A Sermon...Trinity XX - October 6, 2013 [preached at St. Peter Lutheran Church Indianapolis]

Sermon Text: Matthew 22:1-14

Sermon Title: The Invitation

I. Left to ourselves we are clothed in filthy rags.
II. Through Christ we are clothed in wedding garments.

THROUGH THE CROSS WE ARE CLOTHED IN CHRIST JESUS AND HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS AND ALLOWED INTO THE FEAST OF THE BRIDEGROOM AND THE BRIDE.

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

Grace, mercy and peace from God our Father and our LORD and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

The text for today's sermon is taken from the Gospel lesson just read.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

We've all done it at one time or another. We've been invited to lunch with a coworker and then decided something else was more important. Or we've been invited over for coffee at a friend's house and at the last minute thought there was something more important to do. Or we've been invited to a child's recital only to find that something at work was more important. 

Or we've traipsed out to the mail box months ago to find tucked among the long envelopes of bills and catalogs and Little Caesar's coupons something decidedly different than the rest of the mail – a more squarish-shaped, highly decorative envelope, one adorned with calligraphy and gold embossing, one that has a bit of a heft to it – a wedding invitation.

We take it inside and open it and find the usual fare – the actual invite, a small piece of tissue paper, maybe some ribbon, a card and envelope – already addressed and stamped to RSVP that we will be attending this high feast for the blessed couple.

We set it on our desk making a mental note that it's under the lamp, beside the pencil jar, between the water bill and the grocery list for Saturday – remembering at the time, “I have to get that back to so-and-so by such-and-such a date.” And then it is forgotten or neglected until it's too late and we've missed the wedding.

I.

Today's text deals with a similar situation – only in this case it is infinitely more important and eternally more devastating if forgotten or neglected.

In the previous chapter to our Gospel lesson Jesus enters the Temple – having just cleansed it two days prior – and He is immediately challenged by the chief priests and elders asking about His authority to do and say what He has done and said.

Jesus begins to speak to them in parables. First He tells of the two sons who are told to go to work in the vineyard (Matthew 21:28-32). One says no but then goes and works and the other says yes and then doesn't go out to work.

The second parable Jesus tells is about the tenants of the vineyard who have beaten and stoned the Landlord's servants, and then when the Landlord sends His own Son to them, they kill Him (Matthew 21:33-46).

In the last parable that Jesus tells – our text today – Jesus speaks of a wedding of a King who throws a wedding feast for His Son and His Bride (Matthew 22:1-14). Those who were invited have found other things to occupy themselves – they don't have time for a wedding! So the King sends out servants to invite any and all who would come be a part of His Son's wedding feast.

In all three parables Jesus is speaking to the chief priests and elders, the scribes and the Pharisees and Sadducees – in other words Jesus is speaking to GOD'S chosen people! And what He says to them is wake up before it's too late! They are – in each of the parables – the son who said yes, but then didn't go out to work, the tenants who keep killing the servants and then the Son of the Landlord, and then the invited guests who were too busy to be bothered with this wedding feast.

These servants whom the tenants beat and stone, and the servants whom the original invited guests from our text today kill and treat shamefully – these servants are the very prophets of Israel whom the Israelites themselves beat and killed.

In these three parables Jesus tells this brood of vipers that the Kingdom will be given to prostitutes and tax collectors, to Gentiles who will produce fruits unlike the sterile fig tree Jesus cursed in Matthew 21, to complete strangers out on the roads who will be brought to the feast led by the Holy Spirit of the LORD. These will be those who will inherit the Vineyard, these will inherit the Kingdom of the LORD, these will inherit the true promised land – Heaven itself!

But before we get too caught up in our pride and begin to think we are so much better than they – let us take a long gaze into the mirror at ourselves and begin attacking the log in our own eye.

We too have been invited to this feast and whether we are honest with ourselves or not, the mirror on the wall doesn't lie – it shows clear and true what we are. Sinners.

For we too set aside the invitation. And we know better – as did the Pharisees. We know we should be at church on Sundays. We know we should read our Bibles daily. We know we should be in Bible study on a regular basis. We know we should be setting aside time to pray. We know we should love the LORD our God with all of our heart and soul and mind. We know we should love our neighbor as our self. So did the Pharisees!

And just like the Pharisees – we do what we want versus what the LORD wants. We love ourselves way more than the LORD. We despise preaching and His Word. We lie, cheat, steal and lust. And if we love ourselves more than the LORD, what chance does our neighbor have?

We are poor. We our miserable. And we are certainly sinners – by what we have done and what we have left undone. We stand in the middle of the wedding feast without – as St. Matthew writes – a wedding garment. We might as well put our hands behind our backs and our feet together and wait to be bound and thrown out into the outer darkness amongst the weeping and gnashing of teeth. Left to ourselves, left to our own pitiful attempts at self-preservation, left to redeem ourselves, this hell in the outer darkness would be our lot – for eternity.

II.

Thanks be to GOD this is not the case! Thanks be to GOD He had a plan of reclamation, redemption, and salvation! For the LORD sent out His Son to do exactly what He was doing that Holy Week – to preach and teach and even go the way of the Cross. Yes, the Son of Man must be lifted up. And just like the serpent lifted up by Moses in the wilderness for the healing of Israel, so Jesus lifted up on the Cross heals you, and it heals me.

“Behold the Lamb of GOD who takes away the sin of the world,” [John 1:29] shouted John upon seeing Jesus. The innocent Lamb laid upon the Cross for us, for the forgiveness of our sins.

And where do we receive this forgiveness? Look no further than the Cross of Christ. There the Word become flesh is nailed to the tree – water and blood pour from His side. There captured in this picture of our Savior, Jesus Christ, the Son of GOD, we have the only place to find the forgiveness of sins.

St. John writes in his first epistle...

For there are three that testify: the Spirit and the water and the blood; and these three agree. [1 John 5:7-8]

So here in this pulpit where the Word is rightly preached, we have the Spirit – the One who inspired the writing of the Holy Scriptures, the very Word of GOD. In this font we have the life giving waters of Holy Baptism. On this altar we have the very body and blood of our Savior – all three for the forgiveness of sins.

These three testify – the Spirit, the water and the blood – that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living GOD. Just like Adam and Eve were clothed in the skins of animals sacrificed for their well being – through the Word and Baptism and Communion we are clothed with Christ's sacrifice on the Cross for our well being – truly for our forgiveness. It is in Jesus that we find we are not without a wedding garment.

It's by design that the Church calls for a an outer white garment for the infant (or adult) in Holy Baptism. And at the end of life a white pall is placed over the casket before it proceeds into the church for the funeral. These represent Christ and His righteousness – earned in a perfect life, death and resurrection – covering us completely from the beginning of our life in Him to the end of our earthly life.

Not too far down the road we will begin the season of the Church year called Advent and in the beginning couple of weeks we will set our eyes – not on the Baby Jesus born in Bethlehem – but on the resurrected Jesus and His second coming. St. John writes in the book of Revelation...

The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels. [Revelation 3:5]

These are the white garments given us in our faith in Baptism and in death in Christ – these are our wedding garments. May Christ's return find us ever watchful, ever vigilant, ever ready by the means of His Holy Spirit giving us our very faith and steadfastness in Christ Jesus. Amen.


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

The peace of the LORD – which surpasses all understanding – will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our LORD. Amen.

+ Soli Deo Gloria +