Invited to the Wedding Feast

Welcome to the teaching ministry of Kungsvinger Lutheran Church. Kungsvinger is a beacon for the gospel of Jesus Christ and is located on the plains of northwestern

Minnesota. We proclaim Christ and Him crucified for our sins and salvation by grace through faith alone.

And now, here's a message from Pastor Chris Roseberg. The Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew, the 22nd chapter.

Again, Jesus spoke to them in parables saying, The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son, and sent his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come.

Again, he sent other servants saying, Tell those who are invited, see I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, everything is ready, come to the wedding feast.

But they paid no attention, and went off, one to his farm, another to his business, while the rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them.

The king was angry, and sent his troops, and destroyed those murderers, and burnt their city. Then he said to his servants,

The wedding feast is ready, but those invited were not worthy. Go therefore to the main roads, and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find.

And those servants went out into the roads, and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good.

So the wedding hall was filled with guests. But when the king came to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment, and said to him,

Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment? And he was speechless. Then the king said to the attendants,

Bind him hand and foot, and cast him into outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

For many are called, but few are chosen. This is the gospel of the Lord. In the name of Jesus.

Amen. Now you notice our text today takes a very decided turn in the direction of the eschatological.

Something regarding the last days. The big blowout party at the end of the world, or at the beginning of the new world.

The answer is, yeah, it's both, if you would think of it that way. And you're going to note, it's a wedding feast, and we get a glimpse of the menu.

The menu includes fatted calves that have been slaughtered, oxen that have been slaughtered.

Isaiah puts it this way, a feast of rich food, a feast of well -aged wine, a food full of morrow.

Well, you're going to note here, this wedding is not being put on by women.

Dudes are the ones who've put this all together. You'll note that the emphasis is on the groom, not the bride.

So we're talking about a wedding where there's barbecue, there's wine, the groom is the focus.

There's no discussion here about what colors they've chosen for the wedding or anything like this. Nothing like that.

So this is kind of a fascinating thing, and keep that in mind, because nowadays, everyone's out there saying, down with the patriarchy.

So if that's your slogan, you're not going to be thrilled with this particular wedding feast. It has a decidedly male slant to it.

That's kind of the point. So that being the case, let's work our way through this text, this amazing text, and consider the implications.

And we're going to frame this by way of law and gospel. We're going to frame this particular parable using the third commandment.

Third commandment. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Luther asks the question, Vasa Stas, what does this mean?

Well, the answer is, we should fear and love God so that we do not despise preaching and his word, but gladly hear and learn it.

So that's going to be our commandment that will kind of frame the law here. And we'll work our way through this.

So again, Jesus spoke to them in parables. He said, the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son and sent his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come.

Now you're going to note, in this particular parable, we're going to see an allusion to mentioned in type and shadow and in parabolic symbols, the ancient people of Israel, people who are genetically related to Abraham.

And you'll note that in chapter 22 of the gospel of Matthew, it's past Palm Sunday, and there's just this ongoing beating of heads.

And again, the irony is, is that you have the Pharisees, you have the temple leaders, you have the

Sadducees, all of them claiming to worship the one true God, and there he is standing in front of them in human flesh, performing great signs and wonders.

And the only thing they are focusing in on is how they can trap him in his words so that they can kill him.

It's a weird thing, right? You cannot reason with unbelief. That is the dangers of unbelief, the blindness of it, if you would, of false religion and idolatry.

So you'll note, the A -listers, the children of Israel, those descended from Abraham, they are the first ones to get the invitation.

They are the first ones, and they wouldn't come. That's odd.

So again, he sent other servants saying, tell those who are invited, let them know what's on the menu.

I've prepared my dinner, my oxen, my fat calves have been slaughtered, everything is ready.

And think of it this way, you get an invitation from a king, I don't know if you've noticed this, but royals have a tendency, when they put out invitations, there's a little bit of fanfare that goes along with that.

The paper is really nice, the ink, the best calligraphers, right? Maybe even the ink itself may be laced with gold to just kind of make the point, because we're talking about a king who's inviting you.

And you'll note that in all of our fairy tales, when a king invites the people of the land, people to come to a wedding feast or to a party or to a ball, everyone's like,

I gotta go, I gotta be in the palace. These people, no, no, too busy.

So they paid no attention. They went off, one to his farm, another to his business, while the rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and then killed them.

Which makes no sense. I would like to invite you to the wedding feast being put on by our king.

And their response is, I ain't kill you, you dead! And then they killed him. It just doesn't make sense.

Well, now, things take a decidedly dark turn, because the king, rightfully so, is angry at how those whom he sent to invite people to the wedding feast were treated.

And the reference there, who were these people who were extending the invitation? Well, these were the prophets of old.

These were the prophets of old. And so you'll note here, they were sending out an invitation to the wedding feast.

Well, what does the invitation really sound like, though, by the way? You know what it sounds like? Repent. Repent.

Repent of your sin. Repent of your idolatry. Repent of your wickedness. Repent of all of your worthless ways.

Be forgiven and pardoned. That's what the invitation sounds like. Well, they treated those inviters, those prophets of old, shamefully, and even killed them.

So the king was angry, and you'll note that Jesus Christ, the Son of God Himself, was killed by these same folks.

The ones who killed the prophets also killed Jesus. So he's angry, and it says he sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city.

This is a little bit of a veiled reference, if you would, to 70 AD, when God will send the Roman legions to Israel, who will then besiege the city of Jerusalem, and destroy it, and tear down the temple, and burn their city.

That's exactly what happened. So that kind of leaves the next bit of it, and you'll note that there's a group to.

Then he said to his servants, well, the wedding feast is ready. Those invited were not worthy.

So go, therefore, to the main roads, and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find.

All right, the A -listers didn't want to come. That's fine. We're still having the party anyway. We've already slaughtered the fatted calf.

The food is ready. It's time to bring in and fill the wedding hall with guests, so you go and find anybody you can.

And now this is a description of, well, the Christian church, right? And you're going to note the

New Testament believers, New Testament Israel, we, well, we're not exactly described in the best terms.

So you'll note the servants went out into the roads, and they gathered all whom they found, both good and bad.

You know, that guy who was running the shoe shop over down the street, you know, the respectable business guy, he was given the invitation.

He came. Well, also the town drunk, he was given the invitation. He came. And we'll talk about the meth heads and the crackheads and the prostitutes and the losers and the floozies, and, well, they were all invited, too.

And guess what? They showed up. So this is a picture of the Christian church. This is a picture of the church.

We're on the B list, if you would, but yet we were also invited. Now let me pause there for a second.

I want you to consider this. In the ancient world, at least in ancient Israel, you were either a

Jew or you were a Gentile. Gentile is a catch -all kind of junk drawer for everybody else, right?

Has the invitation gone out to everybody on planet Earth? Yeah. Everybody.

Well, that rules out Calvinism, so don't tell JD Hall I said that, right?

That rules out Calvinism. The invitation goes out to everybody. And so what ends up happening is that now the wedding hall is filled with guests.

And then we get this strange little bit. When the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there was a man who had no wedding garment.

Say what? Say what? You're going to know. Nobody had time to change clothes or anything like that.

They got the invitation, immediately started heading off to the palace. They didn't have time to change clothes, so what ends up happening at this particular wedding?

Well, the king himself provides the wedding garments for the guests. You know, the men show up, here's an

Armani suit, and we have a tailor who will make sure that this is made to fit you perfectly.

You women, you got beautiful dresses here, pick the color that you like, and now we'll make sure that that fits you as well.

They are provided with the best clothing. What is this a picture of? Well, remember our introit?

Our introit. Our introit from Psalm 146 verse 2, it says this,

I will greatly rejoice in Yahweh. My soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with garments of salvation.

He has covered me with the robe of righteousness. So how on earth does somebody get into the wedding hall without a wedding garment on?

And consider the disrespect that this fellow has for the king. He's there for his own purposes.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I know you provided me with wedding garments, but yeah, listen,

I've got my own things to do here. And so he continues on at the wedding in his street clothes.

And so the king said to him, buddy, that's the better translation of the Greek there, buddy, how'd you get in here without a wedding garment?

Now, I know the ESV says he was speechless, but just a straight translation of the Greek here is he was silent.

He wasn't made to be silent, he was silent. In other words, listen, listen, I'm not really interested in talking to you, just kind of ignore the king, just remain silent.

And the king said, that's it, bind him hand and foot and cast him out into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Many are called, few are chosen. So what are we to make of all of this? Well, we've already made it clear that the call, the invitation is the call to repentance and the forgiveness of sins.

And you'll note that in the divine service, especially those services where we partake of the

Lord's Supper, it is over and again stated in our liturgy that the Lord's Supper is a foretaste of the feast to come.

You see, the invitation has already gone out. And every time we here come and join together for the divine service, we are gathering for a sampling, if you would, of the feast that is to come.

And in a way, practicing, practicing for the final invitation which goes out, where you either respond in faith or you respond in indifference or violence, or you have your own agenda.

You see, again, what does the commandment say? Remember the Sabbath day, keep it holy, to fear, love, and trust in God so that we do not despise preaching and his word.

You see, when we are inattentive to the word of God, when we have more important things to do on the weekend than attend the divine service to hear the word of God, that's in a way the same attitude as some of the

A -listers had when they said, yeah, yeah, yeah, I got other things to do. I got to take care of my farm.

I got other business or things like that. Or when the invitation of the gospel arrives and you're angry and you mistreat and shamefully persecute those who deliver the message of the great news of the forgiveness of sins in Jesus Christ, we're a lot like the

A -listers. You'll note that's the case. As for this fellow who shows up to the wedding feast without a wedding garment, that's like the people who attend church because, well, they think of it like a country club or a community center.

Or they think of the church as a place where we gather together and the most important thing that we do at church is maybe share a little orange juice or coffee in a bar between the divine service and the

Sunday school. The most important thing is that community building stuff. Or the fellow who thinks that church is a great place where he can network his business.

He doesn't have any faith in Jesus. He's not covered in the robe of righteousness. He's there for his own purposes.

He's disrespecting the king who has invited him and disrespecting the whole purposes for which the feast is being put on in the first place.

And then when you kind of look at it with the third commandment in mind, you recognize, you know, here's the issue with this, is that each and every one of us are still tempted along these lines.

Each and every one of us are tempted to respond to the kind invitation of God the

Father. To the wedding feast of the Lamb with indifference. To be inattentive to hearing his word.

To think we've got more important things to do on a Saturday or a Sunday. More important things than study his word and gladly hear and learn.

You know, I mean, after all, you know, if I just show up to church, you know, every few weeks, you know, maybe at Christmas and Easter, you know, that's all that matters.

You know, because I don't want to be so heavenly minded that I'm no earthly good. You can hear this.

This is the internal dialogue that each and every one of us are tempted to have. And that's the problem.

That's the issue. And you'll note that Christ himself, he himself has bled and died for our indifference to his word.

Indifference to the invitation or even anger at the call to repentance. He is also, he has also bled and died for our disrespecting of him and God the

Father in all the ways in which we have, well, come to church not to hear his word, but for our own agendas.

And he is the one who went to the cross and carried our sins upon him. And God punished him in our place.

Jesus was sent into darkness. From twelve in the afternoon until three at his death, the sun did not give its light while Christ bled and died for these sins of ours.

All of our breaking of the third commandment and other commandments, Christ was in the darkness, languishing, suffering, bleeding, dying, so that we would not have to be sent into outer darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth without end.

And so you'll note then that this is again a call to repentance. A call for us to repent, to acknowledge our sinfulness and cry out to God in mercy and note he will give it.

You see, as Isaiah said regarding what is coming,

God himself will swallow up on this mountain, on Mount Zion, the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations.

He will swallow up death forever. And the Lord God, he himself will wipe away tears from all faces.

And the reproach of his people, he will take away from all of the earth. The Lord Yahweh himself has spoken.

And it will be said on that day, behold, this is our God. We have waited for him so that he might save us.

You see, along with the wedding feast of the Lamb, we finally get to see God with our own eyes.

And on that day, that great day, the day we are waiting for now, the day that we partake in a foretaste of today, finally we will see

God face to face, that he might save us. This is the Lord. We have waited for him, so let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.

Christ has been crucified so that we can. I don't think

I can end off on a better note than that. In the name of Jesus. Amen. If you would like to support the teaching ministry of Kungsvinger Lutheran Church, you can do so by sending a tax -free donation to Kungsvinger Lutheran Church, 15950 470th

Avenue NW, Oslo, MN 56744. And again, that address is

Kungsvinger Lutheran Church, 15950 470th

Avenue NW, Oslo, MN 56744. We thank you for your support.

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