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Sermon:
Invited and Robed
Grace to you and peace from
God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
The parable of the
Wedding Garment reminds us that those who reject God's invitation of salvation
and those who would come without being dressed properly will be cast out and
thrown away from the Lord. He has no use for those who despise Him and His
grace. On the other hand, there is the beautiful and majestic picture Isaiah
gives us: that the Lord invites us to come and to feast. He invites those who
have sinned and turned away to once again cling to Him and return to Him in
repentance, to know that their sins have been forgiven. Those who are sinners, who
cannot save themselves, who have no hope of earning such an invitation, are
brought into Christ's kingdom and made a part of this eternal celebration.
The King sends His
servants out to tell people, “The feast
is prepared!” Those servants who have gone out were the holy prophets of
the Old Testament who called God's people to repentance and faith in His
promises. Now those servants are the preachers who call us to repentance and
faith. The feast that is prepared is the feast of salvation. Jesus is the Lamb,
slaughtered for our celebration. It is the feast prepared the day our Lord gave
His life into death for the sins of the world.
Hear the Lord's
warning. There are those who despised that invitation; some assaulted the
messengers and even killed them! The King will have justice. He musters his
army to kill those murderers and burn their city! This is a prophecy. For
centuries, the Lord sent His prophets to remind His people, the physical
children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that their Savior was coming. He
reminded them to turn away from false gods. But when that time finally came,
rather than welcoming their Savior, they crucified Him. And even when He had
been raised from the dead, those people still persecuted and killed the
apostles who preached Christ. What was the result of their rejection? In the
year AD 70, the Romans came and destroyed Jerusalem.
Oh, it's there today, but can there be any greater insult to the Jewish people
than that a Muslim mosque sits where their temple used to be? This is a
warning, dear Christians, of what happens to those who despise the Lord’s
gracious invitation and want nothing to do with Him.
The Wedding Feast
of God's Son is the feast of salvation given on the day that our Lord meets
with His Bride, the Church. It is the banquet in which the Son of God is main
course, who gives us His flesh to eat and His blood to drink. It is this feast
of which we have a foretaste in the Holy Supper of our Lord. Brothers and
sisters in Christ, you are invited. You have been brought to the feast, to
Christ's kingdom and church. He has invited you, the good and the bad, all of
us who are sinners and unworthy to be here. We don't have to earn our place. We
don't have to create some kind of holiness. All is prepared by the Lord Himself.
He offers His Son as the sacrifice. His Son gives Himself as the main course.
And yet the Son is the Bridegroom for whom the Feast is given! You don't have
to cook or clean or get your life straightened out in order to be in
attendance! The Lord has brought you here to celebrate with Him the marriage feast
of His Son, your Savior. Our Lord gives His church the forgiveness of sins,
life and salvation for free! You don't have to earn it. You don't have to pay
for it. There aren't any conditions or qualifications. He's accomplished your
salvation on Calvary. He brings you into His
church to receive and enjoy His salvation. He prepares you for the Last Day
when the final and eternal Wedding Feast begins. There is nothing for you to do
but live in it.
When you were
baptized, you were brought into the Lord's kingdom and given a wedding garment.
But there was a man at the wedding who wasn't wearing one. There's no reason he
shouldn't have had one on. But he didn't. Brothers and sisters in Christ, the
Lord gives us everything! Only in our sin would we cast off the baptismal robe
of Christ’s righteousness. The Church on earth is full of people who have been
brought in but who refuse to wear their wedding garment. They want to be
members of the Church, but they don't want to learn God's Word, receive the
Sacrament often, confess their sins and trust in Jesus. On the Last Day, the
Lord will ask them and they'll have nothing to say, no confession to make. The
Lord doesn’t make anyone wear the righteousness He died to give them. But He
gives it freely. The wedding garment is already yours! Don't ever take it off or
throw it away! Rejoice to stand before you heavenly Father dressed as Christ!
Everything is
ready! The Lord all prepared. Come and eat and drink without cost! Come and
receive Jesus and the forgiveness of sins! Come and rejoice to be the Bride of
Christ. Come and receive all of the gifts Christ has for you with no strings
attached. You've been given the invitation. You've been brought to the Wedding
Feast of Christ! Rejoice! You are welcome here. In the name of the Father and
of the Son (+) and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
The peace of God
which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus
always. Amen.
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