The forgiven must forgive

Posted on October 20, 2013 by Rev. Paul Rydecki

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Sermon for Trinity 22

Deuteronomy 7:9-11  +  Philippians 1:3-11  +  Matthew 18:21-35

“I forgive you.” Those are pleasant words to hear after you’ve offended someone; difficult words to say to the one who has offended you.  The Apostle Peter knew that as well as you do.  He and the other apostles struggled with it as much as you do.  Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times? No, Jesus told him. I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.

Our sinful flesh is not a forgiving being.  Our Old Adam hates to be wronged and insists on justice for himself and punishment for whoever dares to offend him.  Jesus teaches us to pray in the Lord’s Prayer, “Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.”  What our sinful flesh would rather pray is, “Forgive us our trespasses, even though we refuse to forgive those who trespass against us.”  But the Holy Spirit shows us in today’s Gospel that it doesn’t work that way.  He teaches us in Jesus’ parable of the unmerciful servant about God’s astonishing cancellation of our immense debt to Him, and how God’s forgiveness to us on that immense scale is to be reflected on the much smaller scale of how we forgive our brother who sins against us.  Refuse forgiveness to our brother in Christ?  Don’t you dare!, says Jesus.  The forgiven must forgive.

Therefore the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants.  First, let’s understand that Jesus is talking about how things are in “the kingdom of heaven.”  He isn’t talking about the heathen, pagans, atheists, the world in general.  He isn’t talking about bank accounts or mortgages. He’s talking about the Church on earth, where Christ reigns through His Word, and where His servants call Him “King.”

The King wants to settle accounts with His servants and calls one in who owes Him an immense amount of money—millions and millions of dollars in today’s money.  That’s referring to the immense heap of our sins against God in thought, word and deed.  His Law, like a mirror, reveals our sin to us and the lovelessness of our sinful heart.  The Commandments reveal the perfect righteousness that God demands, the perfect love toward Him and His Word, the perfect love toward our neighbor and his well-being.  But the same commandments reveal how far short we fall of those requirements.  They reveal our greed, our love for ourselves, our apathy toward God and His Word, and our antipathy toward our neighbor.  Worse, God’s Law reveals that it’s not just the sinful things we do, but the by-nature-sinful-and-unclean creatures that we are that offends God and drives us deeper and deeper into debt.  And worse still, that debt is racked up, not over the course of a lifetime, but over the course of a day.

Back to the parable. But as he was not able to pay, his master commanded that he be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and that payment be made. For all of our offenses against God’s Law, the holy Law of the holy God demands payment, but not a single one of us can pay.  So it should be slavery and debtor’s prison for all of us.

The servant therefore fell down before him, saying, ‘Master, have patience with me, and I will pay you all. Desperate because of the debt he cannot pay, afraid because of what he deserves, the servant begs his master for patience.  He plans to repay the debt, he wants to repay it, but he can’t do it anytime soon. So, too, when God’s Law convicts us of our guilt, we dare not try to deny it or hide it.  We know we stand convicted, and we know that our only hope is in God’s great patience and mercy.  We turn from our sins. We flee for refuge to His infinite mercy, seeking and imploring His grace.

But as Christians, we don’t for one second imagine that we can repay our debt—ever.  We don’t even offer to “pay it all”—not by anything we could ever do.  Instead, we flee for refuge to Christ, who paid it for us and gave us an answer before the condemnations of the Law.  That answer is, “Christ!  Christ for us!  Christ paid for us!  Do not enter into judgment with Your servant, for in Your sight no one living is righteous. Instead, judge me through Christ!” And so we creep under the shelter that is the blood of Christ, and there we are safe.  We use His blood and His blood alone to pay our debt to God.  And His blood is worth more than enough.

The king does far more for the servant than the servant asks.  He doesn’t give the servant more time to pay.  Instead, the master of that servant was moved with compassion, released him, and forgave him the debt. This is how God deals with us for Christ’s sake when we tremble because of our sins and seek shelter in the wounds of Christ.  He forgives us the debt.  All of it, every penny we owed and every punishment that was due, even death and hell.  He forgives it.  He forgave it when we were first baptized into Christ.  He forgives it continually in the Church through the Word of Absolution and through the Holy Sacrament of His body and blood.  God’s forgiveness accompanies us always in the Church as we take shelter under the blood of Jesus.

But, what’s this?  That forgiven servant who had his immense debt forgiven him by the King immediately goes out to search for a fellow servant who owes him something. That servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii—a miniscule debt in comparison to what he owed the king—and he laid hands on him and took him by the throat, saying, ‘Pay me what you owe!’ Then his fellow-servant falls down at his feet, just as he had done with the king, and repeats to him the exact words that the first servant had used with the king, saying, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you all.’

And it’s as if that first servant hadn’t just been down on his knees making the same appeal from the King.  It’s as if the first servant had completely forgotten the immense debt that had been forgiven him.  He gets angry over a few hundred dollars, and refuses to have mercy on his fellow servant. He would not, but went and threw him into prison till he should pay the debt.

Pay attention to the parable and the interactions Jesus describes.  He describes a servant of the king who owed money to the king and had been forgiven by the king.  This servant has a fellow servant who owes him money, who admits that he owes him money and is pleading with him for time to pay the debt.  He’s talking about sins.  He’s talking about your brother who sinned against you, who wronged you in some way, who cheated on you, robbed you, spoke badly about you or dishonored you.  Now, there may be many such people in the world.  Jesus isn’t talking about your brother who denies that he sinned against you.  He isn’t talking here about your brother who is glad that he harmed you as he did, or who stands by his sinful action.  He’s talking about the one who recognizes that he or she sinned against you and wants to make it right.  If you confront that person with his or her sin, and he or she admits it and wants to make it right, but you refuse to forgive as you have been forgiven, if you insist on still requiring repayment and punishment, if you treat the person with scorn and contempt and send him away unforgiven, then you’re being like the unmerciful servant in the parable.

The rest of the king’s servants can see how merciless the first servant’s behavior was. They tell the king about it.  So he called in that first servant and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?’ And his master was angry, and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him.  So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses.

Now, do you think God is serious when He calls on His forgiven children to forgive?  You’d better believe it! God will not be accepting excuses on the last day for why someone who was called His child refused to have pity in this way on someone else who is called God’s child; why someone who is called by the name of Christ and has received free forgiveness from God for Christ’s sake, day in and day out, should refuse to forgive his fellow Christian.  The forgiven must forgive.  It’s not optional for the Christian.

The forgiven must forgive, not in order to earn God’s forgiveness or to appease His wrath, because, you see, the King forgave the first servant his debt freely, without conditions.  He forgives for the sake of Christ and His payment for sin, for the sake of Christ who appeases God’s wrath.  No, the forgiven must forgive, because our God and King, who has forgiven our immense debt toward Him, now wills it of His servants.  He has taught us how to love our neighbor by loving us first.  He has given His Son for us without our asking and recreated us to be like Him, not to be as much unlike Him as possible.  He has told you to forgive, from the heart, lest you become that unmerciful servant from the parable and share his fate.

The forgiven must forgive their brothers their trespasses, but only as many as God has forgiven you.  Of course, that’s absurd.  God always gives to us far more than He commands us to give to our neighbor.  His love for you is far greater than any amount of love you can show to someone else.  And if you’ve been slow to forgive or even unwilling to forgive, then rejoice that today is not the final reckoning.  Instead, today is the day when the King calls you in, again, and demands payment, and you recognize your debt, and you repent of your unforgiving heart, and you look to Him for patience and mercy. Today is the day when the King, again, has compassion on you and sprinkles you again with the blood of His Son.  And the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.  If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  Let no one leave today with a stubborn and obstinate heart, but with the comfort of an immense debt forgiven again, with the understanding that the forgiven must forgive, and with the resolve to do it, for Jesus’ sake, and by the strength of His Holy Spirit. Amen.

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Propers for Trinity 22

Posted on October 16, 2013 by Rev. Paul Rydecki

INTROIT              Psalm 130:3-4; Psalm 130:1

(Antiphon) IF YOU, Lord, should mark iniquities, *
O Lord, who could stand?
But there is forgiveness with You, *
That You may be feared, O God of Israel.

Out of the depths I have cried to You, O Lord; *
Lord, — hear my voice!

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

COLLECT

O God, our Refuge and Strength, the Author of all godliness, be ready, we beseech You, to hear the devout prayers of Your Church, and grant that those things which we ask faithfully, we may obtain effectually; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, Who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

OLD TESTAMENT READING          Deuteronomy 7:9-11

9 “Therefore know that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments; 10 and He repays those who hate Him to their face, to destroy them. He will not be slack with him who hates Him; He will repay him to his face. 11 Therefore you shall keep the commandment, the statutes, and the judgments which I command you today, to observe them. (NKJV)

GRADUAL            Psalm 133:1,3b

Behold, how good and how pleasant it is *
For brethren to dwell together in unity!
For there the Lord commanded the blessing *
Life forevermore.

EPISTLE READING             Philippians 1:3-11

3 I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, 4 always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy, 5 for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now, 6 being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ; 7 just as it is right for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart, inasmuch as both in my chains and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, you all are partakers with me of grace. 8 For God is my witness, how greatly I long for you all with the affection of Jesus Christ. 9 And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment, 10 that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ, 11 being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.   (NKJV) 

VERSE   Ps. 147:3

Alleluia. Alleluia. The Lord heals the brokenhearted *
And binds up their wounds.  Alleluia.

HOLY GOSPEL    Matthew 18:23-35

23 “Therefore the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. 24 And when he had begun to settle accounts, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. 25 But as he was not able to pay, his master commanded that he be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and that payment be made. 26 The servant therefore fell down before him, saying, ‘Master, have patience with me, and I will pay you all.’ 27 Then the master of that servant was moved with compassion, released him, and forgave him the debt. 28 “But that servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii; and he laid hands on him and took him by the throat, saying, ‘Pay me what you owe!’ 29 So his fellow servant fell down at his feet and begged him, saying, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you all.’ 30 And he would not, but went and threw him into prison till he should pay the debt. 31 So when his fellow servants saw what had been done, they were very grieved, and came and told their master all that had been done. 32 Then his master, after he had called him, said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. 33 Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?’ 34 And his master was angry, and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him. 35 “So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses.” (NKJV)

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From a Sight-Oriented Faith to a Word-Oriented Faith

Posted on October 13, 2013 by Rev. Paul Rydecki

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Sermon for Trinity 21

Hosea 13:14  +  Ephesians 6:10-17  +  John 4:46-54

We have in our Gospel a very clear, very straightforward description of faith, and of the need for faith to grow and increase.  Now, faith can be weak or strong, little or great, and that doesn’t change what faith gives us.  A weak faith in Christ still has Christ, with all His mercy and forgiveness, just as much as a strong faith does.  A little faith has the same treasure as a great faith.  So it’s not about having more of Jesus’ love and forgiveness or less.  It’s not about being more saved or less saved, or about being closer to God or farther away from God.  Faith in Christ, even as tiny as a mustard seed, possesses all the benefits of Christ and makes a person a child and heir of heaven.

So faith needs to grow, not to receive greater blessings from Christ, but in order to hold onto Christ as the devil, the world and our sinful flesh try with all their might to make us let go.  It’s about holding on ever more firmly, or letting Christ slip away entirely, and you will let Him slip away entirely unless your faith is constantly being built up by God’s Holy Spirit.  Faith either increases or it decreases, but it never remains the same.

As long as things are going along steadily and relatively easily in your life, you don’t perceive whether your faith is strong or weak.  It’s when trial and temptation come, hardship and affliction—that’s when faith reveals either its strength or its weakness. In our Gospel today, Jesus uses just such an affliction to increase the nobleman’s faith, to grow it from being a sight-oriented faith to a Word-oriented faith.

The affliction of the nobleman was the terrible illness of his son, who was sick with a fever of some kind that had him at the point of death.  No doctor could help him.  No medicine could save him.  Only divine providence could help.

There was a report going around about a teacher named Jesus, who claimed to be sent from God.  He not only preached and taught with authority.  He also healed, and He did it on His own authority.  Never once did this Jesus say, “In the name of God, be healed,” as the Apostles later did.  No, Jesus spoke His own word of healing, and the sick were healed.

But that was down in Judea and Jerusalem.  So far the only miracle Jesus had performed up here in Galilee where the nobleman lived was the changing of water into wine at a wedding.  Still, the people of Galilee had recently gone down to Jerusalem for the Passover where they did see Jesus perform many miracles, and the miracles attracted them and made them begin to believe in Jesus.

That was faith, but it was a very weak faith that wouldn’t last for long, wouldn’t hold up under pressure and under the cross.  If faith only lasts as long as you see God’s providence in your life, then it will soon wither and fade away.

That was the kind of faith that first brought the nobleman to Jesus.  It was real faith, faith that looked to Jesus for help and mercy, but so far, it was a faith that relied on Jesus being physically present in the same room as the sick person in order to heal him.  So the father begged Jesus to come, come down to heal his son who was at the point of death.

Jesus, knowing that the nobleman and the rest of the people of Galilee had only this weak, fragile faith that relied on miracles, that needed this constant supply of miracles that their eyes could see in order to believe in Jesus—Jesus doesn’t agree to go down to this father’s house to heal his son.  He even rebukes this sight-oriented faith, not only of this nobleman, but of all the people.  He says, Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe.

So Jesus points out the deficiency in their faith.  You can’t continue to rely on your eyes in order to believe in Me.  You can’t continue to trust in Me for help only if you can see what I’m doing and understand with your reason how and why I do it.    You must learn to believe in Me even if your eyes see nothing and your reason tells you it’s foolish and worthless.

Does that seem like a mean reply by Jesus to this scared father in our Gospel?  Reason says so.  Our sinful flesh says so.  That’s because our flesh thinks we actually deserve help from God, and that every suffering person deserves help from God, and that God isn’t good if He punishes or if He rebukes.  What wickedness lives in us that we should ever pretend to be kinder and more evangelical than Jesus!  That we should ever become His judges and try to tell Him how He should treat people!

But again, Jesus crushes our reason and condemns the idolatry that sets our will up against His.  And for those who know the love and mercy of Jesus, His response to this father was just what the father needed, and just what we need, too.

Not that the nobleman’s faith was immediately strengthened.  On the contrary, it was broken down even further by Jesus’ reply.   Broken down, but not destroyed.  Sir, come down before my child dies!  He’s pleading.  He’s desperate.  He’s holding onto Jesus for dear life, but he’s only holding on by the slenderest thread of faith at this point.  That’s OK.  If you have even that slender thread that still looks to Him for mercy, you still have Jesus—all of Him, with all His mercy and love, forgiveness and salvation. Jesus will never cut that slender thread, and He will never turn a weak faith away.   A bruised reed He will not break,  And smoking flax He will not quench.

Just when the man’s faith is pushed to the breaking point, Jesus gives Him, not a sign, but a Word.  Go your way; your son lives.  That was it.  Nothing at all for the man to see.  Nothing visible for the man to cling to, not even the visible presence of Jesus going down to his house with him.  Just a Word.  And what did that divine word do in the heart of that man?  The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and he went his way.  Faith had been stretched to its limit, but it was built up again by the sure word of Jesus, now stronger than it was before, because it had grown from a sight-oriented faith to a word-oriented faith.

See how the nobleman’s word-oriented faith allowed him to start on his long journey home with a happy heart, comforted by the word of Jesus and now expecting to find his son no longer near death, but very much alive.  He had no proof yet, but the faith that was built up by Jesus’ Word gave him a peace he hadn’t known before, so that, when his servants came out to meet him the next day while he was still on the road, his heart didn’t sink as they came out to meet him, afraid that it was going to be bad news.  Instead, faith in Jesus’ word told him what to expect, and he wasn’t disappointed.  They met him with the very words Jesus had spoken the day before, “Your son lives!” Then he inquired of them the hour when he got better. And they said to him, “Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.” So the father knew that it was at the same hour in which Jesus said to him, “Your son lives.” And he himself believed, and his whole household. Now he believed with a word-oriented faith that had been proven right.  His faith over these couple of days had grown from weak to strong, from untested to tested and approved.  And now it was the kind of faith that engendered even more faith in the members of his household as he spoke the word of Jesus to them, and the Holy Spirit built them up, too.

That’s the kind of faith that is needed in order to withstand the devil’s constant and vicious attacks.  As we heard in the Epistle today, our fight is not against flesh and blood, but against the wiles of the devil, against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. The more your faith relies on sight—on things going well around you, on signs and evidence of God’s love, the easier it will be for the devil to pull you away from faith entirely.

Of course, the devil is also able to attack a strong faith.  Like the Apostle Peter, when he went out walking on the water to Jesus.  His faith had grown into a word-oriented faith. “Lord, command me to come to you on the water.” And Jesus gave the word.  And Peter believed the word rather than his reason or senses.  His faith latched onto the word of Jesus and the water held up him just fine—until the wind and the waves attacked his faith and weakened it from the word-oriented faith it was to a sight-oriented faith.  And when his sight told him the storm was too strong, and when his reason told him that people can’t walk on water, that’s ridiculous!, then his faith almost gave out, and he started to sink.  But a little faith remained to still call out to Jesus, “Lord, save me!”  And Jesus did, and then rebuked his sight-oriented faith, so that it might grow again into a word-oriented faith.

It’s not up to you to make your faith grow; Jesus does that by His Holy Spirit in His Word. It is up to you, as Christians, to keep paying attention to His Word.  Jesus wants for all of you that you should know Him as your Savior and Helper, not because you have seen His salvation with your eyes, but because His Word tells you what He has done for you and what He will do for you: Because His Word tells you that He bore the cross for you, that He suffered the curse your sins deserved, shed His holy, precious blood, and that now God forgives you your sins for His sake and will yet show you His salvation when He comes again in glory, if not before.  You may not see right now all the evidence you want to see of God’s favor or of God’s help. But in the Word of Jesus, you have all the armor you need to survive the attacks of the devil, the world, and your sinful nature. And as you hear and learn that Word more and more, in preaching and in the Sacrament, the Holy Spirit has all He needs to continue to call you to repent and turn from your sins and to sustain your faith and to build it up stronger and stronger, day by day, for the rest of your life.  He who has promised is faithful.  Amen.

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Propers for Trinity 21

Posted on October 7, 2013 by Rev. Paul Rydecki

INTROIT              Apocryphal Esther 13:9a, 10, 11a; Psalm 119:1

(Antiphon) The whole world is in Your power; O Lord, King Almighty, *
No one can gainsay You.
For You have made heaven and earth, and all the wondrous things under the heaven. *
You are Lord of all!

Blessèd are the undefiled in the way, *
Who walk in the law of the Lord!

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

COLLECT

Lord, we beseech You to keep Your household, the Church, in continual godliness, that through Your protection she may be free from all adversities and devoutly given to serve You in good works, to the glory of Your Name; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, Who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

OLD TESTAMENT READING          Hosea 13:14

14 “I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death. O Death, I will be your plagues! O Grave, I will be your destruction! Pity is hidden from My eyes.”

(NKJV)

GRADUAL            Psalm 90:1-2

Lord, You have been our dwelling place *
In all generations.
Before the mountains were brought forth, before You ever had formed the earth and the world, *
Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.

EPISTLE READING             Ephesians 6:10-17

10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. 14 Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God;    (NKJV) 

VERSE   Psalm 125:1

Alleluia. Alleluia. Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion, *
Which cannot be moved, but abides forever.  Alleluia.

HOLY GOSPEL    John 4:46-54

46 So Jesus came again to Cana of Galilee where He had made the water wine. And there was a certain nobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum. 47 When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went to Him and implored Him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. 48 Then Jesus said to him, “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe.” 49 The nobleman said to Him, “Sir, come down before my child dies!” 50 Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your son lives.” So the man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and he went his way. 51 And as he was now going down, his servants met him and told him, saying, “Your son lives!” 52 Then he inquired of them the hour when he got better. And they said to him, “Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.” 53 So the father knew that it was at the same hour in which Jesus said to him, “Your son lives.” And he himself believed, and his whole household. 54 This again is the second sign Jesus did when He had come out of Judea into Galilee. (NKJV)

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The article of election drives us back to the Word of invitation

Posted on October 6, 2013 by Rev. Paul Rydecki

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Sermon for Trinity 20

Isaiah 65:1-2  +  Ephesians 5:15-21  +  Matthew 22:1-14

Many are called, but few are chosen.  So Jesus closes the parable of the wedding banquet. The word “chosen” is the same as the word “elect.” We’re talking here about that difficult article of doctrine called “election” or “predestination” — that God, in eternity, before the foundations of the world were laid, graciously chose the individuals who would feast at the heavenly wedding banquet of His Son, Jesus Christ.  It’s a difficult teaching because our human reason wants more information than God reveals in Holy Scripture.

And since what God has revealed doesn’t satisfy our human reason, people throughout the centuries have fallen into grave errors trying to fill in the blanks.  They figure that, since God predestined some to salvation, He must have predestined the others to condemnation, like some horrible game of eenie, meenie, miney, mo.  They try to pry into the ‘hidden will’ of God and figure out why He chose some and not others, looking for some sort of goodness in the elect or some sort of special badness in the non-elect.  Either that, or they totally mess up the doctrine and end up, either in what we call carnal security or in despair.  In other words, they either figure, “Hey, I must be one of the elect.  I belong to a church! So I can sin as much as I want and I’ll still be in heaven.” Or they figure, “I can never be sure if I’m one of the elect, so it doesn’t matter that I believe in Jesus.  If I’m not among the elect, I still won’t be saved!”

In fact, recently a member told me about an interaction he had with a friend who gave this reason for not wanting to come to church (something like this):  God knows everything already.  He already knows who’s going to be in heaven and who’s going to be in hell.  So it doesn’t matter what I do, or if I go to church or not.

Doesn’t matter?!? Is that what Jesus teaches us about election in today’s Gospel? That God’s gracious wedding invitation doesn’t matter, or that it doesn’t matter how you respond to it?  On the contrary, Jesus both warns us and comforts us in this Gospel by putting an end to our idle speculation about what God hasn’t revealed to us about His will, and urges us to focus on what God has revealed to us about His gracious will.  And His gracious will is that those who are called to the wedding banquet should go!

Let’s look at the parable again. The King who gave a wedding feast for His Son is God.  The Son, the Bridegroom, is Christ.  The marriage is between Christ and the Bride, His holy Church—holy, not because her members have led sinless lives, but holy because Christ loved her “and gave Himself up for her that He might make her holy, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the Word,” as Paul says to the Ephesians.  The wedding feast is the kingdom of God, which came to earth when Christ came to the earth in humility and finds it fulfillment when He comes again in glory, as our catechism students are memorizing this week:

Thy kingdom come. What does this mean? The kingdom of God certainly comes by itself without our prayer, but we pray in this petition that it may come to us also. How does God’s kingdom come? God’s kingdom comes when our heavenly Father gives us His Holy Spirit, so that by His grace we believe His holy Word and lead godly lives here in time and there in eternity.

Those who had been invited to the wedding feast ahead of time were the Jews.  The King had sent forth His servants, the prophets to tell them beforehand about this feast that was being prepared, the coming of the Messiah to make atonement for the sins of the world.  Then, when Christ finally came into the world, angels announced His birth, and Simeon sang his song, but the Jews didn’t come to the feast, didn’t pay any attention to Jesus.

The King sent out other servants,  John the Baptist, Christ Himself, and the Apostles.  And this was their commission: “Tell those who are invited, “See, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast.”  Come to Me, Jesus said, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. But the Jews, for the most part, despised the Word of Christ.  They “made light” of the invitation.  They “went their ways,” one to his farm, that is, to his own works, trying to please God by them; another to his business, that is, to the worries and cares of this life, more interested into living in their sin than in repentance and faith in Christ.  Still others seized His servants, treated them spitefully, and killed them, as they did with John the Baptist, Christ Himself and the holy Apostles.

Now, was there something defective in the invitation to the Jews?  Was it that God wasn’t serious about His invitation?  Was it somehow God’s fault that they didn’t repent and believe in Christ?  Of course not!  God pleaded with them; His Spirit called out to them through God’s Word.  In the very next chapter of Matthew, Jesus mourns over Jerusalem: O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!

“You were not willing.”  There is where the fault lies. You didn’t want Jesus for a Savior.  You didn’t care.  You preferred your own works or your own sins to the invitation God sent out.

And see how forcefully the King responds: When the king heard about it, he was furious. And he sent out his armies, destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city.  See, those who claim that God is the one who, from eternity, predestined some people to condemnation run into a big problem here.  If God Himself determined that these people could never be saved, if God Himself made them so that they could never believe in His Son, then how does God become angry with them for doing what He supposedly predestined them to do?  How does God blame them for rejecting His invitation, if He was never serious about it in the first place?  No, God was serious, and His Holy Spirit was active in the Gospel call, working through it to create faith in them, too.  He wanted them to believe and be saved.  It was their fault that they didn’t want to come.

So Jesus’ warning rings out still today.  If this Gospel invitation is spoken within your hearing, you can know for certain that God intends for you to take it to heart, to repent of your sins and come into His kingdom through faith in Christ who paid for all sins with His holy, precious blood and His innocent sufferings and death. You don’t have to worry about God’s election in eternity.  Hear His Words now.  Listen to His call now.  He wants you to be saved.

You know that, because what did the King do next?  He said to his servants, ‘The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. Therefore go into the highways, and as many as you find, invite to the wedding.’ So those servants went out into the highways and gathered together all whom they found, both bad and good. And the wedding hall was filled with guests.  See, He wants His wedding hall to be filled with whomever His servants find with the Word.  His servants—ministers of the Gospel—still go forth and call everyone to repentance and faith in Christ.  They find “both bad and good” and call them in, because your place in the kingdom of God has nothing to do with how bad or good you are.  It’s about leaving your works behind entirely, hearing the preaching of the Gospel, and coming to Jesus for mercy, for forgiveness, and for eternal life.

But we still have the last portion of the parable to consider.  But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there who did not have on a wedding garment. At the end of time, when Jesus comes in glory, then the King Himself will come in to see the Church, no longer through pastors and preachers, but in Person.  And unlike pastors and preachers, the King can see the heart.  This “wedding garment” was a special garment that the rich host would provide for His guests.  They didn’t have to go out and spend $10,000 on a nice suit or dress.  The King provided it.  So to come into the wedding hall and not wear the wedding garment provided by the King was a great insult.

The wedding garment is nothing but Christ and His righteousness and the faith that puts Him on.  God provides faith through the Means of Grace.  He provides this garment already in Holy Baptism.  And part of His decree of election in eternity is that He will continue to provide the Word and Sacrament to keep His elect people in faith, to protect them from the devil, the world and the sinful flesh, to sustain them in their great weakness and to lift them up when they fall, and to strengthen and comfort them under the cross.  What great comfort for us in every trial, that not only has God chosen us in eternity, not only has He planned out the time and place when we would hear His Gospel and be baptized into His kingdom, but He has also provided everything necessary to keep us in His grace and to bring us at last to everlasting life.

But if someone comes into the Church and then stops listening to God’s Word, distances him or herself from the Sacrament, becomes lazy in prayer and stops being concerned with things like repentance and leading a holy life of faith toward God and love toward the neighbor, then that’s like taking off the wedding garment you were given.  That’s falling away from the faith, even though you’re still technically here within the visible Church.

What does the King do with such a one when He comes?  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.’ So, does the Gospel invitation matter?  Of course it does!  Does Baptism and coming into the Church matter?  Of course it does!  Does the continual hearing of the Word and receiving of the Sacrament matter?  Of course it does!  Does prayer matter?  Of course it does!  Does daily repentance and fleeing in faith to Christ for mercy matter?  It matters more than anything in this world.

So this “faith thing” is a serious matter and the Holy Spirit’s always-sincere call in the Gospel is urgent, and is truly intended for all who hear it.  And in the midst of it all is the doctrine of election.  Its purpose isn’t to lead us either to idle speculation, or to carnal security or to despair.  Its purpose is to direct us constantly back to God’s invitation, right here, right now in the Gospel, so that we take it heart, trust in Christ, and never imagine for a moment that we’re safe in this world without God’s faithful and continual care.  That’s how you know you’re one of the elect, one of the chosen.  Once you get that, then the true purpose of the doctrine of election is fulfilled, to comfort the saints of God—believers in Christ—with the knowledge that, in eternity, God graciously and individually planned everything necessary for your eternal salvation, and that God has carried it out in time, and will continue to carry it out until the doors of the wedding hall are closed, and you are safely feasting at His heavenly wedding banquet forever. Amen.

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