Sermon - Pentecost 20 - Matthew 22:1-14

Today we have 2 parables in one, or at least one parable with two chapters or two episodes. 

Both concern the wedding feast the Father throws for his Son.  

The first section, about the invitation that is rejected, is very similar to last week's parable of the wicked tenants.  The point is much the same – that the people of Israel, and especially their leaders: the Scribes and Pharisees – were invited to faith in Christ, to a share in his kingdom, to "join the party" so to speak.  And yet they rejected him.   

He takes great pains to prepare the feast.  And it is a rich feast, like the one God describes in Isaiah 25.  The oxen and fattened calves are slaughtered.  This is a special occasion!  A rich feast. 

And he shows great patience in sending his servants with the invitation, on more than one occasion.  But to no avail. 

Some simply ignore the invite.  They've got better things to do.  The farm, the business.  Today it's much the same with those who are invited by the Gospel.  People have better things to do.  Catch up on sleep.  Follow the sports team.  Go glamping.  Whatever.  Anything other than the one thing needful of receiving the gifts of God he has so thoroughly prepared.  Anything but join the other forgiven sinners at table with Christ.  Like a spam phone call, or the junk mail fliers we throw out every day.  Some would treat the gospel of Jesus Christ the same. 

And then there are others who are openly hostile to the invitation.  They mistreat and even kill the messengers.  Of course the ancient Jews did that to the prophets – mistreated and sometimes killed them.  Isaiah, tradition holds, was sawn in half by wicked king Manasseh.  Hebrews 11 makes an oblique reference to it.  And so many others died a martyrs death for speaking the word of God to the scoffers and enemies of the Gospel. 

And remember, in this section of Matthew, it's Holy Week.  The Jews and the Romans would soon conspire to do the same to Jesus – sending him to die on the cross.  There is no more pointed rejection of the Gospel than that! 

Today, too, some are openly hostile to the Gospel.  Some mistreat the messengers God sends to preach it.  And yes, even some Christians are still being martyred for their witness to Christ.  Let the church pray for those brothers and sisters to bear up under such persecution, and pray also that we would have courage of faith if and when our own time of persecution comes. 

Like the wicked tenants of the vineyard who were punished for their wickedness, those who despised the king's gracious invitation and murdered his messengers – well, they meet their doom.  The king sends his troops and destroys their city, just as Jerusalem itself would be destroyed by the Romans within 40 years of Jesus' death.  Such is the fate of all who despise the king and spurn his invitation, who reject the Gospel and the King's Son who died to save them.  Save us from this, dear Lord! 

And so he does.  The King wants party-goers.  Episode two.  The wedding feast must go on!  So the king sends servants to call others, to invite anyone and everyone to the feast.  Good or bad, rich or poor.  He is indiscriminate in his invitation, because the Gospel of Jesus Christ is for all people.  The gentiles, yes, even the gentiles are included, incorporated, embraced in the call of the gospel.  All nations are called to discipleship.  All people and people groups are invited to marriage feast.  And that means, dear friend, you, too.  But there's a snag. 

When the king comes to join the party, everything seems to be in order, everyone's having a good time.  The food is served and the drinks are flowing.  And everyone looks great, dressed up in wedding attire, fit for the occasion.  Except that one guy.  He must have stuck out like a sore thumb.  No wedding attire for him, but his own shabby, filthy rags.  "Tie him up and cast him out!  There's no room for this bum at the party!" 

What?  I thought the good, the bad, and the ugly were all invited?  Why now is the king getting picky about his party goers?  Here's why: 

At ancient weddings like this, if you couldn't afford the proper attire for the occasion, the host of the party would provide it.  So the king must have done for all the attendees.  So would he have done, we can only assume, also for this interloper, this scoundrel.  But by refusing the king's provided garment, he insulted the host. I don't want your gift.  I don't need your provision. He made a mockery of the whole event.  And so the king acted accordingly. 

The theological point is plain:  If you want to be a part of God's kingdom, his church, the wedding feast of his Son – don't expect to do so on your own merits, with your own works, in your own attire.  That's filthy rags.  That's an insult to the king.  That makes a mockery of his grace.  And that sort of thing leads to being cast out into the darkness, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. 

But rather, receive the gift of Christ's robe of righteousness, given you in your baptism.  Be covered and attired in the white robes, washed in the blood of Christ.  Be cleansed by him, that you may be presented to him, part of his bride the church, holy and blameless. And so, dear Christian, you are. 

For the King's son has come, and the wedding has gone off as planned.  Christ's death on the cross for the sins of the world establishes it.  The blood and water from his pierced side remind us of the Sacraments, by which he establishes his church, so that just as the first bride, Eve, was taken from Adam's side, so is the Church, the bride of Christ, born of water and the word and sustained by his body and blood. 

What a joy this day that the king's invitation has come even to us.  May we always pay heed to the gospel!   

And what a joy this day that he covers us in Christ, making us ready for the feast!  Live always in your baptism.   

And what a joy this day that he invites you to his table, even now, for a foretaste of the feast to come, in the body and blood of his Son, for the forgiveness of your sins.  May we never stray far from his table, until that day when we recline at table for the marriage feast of the lamb in his kingdom which has no end! 

Come to the feast! For everything is ready.   

Sermon - Pentecost 19 - Matthew 21:33-46

It is Tuesday of Holy Week, and Jesus knows exactly what is coming.  He knows that in a few days, the Jews will arrest him, hand him over to the Romans, and that he will suffer, be crucified, and he will die.  It is the culmination of his work.  It is his mission and his goal.  But he still mourns the loss of those who reject his steadfast love. 

He tells a parable.  And it's most certainly a re-working of the Song of the Vineyard from Isaiah 5. A man planted a vineyard.  And he went to quite a bit of trouble to do so.  First there are the grape vines themselves, planted carefully in the soil.  We assume he had to procure the land first to do even this much.   

He puts a fence around the vineyard, to protect his precious grapes and grapevines.  We don't want the wild animals or some other invader getting in there.   

Then he digs a winepress in it, the place where the grapes will be processed.  Digging is work.  This is no light chore.  

Finally, for more protection, he builds a watchtower for the whole compound.  Because, it seems, enemies abound.  And this way you can see them coming from afar, and prepare your defenses.  It's a vineyard but also kind of a compound, a fortified outpost. 

Every detail shows another aspect of the man's great care and preparation for this vineyard.  He spared no expense, took great effort, and did everything just right.   

You'd think he would get busy growing grapes and making wine.  And perhaps surprisingly, he then leases out the vineyard to some tenants, and goes far away.  They are the beneficiaries, in a way, of all his hard work and preparation.  You'd think they'd be grateful.  You'd think they would at least pay the rent. 

But when the time finally comes and the master wants some of the fruits, they treat his messengers progressively worse and worse.  Finally, he sends his son, and they do not respect him either, but kill him and try to steal the vineyard for themselves.  Wicked tenants indeed.  You can see why the owner of the vineyard comes, he gives them what they deserve: death.  And he lets out the vineyard to others. 

The Lord God, Yahweh, took great pains with his people.  For hundreds, really thousands of years, he prepared for this moment.  He called Abraham, and made him fruitful and multiplied his descendants.  Be blessed Jacob and his children, protecting them from famine in Egypt, and grew them into a nation while they were there.  He saved them from slavery in Egypt in dramatic fashion.  Sent the plagues.  Parted the sea.  Gave them his law.  Established his presence among them.  Fed them the whole time with daily bread, and water from a rock.  Drove out their enemies before them.  Destroyed the walls of Jericho.  Gave them the whole promised land.  Delivered them, time and again, sending judges and kings and to lead them.  He sent prophets to call them to repentance, sometimes to no avail, sometimes to the death of the prophet. But as often as they strayed his steadfast love never gave up.  Even through the times of discipline, even in their exile, he remained faithful.  For he had made a promise.   

A Messiah was to come.  A seed of the woman, to crush the serpent.  An offspring of Abraham, to bless all nations.  A Son of David, to rule on his father's throne.  The prophets foretold him – a suffering servant, to be born of a virgin, in Bethlehem.   

And then, when the time was right, God sent forth his Son.  He prepared for him a faithful family.  He protected him from Old Herod.  He saw that Jesus grew in wisdom and stature.  When the time was right, he was baptized and began his ministry of preaching and healing.  He did all things well.  He kept the law perfectly.  He loved people steadfastly.  And he never wavered from his mission.  He set his face toward Jerusalem and took great pains to obey his Father even unto death, even death upon a cross.  He did everything necessary to prepare salvation for you, his people.  That you might live and thrive in his vineyard. 

And God has steadfastly taken pains with you, his dear child.  Your stories are all different, but they are much the same.  He has given you a body and soul, eyes, ears and all you members, and still takes care of them.  He gives you clothing and shoes, house and home, all that you have.  Daily bread.  And more.   In him you were baptized and in his word you have been instructed by faithful parents and pastors and teachers.  He feeds you along the way with a holy meal that strengthens and sustains you.  He forgives your sins and shows steadfast love even to you, along with a thousand generations of those who love him, of those for whom his Son has died. 

Sadly, some rejected him.  Along the way they rejected his messengers, his prophets.  After Jesus came many rejected his apostles and evangelists.  Some today continue to reject the pastors and preachers of his word.  For the ancient Jews it meant destruction, and for anyone who persists in unbelief it ultimately means the same.  The grapes of wrath will be revealed at the final harvest. The rejecters of the cornerstone are themselves finally crushed. 

Some will always reject the steadfast love of the Father, shown in the dying and undying love of the Son. And yet somehow, through the rejection, salvation comes nonetheless to those who believe.  The Stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.  The Son that the pharisees and scribes rejected, and killed, has risen from the dead.  And by his rejection, we are accepted.  By his death and resurrection, we too die to sin and rise to new life.  His steadfast love endures forever, even death cannot stop it or even hope to contain it. 

Sadly, sometimes we also reject his steadfast love.  Sometimes we have better things to do than to receive his gifts.  We have better ways to try and produce fruit in other vineyards than the one he has established.  Like Paul listed all his credentials as a zealous Jew, righteous and blameless under the law – or so he thought.  But the steadfast love of Christ opened his blind eyes to see that all of that is rubbish. He counts it all as loss, compared to the surpassing worth of knowing Christ.  And so should we. 

The vineyard is ours.  The steadfast Lord has given us all good things, richly and daily, blessings physical and spiritual, human and divine.  He has sent us his Son.  And he feeds us and protects us and even forgives our wicked rejection of his love, ever calling us to repentance and faith.  Always hiring us again for fruitful labor in his vineyard.  So live and thrive in his vineyard always, giving his Son the fruits he's looking for – repentance and faith, and the good works that follow.  In Jesus' name.