In the Name of the Father, and of the +
Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
There are three groups invited to the feast given by the
master in the parable. First, there are those already invited. These make
excuses for their inability to attend. One must see to a bit of land, another
to some oxen, and the third must see to his new wife. One is pulled away by
power, one by greed, and another by lust.
The refusal of this first group to attend angers the man
giving the feast. By this we know that this is a great man, a lord, possibly
the king. It was a great honor he was showing to these people by inviting them
into his household. These outwardly powerful individuals do not deserve to dine
with the king, but he has graciously invited them under his roof. They returned
his invitation for worldly reasons, pathetic worldly reasons at that. They
would not even show him the respect of begging his pardon, or attending the
dinner but leaving early. They also chose excuses over giving an honest reason
for declining the king’s invitation.
This great man then sends his servant to bring in the poor,
the maimed, the lame, and the blind of the city. He is showing great mercy to
these individuals who belong to the lowest classes of society. Like the first
group, these do not deserve to feast with the king, but he chooses their
company. They are brought to him and enjoy the great feast of their king.
The servant reports to the king that there is still room in
the dining hall. He commands his servant to go outside the city and gather
everyone he finds in the highways and byways, compelling them to come to the
supper. This final group may not belong to the domain of the great man, but the
invitation to his feast extends beyond the walls of his city. His word of
invitation goes beyond the borders of human authority and draws in the
foreigner and the sojourner. Like all the others, these outsiders are unworthy
of attending the feast but have been graciously invited by the man to dine in
splendor.
As with many of Christ’s parables, the “certain man” who is
giving the feast is God. He sincerely sends His invitation to the Eternal
Wedding Feast to all the peoples of the world, but many refuse this call. Those
who prioritize wealth, power, or the pleasures of the flesh above the mercy of
God are given precisely what they desire—they are given over to the passions of
their flesh and the consequences thereof. God forces no one to believe. If you
desire a god after your own heart, you shall have him. He will be wicked and
unjust. He will judge you by your works and find you lacking in every way.
It is easy to place this parable in its historic context.
Christ tells this parable during a dinner at the house of a Pharisee. It would
be easy to see the first group—those already invited to the feast—as the
Pharisees, Sadducees, and indeed all ethnic Jews who have abandoned the faith
of Father Abraham. These are the chosen race of God and yet they have spurned
His invitation.
In this case, the poor, the maimed, the lame, and the blind of the city would be the faithful remnant of the Jewish people. Belonging to this group would be the Blessed Virgin Mary, St. John the Baptist, and even the tax collectors, prostitutes, and fishermen who call Christ their Lord. This faithful remnant are descendants of Abraham in both blood and faith. They have held to the promise of the coming Savior and see now that Jesus, born of Mary, is God in the flesh. God has come to them and called them His beautiful bride.
Finally, those who were compelled from outside the city are
the Gentiles. These do not belong to the chosen people of God, yet they are
still chosen by Him. They are chosen to receive the Word of God and as the
witness of Scripture bears out, receive that Word with great joy. These, too,
are the true children of Abraham. They are descendants by faith—trusting in the
same promises delivered to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Knowing this, it is very easy to rejoice that we are among
the third group. So far as I know, no one in this room is ethnically Jewish and
so all who confess Christ is his Lord in this church would belong to those
gathered from the highways and byways. Thanks be to God that His Word has gone
to the ends of the earth and called all people, not by the contents of their
blood, but by faith in the blood of Jesus. We are made one people and one body
in the Body of Christ.
It would also be easy to ignore the other groups, but I can
tell you now that every one of us belongs to all three categories. You have
been called in from the highways and byways, but you are also lame, maimed, poor,
and blind. You are these things because you cannot save yourself. It is true
that God forces no one to believe but you are also not capable of turning to
Christ yourself. This is the mystery of the doctrine of election. Before time
began, God knew the number of the elect—those who would be saved. Everyone whom
God has elected to salvation will be saved.
But do not make the mistake of assuming this means God has
elected everyone else to go to hell. Scripture does not speak this way. Even in
this parable, God sent a sincere invitation to everyone, including those who
did not attend the feast. God desires that all men would be repent and be
saved. Yet God is just and will grant to those who desire not salvation to have
the desires of their heart—eternal damnation.
Neither is man capable of choosing God. The lame, the
maimed, the poor, and the blind could not enter the king’s festal hall on their
own power. This is not a parable concerning conversion but concerning
election—the outcome of one’s faith. The Word of God had already come to all
three groups in the parable on the lips of the servant. The invitation was
received by all. This means they all received the same Word of God and possibly
all received faith because of it. They know the identity of the man giving the
feast. But some rejected the invitation. Those who attend the feast do not
attend because of an act of their will but because of an act of the will of
God, who called for them to be brought and compelled into the feast.
You are also the men making excuses. These give priority to worldly desires and pursuits over the sabbath rest of God. You say you do not have time to say the Apostles’ Creed every evening before bed? How much time do you spend checking text messages, emails, or Facebook at night? The Apostles’ Creed takes 47 seconds to confess. How about the Lord’s Prayer? 34 seconds. You don’t have time to read the bible every day? How long is your TV on during the day? You find the Divine Service or Bible Study to be too long at church but watching a 2-hour movie or an entire Chiefs game is no problem.
Worse yet, those in the parable make excuses that don’t even
make sense. A feast is given in the evening. One does not travel to view a
field or examine oxen as the sun is setting. You also don’t purchase a field or
oxen without examining them first. As for the man with a new bride, why would
he not want to bring her to the feast of his Lord?
You say you don’t have time to study the bible but what you
mean is that you don’t like what it has to say. You say your sister has a faith
of her own even though she doesn’t go to church because you are unwilling to show
her the consequences of rejecting the invitation really are. The opinions of
man matter more than the Word of God.
For this, we all must repent. Repent that you would so take
your faith for granted that you would desire a moment of the power, riches, and
pleasures of this life over an eternity with God. Repent and hear the Word of
God as it has been delivered to you.
The doctrine of election is of great comfort because we
belong to all three categories of invitees. If we had a role to play in our
salvation, there would be no hope. We would ask to be excused from the feast
and never return. Thanks be to God that being in that place where you hear God
speaking to you, that is, the church, tells you that your salvation belongs to
Him. Your invitation is secure because although you sin daily and grievously,
you also see the infirmity of your legs. You are lame, maimed, poor, and blind.
You cannot save yourself and yet you have the promise of salvation. Your
ancestors couldn’t even save you, meaning you are also sitting outside the
walls, along the highways and byways. Christ alone could save you. Christ alone
could take your flesh and redeem it with His precious blood.
And should the shadow of doubt every cross your mind,
remember Christ died for the sins of the world. Are you in the world? Yes. Then
Christ died for your sins. So long as you do not return the invitation with an
excuse preferring damnation, you are among the elect because you are receiving
the Word of God at this very moment.
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