A King prepares a wedding feast for His Son. The King of course, is God the Father. His Son is Christ. This is the feast of salvation which Jesus celebrates because He has been slaughtered for His Bride and yet He is the Bridegroom! Throughout the Bible, God's kingdom is often pictured as a great feast, a wedding celebration. Christ has come down and given His life for His Bride, the church. He has washed her in His blood which He shed for her on Calvary. He has made her spotless and blameless by His death so that she stands before Him as holy and blameless in His sight. That means that YOU, who are in His church, who are His Bride, stand holy and spotless and blameless before the Lord. Here, in the church, we celebrate the feast of salvation! We are clothed with the wedding garment of Christ in our Baptism and we feast upon the slaughtered Lamb, Christ's own Body and Blood. The Lord has prepared this feast for you. It's the feast of salvation.
But understand that many don't want this feast. The Lord has sent His preachers and prophets out into the world. They have told people: This is the FREE feast of God. This is a celebration and delivery of His salvation. Here is the forgiveness of sins! Here is the Lamb who was slain for you. And some people just don't care. They don't want forgiveness. They don't care about eternal life. The things of this life, their jobs or toys or themselves, are just more important to them than having the forgiveness of sins and eternal life. To put it another way: The reason some people don't come to church and aren't Christians is because they just don't care. They just don't want what the Lord has for them. But some are worse. Not only do they not want Jesus, they hate anyone who does. And so they killed those prophets and apostles. Even today, all around the world they continue to kill Christians who confess God's free forgiveness in Jesus. That's the world. On the one hand, it couldn't care less about Jesus and the forgiveness of sins. On the other hand, it hates an despises Christ's church and seeks to get rid of it!
But the church also has those within it who despise Christ and His forgiveness. In Bible times, when a king threw a wedding, he made sure to provide a wedding garment for everyone. It'd be kinda like the father of the groom providing everyone who RSVPed a tux or dress. But one man didn't want to wear it. He despised the hospitality and generosity of the King and decided he didn't need to follow the dress code. That man represents those who are in the church, at least visibly but who don't want to actually wear Christ and live in His forgiveness. These are the ones who may even have been baptized but have cast off Christ and yet still presume to take part in the feast. These are the ones who want their name on the rolls of the church but don't ever want to come. Or maybe they are the ones who come but learn nothing from God's Word over time. They want a Christians wedding or a Christian funeral but they really despise Christ and don't trust in Him for the forgiveness of sins. They want to claim the name “Christian” and “church member” but don't want to have to actually mess with all that believing and trusting in Jesus stuff.
And here's OUR repentance! We can mention those outside the church who hate it. We can mention those inside who aren't really Christians. But the warning for each of us is this: Don't ever cast off your wedding garment! The Bible tells us that being baptized means being clothed with Christ. To be baptized is to have the robe of Christ's righteousness on you. It is to have the forgiveness of sins and faith in Christ. Dear Christian: the Lord has made this feast for you and He makes sure you are dressed for it too! Just think for a moment about this wedding feast, about the Christian church. It is prepared and made by God. Accomplished by Christ on Calvary who has died and risen for you. It is given to you before you could even accept it, at the font with water and the Word. It is celebrated over and over as Christ's Body and Blood are given you to eat and drink. This is truly the feast of salvation with no strings attached. No requirements. Nothing for you to do to earn it or deserve it. Here, in the church, the Lord has called and gathered the good and the bad. Sinners are brought in and saved. Rejoice in THAT, brothers and sisters, that the Lord has made a feast for you and made sure you are dressed.
So if this feast is so great and so free, how could we ever refuse it to anyone? How could dare to tell someone they may not receive the Sacrament? Here again, the Lord's parable answers us for our comfort. What happens to those who rejected the King's invitation? The King sent His soldiers to burn and destroy them and their city! There will come a day when our Lord comes again and all those who have rejected Him will be destroyed! That's frightening. But more than that, what happens to those who want to party but not wear the wedding garment provided? They will be bound hand and foot and cast out into outer darkness! Brothers and sisters in Christ, we practice closed communion at the feast because we believe there will be a day of judgment! We want to make sure that those who come to the Lord's feast are clothed with Christ and His garment of righteousness. We tell some that they may not yet commune because we don't want ANYONE to be speechless on the Last Day. Rather, we want them to learn Christ's Word, to learn what that wedding garment is and to wear it with joy and thanksgiving. And we DO want them clothed with Christ so that they are welcome guests on the Last Day! And that garment is given by God's Word and so we teach God's Word first to those who desire to receive Christ's body and blood. How awkward would it be if one of the bridesmaids came to a wedding and was wearing a completely different dress than the others because no one told her what to get? Just so, we want no one to celebrate the feast wearing the wrong clothes but rather wearing Christ.
For those who despise the King, the feast is no good news and the consequences of rejecting it are terrible! But for you, who have been clothed with the wedding garment of Christ, there is the promise of an eternal celebration at the Kings feast which has no end. Now, as we celebrate this feast in the church, we rejoice in the forgiveness and life and salvation. We rejoice to be the Bride of Christ who is cherished and loved and treated like royalty by her Bridegroom. And there, in eternity, we will rejoice to be with our heavenly Bridegroom forever! In the Name of Jesus. Amen.
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