Vicar Christopher Gillespie
Immanuel Lutheran Church of Frankentrost
Saginaw, Michigan
Trinity 20 (October 21st, 2007)
Text: Matthew 22:1-14
Let us pray:
Almighty God, through the death of You Son You have destroyed sin and death. Through His resurrection You have restored innocence and eternal life. So, we who are delivered from the power of the devil may live in Your kingdom. Grant us grace that we may believe this with our whole heart. Enable us - always- to praise and thank You steadfastly in this faith, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. (Martin Luther, 1483-1546.)
Just last week we joined in fellowship to celebrate the 160th anniversary of Immanuel Evangelical Lutheran of Frankentrost.
Christ benefited us with a festive divine service.
His chosen servant spoke his Word, filling our ears with his good gifts.
We continued to receive God’s bounteous gifts around the dinner table.
The church is a fellowship of faithful believers who join together around Christ.
Here He bestows upon us His grace and favor which we share with those around us.
The church Herself continually gathers around her bridegroom at the altar, joining with Him in the marriage feast of the Lamb.
Today we join with the all the saints and angels, proclaiming His name and all He has done for us.
We gather together with all the heavenly throng for the foretaste of the feast to come.
Jesus describes this feast.
It is a spiritual feast.
It is a wedding feast for King’s Son.
The church is His bride.
The Father arranged the marriage from the foundation of the world.
Christ the bridegroom has joined with her in Holy Matrimony.
The Father promised the Her a groom in the garden as the seed who would crush the serpent’s head.
The Father is no ordinary King.
It is no ordinary wedding feast.
She is no ordinary bride for she is many in number.
His first invitation to join in marriage to His son is flatly denied.
So He sends other messengers, inviting them once again to join in the feast.
They prophesy that the banquet will be a once-in-a-lifetime event.
They prophesy that it will be a joyful wedding.
Shamefully, the prospective bride rejects their King again.
Despite the sweet smell of fattened oxen and calves, the gift is spurned.
Despite the benefit of marriage, the Father and Son are turned down.
Some of the throng go about their work, whether farming or business.
Others abuse these messengers.
They take advantage of them and kill them.
The Law of the land is to obey the King.
Who would deny a feast, much less an invite from the King?
It is ludicrous.
They must be out of their mind.
Yet, they deny the King’s edict.
They cast off his banquet promise.
They reject His Son as their spouse.
At this the King was exceedingly angry.
His party is free.
His food is tasty.
His son is the most eligible bachelor.
How can they resist?
I offer reprieve from their labors.
I offer rest for the weary.
I offer the best of my gifts.
They reject those whom I sent.
They reject my Son.
They reject Me.
In His righteous wrath, the Father destroys all those who deny Him.
For He is the King, the Almighty, the Creator and the Judge.
He offers all good things if only they would put their trust in Him.
If only they would rely on Him and His Word.
Without Him, there is no work.
Without Him, there is no life.
Without Him, there is no marriage and no feast.
Her works merited Her nothing.
His election of Her merits her everything.
He has not cast Her off.
In His pursuit of a bride for His Son, He knew that some would deny Him.
His courtship continues despite rejection.
His grace is unswerving.
His call is persistent.
He will have a bride for His Son.
He cares little about their appearance.
In His grace, he calls all, ragged, bruised, or ugly, to join as His bride at the wedding feast.
His servants go into the whole world, gathering all to Him.
The whole community is invited to join as His Son’s bride and to feast.
There is no distinction.
In faith they come.
Both bad and good fill his banquet hall.
The Father gave over His flesh and blood, His Son to the most unlikely of brides.
She hails from no royal family.
She is no Rockefeller or Hilton.
Mud and grime defile her flesh, hiding her original lustre.
Her clothes are ragged, ripped apart by skill-less tailors.
She feasts upon slop, leftovers discarded from those around her.
Her flesh is diseased with viral infections she picked up from her many flirtations and midnight rendezvous.
Her body’s many members fight amongst themselves.
Her path is crooked, guided by two feet who want to be the left.
She has no dowry.
The pearls she once had have been cast to the swine.
She has no hidden talent, at least, not one she should do in public.
She is best hidden away from judging eyes of the world around her.
She is filthy from her disobedience of all she knows to be right and true.
What is the Father thinking?!
She does not deserve His Son as her groom.
Why would he arrange a marriage for His Son, the prince, with such a woman?
This marriage will only result in shame for both the King and His Son.
Despite Her failings, the King remains undaunted.
His feast is for Her.
All Her failings, foibles, flaws are taken upon His Son.
The Prince suffers all for Her sake.
His body is bruised by Her reputation.
His body is ravaged by Her disease.
Her thorns-in-the-flesh pierce His head.
Her unbelief pierces His side.
The Prince suffers and dies at the hand of His bride-to-be.
In His death He defeats all that torments Her.
In His death, the King’s Son is joined to Her.
His life is given over to Her.
The Father joins Her in union with His Son, the prince of peace.
In this truly mystical bond, She is clothed in her bridegroom.
She and He become one.
Where the King once saw ruin and decay, now He sees instead the righteousness of His Son.
The bride was by all accounts unsuitable.
In this blessed bond, she is purified.
She is sanctified.
She is made the faithful bride.
By eating and drinking, they share in each other.
This meal is a fleshy meal.
She joins with Him in His body and blood.
Her sacramental eating consumes Her old self, making Her His.
By His blood, forgiveness is poured upon her.
By His blood, absolution is pronounced.
Her ruined flesh is restored to its original beauty.
She was the unsuitable bride.
Now she is made perfect.
She is washed with water, cleansed of her adultery.
She is given new garments, replacing her attempts at wedding clothes.
She is anointed, marking her as a princess and soon Queen.
The Spirit of the Father and Son make Her an excellent wife.
The sins that plagued Her are removed from Her.
“...She is far more precious than jewels... She does him good, and not harm,
all the days of her life...She... works with willing hands...She rises while it is yet night
and provides food for her household and portions for her maidens...She opens her hand to the poor and reaches out her hands to the needy...She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue...She looks well to the ways of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness...Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her: “Many women have done excellently, but you surpass them all.†Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.†(Proverbs 31:10-30 abd.)
The feast is joyous.
The Bride and Bridegroom join together in union.
They feast in matrimonial bliss.
She is adopted into the family of the King.
She is made true royalty.
The wealth of the Kingdom of heaven is hers.
The wedding feast never ends.
“Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.†(Ephesians 5:26-27)
Fear not, for the bridegroom has joined with you, His bride.
You are clothed in Him.
The marriage is here.
The feast has begun! Amen.
“Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come,
and his Bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure... Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.†(Rev. 19:6-9)
Amen.
