Rev Stephen Cooper
Church of the Redeemer – Fairbanks, Alaska
Twentieth Sunday after Trinity
3 November 2019
Many are called, but few are chosen
In Christ’s parable of a wedding feast for a king’s son, those whom the king invited wouldn’t come. Even worse, they killed the messengers who brought the invitation. The king was angry and said, “None of those I invited shall taste of this feast. Instead, go and invite everyone you can find, good & bad.” That was done. Then the king came in and found a guest without a wedding garment, and the king not only put the man out, but he condemned that man to everlasting torment.
Whatever all this may mean, Jesus clearly is not trying to make us feel good. The parable is not entertainment. It’s weighty: it leads us to consider salvation and damnation. It calls for serious soul-searching – and repentance – to get the “wedding garment” the king requires everybody to have. And the story suggests there’s only limited time to comply.
But what does this story mean? This much we can be sure of: the feast signifies the Sacrificial death of Jesus Christ for us, and all the Gospel promises & privileges that flow from it. Together, these are a royal feast.
Why? Because the death of Jesus is the Bread of Life to those who trust & believe in Him, and the Gospel account of His death and His promises gives His “words of eternal life.”
This is all the food our souls need to live forever.
And what are the good things that make up this royal feast?
· Pardon of our sins;
· God’s favor, rather than threats of punishment;
· Peace of conscience forever;
· Access to God’s grace for our daily correction & nourishment;
· Strengthening of Spirit;
· A guaranteed hope of eternal life;
All these are parts of our spiritual feast upon the death of Christ, our Bread of Life.
This is the “feast of fat things” which Isaiah foretold (Is. 25:6) saying Christ would provide this feast “in this mountain” (which is Jerusalem) where He would also liberate all people from spiritual blindness, and would swallow up death in victory. (Is. 25:6-8.) Amazingly & accurately, Isaiah links God’s royal feast with Christ’s death.
This is what Jesus meant in His parable when He described the king as saying: “My oxen & fatlings are killed, and all things are ready.” That is: His feast of spiritual food is founded on the Death of Jesus Christ for our sins.
This feast reconciles sinners to God & fulfills God’s good will towards men, as He promised at Christmastide – It’s a time to rejoice!
But the Guests who were bidden wouldn’t come.
So, the King sent other servants, saying, “All things are ready”:
This means that God Himself is ready to accept us, advocate the cause of our redemption, and sanctify us;
· He has already established Pardon and Peace for us; and
· He has prepared heaven and a kingdom for us to inherit -----
Shall we – the beneficiaries of all this – be uninterested, not wanting to trade earth’s paltry goods for such royal and eternal treasures as these?
The reason no one came when invited is Not that they could not, but that they would not come. “Ye will not come to me.” “I would, and ye would not.”
It seems there were generally two grounds for their refusal: Many of them made light of it and others were openly hostile to this invitation.
Many still make light of Jesus Christ & of salvation through Him.
Most of those He invited had other things they valued more – They went their ways, one to his farm & another to his merchandise.
True, these and other occupations are demanding. But still – we can, and must, make faith & our souls our main concern.
Yes, we are in the world, but we must not set our hearts’ delight on ANY of the things of this world.
Jesus tells us of the others who had been invited but were overtly hostile to the invitation. They took the King’s messengers and “treated them spitefully, and slew them.”
It was for this reason, Jesus tells us, that the King sent forth his armies & destroyed those murderers & burned up their city. – Jesus meant God would visit utter ruin on Jerusalem. His prophecy was soon fulfilled. The destruction of Jerusalem was God’s doing, as He brought in the new & everlasting Covenant which they rejected – just as the earthquake on Good Friday ripped in two the veil that hung before the holiest place in the Temple.
Because those whom the King first invited rejected the invitation, it was extended to the Gentiles. They, too, from all over the world, were to be part of the one flock under one Shepherd, as Jesus said.
In this world-wide invitation, ‘Both bad & good’ are included.
Once the feast began, the King came in & found one guest without a wedding garment – that guest was a hypocrite – he was in the church but not of it: his heart wasn’t in it.
The Wedding garment is the Blood of Christ and the righteousness of Christ, appropriated by the saints, through faith in Jesus Christ as their only righteousness.
Revelation calls this the “righteousness of the saints.” And it is indeed theirs: Christ has given them his own righteousness.
Through faith, they have put on Christ, as one puts on a garment.
Christ’s righteousness alone is capable of bringing forth in us holiness & sanctification; that means: A clean heart, & ways of life that are agreeable to the Gospel & to our profession of it.
What does it mean to “put on Christ”?
As in our Exhortations at Holy Communion, it means to accept Christ’s call,
· To Repent truly of all our sins past & present;
· To Have a Purpose to amend our lives to adopt the Spirit of Christ & be in perfect charity with all; and
· To Have a lively and steadfast faith in the death of our Lord & Savior Jesus Christ for our sins.
These are truly the wedding garment required by God in Holy Scripture. These alone will ensure that we shall find favor with our Lord & King when He comes to judge the world.
But the human heart is subtle; it is ready & able to be devious.
How do we stand?
Many in the church are false to Jesus Christ. They say they love Him, while their hearts are not with Him. Their hearts are far away.
That is hypocrisy: a false claim that one is entitled to gospel benefits. In the last Day, all hypocrites shall be found out – and cast out.
Therefore, in order to be wise, in time, oit behooves all of us to search our own souls,
because you & I – now – are invited guests at Christ’s royal wedding feast –
How will we face God’s all-seeing, heart-searching eye?
We must ask ourselves often:
· How did I come into this fellowship of Christ’s redeemed ones?
· Do I have on the required wedding garment?
· Have I put on Christ in Spirit and in Truth?
· If not, can I, and will I, now put on Christ – truly?”
If we judge ourselves now, and judge rightly & truly, we are forgiven & we will not be judged by the Lord on the Last Day.
God, the great King, invites each & all of us, right now, to the royal feast provided in the death of his Son Jesus Christ for us.
What shall we make of His kind invitation?
Would to God that we may find the grace to accept it – in Spirit and in truth – now, and every day of our earthly pilgrimage.
Jesus ends His parable with the remarkable saying, “Many are called, but few are chosen.” Now we can understand this: Being chosen isn’t simply something arbitrary or unaccountable on God’s part. It’s fully consistent with our own responsibility, as well as resting firmly on His sovereignty.
Let us pray God mercifully to give us the grace to accept His kindly invitations to the royal feast Christ provides for us in His death on the Cross for our sins.
Let us accept His invitation by:
· Repenting now & whenever we have acted contrary to God’s commandments in will, word or deed,
· By Amending our lives, so that we rely entirely on His righteousness to bring forth in us the Spirit of Christ in all our words, deeds and ways, and
· By Trusting only in the death of Jesus Christ to redeem us & bring us to everlasting life.
God grant us in this way, the diligence to make our calling and election sure; for if we do these things, we shall never fall. (II Peter 1:10)
This we ask in the Name of Our Lord & Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
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