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Text: Matthew 22:1-14 21st
Sunday after Pentecost Regrets Dear
friends in Christ: As I’m sure you all
know, that when circumstances are such that you are forced to decline an
invitation to a formal function of some kind, the basic rules of etiquette
require you to send your regrets:
that is, a note or card expressing that as much as you are honored by
the invitation, and how much you would truly enjoy being in attendance, you
regret your incapacity to be there.
Sending your regrets is the courteous thing to do: it let’s your would-be hosts know that you
acknowledge the invitation and that you’re grateful for it, and it tells them
not to expect you so that they are better able to plan for their dinner or reception
or whatever it is. When I was a military
officer, it seemed that there were many such official functions; and from time
to time I (or the family social secretary) had to send our regrets – though, as
I recall, more often than not, while attending these very formal and pompous
affairs, I had more cause to regret not sending regrets. But in the story that Jesus tells in today’s
Gospel selection, it’s quite the opposite:
those who regret the King’s gracious invitation find themselves truly regretting
their unwise choice. Today’s Gospel reading is part of a series of rather pointed discussions that take place in the Temple courts at Jerusalem early in the same week that Jesus was crucified. The religious leaders are arguing with Jesus, trying to find fault with him or ways to discredit him in the eyes of the people; but they aren’t having much luck. When they ask him trick questions that they think will trip him up, Jesus’ replies are always direct, insightful, and unexpected. The people asking the questions get the table turned on them. And when Jesus goes on the offense, he says things that practically explode with the fiery truth about how corrupt, misguided, and faithless the religious leaders really are. The parable
of the Wedding Banquet is a good example of one of these theological hand
grenades. But perhaps I should say the
“parables” of the Wedding Banquet, since that’s what the Evangelist does. He says, “Jesus spoke to them again in
parables”, and then follows with just one story – and I think the reason is
because the same story operates on several different
levels. It’s more than just one
parable. Let me explain: The facts
of the story are simple enough. A great
king is throwing a lavish wedding banquet in honor of his son, the crown
prince, who (obviously enough) is getting married – though we aren’t told
anything about the bride to be. A normal
wedding in this period called for a week of celebration: feasting, music, entertainment, and so on –
but this is a royal wedding, so it’s going to be all that and more. The king has previously extended special
invitations to a select few of his subjects.
And it’s safe to suppose that receiving such an invitation would have
been a very high honor. When the
invitation says, “His Royal Majesty requests the pleasure of your presence …”
you know two things: this is going to be
one party worth attending, and considering the favor the king is showing
you, it would be very insulting not to accept. So, when the happy day comes and
everything is ready, the king sends out his servants to tell those invited that
it’s time to come join the celebration.
But they don’t come. Some send
their regrets, “I’m too busy today”, and go off to do business as usual. Others are abusive to the king’s messengers –
some of them are wounded, others are killed.
Naturally, this gets the king pretty hot. He dispatches his army to destroy the killers
and burn their city; though it seems that those who merely turned down the invitation
are meant to be included among the casualties.
No distinction is made between those who are just rude and those who are
guilty of murder. Meanwhile, back at the palace, the
king has other problems. There’s a
wedding to be held and the banquet is ready:
the palace is decorated, the meat is roasting on the spits, the champagne
is chilled, and thousands of little delicacies that the royal cooks have for
days been toiling over are ready to be served.
This won’t wait. But more
importantly, the celebration the king intends to honor his son has no
guests. The king has been insulted by
the refusal of the invitees, yes, but he especially doesn’t want his son or the
bride to be humiliated because no one will come to their wedding. He directs his servants to go forth and
compel anyone they can find to come. The
servants practically sweep the streets to bring in everyone they run into –
good and bad, beggars and merchants, sick and whole; makes no difference: they all come to the banquet, and so the hall
is filled with guests. In the
immediate context in which Jesus tells this story, the application to his
hearers up to this point is quite clear.
Of all the people in the whole world, the Lord God honored Abraham and
his descendants by choosing them to be his special guests at the Messianic
banquet. They alone were given God’s
Holy Word through Moses and the prophets.
They alone were repeatedly the objects of his miraculous blessings and
rescues. They were the heirs of the
promise of the coming But they
couldn’t be bothered by the privilege.
They treated the King’s special invitation as an inconvenience at best,
but more often as a burden to avoid. They
didn’t even have the courtesy to regret the invitation. Usually they just ignored it and wandered off
and did their own thing. Over the
centuries, they insulted, attacked, and even killed the messengers the Lord
sent to remind them of the great things he was planning to do through
them. At long last, in the fullness of
time, the Lord sent John the Baptist to tell them that everything was now ready
… to come to the wedding feast – the By means of
the parable, Jesus is telling the religious authorities (and those who followed
them) that they are “those invited” who “did not deserve to come” to the
wedding. He describes them as
“unworthy”; and it’s important that we understand what he means. Obviously no one is worthy of the
King’s invitation in the sense that they are good or noble enough. Scripture is
clear: “All have sinned and fall short
of God’s glory.” Biblically, worthiness
has to do with an attitude of the heart that recognizes how sinful and
undeserving it is of God’s gracious invitation.
It’s an attitude of repentance – of deep regret – and humility
that comes to the Lord trusting in his mercy.
A worthy person, one who receives the invitation properly, is one who
knows his sinfulness and understands what an honor and blessing the invitation
to the wedding is, and so cherishes it.
This is why John, when he came, told people to get ready by calling them
to repentance. This was the one thing
the religious authorities refused to do.
They felt that they had no sin – no regrets – and so no need to repent. They thought they were doing quite fine all
on their own. They didn’t need to go to
the King’s party of grace and forgiveness.
That’s what made them unworthy of the King’s invitation. And so through the parable Jesus prophesies
to them about their future. “The King
sent his army to destroy those murderers and burned their city.” This prophecy was fulfilled about forty years
later when a Roman army came and leveled It’s at
this point that the parable has a broader application. The King means to honor his Son and wants the
banquet hall filled. So we see the
invitation to the wedding extended to all – to everyone who hears it. And the King is urging his servants to go far
and wide, searching every alley and byway, to find people to come. This, of course, is the Gospel going out into
the world, inviting all people to come into the Church of Jesus Christ. Here is the Great Commission hidden in a
parable. All people are being invited to
come join the King – the Lord God – in the banquet he has prepared to honor his
Son. And what a
banquet it is! Here in the Church is
where the King and his Son are truly present to receive us. Here they honor us as their guests. And they have special favors to bestow on
us: first they treat us to a new birth
in Holy Baptism, by which they clothe us with Christ. That’s the wedding garment we receive when we
come to the door. He purchased it for us
when he died for our sins on the cross.
And as we enter in repentance, we put on the white robe of Christ’s
righteousness—and we renew that royal wedding outfit every time we come again
in repentance. Here also the banquet is
laid out before us: a rich feast that
the Lord himself prepared. “The best of
meats and the finest of aged wines” Isaiah tells us. It is his life giving Word that sustains us
in the faith. And here is where the
wedding takes place – where two become one.
Christ, the Groom, stands at the altar and gives himself completely,
body, blood, and Spirit to his Bride—and that would be us: the Church.
Here, kneeling at the rail, we give ourselves to him. And communing together, we become one with
each other and with him. You see, this whole thing is like
a Cinderella story. The wedding invitation
comes to you as you sit in the wretched filth of your sin. It seems too good to be true, but it is: you have a royal invitation signed by the
King himself. You’ve nothing fit to
wear, and you show up in your dirty rags feeling ashamed of yourself, as well
you should; but it’s not a problem. No
there’s no fairy Godmother in this story – there is someone much better: the Lord himself. He cleans you up, clothes you, feeds
you, and suddenly you’re surprised to find out that you are not just an honored
guest – you are the Bride. And whereas
according to the story, “they lived happily ever after”; you get to live
happily forever after. But this is not true for everyone
who shows up at the wedding. In the
parable, as the King strolls around greeting his guests, he finds a fellow who
is not clothed in a wedding garment. Who
would this be? Well, again, if we
understand that the wedding garment is Christ’s righteousness that he gives us
when we come to him in repentance, then this is a person in the Church
who feels no need to repent. This person
has no regrets. He is as self-righteous
as the religious authorities that Jesus condemned earlier in the parable. He thinks his own goodness is enough to get
by on. “I’m not perfect,” he thinks to
himself, “but I’m passable.” The King,
however, sees only the soiled rags he is wearing. And it’s a grave insult to the King to be in
the Church and thinking that you don’t need the forgiveness of Jesus
Christ. You are saying in effect he
didn’t need send his Son to die for you – that his great sacrifice means
nothing. This is an offense to both the
King and to his Son, and gets the offender hurled headlong into the deepest
darkness where there is wailing and gnashing of teeth. I’m guessing I don’t have to tell you what
that means. In that place there will be
nothing but regrets … And so we see in the parable of
the Wedding Banquet several different applications. There is a severe word of rebuke for the
religious leaders of Jesus’ day, there is some wonderful news for the rest of
the world as the Kingdom of God is opened to all – that’s especially good news
for us; and yet there is a sharp word of warning to us who do answer the King’s
gracious invitation. Nor is it the only one, because this parable has yet another application. You see, now we are the ones holding the King’s invitation; we are his chosen guests very much like the Jews were before Christ’s first coming. And we await the day when the Bridegroom will come again and the wedding will take place in its ultimate sense. But for the time being, the Lord gives us opportunities to participate in the wedding banquet, not in its fullness, but in a very real sense by faith. Each week we have here a foretaste of the heavenly banquet to come. The King and his Son are here. He cleanses, clothes, and feeds us. He unites himself with us. But it doesn’t happen if we don’t answer the invitation. So there is a basic Third Commandment application to be made. It’s easy to condemn the Jews for
turning their backs on God’s gracious call, but how often are we tempted (or
more than just tempted) on a weekly basis to decline the invitation
ourselves? “I’m too busy.” “I’ve got other important things to do.” “I don’t have any time.” “I was there last week … surely it’s okay to
miss.” All such sentiments betray the
truth that we don’t fully understand or appreciate what it is the Lord does for
us here. When we regret his invitation,
we are showing that we have no regrets about the way we have been living – that
we think that we don’t need what the Lord offers here. My friends, this is the wedding
banquet the Lord invites you to attend. And you may be thinking, “Don’t
flatter yourself, Pastor. I’ve been to
lots of banquets, and this doesn’t seem like one to me. Same old liturgy, same old hymns, same old
stories, and same old boring sermon; if this is what you call a banquet, I’ll
pass.” That’s one way to look at it; but
it’s the way that shows no faith and no understanding. Yes, I’ll admit it’s the same old stuff – but
that’s only because you are the same old sinner who needs God’s grace. And by God’s grace all the same old precious
truths and promises that we here read and sing about apply to you. What’s new each week is the forgiveness
Christ speaks to you. What’s renewed is
your spirit as his word dwells within you and you grow in deeper knowledge and
appreciation of what he has done to save you.
What’s refreshed and recharged is your strength and will to serve
him. If you see your need, you will
never have cause to regret coming to the banquet. So may the
Lord keep us mindful of our great need, that we may continually receive his
gracious invitation with joy – and in life regret nothing but our sin, that in
eternity we may regret nothing at all.
In the holy name of Jesus. Amen. Soli Deo
Gloria! |
