Pastor Clay Smith: Ignoring the King...

Jesus told a story about a King who threw a wedding banquet for his son. He sent invitations, and when the banquet was ready, he sent out his servants to tell his guests all was ready. The servants announced, "Prime rib is served!" which would have been enough to get me there.

A bit of historical context: a king would often marry his son to the daughter of another ruler. This would ensure peace between the two kingdoms. Prominent citizens from the other country would be invited to the wedding banquet as a way to solidify relationships.

As Jesus told the story, the reactions of the guests were surprising. One said he had farm chores to do; another said he had to stay and close his shop. Other invitees were not just rude; they were brutal. They beat the servants. Picture this: a man shows up at your house to invite you to the palace for prime rib and a party, and you get a baseball bat and start beating him. It doesn't make any sense.

A couple of people got out of control and killed the servants. I do not know much about royal etiquette, but I am pretty sure killing a servant of the King is on the "Do not do" list.

Pause. Why are these people acting this way? There is only one explanation: they do not respect the King. They hold him in contempt. They believe they are the rulers of their lives, and they do not answer to him. They want to keep living in their own kingdom.

If you were the King, how would you react? Would you say, "Well, bless their hearts, they're busy." Or "I guess my son's wedding isn't that big a deal." Speaking not as a king but as a man who has paid for two daughter's weddings, not showing up for a wedding when you said you'd be there is a big deal. If the marriage of the King's son was to be a union of two kingdoms, the refusal to come was an act of war.

The King orders his army to go and destroy the city and the people who rejected his invitation. Instead of a banquet, war. Instead of the joining of kingdoms, division. Before you think the King is cruel, remember he is reacting to their provocation.

Meanwhile, back at the castle, the prime rib is getting cold. The King tells his servants to go out onto the highways and invite as many people as possible to the banquet. Jesus said the servants didn't have time to do background checks, so the good and the bad came. Can you imagine that scene? A man is on a business trip, and one of the King's servants runs up to him. "Hey, buddy, the King invites you to the wedding banquet of his son." "Who, me?" "Yeah, you! Are you in?" "Is this for real?" "Yeah, hurry up and make up your mind." "Well, okay, I guess."

"Great, turn around, go two blocks, hang a left. Great big palace straight ahead. You can't miss it. Ask for Harry, he's in charge of the coat room. He'll take your traveling clothes and give you a wedding robe. We've got hundreds. Hurry up and go!"

There are hundreds, maybe thousands, who find themselves where they never expected to be that night: in the palace, lined up for prime rib, toasting the King's son and his new daughter-in-law. If they had phones back then, I bet there would have been calls like this: "Honey, you won't believe what happened to me today…"

We want Jesus to end the story here, but he doesn't. Instead, he tells us the King comes down and starts greeting the guests. He sees a man who didn't have on a wedding robe, which was provided on the way in. The King addresses the man in jocular terms: "Hey buddy, how did you get in without a wedding garment?"

Pause for a second time. Why didn't the man get a robe? Maybe he thought, "What I have on is good enough." Maybe he thought the wedding robe clashed with his complexion. Maybe he was just stubborn and said, "I ain't gonna wear no robe. I'll go to this wedding banquet, but you can't make me wear something like that."

The man has no answer for the King. Maybe the man realizes now how stupid his answer would sound. The King has had it for one night, so he orders this man to be tied up and thrown out in the street. I can hear him, as he lays in the dirt, "I would have put on the dang robe if I'd known it was such a big deal!"

Jesus leaves the story with these words: "Many are called, few are chosen."

Sometimes, the best way to understand a story of Jesus is to figure out who's who in the story. It is not hard to figure out that the King is God himself. The ones who refuse the invitation are the people who spend their lives ignoring God and deciding they will do life on their own. The man thrown out represents all the people who want the benefits of a relationship with God but will not submit to his will.

Who are you in the story?

One thing is clear: It is a dangerous thing to ignore God.

The Rev. Dr. Clay Smith is the lead pastor of Alice Drive Baptist Church in Sumter. Email him at claysmith@adbc.org.