The Lutheran Hour
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"No Shoes, No Shirt, No Service"
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Text: Matthew 22:11-12
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Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed! Because the Savior has risen from the dead, the Holy Spirit wishes to clothe you in blood-bought grace. Today the Creator of all extends a royal invitation to a heavenly festival of thanks which will never end. Grant this, Lord, unto us all. Amen.
Generally speaking, I think most ministers would agree with me when I say it’s easier for them to conduct a Christian funeral than it is to officiate at a Christian wedding. In order to have a proper and pleasing memorial service, a professional funeral director, a competent organist, a guest of honor, and a solid text, pretty much assure an outcome which is pleasing to most. With those components in place there is little that can go wrong with a funeral.
Not so a wedding. High expectations make a wedding difficult. You see, almost from the moment she is born, most women start planning their perfect wedding. If they see the movie Sound of Music, they don’t worry about Maria’s problems; they concentrate on Maria’s wedding with its grand cathedral, great organ, and the bride’s glorious train, which is slightly longer than the Great Wall of China. If she is sitting at a beauty parlor, she will pass up magazines like Hot Rod and Popular Mechanics and focus attention on the latest issue of Bride.
There is no aspect of a wedding which is too minute, too microscopic, too minuscule to escape her notice. I’m convinced it’s impossible for a woman to attend a wedding and not evaluate what was good, what was bad, what was tacky, and what was sad.
There are so many details, so many people involved, so many components in a wedding; it’s almost guaranteed that something, a little thing, a big thing, a hidden thing, or an up-front-so-everybody-can-see-it kind of thing, will go wrong. There is more than one TV program which specializes in showing wedding disasters. We’ve all seen home videos of a bride’s veil catching fire, or a groom fainting, or a well-lubricated reveler dancing like a whirling dervish until he takes out the cake.
Things go wrong with weddings. In my ministry I have seen a wedding start three hours late because the bride was still sewing her bridesmaids’ dresses; I have seen a groom too hung over to stand up. I’ve seen numerous fathers who, when asked, “Who gives this woman to be married to this man?” managed to mess up the line, “Her mother and I do.” I have seen a groomsman faint, come back, faint again, come back again, and faint a third time. And the list goes on. The possibilities for error, the potential of something going terribly wrong, the probability of error at a wedding is astronomical.
That truth is borne out in the Gospels. The very first miracle that Jesus performed in His ministry was at a wedding – a wedding where something had gone wrong. On that occasion a severe miscalculation had been made and the hosting families were running out of wine. To save them embarrassment, Jesus turned water into wine – gallons and gallons of first-rate wine.
When Jesus told stories about weddings, and He often did, His point often centered on something which had gone wrong. When He told people to be ready for the unknown hour He would return in judgment, He spoke about a wedding celebration where some unprepared guests were locked out (Matthew 25:1-13). When He wanted to make a point about humility, He told of a wedding where a man who, filled with his own self-importance, sailed right in and plunked himself down in an honored position. People must have exchanged knowing smiles when Jesus shared how the man was asked to vacate his spot so a more important guest might be seated (Luke 14:8-11).
The Savior knew; it doesn’t make any difference in what age or century you might live, people want a perfect wedding; they strive for a perfect celebration, and they seldom manage to achieve it. That was certainly the case in a parable, a story, Jesus told toward the end of His ministry. Before I can share that story about weddings and what can go wrong, I have to give you some background. For almost three years Jesus had been wandering around the countryside. For almost three years He had preached a consistent message. Again and again He had said, “I’m the fellow whom the prophets spoke about; I’m the Messiah whose way was prepared by John the Baptizer. The promised Kingdom is no longer at hand; it is here; it is right now.” Jesus continued, “Now is the time to repent, to be forgiven, to be set free of sin’s slavery, Satan’s shackles, and death’s inevitability. Now is the time to believe in Me.”
For almost three years Jesus had backed up His claims to be the Son of God, the Savior of the world; by doing wondrous things, unbelievable things, things which humans simply can’t do. He fed thousands with the light lunch of a nameless boy; He had stilled storms with a word; and He had walked on water. He had regularly healed people who were medically incurable. By His command, and sometimes with His touch, lepers were made whole and sent home to families from whom they had been exiled; blind people were given back their sight; deaf folks found themselves able to hear; paralytics were made mobile; and mourners were reunited with lifeless loved ones. For three years Jesus had kept the laws which sinful humanity so regularly breaks; for three years He had refused the devil’s temptations to which mankind so often succumbs.
And what did Jesus have to show for His lifetime’s investment? On one side of the scale He had the blessing of His heavenly Father whose work of salvation He was so faithfully following. He had a few women who supported Him, believed in Him, and had underwritten His ministry. Along with these loyal ladies, He could count on a handful of disciples who regularly misunderstood Him and, more often than not, misinterpreted His will and wishes, His deeds and desires. In contrast to these loyal few there were a great many who despised, denied, and detested Him.
Among those who reviled the Redeemer were the residents of His boyhood town of Nazareth. These, His old friends, had tried to throw Him off a cliff when He had preached to them about God’s plan and His purpose. The pompous Pharisees didn’t much like Jesus because He had unceremoniously set aside their laws and instructed the people to keep God’s Commandments and conform their lives to the heavenly Father’s will and wishes. The Sadducees, religious big shots, leaders who denied most Biblical beliefs, hated Jesus because the more He pointed the lost to their Lord, the more He directed people away from them.
Although all of these groups hated Jesus and most were plotting to kill Him, Jesus kept on loving them and did His best to get them admitted to the everlasting wedding feast we call heaven. Motivated by that love, one day He told them the parable of a wedding. Jesus’ story began with a king sending out an invitation, a royal request. (Now if you happen to be a guy who doesn’t like going to weddings or anything which looks like a wedding, without much damage to the Savior’s story you can change the king’s wedding invitation to the Commissioner of the National Football League invited you to be his guest at the Super Bowl.)
At any rate, back to Jesus’ story. The king invited some special souls to his son’s wedding. In the Savior’s day, as in ours, a royal invitation is a big deal, a very big deal. Can you remember back to July 29th, 1981? That was the day Prince Charles married Lady Diana. What a production! In preparation for the event, London cleaned itself up; buses were painted with bows; parks bloomed with Charles’ royal crest outlined in flower blossoms. More than 4,500 pots, filled with flowers, lined the route taken by the wedding party. At St. Paul’s Cathedral, 75 technicians manned 21 cameras so that a television audience, estimated at three quarters of a billion people might watch. Three quarters of a billion people watched at home; but 2,500 people – very special people, very honored people – were asked to attend the ceremony. Now I didn’t get an invitation to the wedding of Charles and Di, and you probably didn’t either. But if we had received an invitation from the Queen of England, I think most of us would have gone. For you guys, if you got the Commissioner’s invitation to the Super Bowl, you would probably go even if your favorite team wasn’t playing.
Well, in Jesus’ story, that’s not what happened. The people whom the king had requested to come, declined to go. I don’t know what excuse they offered, maybe they said something like, “Dear king, sorry, I’ve got to wax my donkey that day,” or, “Wish I could be there, but the in-laws are coming for the weekend.” I don’t know what the invited guests said, but they didn’t say “yes.” Not pleased with empty explanations, the king tried again. The second batch of invitations were personally delivered by the king’s representatives and they sounded more like a summons than a kindly suggestion. “Everything is ready,” the king said, “The meal is prepared. Come to the wedding.”
Unbelievably, the second invitation didn’t bring the monarch’s subjects to their senses. They didn’t respond with respect for the king, or with reverence for the occasion. In Jesus’ story, some subjects laughed at the ruler’s request; others simply ignored the regal call and still others showed their contempt by murdering the king’s messengers. In Jesus’ story, when the king heard what had happened and how his representatives had been so poorly treated, he punished the ungrateful, unappreciative, unworthy rebels.
And if you’re saying, “That kind of thing could never happen!” let me assure you it did. For thousands of years God, the ultimate King of the Universe, had been telling His chosen people, the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that His Son, the Messiah, was coming to save them. One prophet after another had been sent to the Children of Israel; one prophet after another had encouraged God’s people to be prepared for the Messiah’s unknown hour of arrival. One prophet after another had been discounted and disregarded; his invitation disrespected and declined. Because people hadn’t paid attention in the past, Jesus wanted to warn God’s guests one more time. He wanted them to understand their rejection of God’s gracious invitation to salvation was unforgivable, their conduct inexcusable. He wanted them to realize that if they didn’t want God in their lives, they could be sure He would grant their request and withdraw His invitation. He wanted them to know that after Judgment Day, if they stayed as they were, they would be left on the outside looking in.
But Jesus’ parable about God’s wedding invitation didn’t stop with a warning to the Jews. Jesus’ story continued and in that continuation it speaks to you and to me. Jesus related how the king – that is, God – opened up the wedding banquet – which is heaven – to everyone, meaning you and me and everybody. Jesus told how the King sent His messengers – that is pastors and preachers and missionaries and evangelists – throughout the world. God sent them out to deliver a most gracious invitation, an invitation which says: “Repent of your sins, believe on Jesus Christ as your Savior, be clothed in the forgiveness which Jesus’ suffering, death, and resurrection has won for you.” These heralds of heaven were to say, “With great and gracious generosity on His part, and at no cost to you, God cordially invites you to faith in His Son and gives you entry into heaven.”
Right now, that message – God’s invitation – is being delivered by this Lutheran Hour broadcast. For 77 years this pulpit of the airwaves has been telling anyone who will listen that God loves them and has, through the sacrifice and substitution of His Son, done all that was necessary to get them into heaven. Through Jesus’ perfect life, through His innocent death, through His redemptive resurrection, Jesus has removed all that you have done wrong and taken away all those sins which once stained your soul and kept you from heaven’s unending celebration. Today the Lord invites you and says, “The blood of My Son, Jesus Christ, cleanses you from all your sin” (1 John 1:7). “By My Son’s sacrifice you can be saved; by the Holy Spirit’s action you can believe; by My own invitation heaven can be your everlasting and eternal home.” That is what the Lord says to you as He invites you to the first and only perfect wedding this universe will ever see. It is a wonderful invitation from a gracious God.
Please, do not decline it or ignore it. And please, my friends, do not think, not for a moment, that you can get into God’s heavenly celebration on your own power, or by your own works, or because you are so likeable, or lovable, or admirable, or adorable, or agreeable. It doesn’t work that way. I know that today it’s fashionable for preachers to say, “Jesus loves everybody.” In that they’re right. God loves the world so much that He gave His only Son to save it. But then some preachers go too far when they say God will accept us, and leave us as the sinners we are. Scripture is clear: Jesus didn’t carry our sins to Calvary’s cross so we could continue to wallow in wrongdoing; He didn’t live His life so our lives would be unchanged. Jesus died to take away our sins, to save our souls, to change our present and our eternity.
If you have doubts, listen to Jesus and the finish of His parable about the wedding reception – which didn’t turn out perfectly. In His story it is implied that the king supplied his guests with a free outfit, a set of clothes suitable for them to wear to the celebration. Apparently one man held the opinion – the wrong opinion, the fatal opinion – that he could come as he was, and the Lord would be obligated to receive him with his flaws and failings, his offenses, sins, and shortcomings intact. The man was wrong. Admission to heaven is on God’s terms, not ours; it is by God’s grace, not by our goodness that entry is given. Just as modern restaurants post the sign, “No Shoes, No Shirt, No Service,” God’s heavenly banquet says, “No Savior, No Celebration.” That is why in Jesus’ story, the man who came as he was, and wanted to stay as he was, was unceremoniously and unsympathetically tossed out on his ear. For that man, and so many others who feel they can do without the Savior, God’s perfect wedding would forever remain out of reach. Such a sad ending. I pray it is not yours.
The perfect wedding. Since the first man and woman said, “I do,” people have been striving to achieve a perfect wedding. For just as long a time, things have happened to spoil perfect weddings. In the ancient world, perfect weddings got messed up so frequently, folks came to believe brides were special sport for sadistic evil spirits. The ancients especially feared that time when a bride processed from her father’s home to her new house. During that walk, they were certain the bride would be an easy target for demons. In order to keep the bride safe, wedding guests decided to confuse the not-very-bright spirits. This they did by dressing up a lot of women who walked with the bride. There is no record that these substitutes, these bridesmaids, ever confused the forces of evil or protected a bride.
On the other hand, I do know that Jesus, the world’s Savior and your heaven-sent substitute, has managed to protect you. Through His life, through His death, by His resurrection, He has defeated sin, death, devil, – all the enemies which would make you miserable. Now, because Jesus has walked with us; because He has given Himself for us; all who believe on Him as Savior are forgiven of their past and invited to heaven’s unending wedding celebration. It is my prayer I will see you there. If you would like that, too, please call us at The Lutheran Hour. Amen.
LUTHERAN HOUR MAILBOX (Questions & Answers) for October 12, 2008
Topic: Why Does God Allow Pain and Suffering?ANNOUNCER: Now, Pastor Ken Klaus responds to questions from listeners. I’m Mark Eischer. Today’s question has to do with the existence of pain and suffering. A listener writes, “My brother and I have always gone in different directions. He seldom believes what I believe, and the same is true the other way around. Well, right now, our father is dying. The process is very slow – he’s in a lot of pain. However, when I go to visit dad, I give thanks for his faith and his confidence that Jesus is with him even now and will soon be taking him home to heaven.”
KLAUS: Thanks to the Lord for that.
ANNOUNCER: Our listener’s brother, however, is very angry with God. He says, “How can you believe in a God of mercy who allows people to suffer like this?”
KLAUS: You’re right, Mark. You know, many of our listeners know someone who is sick, or dying, or carrying some other kind of painful burden. Many of them ask the same question. A few of them have come to the same conclusion as the brother who is questioning God – His authority and His love.
ANNOUNCER: Is that really what it is – that they’re questioning God’s love?
KLAUS: Yes, they are – and it’s pretty difficult to get through to people who are wearing blinders.
ANNOUNCER: Now, what do you mean by that?
KLAUS: Mark, if I read the Bible correctly – and I think I am – God originally gave us a world that was perfect in every aspect. By perfect, I mean you could have had a billion dads and none of them would get sick, suffer, or die.
ANNOUNCER: That’s because pain came about as the result of sin.
KLAUS: So did death. God never brought this stuff upon us. Adam and Eve did that through their disobedience. On the other hand, God did provide a way out of sin, pain, and death.
ANNOUNCER: By sending His Son.
KLAUS: By sending His Son, that’s right. Through His perfect life, Jesus defeated sin; through His faithfulness, Jesus rejected temptation; with His glorious resurrection, Jesus defeated death itself. On the cross, Jesus suffered to bring about an end to our suffering. The prophet Isaiah said Jesus would be the person who “carried our sorrows” (Isaiah 53:4).
ANNOUNCER: So you’re saying God didn’t cause the pain, but He has done all that was necessary to get rid of the pain?
KLAUS: Exactly. Without Jesus, our sin condemned us to pain in this world – and the next.
ANNOUNCER: And, what about the person who thinks God should eliminate all of this world’s pain as well?
KLAUS: Many folks who hold this opinion aren’t ready to join with St. Paul and say that God’s strength is made perfect in our weakness. Or, say that our present sufferings are nothing when compared to the joys of heaven (Romans 8:18). For a Christian those things are all-important, but for a non-believer, an eternity of joy just doesn’t count.
ANNOUNCER: What would you say to such a person?
KLAUS: I’d probably say: “Look, I can understand why you are upset by Dad’s pain and dying. But let me ask, ‘does being angry with God make things better for your father? Or how about you? Do you feel better for being where you are?'”
ANNOUNCER: That makes sense.
KLAUS: the next thing I’d ask is: Have you ever wondered where your position leads? Does pretending God is not there really make Him go away? Does pretending God is cruel make Him that way? Will your pretending God is indifferent to Dad’s suffering and death going to help him, you, or your family?
ANNOUNCER: I would hope he’d answer, “No” to most of those questions. But it still doesn’t take him to a place of faith, does it?
KLAUS: No, it doesn’t. But there is something that can. Look at the cross of Jesus. Why do you think Jesus was there?
ANNOUNCER: To save us.
KLAUS: Exactly. Jesus endured the agony of the cross so that our pain would have an ending. Jesus died and rose again so that death would not have the final word in his dad’s life.
ANNOUNCER: In other words, we live because Jesus defeated death by dying and rising again.
KLAUS: Right. God is not the sender of sickness and death; God is the Divine deliverer from these things.
ANNOUNCER: Anything else you could say to our listener and his brother?
KLAUS: To our listener’s brother, I would say: Your father’s suffering is a witness. He is showing you, and others, the faith in a Savior who sustains us and delivers us. Your father’s suffering and death is the Lord trying to touch you, to reach you. God wants you to know that He will do what is right for your father, and for you. It’s time to see God as good and gracious, although He may at times be hidden by the suffering.
ANNOUNCER: Thank you, Pastor Klaus. This has been a presentation of Lutheran Hour Ministries.
Music selections for this program:
“A Mighty Fortress” arranged by John Leavitt. Concordia Publishing House/SESAC
“Rejoice in the Lord Alway” anonymous English, 16th century. From Music for Advent II by the Schola Cantorum of St. Peter’s, Chicago (© 1995 The Order of St. Benedict, Inc.)
“Lobe den Herrn” by Timothy Albrecht. From Grace Notes by Timothy Albrecht (© 1997 ACA Digital Recording, Inc.) Augsburg-Fortress
“Fanfare for the Baroque Spirit” by Charles Ore. From From My Perspective, vol. 1 by Charles Ore (© 1992 Organ Works Corporation) Augsburg-Fortress