Trinity 20 – Matthew 22.1-14

Note: Martin Justus Naumann was baptized during the Divine Service today.

Why wouldn’t you go? The king is throwing the wedding reception to end all receptions. He is serving the choicest cuts of meat and the finest of wines. It is a royal wedding, a prince and his bride will be married, and there will be a feast of rich foods; the king is throwing open the royal cellar, and cups will be overflowing with the vintage normally drunk only in the palace. It is the opportunity of a thousand lifetimes, and you are to be an honored guest. Why wouldn’t you go? Who turns down an invitation like that?

Some are rebels who hate the king. Their allegiance is not to the king, but to another. Their bumper stickers boast the name of a usurper who claims he is this world’s true, rightful king. These rebels embrace his ethic of kill or be killed, of survival of the fittest, of take what you can get and look out for yourself and maybe your family.

But most of those who refuse the invitation have simply stopped believing that the king’s invitation means anything. They do not think the invitation is really for them, they do not think the king means them well – or maybe they no longer believe there even is a king. He hasn’t been seen in a long, long while, and people speak the king’s name in anger when they stub their toes or see their stock portfolios plummeting. Why bother with a king who seems so insignificant?

And so they make light of the King’s invitation. They don’t go, because they think it will be better not to go. There are more important things to do, more exciting things to see. They are simply too busy.

Is there any other reason not to go? Yes, one other. You see, the invitation had an uncomfortable word on it. “Repent.” This king’s servants have let it be known that he is not happy with the people’s greed and selfishness, their lying and gossiping, their failure to honor and respect their spouses. His invitation includes an amnesty – but going will mean facing up to the king’s word. It will mean coming out of the darkness into the light.

And that will mean a destruction of idols, a change of mind from cherished beliefs and values. It will mean admitting they were wrong, rejecting their past reasonings and experiences. That’s simply too high a price.

So this king’s invitation doesn’t seem worth it. The son for whom the marriage feast is being held, they see him naked and hanging on a tree, in disgrace, shame, humiliation. Some king, who can’t even protect his own son! And the followers and friends of this king’s son – they are hated, poor, hungry, and some are put to death just like the king’s son. Who wants any part of that? 

So they stay with their homes and businesses, with their wives and mistresses, for there is where they think it is safe. It’s comfortable, and what they know. They make what seems the sensible, practical choice. And they are destroyed. Not only the rebels, but also the indifferent. Their city is set ablaze, and not one stone is left atop another.

Now this is no mere story. It’s a parable, meaning that you’re in it. It’s a story that tells us about something real, something that involves us. Jesus tells us what it’s about: “The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son.” The story is about heaven, and the invitation is God’s call to repentance and offer of forgiveness. The invitation happens when I preach to you. The invitation happens when the Scriptures are read. The invitation happens when you invite someone to Divine Service, when you invite someone to Catechesis, when you have opportunity to confess the faith to your family, friends and neighbors.

You don’t accept the invitation by showing up here, although you should. You don’t accept the invitation by contributing a percentage of your income to the church, although you should. you don’t accept the invitation by loving your neighbor and obeying the Ten Commandments – although you should. When the King says to you, “Come to My Son’s Wedding,” He is calling you to repentance. When the King says to you, “Come to My Son’s Wedding,” He is saying, “Turn away from the idols in which you trusted, the things that cannot save you, and turn away from your sins and come to me. All is forgiven, and I offer you not only mercy, amnesty, forgiveness – I also offer you life in My kingdom, not just as slaves or subjects, but as My royal sons and daughters. All that I have is yours.”

“But they made light of it.” Why? Again we have to ask, Why would they not accept such an invitation? And the only answer is pride. How has that problem—the problem of pride—manifested itself in your life? What are you hanging onto, not letting the Lord’s Word and love have its way with you? What sins are you clinging to, refusing to let go? What foolishness takes the place of prayer, meditation, and the exercise of a godly life? In what ways are you making light of the King’s invitation, neglecting the Lord’s Word? It is written, “How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?”

Why have you spent your money for what does not satisfy? Why have some of you withheld your money from the Lord? Why have you made light of the Lord’s invitation, and preoccupied yourselves with the things that will not last?

Those who made neglected the king’s salvation were destroyed, because, He said, “They were not worthy.” How is this? Was not everyone invited? Why then does it say some were not worthy? Because worthiness is not found in yourself. Think of the Prodigal Son. He confessed to his father that he was not worthy to be called his father’s son. Likewise, John the Baptist acknowledged that he was not worthy to do a slave’s job for Jesus – he was not worthy to undo the tie on His sandals. And that is also our confession. We are not worthy to be Christians, not worthy to commune, not worthy of eternal life.

So what is worthiness? Worthiness to be in the kingdom of God, or in the language of the parable, worthiness to come to the wedding feast consists in seeing that you aren’t worthy. Worthiness is believing the King, who invites you because of His goodness, not yours.

So in the parable, the King sends His servants out again, to invite everyone outside the city, “Both bad and good.” The wicked are invited to the feast, as much as those who are outwardly good. The invitation to the feast does not consist of anything in us; it is only by the grace of the host, by the kindness of the king, that anyone has entrance to the feast.

That means that the invitation is for you. If you are in the depths of despair, the invitation is for you. If you are in agony over your sins, the invitation is for you. If you know you are not worthy to attend, the invitation is for you. If you are thirsting for relief, the King invites you, “Come to the waters.” If you have no righteousness of your own, but hunger and thirst for righteousness, the King invites you, “Come and eat.” If you see that you are a sinner, the King invites you, “Come and be forgiven.” If you have been living as a rebel, the King invites you, “Come and be pardoned.”

And those who enter the wedding hall are clothed with a wedding garment, supplied by the King. What is that wedding garment? Holy Baptism. As it is written, “As many of you as were baptized into Christ have been clothed with Christ.” This morning, Martin Justus Naumann was clothed with the wedding garment, the garment of salvation. In earlier times, the church symbolized this gift by putting a white garment on the naked body of the newly-baptized. While we don’t use it, I’ve left that part of the Baptismal Rite printed in Immanuel’s ordo, to keep it in the memory of the church. It reads, “Receive the white, holy, and spotless robe which thou shalt bring before the judgment seat of Christ so as to receive eternal life. Peace be with thee.” The practice of baptizing naked began very early in the life of the church. It represented casting off the old garments of filth, of sin, and being reborn in the waters. Naked I came from my mother’s womb, but coming out of the womb of Holy Baptism, I am clothed with the garments of salvation.

So when the man in today’s parable rejects the wedding garment, he is rejecting his Baptism, turning away from the righteousness of Christ, seeking a righteousness that is his own. It is as if he said, “I am a good person, and I have a right to be here!” instead of saying, “I am a bad person, a sinner; I have no right to be at this feast, but the King is astonishingly gracious, and He has invited me here, and given me clothes to wear that I could never afford.” The man without the wedding garment has rejected the graciousness of the invitation. He presumes that he is present on his own merit, and so does not need what the king offers.

We all are in danger of falling into such thinking. And where does it lead? To darkness, the outermost place of despair, called Hell. is outer darkness – to be bound and cast away from everything that is joy and light. That is not what the Lord wants to give you. He wants you at the wedding supper of His Son, the marriage feast of the Lamb in His kingdom which has no end. Put aside your pride, and confess you have nothing to bring, nothing to offer, nothing to be except repentant. Your worthiness consists in acknowledging your unworthiness. Repent, and return to the LORD your God. He is gracious and will abundantly pardon. 

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