“The Wedding Hall Will Be Full!” Matt. 22.1-14, Proper 23A, Oct. ’14…

 

1.      Please pray with me.  May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be pleasing in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer.  The message from God’s Word for us this morning is taken from Matthew 22:1-14.  Today we see in another parable of Jesus that God has invited us to a beautiful wedding banquet (vs. 1-4), but many people refuse this invitation (vs. 5-8).  Thanks be to God that He still is patient with us to invite us to the wedding feast (vs. 9-10).  The message is entitled, “The Wedding Hall Will Be Full!”  Dear brothers and sisters in Christ.

2.      Mealtimes are often filled with emotion of all kinds. Peter knows. Sunday dinners with his mother, Ada, his father, Fred, and three siblings were always lively, relates Peter. “On one occasion all of us except Mother were in a silly mood, and we began requesting, in rhyme, items at the table. “Please pass the meat, Pete.” “May I have a potatah, Ada?” “I’d give the moon for a spoon.” After several minutes of this, Mother was fed up. She stood up: “Stop this nonsense right now! It’s Sunday, and I’d like to enjoy my dinner with some good conversation, not this silly chatter.” Then she sat down, still in a huff, turned to my father, and snapped, “Pass the bread, Fred.”

3.      In the Parable of the Wedding Feast that Jesus tells us here in Matthew 22 we hear that we’re warmly invited to “The Party of the Year.”  The king is planning his son’s royal wedding. There he might also announce that this is the son chosen to succeed him.  When the invitations went out, those invited rejected them with excuses based on possessions, purchases, and all sorts of busyness.

4.      Jesus’ parable causes us to stop and think.  An invitation to a wedding rarely leave us uninterested.  Either it brings up within us great excitement as we joyful anticipate joining the celebration, or else it brings up a dreaded frustration about how to tactfully excuse ourselves from the event.  Jesus’ parable of the wedding feast demonstrates that there were these opposing reactions to Him.  At this point in the Gospels opposition to Jesus was mounting.  So, too, were the pressures on those who followed Him.

5.      In our busy, consumer-oriented society it’s easy to turn down invitations and “offers.” When we’re invited to a party or a dinner, we usually ask ourselves two questions:  Do I really need to go? Will there be a problem if I don’t go?  Will the event help me socially?  (Teenagers in High School often ask themselves this question). Will people I know be there? Those invited in the parable answered these questions in all the wrong ways.

6.      Jesus’ parable moves us to examine our spiritual condition and confront the obstacles to faith in Him that have been built by Satan, the world, and our sinful flesh.  The verb in Matthew 22:5 is an especially harsh, but true, accusation of the Law upon us.  Matthew 22:5 says, “⁵But they paid no attention [to the invitation] and went off, one to his farm, another to his business.”   The original Greek text is translated as “they paid no attention,” but this is more than just a lack of focus and concentration. There are strong overtones of neglect and even disdain & scorn towards the invitation to the wedding feast implied by Jesus in this word as well.

7.      Does this describe our lives as Christians on occasion?  Unfortunately it does.  Like those who spurned the invitation and went off to their farms, businesses, and daily routines, we sometimes separate our calling as followers of our Lord Jesus from our everyday tasks.  The hurry and flurry of worldly responsibilities rob us of the joy of belonging to the heavenly Bridegroom.  We think that there are more urgent needs than worshiping and serving Him, reasoning that we can do it later.  We become so concerned about daily life that we lose our focus on our Lord and Creator God who gives it to us.  Procrastination on spiritual matters leads to the absence of Jesus from our lives—by our neglect, not His.

8.      So what can we conclude from the parable of the wedding feast Jesus tells us here in Matthew 22. Well, when we apply this parable to God’s inviting us to eternal fellowship with him, if we turn it down, there will be a problem. In our present situation in America what is called “right and wrong” is perceived as thoroughly individual and relative.  What’s right and wrong for you, people say, isn’t necessarily what’s right and wrong for me.   God’s eternal values, the 10 Commandments He has given to us, aren’t accepted as absolute by most Americans.  God says, “Don’t worship other gods, treat my name with respect, remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, respect and honor your parents and others in authority, don’t murder, be loyal to your husband or your wife, don’t steal, don’t lie or hurt your neighbor’s reputation, don’t envy people or what they own.”  Today, many Americans treat what’s good and bad as what the majority says is right, but if that were the case then the people of Ninevah, of Noah’s day, and of Sodom and Gomorrah were right, because the majority were doing what they thought were right, yet God thought otherwise.  No, God’s 10 Commandments, His Law is still the same and God is still calling sinners to repent, to turn to Him and be saved through His Son Jesus Christ so that the wedding hall will be full. 

9.      So Jesus says in the Parable “Go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find,” the king commanded.  The servants were instructed to invite “all the people they could find, both good and bad.” As in the parable of the net (Matthew 13) there are two stages of activity: spread the net and gather all kinds of fish, and then separate the good from the bad. Later God’s “angels will . . . separate the wicked from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace.”

10.  My dear brothers and sisters in Christ.  Don’t be put off by the free invitation.  God wants his wedding hall to be full in heaven. It comes freely to you at the price of the life of the Son of God. Having covered the cost of your invitation, Christ has risen and ascended to heaven to host the banquet of all banquets.  Even if it’s not politically correct, it’s still true: the one who answers God’s call with humility is the one God respects: “This is the one I esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word” (Is 66:2b).  God values inviting anyone, even us.

11.  And God has given to you a wedding garment to wear to the party.  You have this garment already now by virtue of your Baptism.  The king in the parable announced that the wedding feast was fully prepared.  Christ fulfilled these hosting responsibilities by His life and work on our behalf.  He adorns us for the feast and makes us His honored guests.  He “has clothed me with the garments of salvation; He has covered me with the robe of righteousness” (Isaiah 61:10).  “For as many of you were baptized into Christ have put on Christ” (Gal. 3:27).  This baptismal garment serves as our “wedding clothes” but also our “work clothes.”  We never take it off, for we can never truly separate our lives in Christ and our lives in the world.  Our entire lives are joyfully lived as God’s children. 

12.  When you got up this morning, maybe you hesitated for a moment whether you would come to worship or not. It sure would be nice to “veg out” at home with the Sunday papers, you thought. But a small voice suggested you accept the invitation. That was the Holy Spirit delivering Christ’s invitation to you.  When God rules, you see, the invitations to eternal joy and peace just keep on coming and coming until we die or until Christ comes once and for all. In the meantime we have time to celebrate the invitation and to invite others.  May God’s wedding hall in heaven be full!   Prayer:  Heavenly Father, thank You for preparing a table before us in the presence of our enemies and graciously calling us to dwell in Your house forever.  Remove from us, dear Lord, all vanity of heart and self-glorification, and clothe us in the robe of Jesus’ righteousness.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.

 

 

“Be Ready for God’s Harvest Day” Matt. 21.33-46, Pentecost 17A, Oct. ’14

1.                   Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Heavenly Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  The message from God’s Word this 17^th Sunday after Pentecost is taken from Matthew 21:33-46 and is entitled, “Be Ready for God’s Harvest Day.”  Dear brothers and sisters in Christ.

2.                  After telling his parable of the wicked tenants in the vineyard, Jesus asks the chief priests and Pharisees, “What will [the master] do to those tenants?” Their self-condemning response, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death” (Mt 21:40–41), calls to mind King David’s response to the parable told him by the prophet Nathan, after David had taken Bathsheba and murdered her husband, Uriah. In that parable (2 Sam 12:1–4), Nathan tells the story of two neighbors, a rich man and a poor man. While the rich man had huge flocks, the poor man had only one lamb, which he and his family loved very much as a pet. When a traveler came to the rich man, the rich man took and prepared the poor man’s single lamb, rather than take one from his own flocks to prepare for the traveler. Upon hearing this parable, King David said to Nathan, “ ‘As the Lord lives, the man who has done this deserves to die, and he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.’ Nathan said to David, ‘You are the man!’ ” (2 Sam 12:5b–7a). King David condemned himself by his own words, just as did the Pharisees in this Gospel text. Unlike the Pharisees, though, by God’s grace, David repented, and Nathan was able to speak to him God’s forgiveness. My friends God always desires when we stand condemned: that we would repent and receive his unlimited forgiveness in Christ Jesus.  Today, Jesus tells us the Parable of the Tenants to help us get ready for God’s Harvest Day!!! 

3.                  As Jesus moved among men, He spoke to them significant truths by parables.  A number of these parables were told during Jesus’ last visit to Jerusalem.  Some of these aren’t as appealing as others because through them, Jesus speaks severe judgments upon the church leaders.  Such is the parable of the tenants that we see in today’s Gospel reading from Matthew 21.  It’s not warm like the parable of the Lost Sheep or sentimental like the parable of the Prodigal Son or pleasant like the parable of the Good Samaritan.  Nevertheless, it stresses the limitless patience of God’s love.  “Finally he sent his son to them.”  And him they killed.  The parable carries with it a sting the chief priests and the Pharisees keenly felt, as we see from the closing remarks of the parable. 

4.                  The vineyard in the parable represents the Jewish people.  God had done much for Israel before He sent His Son Jesus.  He’d given Israel the Law on Mount Sinai. God had promised them the Messiah. He had blessed them with privileges.  And, God had divinely protected them from their enemies through the centuries.  They had Moses to lead them, Elijah to call them to repentance, Isaiah to plead with them, and Jeremiah to warn them patiently.

5.                  The tenants are the leaders to whom the people had been entrusted.  But they made Israel sin.  The tenants were unfaithful and selfish.  The servants sent by the master of the house are the prophets, who plead: “Turn back, turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die? (Ezek. 33:11).  Last is the Son and Him they crucify.

6. Jesus let the priests and Pharisees know that He was fully aware of their plans and plottings.  They couldn’t deceive Him.  But, we must remember that the parables aren’t given only to Israel.  They are recorded in the sacred Scriptures for our learning and warning.  And now, 2,000 years later, Jesus’ words are now the old parable for us.  Jesus tells us this parable to get ready for God’s Harvest Day.    

 

 

 

7. Like God’s people of old, we, too, have been placed in God’s vineyard/kingdom by his grace.  In this kingdom, God graciously supplies us with those things that nurture His fruit in us through His Word and Sacraments of the Lord’s Supper and Holy Baptism.  And, God continually sends us his servants—pastors—just as God sent the Old Testament prophets.  Above all, God sent us his Son.

8. We retell this old parable among us today to move us to produce the fruit of the vineyard and receive those whom he sends to us, especially his Son.  What’s the fruit of the vineyard?  The fruit of the vineyard is repentance and the love toward God and neighbor that flows from the faith we have received by the power of the Holy Spirit through God’s Word and Sacraments.  All of this is what Christ, God’s Son, came to nurture in us.

9. But, too often, we also fall into the same tragic ending of the old parable.  We show ourselves to be unfaithful tenants of God’s kingdom whenever we don’t demonstrate love toward God and neighbor as the fruit of faith and whenever we don’t receive God’s Son, who comes to us through Word and Sacrament.  We prefer the bright lights of Sodom & Gomorrah and the pleasures of this world to our Lord Jesus the Sun of Righteousness.  We busy ourselves all too often with getting and buying the things of this world, letting the gifts of God’s creation become our idols and our god, rather than our Lord and Creator Himself.  We tire ourselves with Saturday night’s parties—we bypass Jesus.  Oh my friends, how patient God is with us!  He is looking for fruit in His vineyard and finds none.  Yes, sins like this should cause us to lose the kingdom and be put to eternal death.

10.       But God sent his Son, Jesus, to save the vineyard and its tenants.  Jesus was perfectly faithful in his calling and mission to seek and save the lost.  Though he was rejected and killed, God raised him from the dead and placed him as the cornerstone of his Church.  Today you are blessed, once again, that God’s Son is coming to you through his Word and Sacrament.  Now as faithful stewards of His grace, we are to come, bring others, tell all who will listen, pray daily for grace and growth, and support Christ’s kingdom with our earthly possessions.   My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, let’s Get Ready for God’s Harvest Day, may we remember that we’ve been placed in God’s vineyard by grace through His Son Jesus and now we receive His Son Jesus as our Savior.  Amen.  Prayer:  Heavenly Father, keep us united by faith to Christ, our source of life, lest we ever turn away, reject Him, and so lose our hope of salvation. Let us be thine forever, our faithful God and Lord; Let us forsake thee never, nor wander from thy Word.  Lord, do not let us waver, But give us steadfastness, and for such grace forever Thy holy name we’ll bless.  Amen.