20th Sunday after Trinity + Matthew 22:1-14 + October 14, 2018

In the Name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

Christ compares the kingdom of heaven to a king who has prepared a marriage for his son. When everything is prepared, he sends his servants to call those who had been invited to the feast. It should have been a joyous occasion for the king’s subjects. But “they were not willing to come.” The people despise the king and this wedding so they simply refuse the invitation. The king shows patience and mercy by sending out other servants. They are to tell those invited about the benefits of the wedding. “See, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and fattened cattle are killed, and all things are ready.” Many made light of this message and went their way. They had better things to do. One goes to his farm. Another goes off to his business. This first group is apathetic toward the wedding. They could care less. The rest though, they go much further than simply despising the king and His gracious invitation. They hate the king, his son, and the wedding. Their hatred drives them to seize the king’s servants, treat them spitefully and violently, and eventually kill them. Since they rejected the servants the king had send bearing good news, they will be destroyed by armies the king sends in wrath.

To our ears it may seem as if the parable has taken an awful turn. It’s not uncommon for people to skip weddings because of work, business, or even leisure with little consequence. But this isn’t a regular wedding. These men are being invited into the kingdom of heaven with all its blessings. This happens now just in the days of Christ. It happens each day under the Last Day. God the Father, the king, graciously invites all men into the kingdom of heaven. But as Paul asks in Romans 10:14, “How shall they hear without a preacher?” So God sends preachers as His servants to proclaim God’s gracious invitation to all who will listen. Through the preaching of the Gospel God invites men to repent of their sins and believe the promise that God forgives all their sins, not because of their works and merits, but for Christ’s sake. The Gospel preaches that Christ takes away the sins of the world by atoning for them, so that all who believe this have all Christ’s benefits: forgiveness of sins, justification, and an everlasting inheritance. But the first group prefers the things of this world. They prefer their sins, what St. John calls “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life” (1 John 2:16). So they judge themselves unworthy of everlasting life, choosing instead the fleeting pleasures of this life as their highest good.

This first group ignores the gospel invitation. The second group hates it. They hate the king. The hate his son. They hate the wedding. This happened throughout Scripture. Herod cuts off John the Baptist’s head. The Jews stone Stephen. They hound Paul from city to city stirring up strife so impede his preaching. We see many in our day who ignore the gospel invitation and go about their business, we also see that there are those who seize God’s servants, His preachers, treat them spitefully and in some instances, kill them. They despise preaching and preachers, taking every opportunity to put them down, tear down their ministry, deprive them of daily bread and run them from their pulpits. The react with vitriol because they do not think they need repentance. They imagine they’re righteous, good-hearted folks with whom God should be well-pleased. So they bristle at the Law when it tells them their righteousness is as beneficial as filthy rags and doesn’t earn them a thing before God. They bristle at the Gospel as well because they think they don’t need a savior because they have no sin. But they deceive themselves and the truth is not in them. So they reject the gospel invitation to repent of their sin and receive Christ’s righteousness. Their judgment isn’t idle. Rejecting the king’s servants who bear a message of everlasting life through faith in Christ, they will one day find the king’s armies coming upon them to destroy them.

The king, though, wants his wedding hall filled. He sends His servants into the world and they gather “both bad and good.” These are those who hear the Gospel and believe it. They enter into the wedding feast, which is the church, and enjoy the benefits of the Son’s wedding. But then we are confronted with the third group which rejects the king’s gracious invitation, represented by the man who is at the wedding feast without a wedding garment. This man represents hypocrites within Christ’s church. Externally they are present. Outwardly they hear the Word of God and do the things that God expects from His Christians. But they aren’t clothed with Christ’s righteousness because they don’t believe the Gospel from the heart. The wedding garment is the righteousness of Christ which is only obtained by faith. When a person believes the Gospel then he can say with the prophet Isaiah, “He has clothed me with the garments of salvation, He has covered me with the robe of righteousness (Isaiah 61:10). This man, this wedding crasher, is thrown into outer darkness, the place of weeping and regretful teeth gnashing. He is a warning for those who are in the church, who hear God’s Word, to remind us all to be careful that we hear God’s and mix that hearing with faith, so that we truly believe the gospel and take it to heart. Faith is accounted for righteousness, so true faith is how we receive the robe of Christ’s perfect righteousness.

We wear the wedding garment of Christ’s righteousness by faith, believing that He has taken our sins and we possess His righteousness. Because we put on Christ by faith as our garment, we will then put on Christ by a sanctified life. Paul tells us to “put off the old man with his deeds” and “put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him” (Colossians 3:9-10). Because you believe the gospel that you have a gracious and merciful God who takes away your sins, “put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts” (Romans 13:14). Strive against the sins that so easily entangle you. Put off the soiled garment of the sinful flesh by repenting of your sins each and every day, confessing them to God and asking forgiveness for the sake of Jesus’ innocent, bitter sufferings and death. Put on Christ so that you fight the desires of your flesh and mind in the knowledge that those sins are not Christ’s will for you, but that He wills your sanctification. Consider the fact that you are baptized, for “as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ” (Galatians 3:27). When temptation arises within you, extinguish the flames of lust by remember that in Baptism Christ has clothed you with Himself and gives you a way through every temptation. When you do fall into sin and soil your garments, remember His promise to never leave you nor forsake you and that He has promised to forgive all your sins when you return to Him. Return to the promises Christ made to you in your baptism, for that is how you wash you robe and make it white in the blood of the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

Many are called but few are chosen. The gospel goes out to everyone, for God earnestly desires that all men be saved through Christ, but not everyone will hear and trust Christ for their righteousness. Put on Christ as your garment each day by faith in the promises He makes to you in the Gospel. Because of that faith which believes the gospel, put on Christ by striving to lead a holy life. Put off the filthy garment of the sinful flesh and put on the new man in likeness of Christ.

In the Name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

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