Proper 23 A
In and Of the Wedding
Matthew 22:1-14
12 October 2014 – Redeemer
Let’s be clear about the wedding feast of the text. Everyone is invited. No one is left out. This isn’t a wedding reception where you need to trim the guest list because you cannot afford to feed over 200 guests. Nor do you cut the list so you don’t have to invite his side of the family. This isn’t the Jehovah’s Witness version of heaven where 144,000 get seated and the rest of you might hope for leftovers at the back door of the Kingdom Hall. The King has no shortage of wealth or hospitality or joy. He wants everyone there. He wants you there.
This is a parable of the Kingdom and the first point is obvious – there isn’t a person whom the Father does not want in on the joy and festivities of Christ’s forgiveness and everlasting life. He is, after all, the foolish shepherd God who leaves 99 sheep to look for one lost lamb. He is the woman who tears her house apart for a quarter. He’s the merchant who sells everything He has to claim you as his treasure. Christ Jesus died for the sin of the world. This is the wedding to which we are invited – the wedding where the Groom lays down His life for the bride and by His death unites her to himself forever. There isn’t a person for whom Christ hasn’t died. There isn’t a sin which He has not forgiven. There isn’t a soul He has not redeemed. Your mess is not greater than the righteousness of His life. There’s enough Jesus for each and everyone of you and God through His men calls you to the wedding banquet. He says, “Enjoy the nuptials. Feast with me. Be forgiven. Live. Look forward to the resurrection.”
The first invited guests had their invitations long before the wedding. They knew the day was coming. They were expected to be there. You can probably guess who they were in the Bible – the nation of Israel – the Jews, particularly the religious leaders. They were God’s chosen nation, first to know, first to be invited, first to see the Bridegroom, but they were more concerned about their land, their belongings, and their people, than the wedding. In 70 AD Jerusalem was destroyed – the King sent His troops (in this case the Roman government) and they destroyed those murderers and burned their city.
I’m not going to preach about those first invited guests, because they aren’t here. They’ve chosen to do something else today – land, people, rest, pleasure. Who knows? What good would it do to warn you about them, except to make you feel a little self-righteous that you’re here and they are not?
That leaves us with everyone else who did show up. That’s you – you showed up. And like the guests at the wedding you do nothing to be at the feast of Christ and His bride. In the parable it was all the King’s doing – His Son, His Son’s wedding, His open bar, His steak and lobster main course. And even His clothes. You can imagine how those people from the streets and alleys, highways and bi-ways showed up. The farmer showed up right after cleaning the hog barn. The roofer walked in without a shirt. The mom with the little kids had spaghetti in her hair from lunch and oatmeal on her shirt from breakfast.
This was a royal wedding so the King instructed his servants to open the royal wardrobe and all of sudden there was Farmer Bob wearing a $1500 Armani suit and spaghetti mom wearing a $2000 Christian Dior formal gown. Even her kids were garbed in regal wear as they tore around the hall.
Who are these folks? They are believers. They are those people who receive the gifts of Christ in faith. They believe that the Kingdom is Christ and His becoming One with humanity – the wedding of God and flesh in the person of Jesus Christ, in His death for the sins of every Adam and Eve to ever live, in His resurrection to restore life to His bride. Who are these guests? They are the poor and miserable sinners who gladly receive with joy whatever the Lord gives them – the waters of baptism, the preaching of His Word, the feasting of His Supper. They wear the royal garb of Christ – not counting their works, but being covered by His life and death. They are in because He invited them. They eat of His food, drink of His wine, and rejoice that the Father of the Son would give all of this to them simply because He loves people to celebrate His Son’s wedding and He wants a full wedding hall.
The King is overjoyed at all those who are in. The angels in heaven rejoice over one sinner who repents, so imagine the celebration when the room is full. But then the King spies that one guest who looks like a toad among the princes. It’s Farmer Bob’s brother, Farmer Bill, except he didn’t take the opportunity to clean up. He refused the Armani suit and came in wearing his Carhardt overalls and barn boots fresh (and I do mean fresh) from the hog barn. There he was sitting as pleasant as you please surrounded by beggars made rich and hungry made full and sorrowful made joyous. And he stood out because he looked just like he did when he came in the hall.
Who is that guest? Well, he could be a couple of different people who find themselves in the wedding hall, but not of the wedding.
First Farmer Bill might be the man who believes he actually deserves to be at the wedding. He might know those first guests who turned down the King – those phony friends who appeared outwardly loyal to the Kingdom, but inwardly served themselves. Who is this man in bib overalls and barn boots? He is the man who would try to enter the wedding banquet by his own merit and worth. He is the man who thinks God’s favor can be won by works, who believes he is better than the average member of his local congregation. He might even believe he is so good he doesn’t need to go to church. This man refuses Christ, refuses to hear the Word of God, and sees no need to receive forgiveness at the feast of Christ’s body and blood. He would come into the wedding hall with his own works, not knowing that our works smell about as pleasant as Farmer Bill’s bibs and boots after a long day in the barn. We might say this is the man who comes without being clothed in faith – faith which confesses his sin and faith which receives the covering of Christ’s forgiveness.
Or that filthy guest might be the man who refuses to change, who is glad to be in the wedding and enjoy the gifts, but refuses to be changed by Christ. This is the man who presumes upon God grace and says, “God forgives me! Great!! I’ll take his forgiveness, but I don’t want to be freed from my sin. No way. I want to continue in it. I have no intention whatsoever of struggling against sin. I like the way I am just fine, thank you very much. God accepts me, after all, just the way I am and I intend to stay that way!” This man loves the stink of his own sins. Do you see what he is not wearing? He’s not wearing repentance. He is in the wedding, but not of the wedding – for Christ did not set us free that we would remain enslaved to our passions. He did not cleanse our souls that we might continue to soil them with sin. We were not forgiven so that we could go on sinning. (Paragraph italics from Pastor Will Weedon sermon).
In the end Farmer Bill is thrown out. The stench of his work’s righteousness or unrepentance has no place in the Kingdom of heaven.
There are three sorts of guests in this parable. Guests who refused the wedding because they had more important matters to attend to. Poor and weak guests who received everything this foolish King served them. And finally a guest who wanted in on his own terms, but would not partake of the King’s gifts. It matters not which type of guest you were or are. For the King’s invitation still stands. The wedding hall is not yet full. His men are still calling – He calls you now to believe that your sins are many and great. He calls you to be robed with Christ in the waters of baptism, cleansed in the word of absolution and filled full with Christ in His Holy Supper. He calls you to believe with certainty that His mercy, forgiveness, and life are greater than your poverty, sin, and death. He would not only have you in the wedding, but of the wedding. In the name of Jesus. Amen.
Pr. Bruce Timm
11 October 2014 anno Domini