Who Has God Invited to Heaven?

Matthew 22 - The Parable of the Wedding Banquet

The kingdom heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. 3 He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come. 4 “Then he sent some more servants and said, ‘Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.’ 5 “But they paid no attention and went off—one to his field, another to his business. 6 The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them. 7 The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. 8 “Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. 9 So go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.’ 10 So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, the bad as well as the good, and the wedding hall was filled with guests. 

As Jesus sets his face toward Jerusalem, his parables are becoming more of an indictment towards the Jewish people and their rejection of him.  In this story a king threw a wedding banquet.  He sent his servants to the "a list" to tell them to come but they refused.  He sent more servants and told them everything was ready and they should come soon.  But they refused and some went on to other business matters, and still others seized the servants and killed them.  After paying them retribution, the king sent more servants out into the streets to invite anyone who would like to attend.  They servants invited "the good and the bad" and the banquet hall was eventyally full.  

What might this mean?  The obvious reference is that the "a list" invitees were the Jewish people.  Since they were God's own people they were invited to the banquet table.  Of course, we know Jesus came to His own but His own people received him not.  Though Jesus was sent to the lost sheep of Israel, when they rejected him God sent him out to the Gentiles. 

What might this mean for us? Notice several principles here:

1. God invited people to his banquet.  His desire was to fill the hall.  God wants heaven full.  He desires all people to be saved.  
2. He sends us the Church (his servants) out to find those who will receive his invite.  I like the language of "invitation".  Though we can't make anyone come to the banquet (Christ) we can certainly invite. 
3. We can't expect people to come to us.  The days are over when tons of people just show up to church.  We are God's ambassadors and God calls us out of our comfort zones to invite people the banquet feast.