Matthew 22:1-14 (Pentecost 20)

Matthew 22:1-14 (Pentecost 20)                                            
St. John, Galveston 10/11/26
 “The Suit that Suits”
 
+ In Nomine Jesu +
 
Grace and peace to you, from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

    As the story goes, there were four brothers who lived together. One morning they awoke and found that a cow had died during the night and was lying in front of their house. The situation created quite a dilemma for the brothers. None of them wanted to dispose of the carcass. It’s not that they enjoyed it, or that they saw it as an appealing lawn ornament. No, they didn’t want to touch it lest they be declared unclean. These brothers were, you see, religious men.  
 
    Finally the youngest of the four brothers offered to take the carcass away if his brothers would agree not to hold it against him. They agreed. However, since the law is the law, they agreed he would have to be considered unclean, at least for a time. They agreed on four days, after which the younger brother would be able to return to his brothers. So, the younger brother removed the rotting carcass from in front of the house. But when he came home after four days, the brothers changed their minds. They told him he would have to stay away for an additional four months. At the end of four months they changed their minds again. Their brother would have to stay away for four years. Finally they set their brothers period of purification at four generations.  
 
    To this day, there is a group of people in Pakistan, the alleged descendants of the youngest brother, who are considered by many to be one of the most unclean, the untouchable groups of people in the land. Their existence depicts the curse of the unclean. They live in slums. They clean latrines. They remove dead bodies from the streets. They scavenge in the garbage dumps simply to eek a meager living.     
 
    Imagine the impact that Christian missionaries are having in that part of the world – as they offer such a despised and rejected people a new suit, if you will—a spotless garment, the very righteousness of Jesus Christ. No longer would they be counted unclean, a people to be despised and rejected. Instead, they would be counted among the righteous in the kingdom of God, clothed, as it were, with a wedding garment suitable for the King’s great banquet.      
 
     Call it un-cleanliness. Call it unworthiness. Call it sinfulness. The longer I preach and teach God’s word, the more I am convinced that we really can’t grasp the wonder and the fullness of the Gospel unless and until we come face to face with the depth of our sin. Jesus, in all of His glory and in all of His graciousness is exalted only to the extent that we recognize and confess the depths from which God found us and saved us. As Luther once said, “the error of neither knowing nor understanding what sin is usually brings with it another error, that of neither knowing nor understanding what grace is.” 
   
    In the parable before us this morning, the King, God, called His people to the grand wedding feast of His Son, Jesus Christ. Many of them refused His invitation because they had more pressing things to do. The King’s invitation then went out to the highways and byways. The good and bad were called because the invitation of the King wasn’t based on the worthiness of the guests, rather it was based on the graciousness of the host.   
 
    As it was, perhaps over in the corner of the room, there was a man in the great hall trying to hide because he wasn’t wearing a wedding garment. In the parable, he is called out for not being properly clothed. He’s questioned and then he’s cast out of the great hall! Not only is he thrown out of the hall, he’s thrown into the outer darkness where there is weeping and gnashing teeth.  
 
    The whole thing seems so unfair, because it seems to be about wealth, or class, or some other form of status. The host in the parable, God, seems harsh in the judgement of his guest. Why would cast this man out of the banquet hall simply because he wasn’t dressed properly!? For some, this parable only confirms the suspecions they’ve had about God all along. God, they demand, give an account of yourself! Why would reject a man because simply because he doesn’t have the right clothing! Perhaps such questions of God span beyond the walls of the feast to the highways and byways where our life is really found. Why do the young sometimes die when they have taken but a few breaths!? Why do the righteous suffer while the wicked prosper!? Why are few saved while many are lost!? Tell me God, why!? Give an account of Yourself!!
 
    From the depths we cry, O Lord. In the fullness of time that God looked down on His creation. He saw us in our brokenness. He saw us rebelling against His will and judging His motives and ways. He saw us exalting ourselves over His providence and His compassionate care. He saw us worshipping the creation rather than the Creator. He witnessed our love of self as it triumphed over our love for our neighbor, even over our love for Him. He heard our mumbling and our complaining. And worst of all, He saw us choose death over life, condemnation, over forgiveness and grace.
 
    God saw us, unclean and unworthy. And yet, He loved you unto death, even death on a cross. He invited you to come into the great banquet hall to celebrate the marriage feast of Christ and His bride, the Church. In the water of Holy Baptism, He cleansed you of your sin and He clothed you with a garment, the righteousness of His own dear Son. The garment itself would be your worthiness to enter the feast. It would be your defense, as it were,  against the judgment of God. It would be your joy and happiness.  “My soul shall be joyful in my God (says the prophet); for He has clothed me with the garments of salvation, He has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments, and as bride adorns herself with jewels.”  
 
    Clothed in the righteous of Christ, God has made you worthy to enter the great banquet hall, the Kingdom of God. Do not, however, assume that the garment that God has placed on you has changed your essential nature. It has not! Beneath the garment is that same old nature that God looked upon, that nature that He saw in all of its brokenness. It is rebellious. It is self-absorbed. It is unworthy and unclean. And it doesn’t die easily either. And yet, because you are clothed with Christ you are a welcome guest, indeed, you are an honored guest of the King at His feast.
 
    So wear, my friends, the suit of righteousness Jesus bought for you on Calvary and put on you in your Baptism. Come to the feast! Cast off your tattered suit, soiled by years of foolish decisions and foolish indecision. Abandon all attempts to make yourself right with God, since that kind of righteousness is nothing more than filthy rags in His sight. Wear the new suit God alone supplies—the garment of salvation. I have to say, the suit that Jesus has clothed you with suits you just fine. 
 
Indeed,

“Jesus, Thy blood and righteousness
My beauty are my glorious dress;
Midst flaming worlds, in these arrayed,
With joy shall I lift up my head.”

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.
 
The peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus unto life everlasting.  Amen.
 
+ Soli Deo Gloria +