It's Not Fair: The Often Surprising And Always Amazing Grace Of GodНамуна

In today’s passage, Jesus tells a parable about a master who throws a party. The master represents God and the ones he invited in the beginning are the Israelites. In the Old Testament, Israel was God’s chosen people. He protected them and took care of them. He promised to bless them if they kept their promise and were faithful by worshiping only Him. But the Israelites weren’t faithful to God. Throughout the Old Testament, they sinned against Him again and again. They couldn’t be perfect on their own. They needed a Savior because they would always choose to be sinful. So God promised to send Someone to save His people.

The Jewish leaders that Jesus told this story to knew the Old Testament and the history of the Israelites. They thought that when God sent the Savior, He would only save the Jews. They thought that Israel was still God’s chosen people and that nobody else could be included. But these same Jewish leaders rejected Jesus, the Savior God sent. Jesus is like the invitation the master (God) sends in the parable. First, God invites His people, Israel. But none of them will come! He is left with nobody at His feast.

So God does something unanticipated. At the time when Jesus told this story, the Jewish leaders thought it was very unfair. They thought that God would only save the Jews and nobody else. They definitely did not expect God to invite the outcasts of society into His special kingdom. But that is exactly what God does. In the parable, the master invites the sick and poor people, the people nobody else would think of inviting to a banquet. These people can’t give him anything in return. They are too sick and poor to give him an extravagant gift to thank him or to invite him to a banquet at their house in return. The master invites them all for free. He invites anyone and everyone because he wants to share his great banquet.

Just like the master, God invites everybody into His kingdom. Jesus shows through this story that salvation is not just for the Israelites, like the Jewish leaders thought. Salvation is for everybody who will accept the invitation—everybody who will accept Jesus. Many of the Jewish leaders who were originally invited do not get to be saved because they rejected Jesus. We are like the sick and poor people the master invites to his banquet. We did not deserve to come and we cannot repay God. But God invites us through Jesus anyways, no matter who we are or what we’ve done, because He loves us very much. Take a few moments and tell God five reasons you are thankful He invited you into His kingdom through Jesus.