October 22, 2023 Trinity 20 The Sunday of the Wedding Feast

Trinity 20
Matthew 22:1-14
October 22, 2023

“Few are Chosen”

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Many are called, but few are chosen. Why? That’s what we want to know. Why are few chosen? If the Lord wants all people to be saved, as He tells us in His Word, and if Jesus died for the sins of the whole world then why are only a few chosen? That’s exactly why Jesus tells this parable. So that everyone will hear these warnings. He truly does want all people to be saved. He’s not kidding or playing games with us. He wants everyone and He calls everyone. But so many reject the invitation. So Jesus tells this parable of the wedding banquet so that we and all people will be warned of the danger and will not miss out on the wedding reception.

The King in the parable and in reality is God the Father. The Son who is receiving this wedding feast is Jesus Christ. The wedding feast itself is the Gospel, the forgiveness of sins in Word and Sacrament. As we sang this morning, “This is the feast of victory for our God. Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!” The feast is the Divine Service where the Gospel is preached and the table is set for the Supper.

Now the servants go out to call those who were invited. These servants are all the prophets of the Old Testament all the way up to John the Baptist. They called all of the Jews, all of the Israelites, to come to the table but they wouldn’t come. That’s verse 3. Then verse 4 God sent other servants. These are all the apostles, all of Jesus’ disciples, and all of the evangelists in the book of Acts like St. Paul and Timothy and Silas and Barnabas. These servants told the Jews in their synagogues, “Everything is ready for the feast. Come.”  The oxen and fat calves that have been sacrificed are Jesus, the great and one time sacrifice for the life of the world. He is the food and the feast. Everything is ready because of His death, resurrection, and ascension.

But things went bad. Some people paid no attention to the Gospel. Some hated the Gospel and killed the servants like Stephen, James, and many of the other apostles. That’s all verses 5 and 6. Then God the Father was angry and in 70AD He sent in the Roman troops to Jerusalem and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. That’s verse 7.

Then the King sent out the servants again like Peter and James and Paul and Barnabas. And He said, “Those invited weren’t worthy.” So God sent them to the Gentiles. This is exactly what Paul says in Acts 13, “It was necessary that the word of God be spoken first to you Jews. Since you thrust it aside and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles.” And so the Church was filled up with people. That’s all verses 8 to 10.

Then the King finds a guest inside who doesn’t have a wedding garment. The wedding garment is the white robe of the righteousness of Christ. In short, the garment is Jesus Christ and this self-righteous man refused to wear Christ. So God the Father kicks him out of the feast to the outer darkness where there’s weeping and gnashing of teeth. That is hell. And so, Jesus concludes, many are called and few are chosen. It’s few because so many refused to come.

We’re going to take up these three warnings one by one—the first is those who in verse 5 paid no attention and went off, one to his farm, another to his business. They’re apathetic. They “just don’t care”. Isn’t it crazy to think that someone would reject an invitation by the King to the Prince’s wedding? But today this is exactly what happens all the time and no one bats an eye. The Lord of all Creation, of heaven and earth, invites people all the time to come and feast with Him and so many pay no attention and go off, one to his farm and another to his business.

So here it is, short and simple: Beware of not caring. In 2023, we live in a Western world that is spiritually bored. Spiritually apathetic. Spiritually depressed. People in the West just don’t care about holy things. The very things that ought to be our utmost care—like life and death and eternity—we just don’t care about them. We’re bored with all that.

This largely comes from a problem that I would remind you of today—the problem of relativism in our Western world. It’s in the air we breathe every day that all truth is relative to people. “You have your truth. I have my truth.” So in spiritual things we say, “Ah, who cares? No one knows what’s true anyway?!” Instead of it being, “Either Jesus is Lord and Savior or Jesus isn’t Lord and Savior,” the world just says, “Believe whatever you want to believe. It doesn’t matter.” Instead of it being, “It’s wrong to gamble your money away or it’s wrong to sexualize children or it’s wrong to have sex outside of marriage,” the world just says, “It’s only wrong if you think so. You do you and I’ll do me.” And so, if there isn’t any absolute truth for all people and any absolute good and absolute virtue, well then what does any of it matter anyway? We just don’t care.

We go off, one to his farm and another to his business. Do you know this is a big reason why we’re all scrambling around so “busy” today with a gazillion different things. All this busyness isn’t a good sign. It’s a bad sign. It’s not a sign that we care a whole lot and we’re wanting to be so productive. It’s a sign that we’re drugging ourselves so that we don’t have to think or care about anything too serious. All this busyness is a narcotic. It’s just a way of coping with the pain of lostness. In an article written by Pastor Harold Senkbeil on this topic he quotes a psychologist, Richard Leahy, “The average high school kid today has the same level of anxiety as the average psychiatric patient in the 1950s.” Behind all this frantic busyness is a profound emptiness – we just don’t care. We pay no attention.

What’s the answer? Come to the wedding feast. Jesus is the Truth. The absolute Truth. He cares deeply. For you. He cares about the utmost things. Forgiveness. Life. Eternity. Virtue. Leave the farm and business in their place and come first and foremost to the feast.

The second warning is found in verse 6 where some “seized the servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them.” They hate the King. Hate Him! This is a serious warning against anger and hatred towards God. In the parable, they made the King the enemy and became violent against Him.

Beware of making God the bad Guy. Beware of making God the enemy. When the Jews made God the enemy and killed Jesus along with other apostles after Him—they made God angry. It didn’t end well for them or for Jerusalem. Beware of blaming God and making Him the enemy.

When we look at the world around us, especially, for instance, some of the radical evil going on over in Israel and in the Gaza strip, we would be tempted to blame God and make Him the enemy. When we look at some of the cancer and other suffering going on in the lives of friends and family, we may be tempted to become angry with God or even hate Him.

That’s the devil’s game. He was the first to make God the enemy. To be angry with and hate God. It will not end well for him. Beware. And it won’t end well for anyone who sides with Satan and makes God the enemy. God isn’t the enemy. The devil is the enemy. We and our sin are the enemy. Death is the enemy. God, on the other hand, is King and Lord of all who has thrown a Gospel wedding feast of forgiveness and hope and peace and joy and eternal life. And you’re invited! Come to the feast. God isn’t your enemy. He’s your Savior. Come to His kingdom where there is no violence and war and bloodshed. Come to His kingdom where there isn’t any sickness or death. Whoever believes in Him will never die. Don’t hate the King. Come to the King. Your King.

The third warning starts at verse 11. It’s the warning of wearing the wrong clothes at the wedding reception. There’s a dress code for this wedding just like there’s pretty much a dress code for almost every wedding you attend. You’re expected not to come dressed in mud and stink. At this Gospel wedding feast of victory here in the Lord’s Church, the only clothes we’re all wearing are the clothes of Jesus. Beware of trying to come in your own clothes. God has given you the white clothes of the righteousness of Jesus Christ. All your sin is covered. You’re baptized. You’re forgiven. Washed clean. Isaiah 61, “He has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness.” Isaiah 1, “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.”

Come to the feast. God has your clothes ready. The clothes of Jesus. His perfect righteousness. Few are chosen. Sadly. Sadly. But you be among the few. God has called and chosen you. Come to the Gospel feast of victory for our God. There’s no better way to end than Revelation chapter 19: ““Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure”—for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.”

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.  Amen.