In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit +
The end is approaching. We are approaching the Reformation Day and then the End of the Church year, which means our readings will pick up the intensity and begin to shift our focus to the end times, to the Second Coming of Christ – and then on to Advent where we ponder Christ's first coming at Christmas. But the readings for the next few weeks will be... intense. Or even, intensified. Earlier this year we heard a parable about people invited to a feast, and they reject, go get the blind and the lame that my house may be filled. It was strict and blunt – but now, at the end of the Gospel, when Jesus tells a parable with similar themes, but the stakes are all raised. Listen.
The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son, and sent his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come. So far, a common, familiar story. You're invited to the feast, please come – oh, you don't want to come. The number of pastors who lament in sermons people not coming to the feast is uncountable – we get the gist. But do you hear the intensification here? It's not just a rich man who throws the feast; it's the king. It's one thing to be rich; it's another to be the ruler who has the power and authority to execute and destroy the ruffians and scoundrels. And all the polite excuses – they are gone. It's just they won't come. But the King is persistent. Again he sent other servants, saying, “Tell those who are invited, 'See, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast.'” Guys, I'm the king, and I'm doing something good for you. This is a good thing for you – now get here all ready. I told you once, and I've told you twice, get your kiesters moving. But, alas, those who were invited intensify their rejection as well. But they paid no attention and went off, one to his farm, another to his business, while the rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them. Think of the insult here. First of all, to not pay attention. The King speaks to you – meh, who cares. The King has sent His Messengers to declare great things for you – yeah, I've got some drawers at work to clean out, I'll just be over here. To treat the word of the King as unimportant – that's vile enough. But it gets worse. While some pay no attention at all, others decide to be openly and outright wicked and batter and bruise and kill the servants. To parade their bodies around in shame; to dance around and jeer at the corpses. You understand the vileness here, right?
Of course, what Jesus is really doing in this parable is He's giving the history of the Old Testament. Again. Over and over Jesus has pointed out how in her history Israel had repeatedly fallen away from the Word of God, ignored the promises, stayed home instead of coming to the religious feasts, and even stoned and killed the prophets. Over and over disdain arose in the land, and over and over the result was the same. The king was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. This is the story of the Old Testament. The people ignore and reject God, and then the foreign troops come and enact God's vengeance, clearing out the idolaters and disdainers of God's Word. Go leaf through the book of Judges – it happens there again and again. This is why God let the Philistines rage against the Israelites. It's why God sent Assyria against the Northern Kingdom. When the people of Jerusalem brought pagan worship and idolatry into the temple itself, it's no surprise that God sends in the Babylonians. God warned them – but Jeremiah and Daniel and Ezekiel were all treated shamefully and ignored – and then the destruction came.
This is the pattern. Ignore the Word of God, ignore the invitation of the King at your own peril. Well, they ignored Jesus, and around 40 years after Jesus speaks these Words the Romans destroy Jerusalem again. And, to be uncomfortably to the point, it applies to the history of the New Testament as well. Christian Rome becomes power hungry instead of hungering for the feast of God, and it gets wrecked and ruined. The Middle East and North Africa used to the be heart of Christianity until they grew cold and were laid waste by the Muslims. The letters of Paul were written to churches in towns that all were wrecked centuries later by foreign invaders. Indeed, it's the history of Europe in the 19th and 20th Centuries – the collapse of Christian Faith in Europe leading to wars unimaginable – that's all part of why many of our ancestors fled the Old world and came to the New – they were fleeing the wrath that was to come. Ignore God's Word at your own peril.
Boy Pastor, who put a bee in your bonnet? Well, it's just Scripture and History playing out – and it's what Jesus has told us that we should expect to play out even until He comes again. Hearts growing cold, wars and rumors of war, depravity and injustice, people not recognizing the gifts of God and seeking other wicked things. It's what we see today. Because the temptation that Satan has always leveled in the past and will level against you stays the same – to get you to ignore the Word of God and the invitation of the King. To reject God's blessings.
Then He said to his servants, “The wedding feast is ready, but those invited were not worthy. Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you can find.” And those servants went out into the roads and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good. So the wedding hall was filled with guests. But the king is still determined to have his feast. And being brought to the feast isn't going to be based upon how good you are, how wise you are, how grateful or pious you are. Both bad and good are gathered – and note that the bad gets mentioned first. And this is where it's refreshing to be a Lutheran today, to start off the service with confession and absolution. None of us here need to try to prove that we're good enough to be here – I know you all sinned a ton this past week; I just heard you say it. And you heard me say it about myself, too. We're not here because of how great we are – we are only here, all of us, because Christ our King is so amazingly persistent at sending out His invitation to His feast. Over and over again, across the generations, after He's been rejected and abandoned and disdained, still Christ's invitation to the Feast – the Feast today here in this House as well at the Eternal, everlasting Feast in the life of the world to come – that invitation still goes forth. And it's come to you! And you're here! Fantastic! Rejoice! But don't slough it off, and don't presume upon it, and don't disdain it – because that's the stuff that leads to destruction.
And don't forget how and why you're here. But when the king came into 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 speecheless. And the king said to the attendants, “Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” You see, back in the day, at wedding party everyone would be given an outfit to wear – and we'd all dress the same. Everyone would be equal; the party wouldn't turn into some petty fashion contest – we're all just going to be here together and all equally valued. If you rejected that garment, it would be an insult. A vile one. It would almost be like a groomsman today refusing to wear the same outfit as the other groomsmen – it's just utterly jerkish and idiotic.
So how are you here? Why are you here? Well, Christ's feast is the feast of forgiveness – and we're all here in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit – that's how we started right? We're here as the baptized, as those clothed in the robes, the wedding garments, of Christ's righteousness. We're here as the forgiven, where we are welcomed not only at Christ's invitation but on account of Christ and as those baptized into Christ. We're forgiven people. That's how we're here. And that's why we're here; the Church isn't a way for you to toot your own self-righteous horn or show how great you are or just to keep grandma happy so she leaves you in the will – it's a forgiveness place for the forgiven. And to put it as bluntly as Jesus – if you don't want forgiveness, well, you won't get it. You can have the outer darkness and the wailing and gnashing of teeth if you insist – but that would be quite stupid and dumb.
For many are called but few are chosen. Alright – how many of you hear that, especially after the sermon so far, and get a little shiver down your spine? You shouldn't. That word for “chosen” in Greek is a word you know – it's eclectoi” - from which we get the word ecletic in English, but more importantly the word “elected”, To be “elected” means you have been “chosen”. And while there is warning in this parable, this word, this wonderful word “chosen” - “elected” - this is to be a great comfort to you. You have been chosen by God, you have been elected, you have been selected. You have been not only called out of darkness, but you have been chosen, elected, placed into His marvelous light. God has claimed you for salvation, He's brought you into His family, He has washed you in Holy Baptism – He's given you the robe of Christ's Righteousness – you've got everything you need for salvation because Christ has done it all for you already. And so yes, the call goes out, yes the Word goes forth – and there will be disdain and ignoring – but you, you've been chosen by God, elected, selected, placed right here. And it's all good – Jesus has it in the bag for you. He's died, and your sin is atoned for. He's risen, so your life is secure. He's got His feast of life and salvation ready to go – the feast of the Victory of our God is here – and you're clothed in Christ's righteousness and ready to go. God grant that more come – but you, you're here, and Christ Jesus is present here for you with His forgiveness, and you receive it. Thanks be to God. That's everything.
So do you see? You have been given everything by Jesus and in Jesus. You are people of forgiveness and mercy and grace – that's who you are and how you live. You're Christ's feast people. Satan will try to wrest you away from that, sin will try to pull you away from that. And these are serious attacks, and if left on our own, none of us would stand before them. But Christ Jesus has claimed you, and baptized you, and clothed you in His own righteousness and brought to you His feast. And the world outside might bray and howl louder and more devilishly – but that has nothing to do with you, for you are in Christ Jesus. In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit +
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