Sharing the Feast Matthew 22:1-14

Grace, mercy, and peace …

With next month being November, already, some of us may be starting to make plans for the annual Thanksgiving Day Feast. Our family has already decided to meet at our house, and I believe they’ve started to talk about who will bring what.  

Imagine preparing a great Thanksgiving Day feast for your entire family, and then not a single family member shows up to share it with you. How sad that would be.

This is what we heard in our Gospel today in the parable of the wedding feast.

A king prepared a wedding party for his son. But all the people he invited turned him down.

So the king tried again. He sent out his servants, who said, “It’ll be a great feast with the best food and entertainment. Come and celebrate with your king.”.

Once again, some ignored the king’s invitation, while others callously beat and killed his servants.

So the king sent out his soldiers to punish them. Then he told his servants, “Go out to the highways, and invite everyone you see.”.

The common people were honored to attend and a great crowd filled the banquet hall. One of the guests, however, wasn’t dressed for the occasion, and in this way dishonored the king, . So the king said to his servants, “Tie him up and throw him out into the darkness”.

Then Jesus said, In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. For many are called, but few are chosen.

The people in this parable who were invited but refused to attend the wedding, were the people who refused to accept Jesus as the Messiah, and worse than that, were scheming to have him killed.

But more broadly, for today, it stands for those who hear the gospel, but refuse to believe and follow Jesus into the fellowship of His Church, and finally into the fellowship of Heaven.

The one who wasn’t properly dressed stands for anyone who pretends to be a part of the Kingdom but doesn’t really believe in Jesus, and therefore is not covered with his righteousness.

This teaches us that it’s by faith and forgiveness that we become a part of the Body of Christ, and receive the gifts of the Gospel. We only enter the Kingdom of Heaven by having the perfect righteousness of Christ to count as our own.

Our Old Testament today compares Heaven to a great feast on a mountain. In Biblical times, God often revealed His glory on the mountain. But this is also a reference to the mountain in Jerusalem where the temple was built.

The temple was the sacred place of God’s presence. Today, God and His grace are present where ever His Word and Sacraments are shared.

In our reading, Isaiah is talking about the resurrection to come, and the heavenly life that follows. He will swallow up death forever, that’s the resurrection, and wipe away tears from all faces, that’s the joy of heaven.

The great feast of rich food is referring to a covenant feast, where an agreement between two parties was celebrated with a banquet. This shows the joy of Heaven, and that we’ll be completely taken care of there.

Our Epistle reminds us of the blessing of joy that we have now, and not just in the future in Heaven. Paul says, Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice!

Even in times of trouble and grief we have a reason to rejoice, because God is still with us, comforting us, caring for us and blessing us.

You don’t have to wait to until you’re a part of God’s Kingdom in Heaven to feast on His blessings; you’re a part of His Kingdom now on earth, so you can feast on His wonderful blessings today.

As a faithful, baptized child of God, you live every day at the banquet table n His Kingdom of grace. The grand celebration of salvation has already begun for you.

In heaven, it’ll be turned up a few notches, many notches. We’ll have incredible joy in the glory of it all.

But there are many blessings for you to enjoy today.

So every day, feast on the blessings of the gospel, that God gives to us in abundance.

There are a lot of things we can feast on in life, and not all of them are good for us.

Paul told Timothy that a little wine is good for the stomach; but too much is bad for the body, and the soul, and mind, and for your family, and your relationships.

A piece of candy is okay, but buckets of candy cause problems.

But to feast on the Gospel, God’s Word every day, to feast on His body and blood for you whenever it’s offered, is always good for you and brings health to your soul.

God calls his children to embrace His grace, and never refuse or ignore the gifts of the gospel that He so kindly offers us.  

It can be a lot of work to prepare a great feast, like a Thanksgiving meal. It can be a lot of work to get everything ready for a wedding celebration. What a shame to see it all wasted.

How much more tragic to waste the Gospel.

It took much more for Jesus to prepare the feast of the Gospel for us, than anything we’ve ever done. It took him giving all that He had to give. All His love for you was poured out on the cross as he died to save you, and all His power was displayed as He rose to life, that He might raise you, too.

This is the loving and miraculous way that Jesus has prepared the feast of the Gospel for us.

Don’t ignore that feast; and don’t reject the One who has prepared that feast.

Jesus wants you to have that eternal feast of joy on the mountain, in the glory of heaven. So he spreads out for you in His Church, the feast of his gospel, and, He invites you to take it all into your heart, and share it with others.

Here at St. John, we know how to feast; we have quite the meals. But most of all we have the gifts of the Gospel to feast on. The Gospel fills us with the best of things, and gives us the best of love to share with one another.

There’s no better thing for us to fill ourselves with and feast on than the Word and the love of God; and no better thing for us to share in this world, so that others may feast on the gifts of the gospel, too.   

As you feast on and share God’s amazing love, as today’s Epistle promises, The peace of God, which surpasses understanding, will guard your hearts and minds, in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen