God’s grace, peace and mercy be with
you. … My focus is on Matthew 22:2: “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a
king who gave a wedding feast for his son.”
Let us pray. Heavenly Father, the
psalmist wrote, “I rejoiced when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the
Lord.’”[1]
Now that our feet are within your gates, we rejoice to hear your Word. As we
listen, may your Spirit enlighten our minds and move our hearts to love deeply
as Jesus loved. This we pray to you, Most Holy Trinity. Amen.
Everyone has wedding memories. Some are
preserved in movies, scores of movies. Some good, others not. Father of the Bride, Runaway Bride and Bridesmaids. The Wedding Singer, The Wedding
Planner and My Big Fat Greek Wedding.
Weddings are in The Godfather, The Deer Hunter
and The Sound of Music.
No one has produced a movie with a
wedding scene like the one in today’s parable. That is because the parable is
not about a wedding. It is about the Kingdom of Heaven. Let us view the parable
through three lenses: Challenge, Change and Choose.
First, Challenge. When I read Scripture,
I want to know why. Why did Paul write this? Why did the prophet say that? The
answer is often revealed in the greater context. Today’s passage is no
different. Jesus did not speak this parable in a setting vacuum-sealed from
sin. Jesus spoke his words in Jerusalem’s Temple before the crowds and his
disciples to the chief priests and elders who questioned his authority to expel
moneychangers and to heal the blind and lame just days before his passion.
Rightfully, the chief priests and elders
challenged Jesus’ authority because they oversaw teaching and worship. They
wanted to know where Jesus got His authority because they certainly did not
authorize Him.
In rabbinical style, Jesus responded
with His own question: Did the baptism of
John come from heaven or man?
Because Israel’s leaders and people did
not respond to the Baptist’s call to repent, they admit ignorance and condemn
themselves. They could not answer because of ignorance; Jesus chose not to
answer because his teaching authority was superior to these incompetents.[2] Jesus then pronounced
judgment on Israel’s leaders and people; and He did so with parables.
Jesus spoke six parables. Today’s
Parable of the Wedding Feast is the third in that series. Like the Parable of
the Wicked Tenants, father and son appear vis-à-vis
a hostile group, but now the father is a king, an obvious symbol for God.[3] The Feast is the
eschatological banquet – the banquet at the end of time – that God prepares for
His Son.
The parable opens on a joyful note, but
closes on a somber one. The king sends two groups of slaves (prophets) with a
request to attend the wedding feast. The first refusal is met with divine
patience and a renewed attempt to win over the headstrong guests who insanely refuse
a gift. The second time, while most of the invited guests (Jewish people) go
away to their private concerns, some (the leaders) kill the slaves. The divine
wrath is kindled, and the King destroys the village (Jerusalem) and its
murderous leaders.
Since those originally invited showed by
their deeds that they were not ready and worthy, the invitation is now spread
to the roads going out of the King’s city (to the Gentiles). New slaves (early
Christian missionaries) bring in everyone, good and bad alike, and the hall is
filled. This would be the church as a worldwide mixture of good and evil
people.
The whole narrative neatly outlines
salvation history. What the murderers lost is handed over to others, who had no
previous claim on it. And although there is no mention of the death of the Son,
Matthew’s Church knows the Father honored him from the beginning.
Now, returning to chief priests’ challenge
of Jesus, we see clearly how Matthew impressed on early Jewish Christians that
Jesus transmitted His authority to the Church.[4] This is why Matthew added
a conclusion that shifted the emphasis from Christ to salvation and the Church.
Now, the Church remains the subject to judgment as Jerusalem was.
The King entered the wedding hall to
inspect the guests. The boor without the clean wedding garment was the baptized
Christian who accepted the missionary call to believe but did not prepare
himself for the banquet by repenting from his sinful life and living the fruits
of the Gospel.
Speechless because he had no excuse for
his sordid state, he was as unworthy as the originally invited guests, and
suffered the same fate. Excluded from the banquet, they threw him into the
darkness of lament and pain. (No soup for you!) The three parables are summed
up in the words – The called are many, the chosen are few.
My second point, change. Early
Christians referred to themselves as “the
called.” They made no distinction between call and election.
God’s call would naturally result in glorification. After all, Romans 8 reads, “We
know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those
who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also
predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be
the firstborn among many brothers. Those whom he predestined he called, and
those whom he called he justified, and those whom he justified he glorified.”[5]
First Peter reads, “As he who called you is holy,
you also must be holy in all your conduct.”[6]
Standing at the end of the 1st
century, Matthew wisely distinguished between call and election. Verses 11-13
emphasize this is not simply a question of distinguishing between Jews and
Gentiles, as verses 1-10 indicate. The church, a mixture of good and evil, was
under judgment, and the judgment shows who was chosen for the feast and who
belonged with the rejected outside.
Matthew emphasized that responding to
God’s call meant change. Matthew recorded Jesus’ first words as He preached: “Repent,
for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”[7]
Repent! Change! God called us to live
holy lives, extraordinarily holy lives. This was Matthew’s message to his
members and to us. The good news: God called me. The bad news: I deserve to be
bound hand and foot, thrown into the dark where I hear only weeping and
gnashing of teeth. Why? Because I have not changed. I have not changed.
A Buddhist monk goes up to a hot dog
vendor and says, “Make me one with
everything.” The vendor hands him a hot dog with everything on it. The monk
hands the vendor a twenty-dollar bill. The vendor sticks it in his pocket. The
monk stands there waiting for change. After a minute, the vendor says, “Change comes from within.”
Folks, if you are waiting for change,
the choice is yours because God gave you everything. God gave you a life with
everything you need and eternal life to boot. …If your life does not suit you,
ask the Holy Spirit to change your heart from within.
My third point, choose. To choose means
I select someone or something as the best or most appropriate of two or more
alternatives.[8]
Its roots stretch back to the Latin word gustāre
meaning to taste.[9]
This past week, I had my first taste of
a district conference in Southern Illinois. President Scharr introduced me to
my brother pastors as one who served the Church as a Roman Catholic priest for
21 years. Throughout the evening, several pastors inquired about my history,
asking, “What led you to the Lutheran Church?” My answer: My wife.
Yes, my wife was instrumental in my
embrace of the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod. More importantly, it was the
teachings of the Synod that lead me here, primarily, its understanding and
interpretation of Scripture, the Lord’s Supper and Christ’s true presence in,
with and under the bread and wine. Equally important are the Synod’s teachings
on marriage and when life begins and ends. Not all Christian denominations
espouse what Scripture teaches regarding Word, Sacrament, marriage and life. I
chose to embrace the Christian Faith in the Missouri Synod because I believe it
to be proper, true and most appropriate.
Folks, each denomination has someone who
wrote a book with a title that begins with “Why
I am a ….” Tom Nettles, John Krumm, Garry Wills and Daniel Preus all wrote
why they are Baptists, Episcopalians, Catholics and Lutherans.
My choice to become a pastor in the
Missouri Synod Lutheran Church was based not simply on taste. I could not
resist but to choose the embrace of God – the embrace of love, mercy and
forgiveness – and His invitation to enter His Kingdom. Hence, I prepare for the
eschatological banquet, the heavenly banquet, the wedding banquet
appropriately. I arrive sinful and beg God’s mercy before I approach the Table
of the Lord – the table of His Word, the table of His Supper.
My friends, here is the best news you
might hear all week. God invites you to embrace His Law and Gospel. I challenge
you to change and choose to attend an unforgettable feast. To help you prepare,
I close with this anonymous meditation. [10]
When
you get what you want in your struggle for self
And
the world makes you king for a day,
Just
go to the mirror and look at yourself,
And
see what that man has to say.
For
it isn't your father or mother or wife,
Whose
judgment upon you must pass;
The
fellow whose verdict counts most in your life
Is
the one staring back from the glass.
He's
the fellow to please, never mind all the rest.
For
he's with you clear up to the end,
And
you've passed the most dangerous, difficult test
If
the man in the glass is your friend.
You may
fool the whole world down the pathway of years.
And
get pats on the back as you pass,
But
your final reward will be the heartaches and tears
If
you've cheated the man in the glass. …
If you are attending the wedding feast
of the Lord, meditate on this prayer; and as you approach His banquet table,
may the peace of God that surpasses all human understanding, keep your hearts
and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
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