Resurrection Lutheran Church, St Catharines

Last week we were reminded to let our joy be based on the event of the coming of the LORD to His people, rather than on our personal preferences or predilections. David danced for joy before the Ark of the Covenant as the LORD came into Jerusalem and Zacharias finally burst forth in song at the birth of his son, after the Blessed Virgin Mary came to his house bearing the LORD in the Ark of her womb. Tonight we are reminded of the joy that we have in the marriage supper of the Lamb where the Lord comes to us in the Ark of the Christian Church which distributes the body and blood of Christ to His people. Our joy is not only in what is included in the coming of Christ to us, but also what is excluded.

 

Tonight’s psalm calls upon the whole earth to rejoice because the LORD’s coming means an end to the wickedness of the world (Psalm 97:1, 3). Zion, the people of God, rejoice in the LORD’s judgments, which set right the many things in our world that are going so wrong (v. 8). These wrongs will not continue forever and we are called to join the LORD in hating evil (v. 10). There will be an end to all evil, and we should rejoice in that since it means that we will be delivered from the hands of the wicked. The Psalm ends beckoning us to rejoice and give thanks to the LORD’s holy name (v. 12), which we are eager to do as we remember all that the Lord Jesus has done for us and will yet do for us.

 

The Second Article of the Creed rehearses for us the greatest of the acts of God for the deliverance of His people: the incarnation, suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. At the end of the explanation from our catechism we are reminded why this act of deliverance takes place and what difference it makes for us—”that I might live under Him in His kingdom and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence and blessedness.” It is a struggle for us to do that while we live in this wicked world, which pollutes and tempts us to wallow in its desecration.

 

We rejoice that we will be freely unfettered from the kingdom of sin, death, and the devil, and brought into a gracious kingdom where the King is not looking for what He can take from us, but what He can give to us. He has prepared His banquet and He invites us to be His honoured guests. That’s the kind of king He is, and the kind of kingdom into which we are delivered.

 

Furthermore as we struggle with our own sins now, constantly trying to repel them as they daily rise up in thoughts and desires which we too quickly put into action, we see that the outcome of being in the Lord’s kingdom is that we will serve Him in holiness and righteousness, in innocence and blessedness. As the new creation expectantly waits with groaning to be free of the curse of sin, so we too rejoice in the freedom and deliverance that we will have in this kingdom inaugurated through the coming of Christ.

 

The Office Hymn gave us words to express what it will be like to serve the King without the shackles of our sin. “The saints, who here in patience Their cross and suff’rings bore, Shall live and reign forever When sorrow is no more. Around the throne of glory The Lamb they shall behold; In triumph cast before Him Their diadems of gold” (LSB 515, st 3).

 

The vision of this gracious kingdom given to John in our first reading is that of a marriage between the king who has sacrificed himself for his beloved and his beautiful bride clothed in purity (Revelation 19:6-10). It is all the more striking when you read it along with the previous chapter in the Book of Revelation. For there we see that the beautiful marriage is only made possible once the wickedness of the evil kingdom (called Babylon) is brought to an end and the people are delivered from her sexual immorality (much like Lot being rescued from Sodom, as we heard on Sunday).

 

At the beginning of chapter 19 of the Book of Revelation tells us that the multitude of heaven rejoices, not only in the marriage of the Lamb and His bride, but also that “He has judged the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her immorality, and has avenged on her the blood of His servants” and “The smoke from her goes up forever and ever” (Revelation 19:2-3). The prostitute who tried to be queen by seducing the nations is stripped of her luxurious linens and struck down, so that the beloved of the Lamb may be made ready for the marriage, clothed in “fine linen, bright and pure” (19:8). The angel ends off saying to John, “Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb” (Revelation 19:9).

 

Together as the Church we are the Bride to whom Christ has betrothed Himself. And He is wooing His Bride to Himself through His Word of love proclaimed to her. He has washed and cleansed His bride through the gift of Baptism which He has poured out upon her. St. Paul reminds husbands of this as he exhorts them to consider the way they treat their wives. He tells us, “Christ loved the Church and gave Himself up for her, that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word so that He might present the Church to Himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish” (Ephesians 5:25-27).

 

It is curious that at the same time we are collectively the Bride of Christ, we are also, individually, guests invited to the marriage supper. We get to experience a double-sided joy. At a recent wedding that some of you may also have attended, I witnessed this double joy. The bride was filled with a special joy that no one else in the room was experiencing. It was a unique and insurmountable joy. As a guest to the wedding and the celebratory supper, I was a little removed from the direct action. It was all taking place in front of me, rather than directly to me. Yet, all the guests in attendance were filled with a joy that was different from that of the bride and of the groom. We were blessed to witness a beautiful thing and rejoice in what was being bestowed upon two special people for whom we care deeply.

 

That is a little earthly picture of the heavenly reality that John was granted to see in the divine vision given to him to share with us. He saw the Bride, beautiful and pure, and it was us. And those who were invited to the marriage supper were blessed. And that was us, too. No wonder the call went out: “Let us rejoice and exult and give Him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come” (Revelation 19:7).

 

In the second reading from the gospel of Matthew (22:1-14) we are given the view from this side of heaven, another perspective in which there is much to rejoice. It focuses more on the guests invited to the wedding feast, than on the Bride. All the preparations are already done. The bridegroom has already come. The vows have been spoken and the wedding has actually already taken place. And it is time to celebrate, to rejoice at the supper.

 

Even all the preparations for the dinner have been completed. The animals have been slaughtered, the food has been prepared. It has all been done by the king, the father of the bridegroom. There is no cost to the guests. They are simply invited to come and eat and rejoice in the happy event. There are even wedding garments awaiting the guests to put on as they arrive.

 

But the wickedness of the world is exposed when the invited guests are tempted away with business and possessions. It is that same wicked prostitute (Babylon) from the Book of Revelation. She has seduced them to drink of her deadly delights instead of responding to the invitation. And the hostility of this wickedness is fully expressed as the servants sent out to proclaim that everything has been done for the guests, are treated shamefully and murdered. We see this in how Christians around the world are mocked, ridiculed, and yes, murdered too by a world that is too busy to hear the great invitation they bring.

 

And so, as we heard in the vision given to John, and even saw the vision with him as the word brought the images to our mind, the prostitute and the wicked who wallow in her wares must be destroyed in order that those who rejoice in the marriage may celebrate at the supper unfettered from fear. The king sends out his troops to destroy those murderers and to burn their city (Babylon, the whore). Even when one of her lovers tries to escape the just judgment of the king and sneak into his supper, he cannot hide. He is found out wearing his own garments, having refused the gift of the wedding robe freely provided.

 

We have to confess that we find that harlot awfully alluring at times. We don’t see her with pasty make-up caked on her face, in gaudy gowns draped so as to arouse the imagination. Rather, we see her as a respectable business opportunity, or a family commitment that at the moment seems like it must take precedence over the wedding supper. After all, we need to make money if we are going to make it in this world. We need to keep our family functioning because those are the people we care about the most. And if the servants keep reminding us that we have an invitation we should accept, we wish they would shut up and just go have their feast without us. We feel we ought to be allowed to come on our terms, when we want to show up, and not have to shed our cloak of darkness for some white wedding robe.

 

The Sacrament of the Altar is the wedding supper that we are invited to even now. God the Father has made all of the preparations for you. The Son of God has been slaughtered to cleanse and purify you from your sins and the pollution of this world’s wickedness. You have been washed in His gift of Holy Baptism and clothed with the robe of Christ’s own righteousness without any spot or wrinkle or stain. Jesus has pledged Himself to you and He comes even now, that we might frequently rejoice at such a supper provided.

 

We are both bride and guest. Jesus is both bridegroom and the meal. And as this is a foretaste of the eternal feast to come, so all wickedness must be excluded from the celebration. If we are to truly rejoice, we must know that we are free from everything that would seek to spoil the supper. We must know that we are safe from any intrusion of the world’s wickedness.

 

So we come with a repentant heart ourselves, having left the ways of the prostitute and rejected her allurements. We come to the supper having confessed our sins and with the intent to live no more in them. We come gladly having been garbed in the gown of our baptism. The same invitation goes out to all throughout the world to join in the joy of this supper. Yet, at the same time, it is necessary that anyone seeking to stay in the clutches of the prostitute will not be allowed to sully this supper of joy. If they are found without a wedding garment of Christ, they need to be excluded. For our joy to be complete we must be safe from the wickedness of the world as we are transported to the feast of heaven.

 

May the good news of God’s grace to us through Jesus Christ lead us ever to resist the siren calls of the whore of Babylon luring us to destruction, even as that good news draws us to the feast where forgiveness, life, and salvation are given to those who have heeded the Lord’s invitation. Our joy is complete as we celebrate not only as guests at the wedding feast, but in realization that we have been drawn together as the Blessed Bride of Christ.

 

In a few moments, after our prayers this evening, we will close with a hymn that calls the Bride to rejoice. Then we will sing the words of the Bride, “Hosanna, praise, and glory! Our King, we bow before Thee” (LSB 335, refrain). The words recall Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Hosanna means “save us now,” which we sing in the full confidence that Christ our King is strong to save and that He comes to save us from our sins and from all the wickedness in this world.