7 October 2012 at Salem Lutheran Church, Gretna, LA
Text: Matt 22:1-14 (Isa 55:1-9, Eph 5:15-21)
In the name of +
Jesus. Amen.
Our Lord speaks in parables
for many reasons. One advantage of
parables is that they are open to different interpretations. There is a central message of every parable –
but the same parable can be applied to any time or place.
The Lord’s Parable of the
Wedding Feast is about those who are invited into the kingdom, but take that
kingdom for granted. The Lord patiently
repeats his invitation over and over. “Come,”
He pleads. The Lord even tolerates a
certain amount of stubbornness and even abuse.
And yet He continues to invite: “Come!”
But eventually, the Lord withdraws the offer and calls in other people
into the kingdom.
Of course, the Lord is
speaking of the Old Testament people of God, the children of Israel, and the
rejection of the Messiah by most of them.
When the Lord’s own dear people turn against Him, the Lord’s mercy is
directed to Gentiles, and the kingdom begins to be filled with them. He invites them to take the vacant pews:
“Come!”
That is certainly one
interpretation, and it is a correct interpretation. It’s also a comfortable interpretation for
us. But this parable was not recorded in
order to make us glad that we’re not Jews.
The Lord is warning us, dear friends.
For just as surely as first century Jews in the Roman Empire found other
things more important than the kingdom, so too do we twenty-first century
Lutherans in America. Perhaps even more
so.
For the Lord is still
throwing a banquet, a feast, a holy meal of thanksgiving – and that banquet is
offered in this place twice a week. The
Lord is still inviting His beloved people to come, to dine with Him, to receive
the gifts of forgiveness and life and salvation, to hear the Good News, to
pray, praise, and give thanks, “making melody to the Lord” with others who have
been called.
And yet, how few answer that
invitation. The Lord calls servants to
invite the guests again and again: pastors and elders and lay people, calling
us to come and dine, enjoy the Lord’s richness and mercy, “but they would not
come.”
He calls yet again and
again. He invites yet again and
again. He sets the table of the Holy
Altar yet again and again, week after week, month after month, year after year,
“but they would not come.” And again He
pleads: “Come to the wedding feast.” But
“they paid no attention and went off, one to his farm, another to his
business.” Instead of attending the
feast, the invitees work, they play, they find other more important uses of
their time. They teach their children
through their absence that the kingdom of God is unimportant, and that Jesus is
unimportant in our lives. Unimportant. They confess before the world that
Christianity is a hobby at best, certainly not anything of importance. “One to his farm, another to his business.”
And when the servants of the
Lord reissue the invitation, when the pastor or the elders or loving family
members call or write or visit, many respond angrily or defensively – as if
their willful and longstanding absence from the Lord’s Feast is no-one’s
business but their own. They may well
insult the one who loves them enough to re-invite them to the feast, “while the
rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them.” And here is where it becomes frightening,
dear friends, here is where we shudder for our beloved family members, friends,
and fellow Christians who continue to refuse to come to the feast: “The king
was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned
their city. Then he said to his
servants, ‘the wedding feast is ready, but those invited were not worthy.’”
Dear brothers and sisters,
please hear these words: the Lord is “gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and
abounding in steadfast love.” But the
Lord is also just, and when His mercy is rejected and spurned, He will not
force Himself on anyone. He called Noah
to build an ark and called Noah to invite the people to be saved from
destruction. But when they would not
answer the invitation, when they would not come, God Himself closed the ark and
sent the cleansing flood. Their foolish
pride was drowned with all life, except for the eight souls who responded when
the Lord said, “Come.”
Our Lord’s parable is a
warning, dear friends. It is a warning
for us to be diligent in our continuous and ongoing battle with our own sinful
flesh and with the devil. It is a
warning that we must plead with our family members, our fellow parishioners,
and others who continue to spurn the Lord’s invitation, to come back! Come to the feast! Come without defensiveness or excuse. Just come!
Come and taste the Lord’s goodness and feast on His mercy!
“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.”
This invitation is a common
thread running through the Bible: “Come,” cries the prophet Isaiah, “Come,
everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy
and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without
money and without price.”
For indeed, “Why do you spend
your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not
satisfy? Listen diligently to Me, and
eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food…. Come to Me, that your
soul may live.”
“Come to Me,” says the Lord,
“that your soul may live.”
Those who reject the
invitation, those who find farm and business, hobby and entertainment more
important than the Lord’s Supper, are killing themselves spiritually, cell by
cell, poisoning themselves with “that which does not satisfy.”
Dear friends, “come!” Come one and all, “both bad and good,” come
back to the feast! Bring your brothers
and sisters, your friends and relatives who have forgotten just how sweet the
Good News of Jesus Christ is, just how satisfying the Feast is, how glorious is
the Lord’s Word and forgiveness.
Hear anew St. Paul’s
invitation: “Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise,
making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish… understand what
the will of the Lord is…. Be filled with
the Spirit.” Sing “psalms and hymns and
spiritual songs and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks
always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.”
Just come. And when you are tempted to stay away, when
Satan gets the best of you and convinces you not to come, that is when the
invitation is all the more important.
Don’t wait for the door to
close – whether it is the door of the Ark, the door of the church building, or
the door of your coffin. Now is the day
of salvation! Come! “Seek the Lord while He may be found,” says
the holy prophet. “Call upon Him while
He is near.” Come!
“Come to the wedding feast!”
Among the last words spoken
to us by the Lord Jesus Christ in the last book of the Bible, the final
revelation to us before His return, the Lord Jesus re-issues the invitation in
this age of grace, in the time of this window of opportunity, these final days
in which the door is unbolted and open: “The Spirit and the Bride say,
‘Come.’ And let the one who hears say,
‘Come.’ And let the one who is thirsty
come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price.”
And “He who testifies to
these things says, ‘Surely I am coming soon.’
Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!”
In the name and by the
authority of the One who is coming, who has called me to call you, I say to you
again, “Come.” “Come to the wedding
feast.” Come week after week. Come and hear the good news. Come and feast on Him who is coming
soon. Come to the table where the
sacrificial Lamb is served. Come to Him
who pleads with you to come. Come,
“return to the Lord… for He will abundantly pardon.” Come!
Amen.
In the name of the Father
and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
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