READINGS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE:
Proverbs 9:1-10
1 John 3:13-18
- St. Luke 14:15-24
Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior. (Titus 1:4)
Who speaks to you today, saying:
“And at the time for the banquet he sent his servant to
say to those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’”
Today we hear God’s Word from the Gospel about a great banquet. His Great Banquet. Included for us in order that we see our Savior Who was not like us, in our sin, and so was tossed out of His own party. This points us to a better understanding of God choosing us, not us choosing God, and He wanting us to be more sympathetic in deed and truth.
What this means is that we should not be surprised when Jesus’ words about hate come true. He said, “If the world hates you, know that it has hated Me before you” (Jn 15:18). This verse does not give us free reign to play the victim card, that is, that whenever anything goes wrong or people disagree with us or excommunicate us, doesn’t mean we instantly martyr-up.
Our Holy Crusade from God is to war against our sin and live an honorable, peaceable, and godly life. It is not to bring down the wrath of God against His enemies, which you have hand picked yourself. God its this one!
Thus, today, to continue to think about Pride, we will conflate Jesus’ Great Banquet with His Wedding Feast and ponder the dilemma of being invited to a same-sex marriage. Maybe you haven’t had to wrestle with this one yet, but I’m sure your time is coming.
At the parable of the Wedding Banquet, you’ll remember one person who was singled out for not having on the proper garments. He was trying to sneak in relying on his own power and resources, with no regard to the Lord Who Invites. No unbeliever gets into heaven, but likewise, no Christian gets into worldly banquets.
As a Christian, you would go to a wedding for three reasons. 1) To bear witness to the couples' vows and to give your approval. 2) To pray for the couple that God would enable them to live in ordered harmony according to God’s Word. And 3) To bless the couple as they establish a new household in God's Name.
If you can't do these things, you can't go. I guess I shouldn’t say you can’t go, but you would endanger your faith and the faith of others if you were to go. You’d be becoming a part of the world, making it easier and easier for you to excuse sin as, “well its not hurting anybody”.
But even if you were to go, you would be the man without the proper clothing. You would be the one without the proper values and beliefs to be at such a place, and you would be kicked out. This is because loving your neighbor means keeping God’s commands, not rejecting them.
Repent. Who is the One without “proper clothing” in today’s Gospel? Its not the guests. And it certainly isn’t you with your propensity to victimhood. Look at the Gospel reading again. It is the Lord Whop is giving the Great Banquet. He is cast out, but in reverse. Those who were supposed to gather, flee and forsake Him.
The people you despise, the sin you hate, the behavior you can’t stand, the boogeyman on your TV are all in your heart. They are the sins you love more than Jesus. Your behavior and consent are the fuel of everything you hate in the world. You must believe that the devil has no power, wants to be hated, but everything, including death, is going to be ok.
Jesus is always surrounded. There are precious few moments in Scripture where Jesus is by Himself. The angels gathered at His conception, birth, suffering, death, and resurrection. The Shepherds gathered at His birth announcement. The Wise Men and Herod came together to celebrate His second birthday.
And the crowds. There were very few people in the areas Jesus went to, that had not gathered around Him at some point. Even the Romans came to His trial, crucifixion, and burial.
And yet, when it was time for the feast to begin, time for the main event, time to stand up for Jesus. Everyone left and made excuses. Oh Jesus, I can’t be here, I need to keep my job. You say and do wonderful things, but I didn’t think you meant it. I have a family, you understand.
And the excuses escalate from there. All from everyday life that we would think would be acceptable to God, as did the excusers in the Gospel. The excuses escalated to suffering and crucifixion. Not to end in punishment, but to end in the Holy Spirit.
The servant is the Holy Spirit Who Calls to faith and He uses Jesus. His Call is the Gospel, the free forgiveness of sins. His enlightenment is faith, freely given. His sanctification and keeping is the gathering, the crowding and gathering around the One Who Was Rejected, Despised: Jesus.
The rally point is His Word and Sacrament. The Promises we can hear and touch, taste, see, and smell. We reach out in faith and close our grip on His Body and Blood. There is no empty space. The empty space was our sin, refusing the Lord of Life’s invitation. We thought we could fill it with our holiness and earthly righteousness, but it was all vanity.
When the Holy Spirit moves, He removes the authority of sin, death, and the devil from you. He removes the authority of these men and brands that threaten to tell lies about you, betray you, slander you, and destroy your reputation, in love of course. Though those things will happen, they are not indicative of the Lord’s opinion of you.
Because now, you have been clothed with Christ, with the outcast. You are singled out in faith, because before, you wore the robe of the world. You were accepted in PC society. You went along to get along. You kept your your beliefs to yourself. But the world has found you now. There is no more hiding. You are at the microphone. What do you say?
So, love really doesn’t win. And it doesn’t win, because this world is upside-down. That is, that though God is being loving in setting high standards of love for everyone’s benefit, the world hates Him for it and refuses to acknowledge His work. Moreover, sinners believe they can make something better than God, when all they do is create hell on earth.
And yet love does win and will win and has already won, because Jesus is Love and Love suffers, dies, and rises again to change sinners. To change them from meek and lowly, to brave and courageous.
There is no shame in the Gospel. Dear Christian, you do not need to be ashamed of your belief in Christ. Your faith is just as valid as the rest of the world’s faith in whatever. And not just as valid, but actually valid, that is True, because Jesus lives.
And because Jesus lives, we live and get to bear witness to the Wedding of the Lamb and His Bride, the Church. We hear that couple’s vows and give our approval. Amen.
We pray for that couple that God would enable them to live in ordered harmony according to God’s Word forever. And we get to bless the Jesus and His Bride as they establish a new household in God's Name: the New Jerusalem.
That is why weddings and marriages are so important among us. It is not just playing house, it is physical proof that our God is with us spiritually and physically in everything we do. Everything we do has meaning. Where we spend our currency of attention and investment, it flourishes in our lives. Support it or it goes away.
The world hates Jesus, because He is True Love, not pretend. The world hates you, because you are proof of that love Who is living and active, even today. The wedding garment you now wear in Christ may not get you on the right side of this world, but look around in faith, and you will find yourself surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses, martyrs, dressed in exactly the same robe as you.
The Lord was alone in His work of Salvation. You, He brings into His family. You do your work as a group project. You. You are not alone. Ever.
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