The Twentieth Sunday after Trinity

 The Twentieth Sunday after Trinity – October 17, 2021

Psalm 48; Isaiah 55:1-9; Ephesians 5:15-21

St. Matthew 22:1-14

In the name of the Father, and of the T Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

The uncomfortable truth of today’s text is that many are called but few are chosen. Christ teaches this lesson in two parts: first the invitation to the wedding and then the man without the wedding garment.

God the Father is the king who has arranged a marriage between His Son and the Church. God desires all men to be saved and thus sends the invitation out to all. First, this invitation went to Adam and Eve, but they were not willing to come to the wedding. Contrary to God’s will, they saw the fruit was good to eat and preferred the food of their own choosing rather than the Marriage Feast of the Lamb. Still, the invitation of the King was valid after the Fall. “Behold, the Virgin shall conceive and bear My Son. He will crush the head of the serpent and consummate the wedding in righteousness and purity.”[1]

The invitation was handed down from Adam to his sons, from Seth to Enosh and on down the line. But again, the sons of God took wives from the daughters of men, turning away from the invitation of the King to be joined to His Son. “The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”[2] Through the Flood and the dispersion of the nations at Babel, still the invitation was valid.

As Abraham sat on the plain of Haran, the LORD began to send out new servants to renew the invitation. These servants are the patriarchs, judges, and prophets, the holy men of old. They bore the Word of the King, inviting the nations but especially the blood descendants of Abraham to the wedding feast. Some made light of it and returned to their farms and businesses. These are the people who worship God with their lips but owe the devotion of their hearts to Mammon. Others were enraged by the invitation. These believed the Word of God to be mocking them. They seized the prophets, treated them spitefully, and killed them.

Such were the scribes and Pharisees. They believed the Son of God to be a threat to their power and prestige. They heard the Word of God and called it blasphemy.[3] They killed not only the servants of the King but his Son. Their actions and the evil in their hearts caused the wrath of the Father, the King. The destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in 70 AD is a fulfillment of this parable as God destroyed those murderers and burned up their city. He judged the false worship of the Jews and condemned them as idolaters and blasphemers.

Yet the invitation is still valid. The final round of servants to be sent are the Apostles, Evangelists, martyrs, and pastors. They are sent to proclaim the Word of God to all nations, the wicked and the good, gathering them into the wedding hall. While the invitation of the King was always meant for all people, Jew and Gentile, it would be the Gentile nations which would now receive the invitation most readily.

Such a spiritual interpretation of this parable is true but do not think that it is all in the past. The invitation to the wedding has been the same since God spoke to Adam and Eve in the Garden, promising the salvation of man through the death and resurrection of Christ.[4] So too, the heart of man has remained unchanged since the Fall. There is nothing new under the sun.[5] Hell is a very real place and although all mankind is called to salvation, very few are chosen.

The death and resurrection of Christ atoned for the sins of the whole world – every human ever to have been born and every human yet to be born. All sins have been paid for. But man begins his life an enemy of God. He is born set against the will of God. By nature, he rejects this salvation. Therefore, it is not against the loving and merciful nature of God to condemn man. God is not the first actor in condemnation – man is. Man has already set himself against God. The condemning action of God is a reaction to the rejection of Man. The invitation has gone out to the four corners of the earth and when that invitation is rejected, the King sends out his army in judgment.

“God stands justified, justified not only as one who deals righteously, but also as a gracious, friendly, and compassionate God, even if millions are lost. For He has offered for the deliverance of all fallen men the greatest and most precious gift, His only-begotten Son… He invited them, but they did not come. He proffered the hand of reconciliation, but they rejected it. Again He turned His reconciled face to them, but they insolently smote Him in the face and turned away. Hell itself will become silent when the heavens praise God’s eternal mercy. It will then pass sentence upon itself, and weeping loudly cry out, ‘Lord, You are righteous and Your judgments are upright. You have not damned us, but we have damned ourselves.’

“Therefore, if you who secretly quarrel with God hear that only few are elected and that most men are lost, pause for a moment! Fall on your knees and in humility worship Him who wishes to save all men and condemns only those who do not want to save themselves, who want to damn themselves. And should there be a person among us who does not want to accept the invitation to the marriage of grace, who wants to persevere in his unbelief, who wants to know nothing of the reconciliation through Christ, let him know: His hope that God still will not eternally damn him is a sacrilege. God does not first judge him who does not believe; he is judged already. Over him who does not believe God’s wrath does not first burst into flame; God’s wrath which had risen upon him long ago merely remains upon him. For him who does not believe God does not first create hell; he has elected hell for himself, which was created alone for Satan and his angels. He condemns himself.”[6]

Though an uncomfortable truth, it is easier to consider the fate of the wicked world and eternity in hell for the manifest unbelievers of the world. The second half of the parable, the man found without a wedding garment, if far more difficult for Christians. It is difficult because the man without the garment is in the Church. In the eyes of mortals, he appears to be a Christian. He goes to church. He volunteers. He places an envelope in the plate every week.

The King sees what we cannot see.[7] This man has spurned the wedding garment. Everyone who comes into the wedding feast is given a gleaming robe of white, the only attire appropriate for the Marriage Feast of the Lamb, the only bridal gown worthy of the Bride of Christ.

This gown, according to St. Paul, consists of two parts. First, there is the complete gown of Christ’s righteousness. This you received in Holy Baptism, as St. Paul says to the Galatians, “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.”[8] This robe marks you as the Baptized, is the everlasting sign of the faith which has been born in your heart, and grafts you into the Body of Christ. Within this garment, there is neither Jew nor Greek, male nor female. All are heirs of Abraham according to the faith delivered in the first invitation to our first parents.[9]

This gown was won for all in the death and resurrection of Jesus but not all receive this gown. Many deny it. The man found without a garment has publicly confessed his faith but has rejected his baptism. He makes a show of faith by following the actions. He treats the assembly of saints as a social club, the opportunity to make friends and influence people. If he must endure a sermon or hymn that he doesn’t care for, it is worth it because the church exists to serve him in his sin.

Make no mistake, we are all guilty of putting off our Baptismal garment. If you’ve ever knowingly committed a sin but justified it to yourself because, “no one will know,” then you are guilty of casting aside your baptismal gown. If you’ve ever neglected to forgive your brother because, ‘well that was a long time ago,’ you’ve slipped out of your white garment and forgotten that you daily pray “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”[10] Most common among us all is denying the Word of God. “My Jesus wouldn’t say that,” or “My Jesus would accept everyone,” or “My Jesus would sing my favorite songs,” are all examples of making a God in your own image and then calling him ‘Jesus.’ Repent of such foolishness and return to your Baptismal garment.

The second part of the wedding garment is the embroidery and the jewels which adorn it. These are your good works, the life of sanctification. St. Paul says to the Ephesians, “put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.”[11] Refusing to obey the Ten Commandments or insisting on inventing good works of your own choosing are both ways of tearing the adornments of sanctification off your wedding garment, marring its purity.

It is true that all our works are marred by the stain of sin which still clings to us on this side of glory, but that doesn’t mean that you can stop trying to obey the Ten Commandments. This is allowing the perfect to become the enemy of the good. Just because you can’t love your husband perfectly doesn’t mean you are free to have an affair. Nor does it mean you are free to treat him like your slave or nag him to get your way. All wives are called to submit to your husbands as Christ submits to the Church. That means he is your head. You are to show deference to him by obeying his commands and following his direction. Love him by serving him. Love him as his beloved.

Men are called to love your wives as Christ loves the Church. This means you are to die for her. It also means you are to lead her. Christ does not defer to the Church or forsake his headship because the Church is strong willed. He loves her enough to call her to repentance, to tell her how to live, to protect her, and to guide her into all righteousness. Be a man for your wife by looking out for her good, not submitting to her sins. Jesus dies for the Church so that she would receive His inheritance. This is male headship.

Many are called, but few are chosen. The entire world is called to faith through the atonement of Christ made for all people. Only few receive this call and receive the garments of faith and holiness. Fewer still bear this wedding robe to the end. Many in this world will spend eternity in Hell. Many within the church on earth will share the same fate for they are hypocrites. They worship God with their lips, but their hearts are far away.[12] Only the chosen few will endure unto life eternal.

If you find yourself asking, “Will I endure? Is my faith strong enough?” First repent of relying on your own faith. The strength of your faith does not save you. Rather, ask the biblical questions, “Did Jesus die for the whole world? Am I part of the world?” The answers are both an emphatic yes! Jesus died for you, and you have received the gleaming robe of white.

Should you then find yourself questioning if you are the hypocrite who has cast off his baptismal gown, ask, “Am I baptized?” When you see the answer is yes, then you know your garment is secure. Then go to your pastor for confession and absolution, in which you will hear that the salvation won by Christ is yours. It has been won for you and given to you by the shed blood of Jesus. Finally, say aloud the creed so that your own ears will hear your voice confess, “I believe in God the Father Almighty, and in Jesus Christ His only Son our Lord, and in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of life.”

None of this relies on you. Even your sanctification does not rely on you. Your holiness relies entirely on the work of the Holy Trinity. All you, who have been called and find yourselves in the wedding hall, must do is receive that which has been won for you, walking in the way of the Lord as one whose sin is already conquered. Do not turn aside the salvation of Christ nor the holiness of your sanctification. Look to Christ and see that the Lord is good. See that the Lord is good and submit to him as his own beloved Bride. Come to the wedding feast, for the oxen and fattened calf are already prepared. Receive salvation, holiness, and eternal life in the Body and Blood of Christ. Receive them and do not spurn that which you’ve been given.

In T Jesus’ name.  Amen.

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[1] Genesis 3:15; Isaiah 7:14.

[2] Genesis 6:5.

[3] Matthew 9:3; 26:65.

[4] Genesis 3:15.

[5] Ecclesiastes 1:9.

[6] C.F.W. Walther, Gospel Sermons, 182-183.

[7] Matthew 6:4, 6, 18; 22:11

[8] Galatians 3:27.

[9] Galatians 3:28-29.

[10] Matthew 6:12, 14-15.

[11] Ephesians 4:24.

[12] Isaiah 29:13; Matthew 15:8; Mark 7:6.