The Wedding Feast & Faith from Matthew 22

 

The Wedding Feast  & Faith from Matthew 22

 

The Readings

 

The First Lesson (Third Set of Propers)

 

Exodus 32:1-6, 15-20, 30-34

 

And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him. And Aaron said unto them, Break off the golden earrings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me. And all the people brake off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron. And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation, and said, Tomorrow is a feast to the Lord. And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play. And Moses turned, and went down from the mount, and the two tables of the testimony were in his hand: the tables were written on both their sides; on the one side and on the other were they written. And the tables were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, graven upon the tables. And when Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said unto Moses, There is a noise of war in the camp. And he said, It is not the voice of them that shout for mastery, neither is it the voice of them that cry for being overcome: but the noise of them that sing do I hear. And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf, and the dancing: and Moses' anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and brake them beneath the mount. And he took the calf which they had made, and burnt it in the fire, and ground it to powder, and strawed it upon the water, and made the children of Israel drink of it. And it came to pass on the morrow, that Moses said unto the people, Ye have sinned a great sin: and now I will go up unto the Lord; peradventure I shall make an atonement for your sin. And Moses returned unto the Lord, and said, Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold. Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin -; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written. And the Lord said unto Moses, Whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book. Therefore now go, lead the people unto the place of which I have spoken unto thee: behold, mine Angel shall go before thee: nevertheless in the day when I visit I will visit their sin upon them.

 

The Collect

ALMIGHTY and most merciful God, of thy bountiful goodness keep us, we beseech thee, from all things that may hurt us; that we, being ready both in body and soul, may cheerfully accomplish those things which thou commandest; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

 

The Epistle
Ephesians v. 15.

SEE then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.

 

The Gospel
St. Matthew xxii. 1.

JESUS said, The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son, and sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding: and they would not come. Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come unto the marriage. But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise: and the remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew them. But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth: and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city. Then saith he to his servants, The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy. Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage. So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests. And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding-garment: and he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding-garment? And he was speechless. Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. For many are called, but few are chosen.

 

 

"Life is a Banquet, and the Cake is for you!" That is what I got in the mail from Farmer's Insurance to remind me I was having a birthday on Saturday. But this could be also applied to how God is preparing and has prepared for us a beautiful end to our journey of life at His feast. We celebrate that in Holy Communion every week but one day we shall be with Him forever. The King had prepared for those who were invited a beautiful banquet .

We note that his servants had invited people to the wedding. Vs 5 says they made light of it, but the idea of the greek there is that they just simply ignored it, took no notice. It is not the idea of spurning it ( or making jest at it as the Kjv sounds). How much this sounds like so many people today! The invitation to Christ and His kingdom has been sent out but people just pass it by. "Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus" I Tim. 2:4

1. Because they had an apathetic attitude towards spiritual things, " they would not come." vs 3 This reminds me of the people who lived off Florida Merritt Island & did not wish to evacuate from the hurricane Matthew. Their roof blew off and they called emergency, but they already said they would not rescue anyone who did not evacuate!
Today our Lord says to come unto Him and to take His yoke upon us and we shall find rest unto our souls, but people do not . Matthew 11:28 . Don't we read this every week in our Communion Service? PB p. 76
People ignore the banquet and the feast . They pass it by, and it was never on their calendar or to do list anyway. Do they know what they are missing?

2. They made excuses. This sounds like the similar parable in Luke 14:15 . Here the excuses are worldly as they are in Luke too.
" They went their ways , one to his farm, another to his merchandise..." Matthew22 : 5
If we do not want to do something we will find a reason to not do it, no matter who the invite comes from. Here the King was inviting but that did not matter apparently.
Recently I finished a book called, He Leadeth Me which is the story of a Jesuit priest who ended up being thrown in prison in Russia after Poland was invaded for 23 years. He tried to be faithful to God, and was always looking for ways to do services of communion to parishoners who traveled long distances to receive it. But even though he often felt in despair he knew that God had a purpose in him being captured and serving several churches in Russia.

"An Easter mass is a joyous one to begin with but the enthusiasm of the people that night I shall never forget. Tired as I was after more than forty-eight hours without sleep , hurrying from place to place , I felt suddenly elated and swept along....the crowds were so great it was impossible to distribute Communion, because no one could move. Communion had to be distributed after Mass. The service ended at 3 a.m., but at nine o' clock the next morning I was still distributing Communion to a constant stream of people...I felt that at last, in God's own good providence, I was beginning to live my dream of serving his flock in Russia." Fr. Walter J. Ciszek S.J.
Certainly they were not making excuses to be with Christ in the Church and in the prayers of the people of God. They were seeking any way they could to be faithful despite what the culture of atheism was telling them to do.

3. Conclusion. God desires that we possess the wedding garment of faith and love in His Son and for others so that we may enter into the joy of His presence on His day forever. vs 12-13. God will not accept our good deeds but will see His wedding garment of righteousness, the garment of faith to enter with joy one day. Gregory the Great says it this way regarding the wedding garment :"
For if we say it is baptism or faith, is there anyone who has entered this marriage feast without them? A person is outside because he has not yet come to believe. What then must we understand by the wedding garment but love?...Only God's love brought it about that His only Begotten Son united the hearts of His chosen to Himself. John says that ' God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son for us.' " in Forty Gospel Homilies.