As we continue our series in Matthew, we come across an invitation we don’t want to miss in Matthew 22.1-14.
From the Street to a Feast: The Invitation You Don't Want to Miss
Imagine knowing that a massive, incredible party is happening and you weren't invited. How would that feel? Or worse—imagine receiving an invitation, turning it down, then later hearing about what an amazing celebration you missed. That sinking feeling of missing out on something special is universal.
Jesus tells a story in Matthew 22:1-14 about the most important thing in our lives, and He desperately doesn't want us to miss out. Whilst loads of people will miss it, His heart is that we wouldn't be amongst them. This is the remarkable story of people who get it right—they start their day on the street and end it at a royal feast, the best party one could ever imagine. A party that the King Himself has spent time organising, and one where He's personally invited you and me.
For different reasons, many of us miss out on this incredible opportunity. But if we pay attention to Jesus' words, we can do better than just not missing out—we can actively join in. We can enjoy this royal feast that's been prepared for us.
God's Kingdom Is Like a Party
The Celebration at the Heart of Everything
The first crucial thing to understand is that when Jesus describes what His kingdom is like, when He talks about being part of His family, He uses the image of a party. Not a solemn religious gathering, not a tedious obligation—a party! A massive festival with abundant good food, excellent drink, people laughing and dancing without self-consciousness, simply having a brilliant time enjoying being together.
God's kingdom is like a party. Let that sink in for a moment.
Just like any grand wedding celebration, there's considerable expense involved. Someone has paid for all of this—but who? Not the guests. The bill has already been settled. This is grace in its purest form: a celebration we could never afford, freely given to us.
Being a wedding celebration, we must ask: whose wedding are we celebrating? It's the king's son—this is Jesus' wedding. What we as Christians anticipate, our ultimate hope in the new heavens and earth, is a wedding: the glorious bringing together of Jesus and His church.
The Biblical Vision of the Feast
When the new heavens and earth are finally revealed in Scripture, here's one beautiful outburst of praise we encounter:
"Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready." (Revelation 19:7)
And when the new heavens and earth are described in vivid detail, we witness a heavenly city descending to meet our earth:
"I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband." (Revelation 21:2)
Our hope centres on the marriage of Jesus and His church—this is actually the reason marriage exists for us now. What we're looking forward to is an eternal party, one where it never grows old, our feet never tire, and we live in non-stop joy…forever! This is what God's kingdom is truly like.
The Urgency of the Invitation
The preparation for this celebration would have taken considerable time. People had already received their invitations, already confirmed they were coming, made plans to attend. But when the moment finally arrives for this grand celebration, those invited say no. Not now. They're rather busy. What about next week?
"No, the time is now!" comes the response. Not next week, not tomorrow, but right now. The Kingdom is here, the party is happening now.
Understanding what church truly means helps us grasp this urgency. A church is fundamentally a people—not a building, not merely an event. We might have those things, but more importantly, a church is a community of people. If this is the church, that means we are the people who carry the party with us wherever we go. That's the grace we get to steward—that's what your life should represent for others.
We're actively inviting people into an ongoing celebration of God being with His people. That's how extraordinarily good it is! So, first things first: God's kingdom is like a party, and the invitation has been issued.
Two Ways to Miss Out on Everything
The Tragedy of Missing the Feast
There are two distinct types of people who tragically miss out on this incredible celebration:
Those who received the invitation but were too preoccupied with their own lives
Those who received the invitation, showed up, but faked their commitment
Let's examine each of these carefully, because the consequences are eternally significant.
The Busy People Who Said No
The first group consists of religious people who assumed they were automatically included but couldn't be bothered when it mattered. They received an invitation—they were already on the guest list. But when the crucial moment arrived, they had their own timeline. They had their own lives to live, careers demanding attention, families requiring care. Have you seen their diaries? Completely full! And often filled with genuinely good things.
Here's the sobering truth: it's frequently the good things in our lives that prevent us from embracing the best thing.
When you keep your head down, focused on your immediate concerns, you miss what matters most. When you're busy with other pursuits, you become indifferent. And indifference is just dying slowly, one distracted day at a time.
The Application for Our Lives:
On the outside, you might say you're coming along, but what does your life actually demonstrate? Are you missing out? If you want to remain in charge of your own life, you will miss out. You think: do good, get good. That's not the way of Jesus—that's the way of the world operates. That's how someone can claim to be a Christian whilst it doesn't genuinely impact their daily life.
Eventually, for these people, they progress beyond mere ignoring. They actively work against the kingdom. An invitation to life becomes an opportunity for death. And for these people, justice inevitably comes. That's one devastating way to miss out—simply not showing up and ignoring the invitation.
The Religious Fakers
The second type who misses out is equally tragic: those who show up but fake it. They respond to the invitation but don't truly surrender to what the invitation requires. Jesus' story makes it clear that people will come along, but not everyone who attends will surrender.
The people who did come in the parable were simply pulled in from the street—an inclusive invitation to anyone and everyone. But there's one person who wasn't wearing the appropriate clothes. How did anyone obtain the right clothes to begin with? The only possible way would have been the king providing the clothes for the guests himself.
So this person who gets expelled has responded to the invitation but has rejected the king's clothes. They're present at the party but are faking their participation. And to the king, it's obvious—they look completely different from the others.
This represents the person who hangs around church, participates in activities, has responded to the invitation, but hasn't surrendered to what the invitation demands. To respond and show up isn't sufficient! One. Must. Surrender.
The Significance of the Wedding Garments
These clothes represent a complete way of life. We come into this world wearing all sorts of clothes that simply aren't suitable for a party like this. We live our own way, doing whatever seems right in our own eyes. To remove that way of life and put on another set of clothes means giving up our old way of living and surrendering to the king's way.
One cannot be part of this party without surrendering! Jesus is remarkably clear about what it means to follow Him. One can't merely say it—we all must live it as well!
Summary of the Two Groups:
So there are two ways to miss out on the most important thing in life:
Too busy with our own lives: the secular approach. Outsiders who want to remain outsiders will stay outsiders. In this story, they end up destroyed.
Faking it: the religious approach. Outsiders who pretend to be insiders—hypocrites. God calls many people, good and bad alike, into His kingdom, but only those who surrender get to participate in this party.
With relation to the wedding feast, it doesn't matter whether someone simply ignored the invitation or actively worked against it—neither would enjoy the celebration. Anyone who didn't respond to the invitation missed out entirely. The most important thing in this story is clear: be at the feast! There were numerous opportunities to respond, but none were taken advantage of.
Those Who Get It: From Street Corners to the King's Table
The Radical Inclusivity of the Invitation
The beautiful part of this story begins on street corners. Good people, bad people, beautiful people, unattractive people—all are invited in. Are they homeless? Are they wealthy? It doesn't matter: anyone who is found receives an invitation.
The king's servants are dispatched into the heart of the city. The term "street corners" is actually quite interesting in the original Greek—it literally means "the ways that cross other ways." What we would call today: crossroads, busy intersections, places like Piccadilly Gardens or the Northern Quarter. The locations where people naturally congregate, where it's difficult to find parking, where life happens.
These are what we might call "third places" in our culture: not your home (first place), not your work (second place), but the other spaces where community forms—coffee shops, pubs, restaurants, parks, wherever people are gathering. God's heart has always been for the heart of the city, for the places where real life unfolds.
The Beautiful Diversity of God's People
These people pulled in from the streets would be incredibly diverse socially—different classes, ethnicities, languages. And crucially: diverse morally! They're good and bad and everything in between. From the street to the feast! From absolute nobody to honoured guest at the king's table!
You can't get a more inclusive call than this. God calls everyone, and thank God that includes you. You were only out on the street corner yesterday, minding your own business, and now you get to be with the king himself!
Your own goodness doesn't determine whether you're in or out. The difference between someone who gets it and someone who misses it comes down to one thing: surrender. Will you surrender to the king's clothes? They're infinitely better than our own. They allow us to be at the party and genuinely enjoy it. But it does require us to change.
The Cost and Grace of Transformation
The change required as we exchange our clothes for the King's is nothing but good for us, even if we experience it as difficult. Also—and this is crucial—everything is provided for us. We don't bring our own clothes; in fact, that's the entire problem! We're stuck on bringing our own clothes, but they simply aren't appropriate. Not for being in here. They might work fine for other situations, but this is the King's party, and He has every right to set the dress code. And in His grace, He provides everything we need.
To respond rightly—authentically—means putting on Jesus' clothes. We come into His presence covered with sin, and what we desperately need is proper covering! Jesus' death covers us. His death becomes our death. This is what it cost Jesus to bring us in. When we experience this kind of death in our hearts, that's what's called the "cost of discipleship."
But know this profound truth from Romans 6:5:
"For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his."
Death isn't the end. That process of surrender has a goal, has a destination: it's life! It's like a party! It's feasting! It's like every day is Christmas morning, and it never grows old.
Living as the Poor and Hungry at the Feast
If anyone is at the King's party, we are the poor and hungry! This recognition transforms everything.
Hungry people at a feast behave differently than those who feel entitled to be there. The prim and proper ladies and gentlemen sit uptight, and when each dish emerges, they want to know the provenance of every ingredient, holding everything up to judgment whilst looking down their noses in critique.
But the poor, the hungry? They cheer! Imagine being truly hungry, not having eaten for days, and then a silver plate appears with one of those elegant rounded tops. The server, with a flourish, reveals the dish—what would your cheer sound like?
The poor and hungry cheer for every single dish. If there's no awe, no excitement, no genuine feasting in your walk with God, perhaps you feel entitled. It's not your badness that keeps you from God—it's your perceived good works. You think you deserve it, or that you deserve something better.
Only when you look at your life honestly, with all its brokenness in stark contrast to what the King offers us through Jesus—only then will you cheer at every plate.
To accept the invitation requires surrendering to this way of life. There is absolutely no other way to participate in this celebration. It is an inclusive invitation, yes, to an exclusive way of life. What the King declares is how we live.
Joining God's Mission of Invitation
Becoming Inviters Ourselves
The other marvellous aspect of this story is that as the King's servants, we get to participate in inviting others to this great feast. We go to the crossroads and invite more people into our communities. Out of the overflow of our joy, we get to invite more people in. Joining God's mission becomes a fun and joy-filled endeavour. It's good for us as well as beneficial for others who respond and surrender.
As a church in Manchester, we're discovering what it means to embody this invitation in our city. God's heart beats for the heart of the city—for the good, the bad, the successful, the downtrodden, the religious, the irreligious. All are called, and the time is now!
This is precisely why we're passionate about church planting and reaching our communities. We want to go where the people are, creating spaces where this incredible invitation can be extended and received. When we understand what it means to live in God's beautiful harmony with each other, we become better ambassadors of this feast.
The Heart of the City
There's something profoundly beautiful about how God's invitation goes specifically to the crossroads, the busy intersections of life. It's not a private, exclusive gathering in some remote location. It's public, accessible, available to anyone who happens to be passing by.
This challenges our tendency to make Christianity private and insular. The gospel is meant to be proclaimed at the crossroads, in the marketplaces, in the pubs and coffee shops, in the places where real people live their real lives. That's where the servants go with their invitations, and that's where we're called to go as well.
The Garments We Need: Christ's Righteousness
The Only Covering That Works
The way our King could offer us the clothes we need is only because of the sacrifice of His Son. God Himself, Jesus Christ, came down to us. It's impossible for us to ascend to Him, so He descended to us.
Galatians 3:26-28 captures this beautifully:
"So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptised into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus."
Baptism serves as the outward sign of the inward reality of being clothed with Christ. If you've been baptised, you have been "clothed with Christ." It doesn't matter where you came from or what you've done. When you respond and surrender, when you're baptised, this is what it means to be clothed with Jesus.
Romans 6:4 expands on this:
"We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life."
His Death, Our Life
Jesus' death removes all of our sin; His life gives us everything we need. His death takes everything we could never overcome and destroys it completely. His resurrection provides us with everything we could never produce on our own.
The bread and wine of communion symbolise this profound exchange. The bread represents Jesus' body, broken up so that we could be made whole. The cup represents Jesus' blood, poured out so that He could be poured into us.
This is for people who have surrendered and are continuing to surrender. Please don't fake it if that's not where you are. But for all who rely on God for all things—imperfectly, yes, but sincerely—this is for you.
Through Jesus, the King becomes our Father. He gives us this new life; we receive everything we need. From out on the street to being seated at a feast, prepared specifically for us!
Don't Miss the Invitation
The Choice Before Us
The parable Jesus tells isn't merely a nice story—it's a urgent call to action. The King has prepared a feast, the invitations have been sent, and the time is now. Not tomorrow, not next week, not when it's more convenient. Now.
Some will miss out because they're too busy with their own affairs. Others will miss out because they show up but refuse to truly surrender. Both groups experience the same tragic outcome: exclusion from the feast.
But there's a third group—those who respond genuinely, who accept the invitation, who put on the wedding garments provided by the King, and who join the celebration wholeheartedly. These are the ones who move from the street to the feast, from outsiders to honoured guests, from poverty to abundance.
An Invitation for You
If you're reading this and haven't yet responded to this invitation, today is your opportunity. You don't need to clean yourself up first. You don't need to sort out your life before coming. You don't need to prove you're worthy—that's the entire point. The invitation goes out to people on street corners, to people going about their ordinary lives, to people who would never presume to attend a royal wedding on their own merit.
For those of us who are already part of this church in Manchester family, this parable reminds us of our mission and our privilege. We get to extend this same invitation to others. We get to say, "Come to the feast! There's room for you. The King Himself wants you there."
Living as Feast People
When we truly grasp what we've been invited into, it transforms how we live. We become feast people—people characterised by joy, generosity, celebration, and gratitude. We become people who cheer at every blessing, who recognise we're the poor and hungry who've been given seats at the King's table.
This isn't about working up religious feelings or manufacturing enthusiasm. It's about honestly recognising where we've come from and where we are now. From the street to the feast. From outsiders to family members. From condemned to clothed in righteousness.
As we explore the themes of Matthew's Gospel, we see this pattern repeated: God's kingdom breaks into our world with radical invitation and transformation. The excluded are included, the lost are found, the dead are raised to life.
The Time Is Now
The servants have been sent to the crossroads. The invitation has been extended. The feast is prepared. The King awaits His guests.
The only question that remains is: will you come? Will you surrender to the King's way, put on the garments He provides, and join the celebration? Or will you let busyness, pride, or half-hearted religion keep you from the most important party you'll ever be invited to?
From the street to the feast—that's the journey God offers every single person. The invitation is genuinely inclusive. The way requires genuine surrender. But the destination? An eternal party with the King Himself, where joy never ends and love never fails.
Don't miss out. The King is calling. The feast is ready. We celebrate this every Sunday at our worship gatherings at Oswald Road Primary School, M21 9PL…why not come along?