Matt. 22 and Mark 12

Its time for a parable......
Heaven, says He, is like a wedding feast (I like it so far, unless its one of those odd dry weddings?) in which a king throws for his son.

He sends servants out to gather all the people who have been invited. But no one seems to want to listen. They go on back to work, some even kill the servants!

The king gets angry and burns down cities and such.

He then tells the servants to just go and invite any and everyone. They do this and a myriad of people show up. One fella is not dresssed appropriately so he his thrown out...... into the darkness.

So, does this mean if we don't look the right way, we will be thrown out of the party in Heaven. No it doesnt, silly. It means that just because your invited to the party doesn't mean you don't have to prepare. I was invited to a Mardi Gras Ball, just by chance, meaning....no direct connection, I wasn't on the orginal list. Someone had extra tickets. However, this gives me no excuse to come dressed in jeans and a sweatshirt. I must wear a floor lenght gown and my husband a tux, regardless .....or we are not let in.

We must prepare.

Someone asks for a Cliff"s notes version of the commandments. He says most importantly "You must love the Lord, your God with all of your heart, with all of your soul and with all of your mind." numero uno.

Second "You shall love your neightbor as you do yourselves"

If you think about it, these two really do sum it all up.... and the rest fall into place.

Also interesting is, the whole pay Caesar what is due Caesar and God what is due God. What we must remember is that this was a question meant to trick Jesus. If he were to say "Yes we are to pay Caesar", then might that cause some followers to doubt him? If he says no, then we all know what will happen.

And so he gives the line about give Caesar what is due Caesar, though not really telling anyone what IS actually due Caesar. Perhaps nothing is due to Caesar..... Sly move Jesus.