Proper Wedding Attire

Sermon Proper 23A

Matthew 22:1-14

Rev. Jeff Springer

Weddings are certainly festive occasions. Many businesses are based on weddings. From wedding planners, to the printing of invitations, to the wedding cake, renting the hall for the reception, as well as the catering and we should not forget the wedding dress.

In fact for the wedding proper attire is very important not only for the wedding party that wears bridesmaid dresses and tuxes but also the guests.  Weddings for the most part are still formal occasions.  The guests are expected to look their best.

Could you imagine if you were asked to attend a wedding at the last moment.  Perhaps there would not be time to shop for a new dress or a new suit. Perhaps you could not afford it.  What if the host of the wedding offers to clothe you for the wedding.  He says don’t worry here is something to wear so that you may be properly attired. Would you receive his gift?

This is not just any wedding, you are in the presence of the King and the King knows how to throw a party. The king in this case is the King of the Universe, the Heavenly Father.  We get glimpses of this wedding from the prophet Isaiah. Listen to the menu, a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined. Jesus explains it even further as speaks of oxen and fat calves. Too have meat and wine was a real luxury, it still is when you are speaking of the best.  This is a wedding feast that no one would want to miss or at least we would think so.

But this is what happens. The King sends his servants out to let the invited guests know that the time has come for them to attend. But instead of coming to the feast, they would rather return home and attend to their farms and businesses. Even worse some of the intended guests treat the servants who are the messengers badly. Sounds a lot like how the tenants treated the servants of the Master in last week’s text. The prophets, the servants of God, who are not only looking for fruits of repentance but they are also looking to call you into God’s presence to feast on what is good.

The result for them is not good, the invited guests refusal to turn to God and to receive from Him his gifts and to also treat His servants badly is met with war and destruction.

I cannot help to draw some parallels today with refusal of some, many who are baptized, to keep the Sabbath. As you may recall the meaning of keeping the Sabbath, is to not despise our Lord’s preaching or His word but deem it Holy and gladly hear and learn it.

The Divine Service that is offered to you every week is a feast of God’s Word and in the Sacrament. The Lord has you feast on Himself. You are receiving God. What more or greater of gift is there, and it is free. What excuse, if you are able, not to attend this feast can be given?  Do you have a problem with the Servant God has sent?  Is the time of the service inconvenient? Are there matters of business and home that are more important? Are you not happy with the style of service?  It’s too formal?  Listen to this parable again. Do you really think any of these excuses that you would bring before the Heavenly King will work?  Stop making excuses for not regularly attending Divine Service and come and join the feast of the Lamb.

I have heard the excuse, can I not worship God in nature. Why must I come to a church? Is not God everywhere? The major difference is this. If your view of worship is giving praise and honor to God, then this is something that can be done anywhere.  However, if your view of Worship is hearing God’s Word, preaching and receiving the gifts of His sacraments there is one place where this is received and that is in Divine Service in Church.  The first case is the worship of the law which any pagan understands and practices.  The real Christian worship is in receiving gifts from God, accepting His invitation to come to the feast where He feeds and clothes you. And not just you alone but all the guests, worship is properly a communal event not an individualized subjective event.

It is at the wedding feast in Revelation 19 that we hear the saints with all the Heavenly Hosts singing. St. John writes, “Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out,

                  “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. (Rev. 19:6–9).

Here in this passage we hear that the bride is the church.  She has made herself ready and she is granted to clothe herself with fine, linen, bright and pure-for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. Being justified by Christ the groom, the church can now wear the righteous deeds of the saints. They are seen and recognized.

However, this gown is a bit different than the one in the parable given by the King to his new guests the ones who the Servants brought in from the road both bad and good.  Yes sinners are welcome to the feast as long as they are properly attired. This attire is that of Christ, put on in Christian baptism.  Jesus earlier had intimated that the tax collectors and prostitutes who heeded the words of God servant John the Baptist and who may have been baptized by Christ were entering the Kingdom of Heaven before the originally invited guests the chief priests and elders.

Without Christ’s righteousness we do not deserve to be at the wedding feast even if we are called, that is received an invitation. The chosen are those who are wearing the gown of Christ’s righteousness.  This is why the guest without the proper attire was removed. He answered the call by coming to the wedding but still wanted to attend on his own terms under His own self righteousness.  His fate will be no different than those who refused to heed the call in the first place.  He will be removed and sent where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth, one of Jesus descriptions of hell.

Basically when someone refuses baptism and wants to stand before the Heavenly Father. They are doing so without Christ so God is not a Father to them but a Holy Judge dispensing justice for sins committed. I cannot imagine someone who says they are a Christian and are not baptized. What have they been taught? Who are they listening too?  Jesus says, “Unless one is born of the water and the spirit he cannot enter the Kingdom of God.” (John 3:5)

For you who are baptized, you have a glorious gift. You have put on Christ.  It was customary in the past for infants and even adults to be baptized naked. In this way they shared in the humility of Christ’s crucifixion but it was also a symbol of being born again and coming out of the water the baptized would receive a white robe once again signifying they had put on Christ.  God for them is no longer a judge but a Heavenly Father. And so it is for you baptized into Christ.  You are here in Divine Service properly attired and ready for the foretaste of the feast to come the blessed sacrament of the altar.  This is the feast of the Lamb which we will all celebrate together one day in Heaven. Where we will sing with the great multitude…

                  “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.”   Amen!