Trinity 20 October 22, 2023
Matthew 22:1-14
Coming to the Banquet of the Lord
v.11-12 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.
Dear friends in Christ, our text for today is a parable of Jesus. A parable in which Jesus outlines some of Israel's responses to the good news of salvation. For Israel was always, from its very beginning, to be looking ahead to the coming Saviour, the Messiah, who would rescue them from sin through faith in God alone. The Lord had provided abundantly for His people through the ages. He had provided faithful servants who went and called the people to repentance and pointed them to God's saving work at all times--to the promised seed of the woman who would bring great blessing to the people of God and free them from the tyranny of the devil.
Jesus, in this parable, likens this history to a king preparing a rich wedding feast for his son. He sends his servants out to call the invited guests to the wedding feast, but they would not come. So, he sent other servants, calling to the people, telling them that the wedding feast is ready--so come--freely eat and drink and be merry in the wedding hall of the king! But they were ignored, or worse, they mistreated and killed by the very ones they were called to gather into the feast. In his wrath, the king went and destroyed those people and their city, but then instructed his servants to go and gather all people, both bad and good, so that the wedding hall could be filled with guests.
Finally, at long last, the king enters the wedding hall and surveys those who have been gathered. Unfortunately, one guest sticks out like a sore thumb. A man who is not dressed in the wedding garment that the king had so generously provided for everyone there. When questioned about this enormous insult, the man has nothing to say, and so is thrown into the outer darkness where he would forever suffer. To which Jesus concludes this parable with the well-known phrase, "Many are called, but few are chosen."
Beloved, what does all this mean? Well, let us try to break it down. God desires all people to be gathered into His kingdom and partake of the never-ending wedding feast between His Son, the bridegroom Jesus, and His bride, the holy church. The Gospel call to faith in Jesus Christ, which is the invitation to this feast, goes out to all the world, to all people, at all times. Through the Word and the Sacraments, God's Holy Spirit calls people to faith in Jesus. The servants of God--pastors, teachers, evangelists, mothers and fathers, etc.--call people to faith by inviting them to hear the Good News of Jesus crucified and risen for sinners--and to believe it.
This call--this holy invitation--often has some negative reactions, however. There are those who, in our day and context, simply choose to ignore the call of the Gospel. They have better things to do--places to be--people to see--that are much more important than hearing about some long-gone Jewish preacher man. So they go off to work, to their rest and relaxation, or whatever else, and ignore God's gracious invitation, to the great harm of their eternal souls.
As bad as that is, and as damning as that response is, there is another reaction--one that is far more violent--one that will rear its ugly head more and more as our society grows increasingly secular and hostile to Christianity. "The rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them." We see this already taking place in certain areas around the world where Christianity is illegal. Christians found to be in possession of a Bible in North Korea face imprisonment, torture, and death. Christians in many Muslim dominated countries of the Middle East and Africa, also face intense persecution and even death for confessing Christ as God and Lord. While these enemies of Jesus may think they are victorious, this injury to the body of Christ will not stand. On Judgment Day the Lord God will strike those murderers down and give them their just punishment, should they fail to repent.
So, what about the rest? There are some, some who are called, who do receive with great joy the invitation to the wedding feast in the kingdom of heaven. These are both bad and good. People whom we would look on as undesirables, perhaps, or the very best of the best, good upstanding citizens. However, from God's perspective, in view of His Holy Law, all people fall short--and none are deserving of His gracious call and invitation. Yet all those who hear this call and believe, both bad and good, are freely received into His banquet hall to dine with the Lord in eternal glory.
That is you and me, dear friends. We who have been baptized into God's holy triune name have been washed clean of all sin by the blood of Jesus outpoured on the cross. We are the good and the bad. Our sin convicts us, yet we are received, by His grace, into His kingdom to enjoy the riches of His mercy forevermore.
Yet, there is a final warning for us, dear friends. For upon looking into the banquet hall, the king in the parable noted a man who had no wedding garment, who was then tossed out into eternal darkness. This serves as a warning for us all that we dare not grow conceited in our faith and assume that our place at the Lord's table has been earned by our life and love. That we can clothe ourselves in our good deeds and be acceptable in God's sight. This is not so, beloved. As the prophet Isaiah declared, "all our righteous deeds are like filthy rags before the Lord." We need to be dressed by Him, covered by Him, cleansed by Him, in order to come into His presence.
This God has graciously done through the working of Jesus Christ. By His perfect life, death, and resurrection He has earned forgiveness and salvation for the world. By faith, we freely receive this good and gracious gift from the generous hand of our loving Saviour who bled and died for us on Calvary's cross. By faith, in Baptism, through the hearing of the Gospel Word, through the blessing of Holy Absolution, Christians are given this forgiveness for all our sins. We are washed completely clean and made new and glorious in God's sight--for we are covered with the righteousness of Another--that of Jesus Christ Himself. Jesus ushers you into the wedding hall to take your place at His side in His kingdom, which will never end.
This very day, you are given a foretaste of the great feast to come. For in this simple meal of bread and wine, the very God made flesh--Jesus Christ Himself--comes to each of you with His holy body and blood--to forgive you your sins and to strengthen your faith--that you may ever receive with joy and thanksgiving the Gospel call--the blessed invitation--to dine with Him in eternal glory. For many are called, but few are chosen. By God's grace, you are part of the few--chosen from eternity--to be members of God's kingdom. Thanks be to God in Christ Jesus. Amen.
Matthew 22:1-14
Coming to the Banquet of the Lord
v.11-12 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.
Dear friends in Christ, our text for today is a parable of Jesus. A parable in which Jesus outlines some of Israel's responses to the good news of salvation. For Israel was always, from its very beginning, to be looking ahead to the coming Saviour, the Messiah, who would rescue them from sin through faith in God alone. The Lord had provided abundantly for His people through the ages. He had provided faithful servants who went and called the people to repentance and pointed them to God's saving work at all times--to the promised seed of the woman who would bring great blessing to the people of God and free them from the tyranny of the devil.
Jesus, in this parable, likens this history to a king preparing a rich wedding feast for his son. He sends his servants out to call the invited guests to the wedding feast, but they would not come. So, he sent other servants, calling to the people, telling them that the wedding feast is ready--so come--freely eat and drink and be merry in the wedding hall of the king! But they were ignored, or worse, they mistreated and killed by the very ones they were called to gather into the feast. In his wrath, the king went and destroyed those people and their city, but then instructed his servants to go and gather all people, both bad and good, so that the wedding hall could be filled with guests.
Finally, at long last, the king enters the wedding hall and surveys those who have been gathered. Unfortunately, one guest sticks out like a sore thumb. A man who is not dressed in the wedding garment that the king had so generously provided for everyone there. When questioned about this enormous insult, the man has nothing to say, and so is thrown into the outer darkness where he would forever suffer. To which Jesus concludes this parable with the well-known phrase, "Many are called, but few are chosen."
Beloved, what does all this mean? Well, let us try to break it down. God desires all people to be gathered into His kingdom and partake of the never-ending wedding feast between His Son, the bridegroom Jesus, and His bride, the holy church. The Gospel call to faith in Jesus Christ, which is the invitation to this feast, goes out to all the world, to all people, at all times. Through the Word and the Sacraments, God's Holy Spirit calls people to faith in Jesus. The servants of God--pastors, teachers, evangelists, mothers and fathers, etc.--call people to faith by inviting them to hear the Good News of Jesus crucified and risen for sinners--and to believe it.
This call--this holy invitation--often has some negative reactions, however. There are those who, in our day and context, simply choose to ignore the call of the Gospel. They have better things to do--places to be--people to see--that are much more important than hearing about some long-gone Jewish preacher man. So they go off to work, to their rest and relaxation, or whatever else, and ignore God's gracious invitation, to the great harm of their eternal souls.
As bad as that is, and as damning as that response is, there is another reaction--one that is far more violent--one that will rear its ugly head more and more as our society grows increasingly secular and hostile to Christianity. "The rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them." We see this already taking place in certain areas around the world where Christianity is illegal. Christians found to be in possession of a Bible in North Korea face imprisonment, torture, and death. Christians in many Muslim dominated countries of the Middle East and Africa, also face intense persecution and even death for confessing Christ as God and Lord. While these enemies of Jesus may think they are victorious, this injury to the body of Christ will not stand. On Judgment Day the Lord God will strike those murderers down and give them their just punishment, should they fail to repent.
So, what about the rest? There are some, some who are called, who do receive with great joy the invitation to the wedding feast in the kingdom of heaven. These are both bad and good. People whom we would look on as undesirables, perhaps, or the very best of the best, good upstanding citizens. However, from God's perspective, in view of His Holy Law, all people fall short--and none are deserving of His gracious call and invitation. Yet all those who hear this call and believe, both bad and good, are freely received into His banquet hall to dine with the Lord in eternal glory.
That is you and me, dear friends. We who have been baptized into God's holy triune name have been washed clean of all sin by the blood of Jesus outpoured on the cross. We are the good and the bad. Our sin convicts us, yet we are received, by His grace, into His kingdom to enjoy the riches of His mercy forevermore.
Yet, there is a final warning for us, dear friends. For upon looking into the banquet hall, the king in the parable noted a man who had no wedding garment, who was then tossed out into eternal darkness. This serves as a warning for us all that we dare not grow conceited in our faith and assume that our place at the Lord's table has been earned by our life and love. That we can clothe ourselves in our good deeds and be acceptable in God's sight. This is not so, beloved. As the prophet Isaiah declared, "all our righteous deeds are like filthy rags before the Lord." We need to be dressed by Him, covered by Him, cleansed by Him, in order to come into His presence.
This God has graciously done through the working of Jesus Christ. By His perfect life, death, and resurrection He has earned forgiveness and salvation for the world. By faith, we freely receive this good and gracious gift from the generous hand of our loving Saviour who bled and died for us on Calvary's cross. By faith, in Baptism, through the hearing of the Gospel Word, through the blessing of Holy Absolution, Christians are given this forgiveness for all our sins. We are washed completely clean and made new and glorious in God's sight--for we are covered with the righteousness of Another--that of Jesus Christ Himself. Jesus ushers you into the wedding hall to take your place at His side in His kingdom, which will never end.
This very day, you are given a foretaste of the great feast to come. For in this simple meal of bread and wine, the very God made flesh--Jesus Christ Himself--comes to each of you with His holy body and blood--to forgive you your sins and to strengthen your faith--that you may ever receive with joy and thanksgiving the Gospel call--the blessed invitation--to dine with Him in eternal glory. For many are called, but few are chosen. By God's grace, you are part of the few--chosen from eternity--to be members of God's kingdom. Thanks be to God in Christ Jesus. Amen.