Mount Clinton Mennonite Church

"Thought for the Week"
(Aug. 3, 2003)

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Welcome & Change

The theme of the Mennonite Church USA convention in Atlanta, Georgia, "God's table," is quite challenging, due in part to the interesting tension we see at the table. God welcomes us at the table, but God also invites us to change.

In Matthew 22, Jesus told a parable in which he compared the kingdom of heaven to a wedding banquet. The story paints a beautiful image: Jesus invites both the good and bad people on the street corners to the banquet. Yes, Jesus even invites you and me. What a welcome!

At the same time, the story ends quite disconcertingly. One fellow comes with the wrong clothes and, if I understand the metaphor correctly (weeping and gnashing of teeth), gets thrown into a place that resembles what for many of us is a picture of hell.

That's right--for wearing the wrong clothes.

I sure did like that image of welcome that I read about a few verses before this scene.

Yet, as I consider the last verses of the parable, the spectacle of the wrongly dressed man, thrown from the table, demonstrates something powerful about the nature of Jesus' welcome. Jesus invites us and welcomes us, and this demands a change.

As I look at my own life, the parts that need healing and the voids that need filling, I realize profoundly the necessity of hearing Jesus' welcome. Yet in this welcome, Jesus does not just invite us to feel good. I know myself enough to know that this alone is inadequate. He welcomes us into a dynamic life of hearing the invitation and entering the banquet hall dressed in a way that is different than before, that shows we are willing to follow this Messiah. This truly deals with our needs as individuals and communities to grow and change.

Better get changed. There's a banquet, and we're invited.

Jonathan Bowman

Pastor: Lee Martin (email: mcmchurch@juno.com )
Editor: Richard Bowman (email: rbowman@bridgewater.edu )