Invitation and Love

Matthew 22:8-10 (cf. 1-14)

“Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding feast is ready, but those invited were not worthy. Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find.’ And those servants went out into the roads and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good. So the wedding hall was filled with guests.”

Tom Wright, Matthew for Everyone (Vol. 2)

But there was a difference between this wide-open invitation and the message so many want to hear today. We want to hear the everyone is all right exactly as they are; that God loves us as we are and doesn’t want us to change. . . . When the blind and lame came to Jesus, he didn’t say, “You’re all right as you are.” He healed them. They wouldn’t have been satisfied with anything less. . . . His love reached them where they were, but his love refused to let them stay as they were. Love wants the best for the beloved. Their lives were transformed, healed, changed (84).