Trinity 2

Good Shepherd

2004 Pass Rd, Biloxi, MS 39531

Draft Prv 9:1–10; 1 Jn 3:13–18; Lk 14:15–24; Ps 34:12–22; anti. v. 11   –     6/14/26

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father, and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

This parable of the Great Banquet describes the progress of the Church throughout the world. When Christ preaches to Israel, Israel are those first wedding guests who reject the invitation—now, many Pharisees, priests, and laymen believed and we will meet them in the wedding feast, but most did not. Then Jesus sends the Apostles out to the diaspora, and they in turn send out the missionaries, but again many Israelites reject the invitation. Then Christ sends St. Peter and later St. Paul to the Gentiles, who are the poor and crippled and blind and lame, so that even the Gentiles may be grafted into the people of God. Yet the wedding feast is not full, so Christ says to His servants, ‘Go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled. For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet.’ God, then, does not discriminate the call to salvation but sends it to all that all may be saved.

But many refuse to listen, not just of the Jews, but also of the Gentiles. I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it. Please have me excused. That is, I have great wealth in this world and value it more than heaven, which may be the Jew saying, ‘We have the temple in Jerusalem, we are already the chosen race.’ Another says, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to examine them. Please have me excused. That is, I have work to be doing in the world which is greater than the work of God. I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come. That is, I have family that are not part of the Kingdom of God and I will stay with them instead. These all for earthly reasons refuse the invitation that is theirs by birthright. St. Matthew recounts another parable of Jesus, the parable of the Wedding Feast. In that parable Jesus shows the harsh reality of what happens to those who spurn the King’s invitation. In our parable we are told none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet. There is a double meaning in this which may not be clear at first, nor may we initially understand the true horror of this judgment. The first is that only those who are part of the Kingdom of God partake of the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, and the second is that only they of all humanity will dwell in the house of the Lord forever, dining with Christ at the great wedding feast of which the Lord’s Supper is the foretaste. All men and women who refused Christ and His servants will enjoy neither. They will, to borrow from Dante I think, dine only of tears and ashes.

In the other parable of St. Matthew the rebels, for that is what they are, put to the sword (22:7). This is of course referencing the final judgment, when those who have believed in Christ and kept His word will be taken to be with God forever, while those who have denied Christ and not kept His commandments will be cast into hell.

But what of the Gentiles who refuse? Many have the same excuses as the Israelites of the parable and suffer the same fate. St. Matthew’s record again shows a different perspective of their sin and their fate. But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there who did not have on a wedding garment. So he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ (22:11–13) In what way was the man speechless? Jesus does not mean that the man was so surprised he could not speak, but that he was insolently silent. He had refused the wedding garment and was unashamed of his impudence. What does he represent? He represents those who want to be considered Christian, who want to be part of the Wedding Feast, the Kingdom of God, but do not want to obey the words and commands of God which are not to their liking. They are those who deny baptism, which is that white garment. They are also those who love the folly of the world rather than the fear of God, they love their sins rather than the righteousness of God. They hate their brothers, as St. John would say, they see the poor and do not care, they give their tongues to speaking evil of other men, they speak deceit, they turn toward evil, they do not seek peace, as the Psalm warns. They have sinned but feel no remorse for they walk in the paths of death and abide in death yet wish to seem Christian.

Such men and women, whether Gentile or Jew does not matter, they are the simple minded, the scoffers, the wicked whom God will slay and condemn, whom He will cast out of His kingdom in the end. They may have sat down at His table, and taken His food, but in their hearts they are enemies of Christ and God. They have no fear of God and no love for their brothers. They are fools. What then should we do? To begin, you are already in the house of God. You have not rejected the invitation, but, myself included, we are all in danger of the weakness and sinful desires of our own sinful bodies. The sin and unbelief of the impudent wedding guest could easily be ours. We should pray for those who have rejected the call of God’s Word, that they would repent and believe. But for ourselves what must we do?

How did our readings begin today? Wisdom calls out to you, “Whoever is simple, let him turn in here!” To him who lacks sense she says “Come, eat of my bread and drink of the wine I have mixed. Leave your simple ways, and live, and walk in the way of insight.” … Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be still wiser; teach a righteous man, and he will increase in learning. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight. What is the fear of the Lord and what is knowledge of the Holy One? Fear does not just mean that you are constantly wondering if He is going to rain lightning down on you, but it is the sense of awe at the Creator of the universe, reverence toward the Holy One of Israel, and adoration of your King who came to save you. Knowledge of the Holy One is not merely knowing that there is a God, that He is Jesus, but zeal for God’s Word, desire to meditate upon the Bible, study of Sacred Scripture so that you may know your Savior best.

What else must we do? St. John admonishes us that we must love one another, Whoever does not love abides in death. Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. … if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. Love not only your brother in Christ, but your neighbor, the stranger, and even your enemy, for Christ did just that as well. Do you have something against your brother? Then forgive him and in turn ask that he forgive you for your sin of hate against him. For whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes (1 Jn 2:11). And as Jesus says, I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire. So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. (Mt 5:22–24) If you do not love your brother whom you have seen then how can you love God Whom you have not seen (1 Jn 4:20)

So also, when you see a poor man in need, help him as God has made you able, and God will repay you. There is a story of one of the first men of our Synod, Fredrich Wyneken. He had only an old worn out suit for his work as pastor and missionary. A tailor once gave him some yellow leather to make new trousers, but his family and his congregation despised them. So the church raised the immense sum of $40, at the time a great deal of money, for new clothes. But he immediately came upon a widow in need and gave her that money. When his elder asked what became of the money Wyneken said, God is able to give me double what the church gave me and new pants on top of that if He thinks I need them. Soon thereafter, God did just that. Wyneken received a letter and $80 from… his uncle, I think, and a local tailor donated new trousers for him. I will not guarantee that the exact same sort of events will happen to you, but God will provide for you what you need, and He has promised to reward you for every sacrifice and act of generosity.

St. John again says, we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. It is difficult to imagine being so generous to someone and to put your own financial well-being in jeopardy, and yet perhaps God has blessed you with just that little extra so that you may be the answer to the prayer of the one in need, perhaps you are God’s means of earthly deliverance of the righteous man from Psalm 34:18–19: When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles. The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all. Perhaps God has blessed you so that you may raise your brother out of his despair. Or perhaps the one in need is not your brother in Christ, but through your act of generosity God will open this man’s ears to hear the call of salvation. Of course, the man could also be an ingrate who takes your charity and spits in God’s face and in yours; but even that insult God will repay in love and care for you.

These are the works we should be doing as we await the coming of the Great Banquet: praying for the unbeliever, forgiving as we have been forgiven, and showing generosity to all as God has been generous to us. But these works are not the wedding garment, nor are they the ticket to paradise. These works are merely the sign that we bear the white garment of Baptism, they are merely faith acting, they are merely the oil burning in the lamp of faith both of which God has supplied. Remember how the invitation to the Great Banquet came about for you, that it was nothing you did, but all the work and preparation was in God’s hands. Christ made atonement for your sins when He died on the cross. That is the act that opens the Great Banquet to you. Christ made the waters of Baptism effective to wash your sins away and make you a child of God when He attached His word to those waters. The Holy Spirit placed the Word of God in your ear, the summons to the Great Banquet, and He placed faith in your heart that Jesus is the Christ, Jesus is your Savior. God is the one who brought you into His house though you were spiritually poor and crippled and blind and lame. God is the one who sought you through His servants out on the highways and hedges. Christ is the one who healed your broken heart, the one who saved you from the consequences of sin, who taught you the meaning of love, as St. John says, By this we know love, that He laid down His life for us. When you cried out for help, God answered. He redeems the life of his servants; none of those who take refuge in him will be condemned. You who take refuge in Christ, though your bodies may perish, yet God will raise you to eternal life on the final day, where you will feast in joy with Him forever. Amen.