God's Kingdom Offered to All Who Accept
Daily Scripture
Matthew 21:33 - 22:14
33 “Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a fence around it, dug a winepress in it, and built a tower. Then he rented it to tenant farmers and took a trip. 34 When it was time for harvest, he sent his servants to the tenant farmers to collect his fruit. 35 But the tenant farmers grabbed his servants. They beat some of them, and some of them they killed. Some of them they stoned to death.
36 “Again he sent other servants, more than the first group. They treated them in the same way. 37 Finally he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said.
38 “But when the tenant farmers saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the heir. Come on, let’s kill him and we’ll have his inheritance.’ 39 They grabbed him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him.
40 “When the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenant farmers?”
41 They said, “He will totally destroy those wicked farmers and rent the vineyard to other tenant farmers who will give him the fruit when it’s ready.”
42 Jesus said to them, “Haven’t you ever read in the scriptures, The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. The Lord has done this, and it’s amazing in our eyes? [Psalm 118:22-23]. 43 Therefore, I tell you that God’s kingdom will be taken away from you and will be given to a people who produce its fruit. 44 Whoever falls on this stone will be crushed. And the stone will crush the person it falls on.”
45 Now when the chief priests and the Pharisees heard the parable, they knew Jesus was talking about them. 46 They were trying to arrest him, but they feared the crowds, who thought he was a prophet.
22:1 Jesus responded by speaking again in parables: 2 “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding party for his son. 3 He sent his servants to call those invited to the wedding party. But they didn’t want to come. 4 Again he sent other servants and said to them, ‘Tell those who have been invited, “Look, the meal is all prepared. I’ve butchered the oxen and the fattened cattle. Now everything’s ready. Come to the wedding party!”’ 5 But they paid no attention and went away—some to their fields, others to their businesses. 6 The rest of them grabbed his servants, abused them, and killed them.
7 “The king was angry. He sent his soldiers to destroy those murderers and set their city on fire. 8 Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding party is prepared, but those who were invited weren’t worthy. 9 Therefore, go to the roads on the edge of town and invite everyone you find to the wedding party.’
10 “Then those servants went to the roads and gathered everyone they found, both evil and good. The wedding party was full of guests. 11 Now when the king came in and saw the guests, he spotted a man who wasn’t wearing wedding clothes. 12 He said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without wedding clothes?’ But he was speechless. 13 Then the king said to his servants, ‘Tie his hands and feet and throw him out into the farthest darkness. People there will be weeping and grinding their teeth.’
14 “Many people are invited, but few people are chosen.”
Daily Reflection & Prayer
Facing arrogant, self-serving religious leaders, Jesus used the image of ‘God’s vineyard’ (from Isaiah 5:1-7) for a grim story. In it, tenant farmers killed the owner’s son and sowed the seeds of their own ruin. Matthew said the religious leaders plotting to kill Jesus “knew Jesus was talking about them.” In a second pointed story, a king held a wedding banquet. The invited guests declined the invitation—to their great loss. The king then invited everyone the servants could find. Jesus closed both stories with sad, aching words of regret.
- Some of Jesus’ parables ended with violence, reflecting news events in his day—”Herod, Archelaus, and other rulers often dealt harshly with their political opponents.” * These violent endings didn’t reflect God’s character. As one scholar said, “God’s power is at its greatest not in his destruction of the wicked but in his taking all the wickedness of the earth into himself and giving back love.” Jesus defeated evil as the Suffering Servant (Isaiah 52:13-53:12). What does that show about how God’s power works? How can God guide your response when you face evil?
- Jesus told many stories that turned usual expectations upside down. In the end, the banquet crowd included anyone the servants found, bad as well as good. Is that good news or troubling news to you? Are you open to accepting God’s invitation, and sharing heaven’s eternal banquet with anyone else God invites?
Prayer
Lord Jesus, you defeated hatred and death not by hating and killing, but by taking the worst evil could do and emerging alive and loving. Thank you for inviting me—and all who will come—to share in your victory and your eternal banquet. Amen.
GPS Insights
Lisa Wilt
Lisa Wilt, who serves as a member and greeter at Resurrection’s Blue Springs campus, wrote today's Insights. She is a retired pharmacist who once dispensed meds but now dispenses encouragement as an Abingdon author, inspirational speaker, podcaster and daily radio devotional host. Lisa is a small-town gal with God sized dreams, a mom to four, a GiGi to two, and a wife to one–-David. Her family will tell you that her singing is dreadful, but her banana bread is delightful.
Before the world ever learned your name, God wanted you! Before you ever reached for Him, He chose you. The King of the universe didn’t just notice you—He pursued you.
There’s something in every one of us that aches to be chosen. In grade school maybe you remember standing on a playground, waiting to be picked for a team. In middle school maybe you remember drifting through the lunchroom, hoping someone would wave you over to sit at their table. In high school maybe you remember the ache of caring for someone who never saw you the same way. These memories whisper that we are forgettable, unremarkable, or somehow not enough.
But the gospel tells a different story!
When we read today’s parables, they can feel sharp at first. They’re not the soft, comforting stories we often gravitate toward. But Jesus didn’t tell these stories to frighten tender hearts. He told them to reveal the depth of God’s longing for His people—and the wideness of His invitation.
In the parable of the vineyard, Jesus confronts the religious leaders who believed they had exclusive access to God. Then comes the parable of the wedding feast. A king prepares a banquet for his son, but the invited guests refuse to come. So he sends servants into the streets to gather everyone—good or bad, polished or messy. The banquet hall fills with people who never imagined they’d be welcomed by a king.
This is the heart of God on display. He wants His table full. He wants His kingdom open. He wants His invitation to reach every corner.
I’m profoundly grateful that Jesus looks at the whole world and says, “Invite them all.” Yet when the king asks the man without proper attire why he isn’t dressed appropriately, I cringe. Because my dad and my husband both dislike wearing formal suits, I once wondered: Why would Jesus care about clothes? But understanding the culture changes everything. In Jesus’ day, a king hosting a wedding would provide garments for every guest. To refuse the garment wasn’t an accident. It was a statement. It was saying, “I don’t need what you’re offering.”
Jesus isn’t calling out clothing choices; He’s calling out the deeper choice to depend on ourselves rather than on God.
The wedding garment represents grace. To refuse it is to insist we can earn our way into God’s presence, that we don’t need saving. But we do need saving. And the good news is that God delights to clothe us. Isaiah 61:10 says, “He has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness.” Job speaks of wearing righteousness like a robe. The psalmist prays that God’s priests would be clothed with righteousness. Over and over, Scripture paints the same picture: God covers us with what we could never create for ourselves. The King Himself provides everything you need—your invitation, your place, and your covering.
If you’re reading this, it tells me something beautiful about your heart. You are seeking God. You are listening for His voice. You are responding to His invitation. And Jesus says that those who respond—those who come when He calls—are not only invited but chosen.
You are chosen for His team. You are chosen for His joy. You are chosen for His kingdom. You are chosen for His table!
© 2026 Resurrection: A United Methodist Church. All Rights Reserved.
Scripture quotations are taken from The Common English Bible ©2011. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
References
* Craig Keener, comment on Luke 19:27 in NIV, Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible (p. 9491). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
** T. Desmond Alexander and Brian S. Rosner, ed. The New Dictionary of Biblical Theology. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2000, p. 222.
