The Pharisees had invited Jesus to have dinner with them. The Pharisees were the rulers of the church at that time and they knew the Old Testament very well. They assumed that they would definitely be saved because they were the leaders of the church, Abraham’s descendants, and they obeyed hundreds of rules that they made themselves.

Jesus had a lesson to tell these Pharisees and he does so with a parable. The parable talks about people who refused to come to a wedding feast because they had other things that they were busy with. One was busy with his land, another with his business and another with his wife. Buying land, owning a business or being married are all good things and are blessings from the Lord. But the problem was that these people acted as if these things were more important than the feast that they had been invited to. And that was wrong!

The great feast that the Lord Jesus is talking about is the great wedding feast at the last day, when Jesus returns a second time. When Jesus comes back on the clouds of heaven, all of his children will go with him into heaven and from then on we will live without sin, with the Lord, on the new earth.

Jesus is telling the Pharisees that they are like the people in the parable because they think that their own things are more important than being with Jesus. They think they are good enough. They think they don’t need forgiveness from Jesus because they obey all their rules. They think that because they are part of the church, they don’t really need to live close to the Lord.

When we read this parable, the Lord is also warning us to make sure we always remember that we belong to the Lord. We need to remember that our eternal future is with God. Christ is coming back on the clouds of heaven and he must be our focus, and we must put him first. We must think about that all the time and then we will remember to read his Word, ask him for forgiveness, and pray to him. Our relationship with the Lord is more important than anything else in life.

Reflection with yo​ur child:

How do you remember to put God first in your life?