Come

And the Spirit and the bride say, "Come!" And let him who hears say, "Come!" And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely. – Revelation 22v17

All the way to the very end the invitation continues. Here we are only a few verses from the close of the Bible and still Jesus is saying the simple, single, salvific word - 'come.'

My thoughts this morning when I read this verse were from the original Disney animated film ‘Cinderella.’ The whole kingdom was aflutter waiting to see who would be invited to the Royal Ball. When the courier arrived the stepsisters tore into the note to see if they were invited. There was great excitement when they saw that they were. The bad thing is that the wicked stepmother told Cinderella she had to stay home.

But she was invited – all the single women in the house we invited. The price was saying to all of them, including Cinderella, ‘Come to the Royal Ball’ and despite the difficulties even Cinderella was able to go.

Jesus is offering an open invitation to the ultimate Royal Ball. Everyone is invited, even the ‘Cinderellas’ of this world.

‘Come’ is a wonderful word. In the American South you might hear the phrase ‘Y’all come.’ Here when someone is at the door we say, ‘Come in, I’ll put the kettle on.’ My house growing up was an open house – people just came on in. Our house is the same. We might as well have a ‘Come on in’ sign on our front door.

Greater than all this is to hear Jesus saw ‘come.’ Notice that the Bride also says ‘come.’ Are we doing our part to invite others?