{"id":5348,"date":"2023-10-30T14:13:45","date_gmt":"2023-10-30T14:13:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/strongermarriages\/?p=5348"},"modified":"2023-10-30T14:13:45","modified_gmt":"2023-10-30T14:13:45","slug":"pastor-believes-the-wedding-parable-reveals-why-we-should-accept-gods-love","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/strongermarriages\/2023\/10\/pastor-believes-the-wedding-parable-reveals-why-we-should-accept-gods-love.html","title":{"rendered":"Pastor Believes the Wedding Parable Reveals Why We Should Accept God’s Love"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"wedding
Pexels.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Matthew 11-14 says that a king came into a room to greet guests, but he saw a man not dressed in a wedding garment. The king asked why he came without a wedding garment, but the man didn\u2019t answer. After his silence, the king told his attendants to bind his hands and feet and to throw him outside into the darkness, where there would be teeth grinding and wailing. Many are invited, but few are chosen.<\/p>\n

According to a South Carolina-based priest, the story in these verses exemplifies God\u2019s constant offering of love and the need for humanity to reciprocate this love. Fr. Jeffrey Kirby said the story in these verses is known as the \u201cparable of the wedding banquet.\u201d Kirby is the pastor of Our Lady of Grace Parish in Indian Land, South Carolina, and hosts the daily devotional, \u201cThe Morning Offering with Father Kirby.\u201d<\/p>\n

He told Fox News Digital, \u201cWe are invited to God\u2019s banquet, which is the biblical symbol of His love. In the parable, a wedding banquet is prepared, and the original guests choose not to come. In response, the host tells his servants: \u2018Go out, therefore, into the main roads and invite to the feast whomever you find.\u2019\u201d Kirby said the door to the banquet is \u201copened wide, and everyone is encouraged to come in.\u201d<\/p>\n

While many accepted the invitation and filled the hall, some refused to wear the wedding garment. This idea may seem confusing to modern readers of the verse, but simultaneously, the host offered these garments as gifts, and it was an insult and offense not to wear them. Kirby added that the king was upset that so many guests weren\u2019t wearing the wedding garments and threw the guests out of the hall into the darkness outside. The parable ends with Jesus saying, \u201cMany are invited, but few are chosen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kirby explained to Fox News Digital that the story told in the parable is about love, saying, \u201cIn our lives, we don\u2019t have to follow the way of God to convince Him to love us. We cannot even earn His love by our own efforts and design. God\u2019s love is a gift. It is constant and unconditional. It cannot be lost.\u201d For humanity, our job is to accept God\u2019s love, die to our own fallenness, and seek to reciprocate His love. Kirby said, \u201cWe\u2019re called to welcome all people, but such a welcome is not without virtue or a summons to goodness.\u201d<\/p>\n

He continued, \u201cThere is something called from within us when we receive love. If no response is given, we allow the gift of love to fade and become eclipsed within us. On the contrary, when a person responds and seeks to love in return, \u201cthe love within us grows in zeal and sincerity.\u201d He noted, \u201cIn the parable, the banquet hall is a symbol of the kingdom of God. The wedding garment is the grace of God, which is God\u2019s love and presence within us, and is nourished within us by our response to His love.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kirby said by refusing to love, a person refuses the garment and rejects the gift of God. We are called to cover ourselves in the wedding garment of grace-filled love. He said, \u201cLove creates a culture, and the culture of love is a culture of truth, life, justice and peace. It is a culture offered to everyone who is willing to accept and wear the wedding garment with its mantle of love.\u201d<\/p>\n

When people neglect the call to love and refuse to wear the wedding garment, they \u201cwill not fit in the banquet and will not understand the culture of love.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Matthew 11-14 says that a king came into a room to greet guests, but he saw a man not dressed in a wedding garment. The king asked why he came without a wedding garment, but the man didn\u2019t answer. After his silence, the king told his attendants to bind his hands and feet and to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":657,"featured_media":5354,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[45,33],"class_list":["post-5348","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-relationships","tag-happy-marriages","tag-marriage"],"yoast_head":"\nPastor Believes the Wedding Parable Reveals Why We Should Accept God's Love<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Fr. 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