Emerge

          My mom has recently started a ministry called Emerge. Her heart is that women will realize and become all that God has called them to be. She desires that they step out of fear, timidity, insecurity, and bondage from the past, and step into the fullness of their destiny. I would like to contribute to this ministry by sharing the passage of scripture that has been the key to my own emergence as a daughter of Christ.

The parable that I want to share, found in Matthew 22, first came to my attention about three or four years ago, during a time when I desperately needed to be reminded of my identity in Christ. It radically changed my self-concept and my understanding of grace and of what Jesus desires a life affected by His grace to look like. Since the first time God spoke to me through this story, it has been the basis for how I choose to live and a constant source of peace, stability, and motivation to be, to emerge.

As you read this parable, know that there is obviously more to the story than what I want to point out today. A major theme is the Jews’ rejection of Jesus and His acceptance of the Gentiles into His kingdom, but that is not where I want to focus. You’ll probably read it once through and think, “Why does Kristian like this and what does it have to do with ‘emerging’???” Haha! Yes. Just read it and then we’ll talk. ;)

Matthew 22: 1-14

Jesus spoke to them again in parables saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come.

“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.’

“But they paid no attention and went off—one to his field, another to his business. The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them. The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.

“Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. Go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.’ So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, both good and bad, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.

“But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. ‘Friend,’ he asked, ‘how did you get in here without wedding clothes?’ The man was speechless.

“Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

“For many are invited, but few are chosen.”

           

            The part of this story that stuck out to me and has stayed with me these past few years is 1) that God (the king) would invite me, a nobody, an “anyone you can find from the street corner,” to His banquet (eternity with Him), and 2) that, despite my status, He expects me to arrive wearing my “wedding clothes”. Because I was invited, I have an identity. My identity is guest. I am chosen. I am included. I am special. In other words, I belong at God’s party. Second, because I have this new identity, my outward appearance has changed. I don’t wear street rags anymore; I am now clothed in wedding apparel. The old me is so gone that she doesn’t even clothe herself the same way anymore!

            It’s not rare that we, as Christians, face what you could call “identity crises”. We are constantly bombarded by attacks of the enemy in which we are reminded of our past or we are told we are not what we ought to be. The phrase “wedding clothes” always comes to mind when I’m in the middle of one of these identity crises. Through this phrase, Jesus reminds me of who I am and of what I wear (I do love fashion). I’m invited to His party, an honored guest, and He has clothed me in wedding apparel. To be dressed in wedding clothes is to be dressed in purity, to be whiter than snow. Wedding clothes are what a woman of confidence, dignity, integrity, honor, and favor wears. A woman dressed in wedding clothes is comfortable, bold, joyful, peaceful, and gracious, and she looks to the future with eagerness. She is also adored by all who behold her because she knows her identity and she walks confidently in it.

            At the end of this parable, Jesus points out how ridiculous it is to have been invited to the party, but not to have changed your clothes accordingly (how you act). If we are honored guests, we ought to act like it, dress like it, think like it. This is the essence of “Emerge”. According to Dictionary.com, to emerge is “to come forth into view or notice, as from concealment or obscurity,” “to come into existence; develop,” or “to rise, as from and inferior or unfortunate state or condition.” When I think, “Emerge,” I immediately think of the Parable of the Wedding Banquet. It is a perfect illustration of “coming forth,” “coming into existence,” or “rising from an inferior condition”. Someone who emerges does so by realizing his or her identity and “clothing” his or herself accordingly.

Because I am God’s treasured guest, accepted and made pure through Jesus’ sacrifice, I will clothe myself accordingly. I will not only come to the party, I will clothe myself like a treasured guest. I will be a treasured guest in the way I act. I will abandon any behaviors, mindsets, or traits that are not characteristic of an honored guest, like insecurity, timidity, and guilt. I will step away from these things, donning my wedding clothes, and emerging into the treasured guest that I was made to be.

Love, 
Kristian