Listen here.
Welcome to Devotions for Worship where we meditate on the
appointed Scripture readings for the upcoming Sunday. I am Pastor Eric Tritten
from Gloria Dei Lutheran Church in Hudson, OH. Thank you for being with me
today.
This coming Sunday is the 19th Sunday after
Pentecost.
Let’s listen to God’s Word.
The Reading: Matthew 22:1-14
And again Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying, 2
"The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast
for his son, 3 and sent his servants to call those who were invited
to the wedding feast, but they would not come. 4 Again he sent other
servants, saying, 'Tell those who are invited, "See, I have prepared my
dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is
ready. Come to the wedding feast."' 5 But they paid no
attention and went off, one to his farm, another to his business, 6
while the rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them. 7
The king was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and
burned their city. 8 Then he said to his servants, 'The wedding
feast is ready, but those invited were not worthy. 9 Go therefore to
the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find.' 10
And those servants went out into the roads and gathered all whom they found,
both bad and good. So the wedding hall was filled with guests.
11
"But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who
had no wedding garment. 12 And he said to him, 'Friend, how did you
get in here without a wedding garment?' And he was speechless. 13
Then the king said to the attendants, 'Bind him hand and foot and cast him into
the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'
14 For many are called, but few are chosen." (Matt. 22:1-14
ESV)
Comments
Okay, this might be what we’d refer to as “piling on.” Let’s
walk back across the last couple week’s gospel lessons. In Matthew 21:28-32
Jesus told a parable about two sons. Both were asked by their father to go into
the field and work. The first said, “No,” but changed his mind and went to
work. The other said, “Yes,” but didn’t go. Jesus asked the priests and elders
which did the will of his father. The clear answer is the first. Jesus turns
around and says this is why the tax collectors and prostitutes are getting into
the kingdom ahead of them; they don’t do God’s will by believing John the
Baptist.
Then in Matthew 21:33-44 Jesus told the parable of the
Tenants and the Vineyard. This time it is clear even to the priests and
Pharisees that Jesus is saying that they are the tenants who beat and kill the
one’s God sends to them and even reject his Son. Jesus even flatly states, “The
kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its
fruits.” That is the fruit of faith, repentance, trust, and, yes, works
motivated by faith.
Today we read the Parable of the Wedding Feast in which the
people who are supposed to attend all seem to have better things to do. They
ignored the messengers who declared that the marriage feast was at hand, and
some even treated them shamefully and killed the messengers. The king destroys
the ones who refuse his gracious invitations, but insists there must be a
marriage feast, so the messengers are to go out and bring in everyone. Those
who thought they were worthy were not, and those who were not worthy enter the
feast by the king’s gracious invitation. But it is clearly a situation of grace
from first to last because the person who entered the party without wedding
clothes – who tried to come on his own terms and his own merit – was cast out.
Once again Jesus is telling the priests and Pharisees that they’ve rejected
God’s mercy, and his mercy will be given to others – to those the priests and
Pharisees would consider unworthy.
And that is an important point for us to ponder: Who is
worthy to come to the feast? Who is worthy to receive God’s invitation into his
kingdom? The answer is, of course, no one. Yet he makes some worthy. He dresses
us, not in fancy clothes but, in Jesus’ righteousness so that when God looks at
us he sees us in Christ; in his holy righteousness.
All too often we look around and consider other people’s
worthiness forgetting that we ourselves are unworthy recipients of mercy. And
that mercy, God generously extends to all. And all who believe in Jesus receive
it.
How might we more generously extend God’s mercy to others in
our lives and more fully experience his mercy for us?
Prayers
Lord Jesus, you bring the kingdom of heaven to those who
believe in you – good and bad – all those who are brought in receive the
privilege of celebrating eternally with you. Thank you for making us part of
that group, through no merit of our own, but purely through your forgiveness
and mercy. Forgive us for think others should be excluded from your kingdom or
that the kingdom is only for a certain group of people or that we entered the
kingdom because we are good enough. Grant us your Holy Spirit and help us to be
your servants who got to roads and invite as many as we can to the feast. Amen.
Thank you so much for using Devotions for Worship, I pray
that our time together has blessed you and given you something to meditate on –
some reminder of God’s grace to rattle around in your brain – for the rest of
the day.
One of the things we can do to help us meditate on God’s
word is to memorize it. This week’s verse comes from our Old Testament lesson
this week.
Memory Verse: Isaiah 25:9 - It will be said on that day, "Behold,
this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us. This is the
LORD; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his
salvation." (Isa. 25:9 ESV)
Would you do me a favor? If you got something out of this
devotional time, would you like and/or share it on Facebook, Twitter, or
wherever you do social media? That would help me get the word out, and
hopefully help these devotions be a blessing to others.
God bless you!
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