The Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

The Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary – July 2, 2022

Introit—1 Samuel 2:1-2, ant. Luke 1:46b-47; Isaiah 11:1-5; Song of Songs 2:8-14

St. Luke 1:39-56

In the Name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The Visitation refers to that occasion after the Angel Gabriel has revealed the conception of St. John the Baptist to Zacharias and Elizabeth and after the same archangel came to both Mary and Joseph, revealing Mary was to be the mother of God, when Mary traveled to visit her relative Elizabeth. The reason for this journey is not given by God. Some speculate that it has to do with protecting the Blessed Virgin from the contempt of her neighbors and safeguarding the reputation of pious Joseph. By Mary leaving Nazareth for three months, it was less likely the Holy Family would receive severe criticism. When she returned, it may have been easier for the public to assume the conception of Mary’s Son occurred after her marriage to Joseph.

This speculation may be true. It may be false. Either way, it isn’t very helpful. What we know is that the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary to her relative Elizabeth was the occasion both for St. John to leap in his mother’s womb and for the Blessed Virgin to sing the Magnificat.

There are two important lessons for us today: First, that we are unworthy of the least of God or man’s attention, let alone mercy; and Second, that we rejoice at the coming of our Lord.

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth out of absolutely nothing.[1] Everything that was made was made through the Word of God according to the Will of God.[2] When God called Abraham and gave him the promise of countless generations, blessings without number, and a land in which to dwell forever, God was again building a people for Himself where there had been nothing. One of the commands given to Abraham was to leave his father’s house. No longer was Abraham to identify himself as of the lineage of Terah, but of the lineage of God. A new generation had begun.

The Prophet Isaiah speaks in this way in our reading today. “There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots.”[3] It would be more accurately rendered the “stump” of Jesse. The Davidic line was all but dead. The family tree of Jesse, the father of David, was cut down. It was little more than a dried-up stump, devoid of hope. From this dead thing, Life sprung forth. A new Rod, a Branch full of life will spring forth and endure forever. This Rod is Christ, who is born of the Virgin Mary, herself a descendant of David.

But Mary was not worthy. She belonged to the stump of Jesse. She was poor, despised, and lowly. If tradition holds true that she was quite young when she bore the Christ child and Joseph was quite old, then it is likely the marriage was arranged for financial gain by her parents and to ensure she could be supported by her established husband. There was nothing remarkable about the Blessed Virgin. She daily went about her chores. She attended the synagogue and heard the Word of God. She belonged to the faithful remnant of Israel but even this was not particularly remarkable.

We see from the history of God’s actions that He chooses that which is lowly, despised, poor, and nothing. God brings up the downtrodden, frees the prisoner, and satisfies the hungry. He also casts down the mighty, binds the strong, and sends the rich empty away. The Blessed Virgin gives thanks that God has had mercy upon her and descended to her in her low estate.

Do not, for one moment, assume that you are something great. If you do, then God is not for you. Or the most you can expect from God is to be cast down into the pit. We are poor, miserable sinners. You are a poor, miserable sinner. You are nothing of importance to God or man. Even if you have achieved great things in this world, there is always someone smarter, faster, better, and more accomplished. If you are the greatest in the world, then know that there are thousands who seek your downfall because man loves to watch the mighty fall.

If you have achieved great things in this world, even the greatness of raising a child, holding a steady job, or attending to the gathering of the church, give thanks that these things do not make you precious in the sight of the Lord. Give thanks because if even simple tasks made you precious in the sight of the Lord, then your salvation would depend on consistently achieving them. One misstep and you would be lost.

Instead, give thanks that there is nothing within you worth the love of God because this means that He has regarded your low estate. This means that you are poor, lowly, and despised, precisely the type of person for whom God became man. Magnify the Lord because He looks upon you in love, not because of what you have done or have failed to do, but because of what He has done. He has called you by name to join Him on Mount Zion. God fills with you good things, His very Body and Blood.

If you have the riches of Abraham, the poetry of David, or the wisdom of Solomon, these things are trinkets before God. They are gifts of God, bestowed upon you for the praise of Him. When the Blessed Virgin hears the words of the Angel Gabriel, she rejoices that her Lord has condescended to be with her. Jesus Christ is also with you, this day and every day.

In the Song of Solomon, the church proclaims, “The voice of my Beloved! Behold, He comes leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills.”[4] The Bridegroom calls to the Church out of great love and from a great distance. Before we see our Lord, we hear His voice. Before the Virgin conceived, she heard the Word of the Lord from the lips of Gabriel. Before John baptized his Lord, he leaped in the womb at the sound of Mary’s voice. Thus at the sound of the Word of our God, our ears perk up and our excitement heightens. The church rejoices to see and know her Lord, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord!”

And before we can move a muscle; before the church can take any action of her own, Christ leaps down from Mount Zion, from the side of the Father, to join His beloved bride on the plain. He descends lower than the heavenly beings that He might join us in our flesh. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked, but my God would rather be born of a lowly virgin than institute an earthly kingdom by force of man.[5]

In + Jesus’ name. Amen.

---

[1] Genesis 1:1.

[2] St. John 1:1-3.

[3] Isaiah 11:1.

[4] Song of Songs 2:8. The following draws from Bernard of Clairvaux, “Sermon 53,” On the Song of Songs, Vol 3, translated by Kilian Walsh and Irene M. Edmonds (Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 1979), 58-67.

[5] Psalm 84:10; St. Luke 1:42; St. Matthew 4:8-9; Acts 1:4-8.

The Second Sunday after Trinity

The Second Sunday after Trinity – June 26, 2022

Psalm 18; Proverbs 9:1-10; 1 John 3:13-18

St. Luke 14:15-24

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.

In + Jesus’ name. Amen.

The First Sunday after Trinity

 In the Name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Since the day of Pentecost, the Church has struggled to understand the interaction between the Old Testament and the New. A very common question is how the saints of the Old Testament were saved before the death and resurrection of Christ. God does not change. This is part of who and what He is. As such, the requirements of salvation are also unchanging. They have existed since the beginning of time at the Creation.

Man is saved by faith in Christ, the Son of God, who takes on human flesh to redeem mankind. Faith is trust in things unseen. God came to Abraham and promised to be his God and to deliver to him an heir of his own flesh and descendants numbering more than the stars of heaven. Abraham believed this word of God and it was counted to him as righteousness, that is, Abraham’s name was written in the Book of Life.[1]

This is the same process by which you have received faith. Whether as an infant or an adult, the Word of God came to you on the lips of man, and you believed it. The Word itself planted faith within your heart. The Holy Spirit watered this seed at the font of Holy Baptism, and it grew into the mighty mustard plant by the further illumination of God’s Word.

The same is true of the beggar Lazarus. St. John Chrysostom lists nine ways in which Lazarus suffered greatly, among which is the uncertainty of the future.[2] In the eyes of man, one who prospers is blessed by God and must be loved by Him. One who suffers must be cursed by God and despised by Him. While Lazarus had certainly heard the promise of the coming Savior, his sickness and poverty must have caused doubt in his mind. He could not afford any sacrifices at the Temple. He could not attend any synagogue or services at the Temple because of his disease. Like all the saints of the Old Testament, Lazarus could only see the coming Savior through the veil of Moses, a dim and distant hope.

While Lazarus had heard of Job’s proclamation of seeing God in his own flesh after his skin is destroyed;[3] and David’s words in Psalm 16: For thou [O Lord] wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption;[4] and the comforting promise of Isaiah that the Lord of hosts will swallow up death forever…wipe away tears from all faces…and it will be said in that day, ‘Behold this is our God; We have waited for Him and He will save us,[5] it is unclear to him just how this salvation will come to him personally.

We have been blessed to live in the days following the Resurrection of Christ. We have been blessed because we have the full revelation of the Word of God. We can call not just upon the coming Messiah, but upon Jesus Christ, True God and True Man. We can hear the Words of God, spoken through the lips of man, which promise that we have been adopted as heirs of heaven, Sons of the Living God, new creations of the Holy Spirit. This confidence brings much hope—although it can still be difficult to retain.

Lazarus experienced poverty beyond imagining. Even crumbs from the table of the rich man were denied to him. His illness was so great, he could not wave away the dogs licking at his sores. He could not move himself to find shelter. Someone left him on the doorstep of the rich man. By this circumstance, in his great poverty and sickness, Lazarus daily watched the rich man feasting, laughing, enjoying company, and participating fully in the life of the synagogue and community.

Yet in the midst of this suffering, Lazarus retained faith in God. He was not saved on account of his poverty but on account of his faith, which was counted to him as righteousness. Despite his eyes being covered in the veil of Moses, Lazarus saw the promise delivered to Abraham and trusted that God above counted him among the stars born to Father Abraham. His mortal eyes caused doubt, but the eyes of faith knew God to be faithful. Lazarus awaited the sleep of death such that his eyes would be opened to the fullness of God.

You, who have the full revelation of the Scriptures, of the Name of Jesus, and the saving work of the cross, you have even greater reason to rejoice and believe in God. You have witnessed the first fruits of the resurrection of all flesh and have been born from above by the waters of Holy Baptism. You have partaken of the victory feast of Christ, fed on His own Body and Blood.

What reason do you then have to worry over pain, sickness, poverty, and death? We, unlike Lazarus, have been clearly told by our Heavenly Father that such suffering is the cross His children bear in this world on account of sin. It is unpleasant. Like Lazarus, you may certainly mourn tragedy and suffering, but you have been freed from the anxiety concerning your salvation. In this way, the saints of the New Testament are free to have more joy and comfort in Christ because we have a fullness the saints of the Old Testament were waiting for.

At the same time, we have a greater duty than the saints of old.[6] It is easy to imagine the precepts of the Old Testament as a great and severe burden, yet the vast majority of these pointed to outward works—either ceremonial or civil law. These laws have been entirely fulfilled in the perfect life, death, and resurrection of Christ. The moral law has also been fulfilled by Christ but is an eternal expression of the Will of God.

Christ our Lord says, “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.’ But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment.”[7] Jesus is not changing the Law of God, but He is bringing greater clarity to it. Sin begins in the heart, and it is in the heart that sin will condemn a man.

This is the heart of the parable. The rich man almost certainly was a pillar of the community. He regularly attended the synagogue, but he did this to be seen by others. He heard the Word of God read and preached but he did not believe it. He trusted in the sight of his earthly blessings as the sign of his salvation. Even as he is burning in the torments of hell, the rich man does not beg for mercy or salvation, but commands Lazarus to serve him before insisting on a miracle for the salvation of his brothers. Abraham responds, “If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.”[8]

This Word of God was left on the lobes of his ears and did not enter his heart. Had it entered his heart, he would have shown mercy to poor Lazarus. One cannot hear the glorious news that while you deserve the eternal torments of hell, God has taken this punishment in your place and delivered to you eternal life and salvation, without it necessarily affecting his outward life.

It is this Word of God which delivers the one who has risen from the dead. It is this Word of God that finds its substance in the flesh of Christ, crucified for your sins and risen for your justification. It is this Word of God which enters your heart and enlightens to you the Scriptures. It is this Word of God by which the saints of the Old Testament are saved. It is this Word of God by which you are saved.

Hell is a very real and present danger for all mankind. It is a certainty for all who die without repentance and faith in Christ, but it is still a danger for those who attend the gathering of the Church. It is a danger because the sinful flesh still clings to all of us. The temptations to abandon the faith are many but we have the saints of old, like the beggar Lazarus, to show us how the mercy of God is worked in the world. There was not a single outward reason for Lazarus to thank God for his existence, yet he trusted in the Lord for salvation. At the last, he was born upon the arms of angels to heaven.

You will endure suffering, loss, and temptation. You will endure pain, sickness, and unless the Lord returns, you will die. All of these will be more difficult and harsher for you than the unbeliever because you know man was not created to suffer. However, you have a hope the world cannot give. You know that this suffering and pain is the chastisement of a loving God against sin. You know that loss and sickness are the crosses Christians bear in this world. You know that temptation and death are the wages of sin, but that Christ has defeated your death such that it is now only a portal to eternal life.

Take heart when you suffer for you have a God who can sympathize with your every suffering.[9] You have a God who bears your flesh and knows your pain. You also have brothers and sisters in the faith, stretching from Adam to our own little Judah, who have likewise endured the tribulations of this world but for whom the Lord has given eternal life.

Strengthened by this knowledge, be a light to those around you. If you have been given earthly blessings, share them. You do not need to be counted rich to have a friendly conversation. You do not need to daily feast sumptuously to treat a fellow man to lunch. You do not need an advanced degree in theology to comfort a woman mourning the loss of her father. All you need is Jesus, who has been given to you in the Word of God, by Moses and the Prophets.

In + Jesus’ name. Amen.

---

[1] Genesis 15:1-6.

[2] St. John Chrysostom, “Discourse I: A Homily delivered at Antioch on the Second Day of the Month,” Four Discourses, Chiefly on the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus, available at https://www.tertullian.org/fathers/chrysostom_four_discourses_01_discourse1.htm accessed June 17, 2022.

[3] Job 19:26-27.

[4] Psalm 16:10 (KJV)

[5] Isaiah 25:8-9.

[6] This thought comes from Gregory the Great, Homily 40 on the Gospels, beginning in section 3. https://sites.google.com/site/aquinasstudybible/home/luke-commentary/gregory-the-great-homily-40-on-the-gospels, accessed June 17, 2022.

[7] St. Matthew 5:21-22.

[8] St. Luke 16:31.

[9] Hebrews 4:15.

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.

---

[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.