“Come to the Feast”
We’ve been hearing a number of parables in these last several weeks, all from Matthew’s Gospel. Some of Jesus’ most treasured teaching is couched in these earthly stories with a heavenly meaning. They are word pictures drawn from fairly universal situations and experiences – but they draw us in to a deeper spiritual reality. Here again, today, with the Parable of the Wedding Feast, we have the same. Here again we see law and gospel, sin and grace. We see Jesus describing the invitation of the Gospel and how different people react. But behind it all is a gracious king who wants to provide for us and have us join him at the great celebration. So come with Jesus, today, to the Parable of the Wedding Feast.
As usual, the stories Jesus tells capture our imagination. The king throws a feast for his son's wedding. For any of us who’ve watched the British royal wedding ceremonies with all their pomp and pageantry, we already have a mental picture of what a big deal a royal wedding can be. If even average people pull out all the stops for their wedding celebrations, how much more a king for the marriage of his son, the prince?
He invites the guests, as any organizer of a great party would do. Perhaps they were the nobles and the wealth, the rich and the famous. The people you would expect at an occasion such as this. Nothing notable or unusual is mentioned about the invitees except for this: strangely, they won't come. They do not accept the royal invitation to the party of the century.
You'd think they would be honored. You'd think they would come quickly and joyfully to the feast – not just any wedding, but a royal wedding – an invitation from the king himself! But some ignore the invitation – we aren't told why. Then the king invites them again (remember how persistent the master of the vineyard was, too?), and the disrespect escalates -they find better things to do – tending the farm, minding the shop. Even more bizarre, some mistreat the servants bearing the invitation and even kill them. And this nonsensical response to the invitation draws us in to consider the deeper truth behind the earthly story.
Here the heavenly meaning is clear. God the Father, the king, sends invitations of grace and mercy, not to a literal wedding feast, but to faith in his Son. And here, Jesus summarizes the history of God's chosen people – who repeatedly ignored his grace and mercy, and even mistreated and killed the prophets. Soon their mistreatment of God's messengers would reach its apex as they put the very Son of God to death. They would even kill the Apostles, all of whom met violent death except for St. John. Though some believed him, indeed the apostles themselves were all Jews, on the whole God’s people rejected his Son. And unbelief only leads to death.
And so, the king would destroy them. Jesus predicts the destruction of ancient Jerusalem, which came to pass nearly 40 years later. In 70 A.D. The Roman general Titus sacked the city, and dispersed the Jews from their homeland. The very temple of God was destroyed. Jesus knew it would happen. He talks about it a lot in Matthew’s Gospel. It was the punishment of God upon a people who, as a whole, rejected his repeated calls to faith, and finally refused to hear the good news of his son. But it is a mere shadow of the final destruction in store for all who reject the Christ in this life – a foretaste of the condemnation and wrath to be revealed on the day of judgment.
Let all of this serve as a stern warning to any who would reject God’s grace in Jesus Christ. A warning against unbelief. A picture of the judgment day and the final end of the wicked.
So the king turns to others, inviting anyone and everyone to come to the feast. Here we have the invitation to the Gentiles. The Gospel is free and it is freely preached to all people – rich and poor, men and women, young and old, from all tribes and languages. And so we have seen the good news of Jesus Christ touch every corner of the world. Most of us have come to the kingdom only through this world-wide invitation, and thank God for that. For now we enjoy the blessings of his banquet, the lavish food of his feast. That our gracious God would invite and include us, you and me, shows just how merciful and kind he is to sinners.
And what about the wedding garment? Well, even today, it’s important to dress properly for a wedding. The groom and groomsmen wear a tux. The bride wears a white dress. And the bridesmaids wear something ugly to make the bride look good, right?
In ancient wedding custom, appropriate dress for such a high occasion included a special garment for all of the wedding-goers. This robe was customarily provided by the host. To reject it was to reject the host's generosity and favor, and would have been a social insult. So when the king finds a wedding guest without the proper garment – he is astonished. The man seemed to accept the invitation, but in reality didn't. So the king treats the man harshly who was found without proper attire. He had no excuse for his lack of wedding garment.
The garment reminds us of the robe of Christ's righteousness each of us has received in Holy Baptism. There he covers our sin with his grace and mercy, which keeps us our whole life through. When, at Christian funerals, the body of our loved one is brought here to God's house, a white pall – a garment – drapes the casket, to signify that robe of righteousness.
And we do well to receive this garment. For too often we are tempted to think our own clothes will do. But the filthy rags of our own good works do not make us presentable. Only what he provides will do. Only through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ are we made righteous and holy. Our own works are simply a response to his goodness, but they don't earn us a thing. Salvation is a free gift. The invitation of the king is without cost.
And what Lutheran could read a story of a great feast given by the king and not think of the Lord's Supper. For in this royal feast, he gives us all the same blessings – forgiveness of sins, life and salvation. We are worthy to receive such things only when clothed in faith, and especially faith in the promises of Christ, “this is my body- this is my blood.... given and shed for you for the forgiveness of your sins”.
The feast of the Lord's Supper is also a foretaste of the feast to come. It's not an accident that Revelation pictures the kingdom to come as a wedding celebration – the great consummation of the Lamb, Jesus Christ, and his bride, the church. When we gather at his table here, we gather with all the people of God from all times and places, and even those already gathered to him.... we join at table in a grand feast of celebration and receive his bountiful provision. What could be better?
In this parable which Jesus told during Holy Week, he compares the kingdom to a great wedding feast. And he warns of destruction and dishonor for all who reject the invitation and the king's provision. But for those who receive the gifts he gives, the King and his Son provide a royal banquet without end. Thank God that through his Son Jesus Christ we are invited to the feast. May we wear his robe of righteousness with thankfulness and celebrate with him eternally. And today, receive our foretaste of the feast to come, as we gather at his invitation.
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