God’s grace, peace
and mercy be with you. … My sermon in entitled Challenge, Change and Choose,
and my focus is our Gospel (Matthew 22:1-14). Let us pray. Heavenly Father, the
psalmist wrote, “I rejoiced when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house
of the Lord.’” 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. 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. 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 tone. 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.
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.” First Peter reads, “As he who
called you is holy, you also must be holy in all your conduct.”
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.”
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. Its roots stretch back to the Latin
word gustāre meaning to taste.
At our last
District Pastors’ Conference, Pastor Wicher was congratulating those who had
served the Synod by five-year increments. Ooohs and aaahs filled the auditorium
when pastors serving for 40 and 50 years plus were introduced and asked to come
to the front to receive a certificate. As one serving in the Synod for ten
years, I was completely caught off guard when he called my name as one serving
the Church for 35 years. The Synod recognizes the time I was ordained as a
Catholic priest as service to the greater Christian Church. And when brother pastors
inquired about my history, they always ask, “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.
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. …
Friends, if you
are attending the wedding feast of the Lord, meditate on that 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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