WEAR THE RIGHT CLOTHES!

 

Do you like attending weddings? When I was a boy, my parents would take me to all the weddings of their friends and family members. Because my mom and dad had lots of siblings and cousins, we went to a lot of weddings.

As a pastor, I have attended many weddings at country clubs, church halls, in people’s back yards and parks. The most fun I had was attending Polish weddings where there were polkas, stuffed cabbage and pierogies, sauerkraut and kielbasa. You may not enjoy this music and these foods, but I love them.

Yet, there was always one person who sat in her chair with a scowl on her face because she was not enjoying the party. We all know that aunt (or uncle). While everyone else was having fun, she was the one with crossed arms, expressing to everyone her dissatisfaction with … whatever.

This is like the man who attended the wedding (Mt 22:1-14). He came dressed in the wrong garment. But not wearing the right clothes is not the issue here. He came with the wrong attitude.

It would be like attending church and sulking. People who sit with their arms crossed and scowled faces tell everyone this: “I don’t want to be here!” It doesn’t matter if you are seven or seventy-seven. If you are in our Father’s House listening to God’s Word and attending the Lord’s Supper with that attitude, how do other people, and, more importantly, how does God see that?

If I have that attitude, and then when I need God, beg Him for help and healing, for forgiveness and assistance, for mercy or a miracle, how would you respond to that person if you were

God? So, we have to change our attitude, and approach God as God – because He loves us so much that we want to change.

Let us pray. Heavenly Father, from whom all fatherhood in heaven and earth is named: Bless all children, and give their fathers and mothers the spirit of wisdom and love, so that the homes in which they grow up may be to them an image of Your Kingdom, and the care of their parents a likeness of Your love. We pray in the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.