Good morning, church. My name is Matt. I get to open with you the passage that Andy read earlier, Matthew 22. So if you have a Bible, you can open up to that now.
By way of background, over the last three weeks, we have listened to Jesus as he confronts the religious leaders using parables, illustrations, and stories.
Three weeks ago, we read that Jesus refused to reveal himself to liars, and then he began telling parables. He told the parable about a man who had two sons and a vineyard. He told a parable of the master of a vineyard who hired tenants to work that vineyard.
Jesus, in these parables, in these stories—though he refused to reveal himself to liars—he is revealing to liars the truth about themselves.
Now, when we turn to Matthew 22, as you heard earlier, it begins with,
“And again, Jesus spoke to them in parables” (Matthew 22:1).
So this is now the third parable in a row that Jesus is speaking to reveal to the religious leaders their true character and their rejection of the Father, the Master, the King.
In this passage, Jesus indicts them, and the leaders are beginning to sense this. At the end of Matthew 21, Matthew says the leaders began to pick up what Jesus was putting down. (It’s not exactly what he says, but that’s what he said.) They’re starting to perceive, “I perceive that you’re talking about us.” And he was.
In this parable, Jesus once again begins by talking about the kingdom of heaven and who will be there and who will not be there. So, can I pray one more time? And then we’re going to jump in.
Lord Jesus, open our hearts today to hear from your word. And if there are those who are here who seem like they’re part of your people, but are not, would you call through the darkness to them and pull them to the light, that they may respond in faith and embrace Jesus as Lord? Use your servant to that end, I ask in the name of Jesus, amen.
In this parable, there are three kinds of invitees, or three groups of invitees. We’re going to use that as we walk through this story.
1. Insincere Acceptors
The first group, the first kind of invitee, is the insincere acceptors. Verse 2:
“The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son” (Matthew 22:2).
So, a king and a son (all three of these parables have a son in them, or sons). You have a king who’s throwing a wedding feast for his son. In Jewish parables, the king is almost always representative of God the Father. Verse 3:
“…and he sent his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come” (Matthew 22:3).
So you have this idea of a double invitation. The king invites the people at some time in the past and says, “I’m throwing a wedding for my son.” Then the second invitation comes when the feast is ready.
The first one is like a save-the-date, but the way it was done then, it was not like “this day and this time.” It was, “You are invited to a feast, and when it’s ready, I’ll tell you.” And the second invite comes, and it just says that they refused. They would not come.
The refusal is shocking because,
To even be invited to the feast is an honor, it’s a pleasure, and then to just refuse when it’s actually time for the feast is shocking. Verse 4:
“Again he sent other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, “See, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast”‘” (Matthew 22:4).
It’s like, “Maybe you didn’t understand. Based on your previous acceptance of my invitation, I have prepared the feast. The animals have been killed. Everything’s ready, come.” Maybe there was some kind of confusion in the communication, but the time is now.
What patience from the king, instead of just responding with “you idiots,” he says, “Maybe you don’t understand.” But again, see, at first they refused, and now they ignored.
They paid no attention and did other things (farms and businesses, and then they murdered). They refused, they ignored, and then they killed some of the servants of the king.
Now, think for just a moment: Look at the mirror that Jesus is holding up in front of the faces of the religious leaders. You have the prophets; they came to you. They told you the kingdom of heaven would come, and you ignored them. Some of them, you killed.
And the king says, “Come.” And you are the ones who have the law and the prophets, who should know it the best. But then, when the son actually comes—not only did you kill the prophets—now you’re plotting to kill the son.
This is your rejection of the king: multiple calls, multiple invitations to come and honor the son and therefore honor the king. But they refuse to honor the son. Their refusal to honor the son dishonors the king. It’s disloyalty, rebellion, and treachery. When the king sends servants to invite you, and you kill the servants, that’s revolution. It’s treachery.
Verse 7, not surprisingly, the king was angry, and he dispatches a company of soldiers to deal with the traitors. He sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.
Now, everyone listening to Jesus telling the story would have been like, “Of course he did.” Of course he did. He invited them to his feast, and they killed the servants. They ignored him. They stiff-armed the message from the king. Of course. Of course that’s how he responded.
Jesus here is foreshadowing the burning of Jerusalem and the temple that will happen in just a few decades. Jesus is telling these religious leaders, in a great irony, “The thing that you think you’re protecting by rejecting me is the thing that will burn because you’ve rejected me.” He’s warning them. He’s telling them what’s going to happen. Jesus is confronting those religious leaders.
Now, the religious leaders are the first group of invitees. They’re the ones who have heard. They are the ecclesiastical establishment. They know the Law and the Prophets.
But when the feast has been made ready, and God’s kingdom is coming through his Son, they refuse to honor the Son. To refuse to honor the Son is to blaspheme the King, and to refuse to honor him is to reject him as King. They’re the first group.
2. Eager Acceptors
The second group is the eager acceptors. This is who we all want to be. Verse 8:
“Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding feast is ready, but those invited were not worthy’” (Matthew 22:8).
The king is going to have his feast. The king is going to honor his son, and no amount of human resistance will stop the king. The king’s going to throw his feast.
I love this word, “worthy.” What makes someone worthy to feast with the king? This first group wasn’t worthy, and the ecclesiastical establishment are the people that you would think were worthy because they knew it all.
They’re the top-tier, top-shelf Christians. Not Christians, but you know, religious people following God. They’re the ones that you’d think were the worthy ones. They’re people of status and wealth, the landowners and business owners here in the text, but they are not worthy. Verse 9:
“‘…Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find.’ And those servants went out into the roads and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good” (Matthew 22:9-10).
“Main roads.” If you think about this, the way it’s described, the way the roads were set up, there would have been what I would call a traffic circle outside the city (or a roundabout, if you’re from across the pond). A traffic circle, outside the city, where all the country roads came into the traffic circle, and then a main artery came into the city.
Okay, so if you can picture that in your mind: All this traffic comes down a country road and then hits the circle and goes to another country road, if you want. You don’t have to go into the city, but this is a hub. This is a center with all the spokes going out, and the main artery. This is the central place of traffic.
So the king says, “Go there.” Go to that main road and catch all those people and invite them to come in to my feast. And so they do. They go and find them, and they invite them in, irrespective of their merit.
The replacement guests are apparently less worthy, at least what you would think of, for all their lack of natural advantages, but they are at least willing to come when the king invites them. They respond, and they come to the feast. And it says,
“So the wedding hall was filled with guests” (Matthew 22:10b).
The king succeeds. His purpose will not fail. The king is determined to fulfill his purpose (to honor his son), and he will make it happen.
If the story stops at the end of verse 10, you’re like, “Oh, this is great. This is good stuff.” The religious establishment, the people who think they know it all, are rejected, and the call is to come as you are. You would get that come-as-you-are theme. That’s beautiful.
The king rejects the unworthy and fills the hall with those who don’t seem like they’re worthy, both good and bad. No one brings anything to the feast, as if they can offer anything to the king. No one offers his own merit before the King. No one does that.
No one says, “Hey king, I have something that’ll make you, that’ll fulfill you.” No, he’s the king! These people come in, who are invited to the feast, and that’s enough. It’s enough just to receive the invitation, to accept it, and to obey, to follow and come in.
To answer the question, “What makes someone worthy?” Part of what makes someone worthy is the humility to acknowledge our own unworthiness. That you can’t make yourself worthy. God “resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble,” as Andy said earlier. To go, “I am bringing nothing. I am not worthy.” That humility.
At this feast, and at the feast in the future, there will be relatively good people and bad people. That’s true. But “come as you are” isn’t the full story.
3. Exceptional presumers
It’s part of it, and it’s true, but Jesus adds this additional appendix (the beginning in verse 11) because there’s a third kind of invitee, a third group. I call him the exceptional presumer. I’m pretty sure “presumer” is not a word, but it is today. He’s the exceptional presumer. Verse 11:
“But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment. And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless” (Matthew 22:11-12).
So the king had invited all these people he doesn’t know. He just said, “Go out and find people and bring them in.” So he decides to go meet them. He decides to go to the feast and meet the people whom he invited to his feast. So, he comes in, and there’s this one guy who’s not dressed properly. Now, how he would spot him is this way:
At that time, when you went to a wedding, everybody wore white. It’s the exact opposite today. Everybody would have worn white. So he walks into the feast, and there’s this one guy who sticks out like a sore thumb who’s not wearing white. And the king goes up to him and speaks to him.
Now, what’s the deal? There are a couple of options for what’s going on here with the wedding garment.
One, it could be that when the king sent his servants to invite people to come into the wedding, that they had time to go home and put on a proper wedding garment, and this one guy didn’t. That’s less likely because of the timing of the passage.
It seems like they are compelled to come in, and they come in without having to go somewhere else to get a wedding garment. Not only that, it’s not like you can just hop in a car and drive across the countryside to change your clothes. These people are walking. Not on camels, probably. Anything like that.
The most likely suggestion is that the king invites them to his feast and clothes them. He gives them the garment and says, “Here’s the garment for the wedding feast.” So he provides them, and there’s this one guy who says, “Nah, I’ll wear what I have.” He doesn’t accept the king’s garment.
The king comes to him and says, “Friend.” That word for “friend” is used three times in Matthew, and every time it’s somebody who’s presuming on grace. Every time. The next someone will be Judas when he comes to betray Jesus.
The king says, “Friend, you presumed on grace. You came in and said, ‘I got invited. I don’t need to wear that. I’ll wear what I want to wear.’” And he confronts him, and the man is speechless. You know why? Because he’s caught.
He was fine as long as the king didn’t show up. He probably would have gotten away with it if the king hadn’t wanted to come and meet his guests. But the king showed up, and he’s busted. He refused the garment of the king, and he is not going to get away with it.
Again, what makes someone worthy? Truly, it’s the humility to realize our own unworthiness. But it’s also the humility to receive the garments the king has provided when you come to the feast.
It’s not just initial humility, it is ongoing humility. It’s just not accepting the invitation, it’s accepting what the king provides. It’s not just hearing and being part of the visible people of the king, it’s responding to that invitation and submitting to the plan of the king. It’s not just the one, it’s the ongoing. Look at verse 13:
“Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ For many are called, but few are chosen” (Matthew 22:13-14).
Yes, this man was invited. And yes, he attended, but he didn’t actually embrace submission to the king. He wanted a free meal, not an encounter with the king. He wanted the king’s gifts, but did not want the king’s presence. He did not want the king to see him or have an encounter with him.
Here’s the main point, friends:
The kingdom of heaven is filled with those who know they bring nothing and are willing to receive everything.
Or, kind of in the language we’ve been using: Jesus reveals to liars that they forfeit the kingdom of heaven.
He’s saying these are the kind of people who will not be part of the kingdom of heaven: those who reject the invitation and those who seem to accept it, but don’t actually accept the king.
The kingdom of heaven will be filled with people who know they bring nothing and are willing to receive everything. Or, to put it a different way:
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3).
This story is a polemic against procrastination, pride, and presumption. Polemic just means “argument against.” Procrastination, pride, and presumption— none of which have a part in the kingdom of heaven.
Let’s unpack that a little bit more with four implications of the story. You hear the story, you see what’s going on…
The great thing about this story is it’s pretty obvious. Like you’re reading it, and you’re listening to this, and you go, “Oh yeah, I can see all this. I can see what Jesus is doing here. I can see what he’s doing. He’s trapping, he’s separating, he’s defining the kingdom of heaven. I got it, I got it, I got it. Yeah.”
Let’s talk about that a little bit. Let’s talk about four implications, and here they are:
1. No one comes to the king’s feast unless they are called.
No one comes to the king unless they’ve received an invitation. No group is there who was not called to be there.
Some refuse to come. Some come for the wrong reasons and get ejected, but no one comes who is not called. And no one comes to Jesus who did it on their own. They were all called to him.
There’s an old 19th-century hymn that says,
“Lord, ’tis not that I did choose you;
That, I know, could never be,
For this heart would still refuse you
Had your grace not chosen me.“It was grace in Christ that called me,
Taught my darkened heart and mind;
Else the world had yet enthralled me,
To your heav’nly glories blind.”
Anyone who comes to Jesus knows it wasn’t your idea. You might have thought it was your idea, and then when you came to Christ, you went, “Oh, he was calling me.”
Have you ever talked to somebody who is checking out the claims of Christ, or coming with you to church, or listening to sermons and is asking questions—not critical questions, like not just to try to trap you, but genuine, like wanting to know—and just had this feeling, “Oh, they’re toast. Jesus is calling them. They’re not just asking questions. They’re being drawn.” It’s like picking ripe fruit. You touch it, and it falls off the tree.
When Jesus is calling, and you see it, you’re like, “Uh-oh, that guy’s in trouble. He’s going to be a Christian. He doesn’t know it yet, but he’s being called.” It’s so awesome to see.
No one comes to Christ unless they’re called. Because what can a dead man do? A dead man can’t do anything. A dead man doesn’t even know he’s dead! He can’t think about anything. He can’t accept anything. He can’t call on anything. He’s dead! What can a dead man do? Nothing. A dead person doesn’t know he is dead. As soon as the dead man realizes he’s dead, he’s no longer dead. He’s been given life.
“And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the flesh and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:1-10).
No one comes to the feast unless they are called to the feast.
2. The kingdom of heaven is neither for legalists nor liberals.
I‘m not talking about political categories, I’m talking about theological categories.
The legalist believes that the kingdom of heaven is for those who keep the rules (and all the rule keepers in the room say, “amen”). People who are really good at keeping the rules are like, “Yeah, we want people in the kingdom to keep the rules.”
But the legalist confuses verbal profession with glad submission. “Let me keep the rules, but that doesn’t mean I’m gladly submitting myself to the King.”
The liberal believes that the kingdom of heaven is filled with the “come as you are.” Everybody can come, irrespective of good and bad. But they want the gifts of the King without the authority of the King.
The legalists emphasize that God is holy and we must be holy. The liberal emphasizes that God is kind and we must be kind. Both are right, and both are wrong. The kingdom is not earned, and the kingdom is not free.
The kingdom is not earned. The earthly good and bad are there. We saw that in this story. The invitation is not based on merit. The king doesn’t say, “Go find the good people or the people who I think are good enough, and then I’ll do the rest.” He says, “Go and call them in, whether they are good or bad.” The kingdom is not earned.
But the kingdom is not free. God receives anyone, but you can’t just come as you are. God will take anyone, but then clothes them at the door with the robes of repentance. God loves people at a great cost to himself.
The legalist says, “We have to pay the price.” The liberal says, “No one has to pay the price.” God the King says, “There is a huge price to be paid for sin against the holy God, and I’ll pay it.” That’s what he does. So we are nothing but beggars who receive the grace of the King.
Have you ever helped someone who was begging? Or sought to help someone who was begging for help or money, and they rejected the kind of help you were offering? I’ve had this happen a few times, where I’ve been standing at a gas station pumping gas in my truck. Someone walks over and says, “Hey, I don’t have money to put gas in my car. Do you have five or ten dollars I can have?” It’s probably more than that now. Five or ten dollars will get you about a half-gallon of gas now, but anyway. It won’t really help much, but back in the day.
“Can I have some cash?” I don’t give cash like that, so my response is, “Yeah, sure. I’ll come pump some gas for you. I’ll use my card. I’ll actually fill up your tank with gas.” A couple times, it’s worked. They’ve been like, “Great!” And then while I’m pumping the gas, I can talk to them.
But mostly, they say, “No, I don’t need that. Just give me five or ten dollars, and I’ll take it.”
And I say, “No, I’m not going to give you that. I will fill your tank with gas. I’ll give you way more than—”
“No. No, I don’t want that,” and they walk away mad. That’s not a beggar. A beggar doesn’t dictate the terms of the gift they receive. That’s not an actual beggar.
Charles Spurgeon uses this picture—I’ve read this in a few different places, people treating this text—where he says anytime you have a feast, you have to have some beggars there. Because the people who are snooty at a feast, as the trays of food are coming out, they’re looking down their nose to inspect its quality or its presentation to see, “What do we have in here?”
But beggars cheer for every dish. Spurgeon says the turkey comes out, and they go, “Wow! Look at that turkey. The skin is so crispy and brown! And I get— Oh my goodness! Look at that cake.” That’s what beggars do. Beggars cheer at the grace of the king rather than inspect it and see if it’s up to their quality. They just cheer because they get to be there.
We who have received the grace of God are all beggars. That’s why we can gather and cheer at the grace of the King.
3. The visible people of God have always included true and false followers.
There was one person in this group who received the invitation of the king at the feast who didn’t belong. He didn’t really want the presence of the king. He just wanted a meal ticket.
Jesus, throughout Matthew, has carried this idea of a mixed community, that not everyone in the community is genuinely believing, that there are people who appear like they’re part of the community but aren’t.
Which means there are people in this room who are here today who appear like they’re part of the community of faith but are not. They haven’t exactly submitted themselves to the King. They haven’t accepted the grace of the King. For whatever reason, they like being around God’s people, but they’re not part of God’s people.
That’s always been the case. Many are called, many are invited, but few are chosen. The “many and the few” is this picture of this weeding process that Matthew, over and over again, says will happen at the judgment.
In Matthew 7, you see the separation of the impostors. “Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, haven’t we done all these great things in your name?’” Jesus says, “Depart from me, I never knew you.”
In Matthew 13, the wheat and the weeds are allowed to grow together, only to be separated at the final judgment. In Matthew 13, again, the good and the worthless fish are all caught in the same net and then separated.
In Matthew 25, which we’ll come to, the wise and the foolish bridesmaids are all invited, but only the wise bridesmaids end up at the wedding feast.
The religious leaders are invited, but not chosen. They’ve been around God’s people. They’ve been a part of it. They’ve memorized Scripture. They’ve professed to be a God follower. But they’re not part of the people of God.
They will be weeded out. Jesus is saying, “It’s coming. You’re going to be weeded out of the kingdom of heaven.” When the King shows up, and he always does, there will be a separation.
The chosen one is the son who didn’t just say he would do the father’s will, but actually did it. The chosen are the new tenants who will produce fruit for the master. The chosen are the ones who accept the king’s invitation and accept the robe of repentance, which brings me to number four.
4. God will severely judge those who spurn his kindness.
God invites the lowly, the poor in spirit. The arrogant spurn his invitation, or appear to accept it, but refuse the garment of repentance. They try to disappear into the crowd, hoping that the king won’t notice. But our garments of stubborn pride stick out, just like this one guy who wasn’t wearing white. It’s so obvious.
When the King comes and surveys his people, he sees our hearts. The people who have not clothed themselves in the garment that he provides (the garment of holiness, the garment of repentance), the King will say, “You don’t belong here.”
Just like the “presumer,” professing Christians who insult God’s grace and presume on it without truly honoring the Son will be banished to outer darkness. This is a sobering word from Jesus. I think that we must consider this as we consider how to respond to this judgment from Jesus.
When you hear people describe how much they don’t like God the Father, but like God the Son— Like God the Father is this old guy with a white beard who’s super cranky. He’s always talking about judgment. It’s like, “Calm down. We’re all tired of you being here,” kind of thing.
But Jesus, he is young and cool and has great hair. He’s talking about how important it is to love people and to embrace everybody. He’s the guy you want, not God the Father. But actually, as you read the Bible, there is no daylight between God the Father and God the Son. God the Son does the will of the Father. God the Father honors the Son, and God the Son honors the Father.
There is not a speck, a ray of daylight between the Father and the Son. Jesus is just as judgy as God the Father is super judgy. That’s what he’s doing here. He’s saying, “Watch out, I’m warning you. Judgment will come.” The language of banishment to outer darkness is not kind (the way we want to define kindness). It’s true, and it’s judgment.
A couple of weeks ago, I came across this poem called “The No / The Yes” that I think is fitting.
“Nothing terrifies more than the No
Your lover whispers through a closed door:
You may die for all I care, just go!
Nothing terrifies more than the No
Of denial catching in your throat
When Christ the lover of your soul wants more.
Nothing terrifies more than the No
You whisper to Love through a closing door.”
Nothing is more terrifying, friends, than rejecting the invitation of the King. When the King says, “Come,” and we say, “No.”
You might think, “I’ll do it one day, just not now. I’ll wait ’till I’m old, like the guy standing up here. I’ll wait ’till I am on my deathbed. I’ll wait ’till I get sick, and then I’ll come. I want to have some fun. I want to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin for a time, and then I will come.”
No, you won’t. That’s not how invitations work. You don’t decide to go to the feast of the King whenever you get ready. You come when you’re invited, or you get shut out. The invitation does not last forever. Don’t harden your hearts. Hebrews 3 says,
“Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your heart as in the rebellion” (Hebrews 3:15).
Do not store up wrath for yourself, hearing the grace of Christ week after week, month after month, year after year, thinking, “One day.” Do you think the King will invite you forever?
Do you think that you can reject the King’s invitation, insult his Son, commit treachery and rebellion against him, and he’ll say, “That’s okay. Whenever you’re ready.” That’s not what a king does.
In fact, when we do that, we’re counting on the very grace while we’re rejecting it. We’re counting on that grace to keep extending grace, keep extending grace while I keep rejecting it. But I’m counting that, when I get ready… But no one comes who is not called, and he doesn’t call forever.
One day, the invitation has rescinded, the call ceases, the door of the ark is closed. For those religious leaders, the door was closing. They had all the appearance of religion. They came every Sunday, and they sat among God’s people. They were part of it, but they had none of its substance. They heard the invitation, but refused to honor the Son. The door of the ark was closing. That image is throughout the Bible, Old Testament and New. There’s a time when the call goes forth, and there’s a time when the king appears and says, “Enough.”
Charles Spurgeon, in a sermon, used that image of the ark and the futility of being near the ark, around the ark, but not on the ark. He said this:
“You have often been told that the very workmen who worked for Noah, and who were, no doubt, paid their wages, or they would not have worked, perished also. They helped to saw the wood, to lay the keel, to drive the bolts, to put in the oakum, to use the pitch, to strengthen the timbers, but after all that they had done not one of them escaped. And so the chapel-keeper, the pew-opener, the elder, the deacon, the minister, the bishop, the archbishop, all those who have had a function in the church, who have had something to do with the good staunch vessel of Christ’s gospel, except they themselves be in Christ by a living faith, they must perish as much as the despisers and the outcasts. Here, then, is the solemn line: all out of Christ lost; all in Christ saved; all unbelievers perishing; all believers preserved in him. Here is a rule without exception.”
“Nothing terrifies more than the No / you whisper to Love through a closing door.” J.S. Absher
Once the door is closed, there is no opportunity for yes. The invitation is to come to the feast. That’s the call of the gospel, and that’s why it’s good news, because it’s an invitation. It is, “Come!” It’s news: “Come.”
Look at what Christ has done: He has taken care of the problem of sin and clothed you with his righteousness. All you have to do is come and submit to the King. It’s good news. Judgments will come, but God invites you to the feast instead.
Friends, have you accepted the invitation to come to the King? Will you accept the invitation to come to the King? Let’s pray.
Lord Jesus, I once again ask you: If there’s anyone here who has not received and followed the call, I ask, God, that your call would go to people here who do not yet know you. Call them by your almighty power to the feast.
And I pray that there would be people who humble their hearts and come with their own unworthiness and submit to the King. That’s a sobering call. It’s a sobering thing to think about. We wait and hope that you’ll keep giving us grace. You are filled with grace and mercy. Draw to yourself today, I pray, Lord Jesus. Open our ears to hear the word of Christ, in whose name we pray, amen.
