for this one dude who isn't wearing his "wedding garment." The king binds him, kicks him out of the party and then there's "weeping and grinding of teeth." Ouch.

But wait... WHAT??!! This doesn't sound too Christian? Kicking someone out of the party because they aren't wearing the right clothing?? This doesn't sound like something Jesus would do.

Here's the caveat - the "wedding garment" was freely given to everyone at the door upon their arrival. After hours and possibly days of long travel, these guests were dirty. No one had Coach rolling luggage full of niceties to wear. These people probably only had one or two sets of clothes. Period. The clothes they arrived in were the clothes they were partying in. Gross. So the king had these white "wedding garments" made for each and every guest to wear over their travelling clothes so that they wouldn't be filthy for the party. You walked in, they handed you the garment, you put it on. It was as simple as that.

But this one guy, he didn't put it on. I have no idea why not. It was free. It was clean. It fit. All he had to do was put it on. But he didn't. So out he went.

And there it is. God's promise to ALL of us. The party is planned. We've received our invitations. We need only to accept, show up, AND PUT ON THE GARMENT. So that's what I'm doing right now... putting on my garment.

In this life God asks little of us, really. Your salvation is already promised and is freely given. He asks us to love each other, take care of each other, be faithful. And put on the garment. Wear it like you mean it. Own it.

I don't do it enough. It's hard sometimes. Like wearing lime green bell bottoms in a sea of stone washed skinny jeans. But it's important and so here on my little blog, I'm going to wear my garment. I'm still figuring out how God is going to use me in this life to do the work He wants me to do. Maybe I've already done it and I don't even know it. Maybe I'll never figure it out. Maybe I'm not supposed to, but I'll keep trying.

Here's what I want to say: God loves you. He wants you to love Him back. He wants to be a part of your life. I don't have all the answers (or any answers) but I know it's time for me to start wearing my garment and that, my friends, is the reason for this post.

And if at some point in time you decide you want to join me in putting on the garment, I'll save you an orange pair of bell bottoms.