All Saints Day – 1 November 2020 – Year A

Grace to you and peace from God our father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen

 

The text for meditation is written in the 3^rd Chapter of the Epistle of 1 John: Verses

 1 – 3:

 

See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. ² Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is. ³ And all who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.

 

 

Last night (31 Oct 20) was “All Hallows Eve”: This was originally the traditional pagan Celtic festival of Sow-win, when people would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off ghosts. In the eighth century, Pope Gregory III designated November 1 as a time to honour all saints. Soon, All Saints Day incorporated some of the traditions of Sow-win. The evening before was known as All Hallows Eve, and later Halloween. Over time, Halloween evolved into a day of activities like trick-or-treating, carving lanterns out of pumpkins, festive gatherings, donning costumes and eating treats.

 

Halloween was not really an Australian thing, it’s only in the past couple of generations that commercial marketing has filled the shops with everything Halloween. Children – young and not so young – love to dress up in costume and come to our doors trick-or-treating. Properly supervised it’s harmless fun, and it is always a joy to watch children enjoying themselves, especially when it requires effort and imagination and no electronic devices or computers.  

 

In regard to children, may I tell you of a wonderful story of a husband and wife who have no children of their own, and for a number of years have been seeking to adopt a child. For anyone who has been in this situation, you know it can be an achingly slow process. This couple submitted all the required paperwork, went through all the interviews, accomplished everything that needed to be done, and then waited and waited and waited. They hadn’t heard anything for so long they had almost forgotten about it. And then out of the blue, the phone call came from the adoption agency just recently in mid-October. A little boy born only one week earlier was waiting for them, and he is now their own son through adoption. They joyfully had him baptised one week after adoption, and now this child is not only their son, but is also adopted into the family of believers through the waters of holy Baptism.

 

Today on this All Saints Sunday we focus on the truth that we also have been adopted into a family. The words from the Epistle lesson for today tell us this: ” ^{(1 John 3:1)} “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.” To be called “children of God” really means something; it means that we have been adopted by God. Through the cleansing blood of Jesus, we have been brought into a living relationship with God and know him as our loving Father and He knows us as his beloved children. Today we celebrate this truth, together with all the saints, who like us have been brought into the family of believers. You see the true message for this Festival of All Saints is about  the “Children of God”; and that is for all time; children who are, who were and will be, living on this earth. Today our thoughts and prayers extend beyond what we know and see here on earth, today, ‘All Saints Day”, we celebrate the eternal blessings of being a loved family member through the death, resurrection and eternal grace of our Lord and saviour Jesus Christ.  

 

It is precisely because God has declared us to be his own beloved children that we are saints, though we probably do not consider ourselves as such. We often operate with the understanding that saints are larger than life individuals; super-human people who have super-human faith and do super-human things in faith. We see saints as perfect, sinless – without fault. We do not measure up to this, but in truth no one does. We get that we are sinners, but we don’t get that we are saints. In his letters to churches in the New Testament, Paul frequently begins by writing: “To all those in Rome/Corinth/Ephesus who are loved by God and called to be saints”. This is the Biblical truth of what saints are: children of God who are called out of darkness into God’s own marvellous light, who are set apart through faith in Christ Jesus for God’s good purposes in the world. Saints do not merit, deserve, or earn any of this; rather, it is freely given as a gift through God’s grace and received by faith in Jesus. Saints are not self-made people, but Christ-made people. You and I are saints, and so are all who trust in Jesus, those on earth among us here and now, together with those in heaven who have died trusting in Jesus. Together in Christ, we are all the saints, all the children of God.

 

Today’s Scripture lessons point out the present and the future of God’s children, his saints. John writes in the Epistle lesson: ^{(1 John 3:2a)} “Beloved, we are God’s children now…”. This is a present reality, whether we feel like it is or not. God our Maker and Redeemer tells us it is so, and we must not be deceived by what our conflicting thoughts or emotions may tell us. In the Gospel lesson, the Lord Jesus pronounces as “blessed” all of his children who are now poor in spirit, who mourn, the meek and those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, and those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake all for Jesus’ sake. Present discomforts may trouble us, but Jesus promises that they will give way to a future that is far beyond anything we can imagine. John goes on to say in that Epistle lesson, ^{(1 John 3:2b)} “… what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is”. And this is what is described in that First Reading from Revelation. All those clothed in white robes, washed and made clean in blood of the Lamb, ^{(Revelation 7:15-17)}“… they are before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes”. My friends and fellow saints, this is what awaits us as children of God. The best if yet to be.

 

The truth is, here on earth, saints get weary and discouraged. They struggle with sin every day and can feel beaten down in faith and life. And when we do, there is no better place for us to come than here to the Lord’s altar, for it is here in this blessed Sacrament that Jesus comes to strengthen, forgive, bless and encourage us. In place of our weariness and discouragement, he gives strength and new hope for our journey of faith. In place of our filthy rags of sin he gives us his own robe of righteousness to wear. And besides all this, in a wonderful and mysterious way we are united with that whole heavenly host here at the Lord’s table, even as our liturgy reminds us: “Therefore with angels and archangels and with all the company of heaven we laud and magnify Your glorious name, evermore praising You and saying…” And being refreshed and strengthened through Christ’s true Body and Blood given and shed for us, received under forms of bread and wine, we rise up and go back into the world to live as God’s saints, his beloved children who have been set apart for his own good purposes in the world. He calls us to shine with the brightness of his love wherever we go, whatever we do.

 

Truly, by God’s amazing grace, we are all saints. Truly, we are God’s beloved children. Let us now live as God’s beloved children that God may be glorified in us until Christ shall come again. Amen.

 

The love and peace of our Great Triune God that is beyond all human understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen

 

Pentecost 21 – 25 October 2020 – Year A

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen

The text for this meditation is written in the 22^nd Chapter of the Gospel according to  St Matthew: Verses 34 – 40:

Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together.³⁵ One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: ³⁶ “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

³⁷ Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ ³⁸ This is the first and greatest commandment. ³⁹ And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ ⁴⁰ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord and saviour Jesus Christ. Amen

The Pharisees were on a desperate mission. Over the past weeks we have seen them question Jesus’ authority to teach, which resulted in Jesus exposing their ill intent and hypocrisy with parables; then they tried to discredit Him with a question designed to trap Him. This did not go well for them; and now they are challenging the Son of God of matters of the Law by asking Him a fundamental question about the greatest commandment.

This question should be familiar to students of the Catechism as the basis for the two tables of the law – To ⁽¹⁾Love God – ⁽²⁾Love others.  Jesus tells us that the first and greatest commandment of the Law is to love God with all that we have.  “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.”  I really don’t know just what the Pharisees were expecting Jesus to say, as this is the heart of the great Hebrew creed known as the “Shma.”  Shma is Hebrew for hear or pay attention.

The Shma is as follows: ^{[Deuteronomy 6:-4-9] 4} “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. ⁵ You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.”  These words were some of the first words that faithful Israelites taught to their children.

It was as if Jesus was saying, “You all know the answer to this one.  You have known the answer since you were a child.  Love the Lord your God.”  

When we look at the Ten Commandments, we see that the first four - ^(1)“You shall have no other gods,” ⁽²⁾You shall not make graven images ⁽³⁾ “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God,” and ⁽⁴⁾“Remember the Sabbath Day,” are all ways that we love the Lord our God.  We use the Gospel for today to organise these commandments into the first table of the Law; that is the first four commandments which defines “Our relationship to God”. – A Vertical relationship between God and humankind.

You see there is an ultimate truth in the First Commandment that makes it the ‘greatest’ - If we kept the first commandment perfectly, we would automatically keep all the other commandments.  Conversely, we cannot break any other commandment without breaking this one first.  If we could truly love God perfectly, God wouldn’t need to tell us any of the other commandments - we would simply keep them all.  This is the first and greatest commandment.

Then Jesus went on to tell of the second great commandment.  This time He quoted from the last verse of ^{(Leviticus 19:18)} “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.”  At that time, Moses had just finished giving a list of ways that the Israelites could care for one another and he summed it up with these words about loving the neighbour.

In this scripture passage we also have a summary of the second table of the Law: ⁽⁵⁾ Honour your parents; ⁽⁶⁾ Do not murder; ⁽⁷⁾ Do not commit adultery; ⁽⁸⁾ Do not steal; ⁽⁹⁾ Do not bear false witness; ⁽¹⁰⁾ Do not covet anything of your neighbour’s:  all six remaining commandments.  All these are a summary of our relationship with those around us. – A Horizontal relationship under God between each other.

Jesus went on to say, “On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”   

Notice that, according to Jesus, these two statements about love are the foundation of the law – not the Gospel.  Even when we talk about loving Jesus, we are talking about the law.

How easy it is to say this law.  Love God with all your resources and love your neighbour as you love yourself.  This law is easy to say, but impossible to do.  The fact is that we often love ourselves with all our resources, love our neighbour when we will receive something in return and love God with our leftovers.  When we come before God, we must confess as we did earlier in the service, “We have not loved You with our whole heart and we have not loved our neighbour as ourselves.  We justly deserve your present and eternal punishment.”

But God does not punish us.  Instead, He shows the love to us that we should show to Him.  He shows us that [ἀγάπη] Agape love that is unconditional and has no barriers.  In this unconditional love, God sent His only begotten Son into the world to save us from our sins.  

This is the Christ who is both David’s Son and David’s Lord.  He is David’s Lord by virtue that of the fact that He is true God begotten of the Father from all eternity.  He is David’s Son by virtue of the fact that He is true man born of the Virgin Mary.  In the Christ, we have both God and man in one person.

This God-man, Jesus Christ, is the one and only man in all of history who loved with pure unconditional (Agape) love.  He fulfilled the law and loved God with all His heart and with all His soul and with all His mind.  He fulfilled the law and loved His neighbour as He loved Himself.  This is that love that kept Christ on the cross through all the suffering and the shame.  This is the love that Paul talked about when he wrote to the Romans and said, ^{[Romans 5:8]} “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Only one man in all of history ever loved with pure Agape love.  That man is the God-man, Jesus Christ.  Only He was able to fulfill the law of love and love God with all His heart and with all His soul and with all His mind.  Only He was able to start with the foundation of Agape love and build a life of perfect righteousness.

Now Jesus Christ makes that righteousness and that love available to us.  He makes them available to us because His love extended to the cross.  As His love for us kept Him on that cross, the holy wrath of God assaulted Him for our sins.  In His love, He sacrificed Himself in order to give us forgiveness, life, and salvation.

We know His sacrifice was perfect because His love was too powerful for death.  Jesus did not remain in the grave, but rose in triumph over sin, death, and the devil.

Now He transforms our sinfulness into His righteousness.  He changes our selfish lovelessness into His selfless love.  He pours His love into us even as He once poured forth His blood from the cross.  This is the Gospel – that God pours forth His love onto and into us.

The direction of the love is one way that the law differs from the Gospel.  When the direction of the love is from us to others, then we are talking law.  When the direction of the love is from God to us, then we are talking Gospel.  We often fail to love others.  God never fails to love us.

Even as God pours that love into us, He also pours that love through us.  God’s love reaches through us and touches our neighbour.  The Holy Spirit uses our everyday activities to love our neighbour.  Our job is no longer just a job.  Instead, it is a work that we do not only for our employer, but also for Jesus.  When we clothe and feed our family, it is not just our family that we feed and clothe, but also our Lord.  For on the Last Day, Jesus will say, ^{[Matthew 25:40]} “Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.”  The Holy Spirit can even use these everyday acts of love to bring the God News of salvation to the people we meet as we live out our lives in this world.

There was a time that each of us hated God as an enemy.  Now He fills us with His love and makes us His beloved children.  Once, we were not a people.  Now we are the people of God.  Once, we were the slaves of sin.  Now we are the free people of Heaven.  Once we were subject to God’s eternal judgment.  Now we are subject to God’s eternal love.  God’s love has conquered evil and made us His children forever.  Amen

The love and peace of our Great Triune God that is beyond all human understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen

 

Pentecost 20 – 18 October 20 – Year A

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen

The text for this meditation is written in the 22^nd Chapter of the Gospel according to St Matthew: Verses 15 - 33

Then the Pharisees went and plotted to entrap him in what he said. ¹⁶ So they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are sincere, and teach the way of God in accordance with truth, and show deference to no one; for you do not regard people with partiality. ¹⁷ Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?” ¹⁸ But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, “Why are you putting me to the test, you hypocrites? ¹⁹ Show me the coin used for the tax.” And they brought him a denarius. ²⁰ Then he said to them, “Whose head is this, and whose title?” ²¹ They answered, “The emperor’s.” Then he said to them, “Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” ²² When they heard this, they were amazed; and they left him and went away.

²³ The same day some Sadducees came to him, saying there is no resurrection; and they asked him a question, saying, ²⁴ “Teacher, Moses said, ‘If a man dies childless, his brother shall marry the widow, and raise up children for his brother.’ ²⁵ Now there were seven brothers among us; the first married, and died childless, leaving the widow to his brother. ²⁶ The second did the same, so also the third, down to the seventh. ²⁷ Last of all, the woman herself died. ²⁸ In the resurrection, then, whose wife of the seven will she be? For all of them had married her.”

²⁹ Jesus answered them, “You are wrong, because you know neither the scriptures nor the power of God. ³⁰ For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. ³¹ And as for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was said to you by God, ³² ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is God not of the dead, but of the living.” ³³ And when the crowd heard it, they were astounded at his teaching.

(Note: Sermon focus is on Matthew 22: 15-22):

Today’s Gospel is a continuation of the teachings of Jesus a few days before He died on the cross for our sins.  So far, we have heard the high priests and elders challenge Jesus’ authority.  When their challenge failed, Jesus began teaching in parables.  Many of the parables exposed the corruption and hypocrisy among the religious leaders of that day.  He was damaging their reputation … exposing their hypocrisy.  Rather than repent and amend their sinful ways, they decided that they had to publicly humiliate Jesus,  undermine His credibility, regain the upper hand.  Today, we heard that the Pharisees sent a delegation to do just that.

 

The delegation was a strange mixture of two opposing viewpoints. ^{(Matthew 22:15–16)  “}Then the Pharisees went and plotted how to entangle him in his words. ¹⁶And they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians”, … In order to understand how strange this delegation is, we need to review a few cultural details.  The reading mentions the Herodians.  Herodians were politically motivated Jews who supported the Herod family as rulers over Israel. Jews who despised the Pharisees!  The three main Herod rulers ( Herod the Great, Herod Archelaus, and Herod Antipas), were puppet kings of the Roman empire.  They were not Jewish.  They were Gentiles.  Since the Herodians were big fans of the Herod family, they were also big fans of Roman rule.  After all, it was the Romans who kept the Herod’s in power.

 

Then there were the Pharisees.  We’ve met them before.  One of the things we know about the Pharisees is that they tried very hard to keep the law of Moses.  Well, the law of Moses said, ^{(Deuteronomy 17:15)} “You may indeed set a king over you whom the Lord your God will choose. One from among your brothers you shall set as king over you. You may not put a foreigner over you, who is not your brother.” Herod’s rule was in direct contradiction to this passage in Deuteronomy.

 

Ordinarily the Pharisees and the Herodians were enemies.  That is the reason that the delegation who came to Jesus that day was so strange.  The fact that these two groups worked together to attack Jesus tells you something about how much they both hated Jesus.

 

So we’ve got two groups of people who are planning to entangle Jesus in His words.  The disciples of the Pharisees and the Herodians came to Jesus saying, ^{(Matthew 22:16–17)}  “Teacher, we know that you are true and teach the way of God truthfully, and you do not care about anyone’s opinion, for you are not swayed by appearances. ¹⁷Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?” The strategy is obvious.  First you compliment a person to give him a false sense of security.  Then you hit him with a “got-cha’” question.

 

The question was designed to put Jesus between a rock and a hard place.  Remember that they are in the temple surrounded by Passover pilgrims.  Many of those Passover pilgrims hate the Roman occupation.  If Jesus answered, “Yes, it is lawful to pay tax,” then the people who hated the Roman occupation would hate Him too.  If He answered no, then the Herodians would report Him to the Romans and get Him arrested.  If He did not answer, then the crowd would label Him as a coward.  The Herodians and the Pharisees thought they had Jesus in a no-win situation.

 

In the study of logic they teach that there is a false dichotomy in this question.  A false dichotomy presumes that a question asked has only two possible answers. The false presumption does not take into account that there may be more possibilities.  The disciples of the Pharisees tried to convince Jesus that there were only two answers: “Yes, it is lawful to pay taxes to Caesar,” or “No, it is not.”  They didn’t think that Jesus could come up with any other answers.  They thought they had Jesus trapped.

 

Jesus, aware of their malice, said, ^{(Matthew 22:18)} “Why put me to the test, you hypocrites? Jesus saw through their plan immediately.  It was obvious that they were trying to trap Him.  Everyone who heard the question knew that they were trying to trap Jesus, but Jesus could look at their heart and see the malice they had toward Him.

 

Although it was a trap, Jesus answered their question anyway.  ^{(Matthew 22:19–21)} “Show me the coin for the tax.” And they brought him a denarius. ²⁰And Jesus said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” ²¹They said, “Caesar’s.” Then he said to them, “Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” Jesus exposed the false dichotomy.  He came up with a third answer.  

 

Jesus understood something that they did not.  God is in control of both civil authority and religious authority.  The physical kingdom of power and the spiritual kingdom of grace are not an “either / or,” but a “both / and”situation.  In the Old Testament, in the Book of Isaiah Chapter 45, God pointed out that Cyrus, the pagan king of Persia, despite all outward appearances, was God’s own instrument.  The Lord used him to work out history for the ultimate good of his people.  Likewise, when Pilate boasts of his authority either to punish Jesus or to let him go, Jesus answered him, ^{(John 19:11)} “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above. Therefore he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin.”

 

When Jesus said, “Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s,” he was telling us that Caesar and all government is God’s instrument at work in the physical world.  Obeying the laws of the land and participating in our democracy are a part of our obedience to God.

 

Now, while it is all well and good to learn that we are to be faithful to the government that God has placed over us, there is more to learn from this reading.  The delegation of Pharisees and Herodians tried to trap Jesus with a false dichotomy.  What false dichotomies do the forces of evil use against us?  Very often our own sinful flesh presents with the false dichotomy of false belief and despair.

 

False belief looks at God’s law in a superficial way and says, “Hey, I can do that.”  False belief says things like: “I lead a pretty good life.  I’ve never murdered anyone or robbed a bank or anything like that.  I’m faithful to my wife.  I spend time with my kids.  Yeah, I think there’s a pretty good chance that I’ll end up in heaven.”  This is the false belief of self-righteousness.  This is the false belief that we often associate with the Pharisees.  The law is doable, and I am doing it.  When you trust your own ability to do good, that is a belief that is false^{. (1 John 1:8)} “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us”.

 

The other part of the false dichotomy is despair.  Here we find some very honest people.  They have looked at God’s law thoroughly and deeply.  They fully understand that they cannot keep it.  An interview with these people would find thoughts such as, “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.  I am just too old to be saved.”  “No matter how hard I try, it just isn’t good enough.”  “After all I have done, there is no way that God will let me into heaven.”  This is despair.  The Biblical poster model for despair is Judas who hanged himself after he betrayed Jesus.  These are people who believe that their sin is stronger than God’s forgiveness.

 

The two parts of this false dichotomy have something in common.  They both depend on self.  False belief lies and says, “I am good enough to get into heaven.”  Despair says, “I am not good enough to get into heaven.”  Every time we look to self, we get pulled into one of these two choices.  Even those who say, “I will do my best and God will do the rest,” have chosen false belief.  If all I think about is what I can do for myself, then these are the only two possibilities.

 

In today’s Gospel, Jesus answered with a third way.  In a similar way, He breaks into our lives to offer us a third way.  Those who live in despair are right about one thing: We can’t live the perfect life needed for eternal salvation, but Jesus did.  He lived a perfect, sinless life.  A few days after the events in today’s Gospel, He died a sacrificial death on the cross.  The following Sunday, He rose from the dead.  Forty days after that, He ascended into heaven.  He did all the things that we confess in the creed and did them all for us.  He provided a third way … a way that leads to eternal life.

 

In today’s Gospel [Jesus] … said, ^{(Matthew 22:21)} “Therefore render … to God the things that are God’s.” With His sacrificial death, Jesus rendered to God the payment for the sin of the world … that is every sin … for every person who has ever lived … for every person who lives now … and for every person who will ever live until the end of time.  He has paid for your sin.  He has paid for my sin.  All our sins are paid in full.

 

The Pharisees and the Herodians in today’s Gospel tried to make Jesus irrelevant by asking a trick question.  When that didn’t work, they gave up on subtlety.  They decided that the only way to remove Jesus from the scene was to remove Him from this life – to kill Him.  During the next few days they carried out their plan and arranged to have Jesus crucified.  When Jesus was dead, the powers of sin, death, and the devil thought they had won.  They didn’t understand that the death of Jesus is His greatest victory.

 

It is by this victory that we receive forgiveness, life, and salvation.  It is by this victory that even though we die, we shall rise again.  For Jesus Himself did not remain in the grave, but became the first fruits of those who rise from the dead.  His resurrection is the assurance that the work He did on the cross is the ultimate victory – the assurance that false belief and despair are our only choices, but Jesus has given Himself as a third choice that leads to everlasting life.

 

The coin in today’s Gospel had an image.  On the cross Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews is the image of the invisible God.  In that image you see what the God of the universe has done to make us his own!  ^{(Romans 8:32)} “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?” Amen

The love and peace of our Great Triune God that is beyond all human understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen

 

Pentecost 19 – 11 October 2020 – Year A

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen

The text for this meditation is written in the 22^nd Chapter of the Gospel according to St Matthew: Verses 1 - 14:

 

And again Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying, ² “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son, ³ and sent his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come. ⁴ Again he sent other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, “See, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast.” ’ ⁵ But they paid no attention and went off, one to his farm, another to his business, ⁶ while the rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them. ⁷ The king was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. ⁸ Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding feast is ready, but those invited were not worthy. ⁹ Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find.’ ¹⁰ 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.

¹¹ “But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment. ¹² And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. ¹³ 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.’ ¹⁴ For many are called, but few are chosen.”

 

In order to understand the parable in today’s Gospel, it is very helpful to understand the context of the culture of the day … especially the context of royal wedding customs.  I  Jesus’ parable, the wedding feast in the parable is the king’s feast given in honour of the wedding of the prince.  The king has all the resources of the kingdom at his disposal … the best food … the best entertainment.  The king might even have his best architects and builders build a whole new building just for the feast.  The feast lasted many days and so the servants of the king prepared the best lodging for the wedding guests.  Money is no object.

 

One of the things a king would do for wedding guests is provide a fashion spa for the guests when they arrived.  The king understood that travel was hard work in those days.  People would arrive exhausted and dirty.  The difficulty of travel might even make them a little grumpy.  The king provided facilities for refreshment … manicures … pedicures … fashion designers and expert tailors … everything a guest needed to look and feel their best when they entered the banquet hall.  The king wanted everyone and everything to be perfect in order to honour the wedding of his son, the prince.  This is one aspect of the culture of the parable that will help us understand it.

The other thing about the culture of that day has more to do with the simple fact that they did not have the same attitude about time that we do.  We have digital wrist watches that can tell us the exact time.  We have mobile phones and all other kinds of instant communication.  At the time of the parable, even writing was expensive.  Most communication was done orally, face-to-face.  If you were important, like a king, you had servants do the communicating, but the communication was still a personal, oral communication. 

 

This meant that there were always two invitations to a party.  The first invitation was to inform everyone that plans were under way.  This is the invitation that had the RSVP.  Those who could attend would reply that they were coming.  The second invitation informed the guests that everything was ready for them to come to the party.  The people who received this second invitation had already promised to come.  It was an incredible insult to excuse yourself after you had already promised to attend.  Turning down the second invitation of the king was treason.  Mistreating the servants who brought the second invitation was an act of war.

 

Jesus used these customs to illustrate His teaching about who enters the Kingdom of Heaven and who does not.  This parable demonstrates the overwhelming generosity of God the Father and His justice.  It also demonstrates the cruel insanity of those who reject the gift of salvation.  The king is God the Father.  The wedding feast is eternal life.  The servants are God’s prophets, apostles, and pastors.  Those who were invited and refused are the rank unbelievers.  The travellers on the highways who were both bad and good are those ordinary people with no claim to entitlement, but who are at the wedding solely by the grace and mercy of God.  The guest who was not dressed properly is a hypocrite.  His name is on the church membership roll but he rejects the gifts of God.

 

So, what does this parable say to us today?  Why is it important for us to hear this parable?  It is very easy for us to look through the pages of the Old Testament and see the many ways that people rejected the prophets.  We hear how the people put the prophets in prison, drove them out of their homes, and put them to death, and we rightly condemn such activity.  We hear that of the original twelve apostles, only John died of old age.  All the others died martyrs’ deaths.  We wonder at such cruelty and once again, condemn it.  It is very easy to point a finger of condemnation at people who lived long ago and far away, but what about you and me.  What does Jesus say to us today?

Jesus used the man who refused the wedding clothes to warn you and me today.  Regularly each week we gather in the wedding hall of the king.  How are we dressed?

 

Imagine what this man had to do to get into the wedding hall without the right clothes.  When he arrived, the servants of the king came to him and offered to clean him up and heal his wounds.  They offered him clothing that was just the right style for the feast.  They wanted to give him everything he needed to fully enjoy the wedding banquet of the king.  The servants offered it all and he refused.  He insisted on doing things his way instead of the king’s way.  He insisted on wearing his clothes instead of the king’s clothes.  He entered the wedding hall, but rejected the gifts of the king.

 

Trained and Ordained Priests and Pastors in the mainstream denominational Christian Church on earth are the servants of God.  When they open up God’s Word, they offer the best of heavenly style.  It is called the righteousness of Christ.  It is a very expensive style.  Jesus had to buy this style with His holy, precious blood, and His innocent suffering and death.  The heavenly style is the righteousness that Jesus earned for us with His suffering and death on the cross.  The righteousness of Jesus Christ is the only style that is elegant enough for eternal life.  It is the only style that the true servants of God can offer to you.  

 

As a servant of Christ, the priest’s / pastor’s role is to remove the filthy fashion of sin and clothe us in the heavenly style … the robes of Christ’s righteousness.  To put that in modern context; within the Worship service we humble ourselves before God and confess that we are sinners in what we have done and in what we have failed to do. In response to this, the Priests / Pastor by virtue of their office of the servant of God’s Word, cleanses us of our sin with Christ’s forgiveness and clothes us with the robe of righteousness in the pronouncement of the Holy Absolution.

 

On receiving absolution, we can rejoice together at this great gift from our king by using the words of Isaiah the prophet. ^{[Isaiah 61:10]} “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.”  

 

Sadly, Jesus teaches that there are those who reject the style of heaven.  Jesus says that there will always be some in the banquet hall of heaven who insist on wearing their own clothes … their clothes of arrogance, narcissism, self-righteousness, adultery, hatred, and so forth.  The old sinful nature insists that he is good enough.  He has no sin.  He does not need the heavenly style of the righteousness of Christ.  His style is just fine.  “Besides,” the old sinful nature will say, “A loving god doesn’t really send people to hell.”

 

Jesus tells it differently.  The party crasher may have been able to fool the servants, but the servants are not the ultimate judge.  We must all stand before almighty God.  There is but one verdict for those who trust themselves and refuse the clothing of the righteousness of Christ.  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.”  

 

Those who reject Christ, reject salvation.  Those who in any way depend on their own efforts for even the smallest fraction of their salvation will meet the king and He will order them out of the wedding hall.

 

It is a different story for those found in the road.  The Holy Spirit works through His servants to bring them to the wedding hall and wash away all their sins.  Through His servants He covers them with the righteousness of Christ … the righteousness earned on the cross.  The day will come when they, like Christ, will rise from the dead and enter into the wedding feast of the Lamb.  There they will receive the fulfilment of ^{Isaiah 25: 7-8} :On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined. And he will swallow up on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations.  He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken.  They will rejoice at the eternal wedding feast of the Lamb.  Amen

 

The love and peace of our Great Triune God that is beyond all human understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen