Tag Archives: feast

It’s just common sense (Mark 2:19-22) July 12, 2016

Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – 2 Kings 6-10

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Mark 2:19-22
Jesus: Guests at the wedding can’t fast when the bridegroom is with them. It would be wrong to do anything but feast. When the bridegroom is snatched away from them, then the time will come to fast and mourn.
These are new things I’m teaching, and they can’t be reconciled with old habits. Nobody would ever use a piece of new cloth to patch an old garment because when the patch shrinks, it pulls away and makes the tear even worse. And nobody puts new, unfermented wine into old wineskins because if he does, the wine will burst the skins; they would lose both the wineskins and the wine. No, the only appropriate thing is to put new wine into new wineskins.

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

Today we do some strange things to accommodate people’s diets, don’t we? I remember growing up, if someone invited you to dinner, you ate what was on the table and you at least pretended to like it no matter what it was or how it tasted. Consequently, as a preacher’s kid, my siblings and I sometimes ate some pretty bad food in our formative years, but learned to swallow it down, smile, and say thank you. Maybe that’s why I’m a bit overweight, now. I learned to like everything.

Now, we seem to accommodate everyone we invite to a party or a dinner. I can understand making sure we account for allergies that might send someone into an anaphylactic shock, but all the other stuff we do? This person doesn’t eat chicken, that one doesn’t eat meat, this one stopped eating anything with gluten, that one is on the Atkin’s diet and needs a special menu. And the crazy thing is that we sometimes go to great lengths to meet everyone’s needs at those parties or dinners.

I’m not saying it’s completely wrong to do so, but…

Maybe sometimes the best thing to do when we go to a feast is to feast. At least in Jesus day, those events didn’t happen every day and when they did, the host worked pretty hard to get everything ready for his guests. It wasn’t just a matter of going to the store and getting a bunch of pre-made appetizers and pre-cut meats and vegetables, or calling the caterer to cook up everything and get it on the table in time. In Jesus day, it meant killing and butchering the animals you were planning to eat. Harvesting and preparing the vegetables you planned to eat. Cooking for sometimes days ahead, then finishing the preparation for hours on the day of the feast. It was a difficult thing to do even with a small menu.

It’s not quite as hard today to throw a party with all the service industries that have sprung up to accommodate our needs, but I think it’s still pretty impolite to complain about the food, demand different menus, require accommodations for personal requests other than for life threatening allergies. But we are a pretty spoiled bunch of people today. Our selfishness gets the best of us because we don’t let Jesus help get rid of that selfish streak in us.

So being polite and enjoying yourself at someone’s party is the right thing to do. At least pretending the food is good and accepting it without complaint is the common sense action the Golden Rule teaches us. I think that’s part of what Jesus was telling the scribes that day.

Use some common sense. You don’t put new wine in old wineskins or they will burst. You don’t use unwashed cloth to patch a garment, it will tear. And you don’t mourn at a wedding because it’s a time for joy. Just because the scribes acting like Gloomy Gus in their synagogues as they read scripture doesn’t mean they were right. God didn’t create us to live in sorrow all the time. He created us to experience all the emotions within our framework and joy is the one He wants us to experience most. But that joy doesn’t come from happy situations, it comes from following the maker of all things.

While the maker of all things is with us, we should not be sorrowful. When we are in His presence, if our sins are forgiven, we can experience incredible, inexplicable joy. That’s what He wants for us and that’s what He gives us. It’s just common sense to follow Him. It’s just common sense to follow His advice about parties and patches and wineskins. It just common sense to ask for His forgiveness of our sins. It’s just common sense to enjoy the peace and freedom from guilt He brings when we follow His commands. It’s just common sense to listen to the Maker of the universe and do what He says to do.

That’s what Jesus is telling the scribes and us today. Just use a little common sense. When we do, the only answer we will find is to follow and obey Him for the rest of our lives.

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

The wedding feast (Matthew 22:2-14) May 20, 2016

Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – Jeremiah 42-46

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Matthew 22:2-14
Jesus: The kingdom of heaven is like a king whose son was getting married. The king organized a great feast, a huge wedding banquet. He invited everyone he knew. The day of the wedding arrived, and the king sent his servants into town to track down his guests—but when the servants approached them with the king’s message, they refused to come. So the king sent out another batch of servants.
King: Tell those people I’ve invited to come to the wedding banquet! Tell them I have prepared a great feast! Everything is ready! The oxen and fattened cattle have all been butchered, the wine is decanted, and the table is laid out just so.
And off the servants went, and they carried the king’s message to the errant guests—who still paid not a whit of attention. One guest headed into his field to work; another sat at his desk to attend to his accounts. The rest of the guests actually turned on the servants, brutalizing them and killing them. When he learned of this, the king was furious. He sent his army to kill the murderers and burn their towns. But there was, of course, still a wedding to celebrate.
King (to his remaining servants): The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited didn’t rise to the occasion. So go into the streets and invite anyone you see; invite everyone you meet.
And the servants did just that—they went into the streets and invited everyone they met, rich and poor, good and bad, high and low, sick and well. Everyone who was invited came, and the wedding hall practically burst with guests.
The king looked around the wedding party with glee, but he spotted one man who was not dressed appropriately. In fact, he was dressed rather plainly, in clothes not at all fitting for a fine nuptial feast.
King: Kind sir, how did you get in here without a proper suit of wedding clothes?
The man was speechless. He had been invited in off the street, after all! Getting no response, the king told his servants,
King: Tie him up, and throw him out into the outer darkness, where there is weeping and grinding of teeth.
For many are invited, but few are chosen.

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

What a story! A wedding hosted by the king. Invitees acting like it isn’t important. In fact, invitations being completely ignored and then beating and killing the servants who sent them. Destroying the homes and towns of those who killed his servants. The banquet hall being filled with anyone and everyone the servants could find to invite off the streets. A man not dressed in wedding clothes thrown into the streets.

What can we learn from all of this today?

I think there’s a lot we can learn. God gave us everything we need to find Him. In fact, He invites us to join Him in a great celebration at the wedding feast of His Son with His bride the church. But what do we do with the invitation? Do we treat it like it has no value? Do we, like the first people pointed out in the story ignore the invitation and lose the opportunity to enjoy the benefits the King of kings wants for us?

Or worse, do we murder the reputation of those sent to bring people into His kingdom? Do we fail to give honor and respect to God’s people, those who share His message? I’m not just talking about the Israelites, His chosen people, and I’m not just referring to the pastors that share God’s message from pulpits every week. I’m also talking about those prophets that come into our lives and remind us of some of the behaviors we engage in that are contrary to God’s word.

Do we drive them away and treat them the way these characters treated the King’s servants? Perhaps not. Perhaps we listen the prophets and preachers and teachers God sends our way and find our way into the company of His saints. We travel along with them through the doors of the church and sing the songs they sing. We read the scriptures they read. We even hold some of the religious offices they hold. We give of our time and treasure and there we are ready to participate in the wedding. The servants the King sent out shared the messages and we followed along and it looked like we did all the right things as we followed along with that new group of people those servants went into the streets to invite.

But then the King comes and asks an important question. Where’s your wedding clothes? How’s your heart? You heard the invitation, you knew it was a wedding, why didn’t you dress in the appropriate attire. What is the appropriate attire for the King’s banquet? We must be drenched in the redemptive blood of His Son, Jesus. If we haven’t asked for His forgiveness and received Him into our lives as Lord, we’re wearing the wrong clothes.

It might look to everyone else that we’re doing everything we’re supposed to. We might fool everyone else along the way. But God and I know my heart. He knows your heart, too. I know if I’m wearing the wedding garments, ready to enter His banquet hall. He doesn’t keep my position with Him a secret. I know if I’m right with Him. There’s an old hymn about that, my wife’s favorite. Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine. Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine. Heir of salvation, purchase of God, born of His Spirit, washed in His blood. This is my story. This is my song. Praising my Savior all the day long.

We can have that blessed assurance that we will be part of the great wedding feast with God. All it takes is faith and walking in the path He tells us to follow.

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.