The Invitation

Twenty Second Sunday in Pentecost, October 12, 2008

Pastor Brian Henderson-Trinity Lutheran Church. San Diego, CA

INTRODUCTION: Our Gospel lesson this morning is another parable that comes to us in a string of parables Jesus used to teach about the kingdom of heaven. In each story, his audience was forced to find themselves in one of the characters (usually the one that pridefully rejected God’s kingdom and His Messiah). In our reading this morning Jesus says that the kingdom of heaven can be compared to a king who threw a wedding party and then told his servants to go out into the streets and invite anyone they could find so that they could celebrate with the king. It’s a wonderful story that illustrates how badly God wants everyone to turn to Him, on His terms and enter into a relationship of love and trust. It is a story that invites us all to be friends with God, children of God through Jesus Christ…but..there is tragedy in this story too! Sadly, Jesus story teaches us that many will reject God’s invitation.

I. There are three classes of persons who reject God’s Invitation.

A. Those who are too busy. In Jesus day, people were much the same as our day. There were businesses to run, farms to tend, jobs to report to, and families to raise, so many of his listeners would have identified with those who were just too busy to attend the kings banquet. But this was not just any banquet; no this was a banquet that would honor the Son of the King and His bride. Do they dare turn down the king’s invitation? Yes, because there just wasn’t time.

B. Then there are those who are offended and angered by the invitation because it represented their lack of authority; these people represented the religious establishment of Jesus day. In the story, it made no sense for these people to get angry and abuse, even kill the servants that thought they were bringing “good news”. But that is exactly what they did, and that is precisely what Jesus was telling the religious leaders that they were doing and would soon do by persecuting, punishing, and even killing his disciples.

C. Finally, there are those who respond to the invitation in a self-serving manner. “But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment. And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless.” [Matt. 22:11-12] And he was speechless! What a sad state of mind to be in when approached by the King! He knew the rules, one simple rule actually… “In order to sit at my table, you must wear the attire that I provide. Friend, you chose to come into my presence on your own terms, and because of that you have rejected my hospitality and a chance to enter into a friendship with me.” The man couldn’t argue, because the king was right. The king is always right, because you see the king in Jesus’ story represents God the Father. And the son of the King is none other than Jesus Himself. And the feast well, that’s a little different, because you see; it represents a couple of things.

First, it represent the great feast that will be held on our Lord’s return, on the Last Day, but it is also speaking about the great feast of eternal life that God has lovingly provided for us right now, here in this church; a feast that we call the Divine Worship. At this feast we gather as one body to hear the life-giving words of Jesus; we gather to be baptized and to remember our baptism; we gather to not just confess our sins to our Lord, but to hear His sweet words of forgiveness…the absolution…the obliteration of those sins; and finally, we gather to feast upon the sacrament of our Lord’s Body and Blood, which is served to us upon the banquet table of His altar. But as the words of our liturgy say, this is a “foretaste of the feast to come.” But this feast of God’s Word and Sacrament is a REAL heavenly feast nonetheless, for as John the Baptist and even our Epistle reading this morning states, “The (kingdom of the) Lord is at hand.” But what kind of feast is this Divine Worship? What does our Lord say? "Man does not live by bread alone, but by every Word that comes from the mouth of God" (Matthew 4:4) and again He says, "I am the bread of life; unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life and I will raise him up on the last day" (John 6:35, 53-54). Yes friends, the kingdom of heaven has come to us and it is continually coming to us through the real presence of Jesus Christ, through His Word and Sacraments.

II. The Garment. Now what do we make of this special garment that Jesus spoke of in the story?

A. First, we find that it had to be supplied by the king. I’m sure that the man in the story chose to wear his finest suit of clothes. He probably paid a lot of money for that suit. It represented his hard work and probably his style. What’s the sense of having good things if you can’t use them, right? I’ll bet the king will be impressed!

Wrong, at least not in Jesus story, because you see the clothes that the man insisted of wearing represented his own way; it represented a works righteousness that God will always reject. The prophet Zephaniah spoke of this strange garment, which was foreign to God in this way, “Be silent before the Lord GOD! For the day of the LORD is near; the LORD has prepared a sacrifice and consecrated his guests. And on the day of the LORD’s sacrifice— “I will punish the officials and the king’s sons and all who array themselves in foreign attire.”” Friends, there is only one attire that is not foreign to God and if we want to understand what this garment is, then we need look no farther than the baptismal font.

B. It was at the font of life giving water where the command went out to all of God’s servants to seek out anyone they found and call them to the feast of victory, the feast of salvation for our God, Jesus Christ. It was there at the baptismal font that your King plucked you out of your life of sin and death and washed you white as snow in the blood of the lamb, the blood of His Son, your Savior. It was there at the font where the general invitation to anyone found became a special invitation of love for you. It was there at the baptismal font that Your King gave you your own very special garment of salvation. St. Paul puts it this way, “for as many of you who were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” [Gal. 3:27] You have been clothed in Christ! This is the same garment that Isaiah mentions when he says, “I will greatly rejoice in the LORD; my soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.”

C. What happened to the man in Jesus story who wouldn’t wear the right garment? Well, this man and all of the others did not fare well. Jesus Words are clear, “Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” [v. 13] Friends there can be no doubt that this man’s punishment was eternal separation from God! Because when he chose to reject God’s robe of righteousness, he also chose to reject God’s invitation for salvation. ILLUS: If you were told that you must enter an area that was contaminated with disease and sickness, but you would be in no danger if you wore a special biological suit and respirator, would you reject that personal protective equipment and go in as you choose, or would quickly put it on, wear it properly and be thankful that someone was looking out for you?

III. Friends, we must learn to use our baptism in the same way! In our baptism, God has clothed us with Christ’s holy, perfect nature; He has clothed us with Christ! He has given us Christ’s protective suit if you will, to wear in our baptism. If we will simply approach our own baptisms as a gift of love from God, and if we will just cling to it and allow it to save us, comfort us, and change us, we need never fear being thrown out of God’s presence where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth! But aren’t there times that we too have rejected God’s invitation by neglecting to wear our garment of faith in Christ? Haven’t we allowed God to take second place, even third or fourth place in our lives? Yes, we have, if we are honest with ourselves…but the invitation still stands for us to repent and return to God’s love and forgiveness, for remember this is but a foretaste of the feast to come. The final feast will be when our Lord returns or when we go to him after our last day on this earth, and then it will be too late to put on Christ. Until then, we gather at houses of worship, we gather here at Trinity, and we cry out to God, “create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from Thy presence and take not Thy Holy Spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation and uphold me with Thy free spirit.” [Psalm 51] Oh how sincerely those words pour out of a heart that realizes it has been living without being clothed in Christ! How earnest, is the cry of a heart that knows it needs forgiveness because of sinful living! Restore unto me the joy of Your salvation O, God.

Dear friends, this Wedding Feast we call the Divine Service has one purpose, and that is to re-clothe us in Christ and to restore our joy and confidence in the truth that God still loves us and He has forgiven us! God has ordained worship so that it will strengthen your faith. Dear friends, Jesus delights to answer the prayer of a repentant heart. He would never cast you out into the darkness. He hears your sorrowful cries and He answers you with mercy. He answers with His forgiveness and salvation. He answers us by clothing us in His righteousness. Friends, when you leave here this morning, once again restored with joy, let this be your confidence that God will never leave or forsake you in a place where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth, so long as you are wearing His heavenly attire; so long as you are living out your faith in Jesus Christ, because God is working in your life, and because of His work, you are righteous, innocent, and blessed forever because you are wearing His wedding garment.

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit…AMEN!