Jesus Has Chosen and Appointed You for Life with Him

The fact that you are here in the Lord’s House to worship Him this morning is no guarantee that you are walking in His Word. Your “worship” is no protection against the judgment of His Law. But if you would live, and not die, then do what He commands you.

Love one another. Worship Him in that way. Love one another. That is His Commandment. It is a solid summary of His Law — that, in love for the Lord your God, you love your neighbor as you love your own self, and you serve your neighbor with your whole body and your whole life.

So, then, what does that mean exactly? Where do you even begin, and how should you proceed?

It’s not a matter of your own choosing. It’s not a matter of deciding, “Okay, I’m willing to do this, I’m willing to do that.” It is a matter of where the Lord has chosen to appoint you. Wherever He has called you to be, wherever He has stationed you, that is where you are to live, and that is where you love your neighbor. That is where you serve the “other” whom the Lord has set before you.

Do so according to His Word, that is, according to His Commandments. You have especially the Ten Commandments, which clearly guide you in what you are to do, and in what you are not to do. His Commandments determine and define and describe what “love” is. That’s not an emotion in your heart, but to do good and not evil. Love gives good things and does no harm to the neighbor.

Where you have done harm, make amends as you are able. And where you have failed to do good, begin to do it now. Do what you are called and given to do in your own particular place.

Mend your ways and deeds, and obey the voice of the Lord your God, lest He bring misfortune and calamity upon you — and lest He remove His Word from your midst.

It’s really a question of who your friends are. As simple as it sounds, that’s what it amounts to. Who are your friends? And by that, I don’t mean that you get to pick and choose who the people you will love are. The point is not that you show partiality or favoritism among your neighbors in this body and life. No, it’s whether you’re a friend of Christ Jesus, or a friend of the world.

So, who do you love? Jesus, or the world? Where is it that you look for life? Is it in Christ Jesus, in His Word, or is it in the world and all its stuff?

If you are a friend of the world, then you’ll perish along with the world and its wealth. Whereas, if you are a friend of Christ Jesus, then you will be hated by the world, and you will be persecuted, and you will perish right along with your dear Lord Jesus Christ. But you will also rise and live with Him, as well, and partake of His inheritance, which is imperishable in heaven.

Don’t suppose that you’re going to play both sides against the middle, not without getting crushed in between the Rock and the hard place. That other Jude — Iscariot — he tried to play that game, and you know that he was lost. And that other Simon — Peter — he was in danger of the same, denying his friendship with Jesus: “I don’t know that guy!” But by the grace of God in that same Lord Jesus Christ, Simon Peter was called to repentance, and he was saved and bore much fruit.

You, then, where you have denied the Lord Jesus, Repent, and befriend Him who has befriended you in mercy, grace, and peace. That is the key: Jesus has called you and made you His friend!

It’s not about goofy secret handshakes or secret clubs. It isn’t “fun ‘n’ games.” But the Lord has befriended you, first of all by laying down His Life for you; and there is no greater love than that, with which He has loved you even unto death upon His Cross. And then He has also befriended you by the preaching of His Word to you, and thereby with His voice giving you His own Father.

See how He has taken you in! He has named you with His own Name, the Name that He has from His Father, the Name that He shares with His Father from all eternity, even to all eternity.  He has become your Friend by giving you that Name, by the preaching of His Word, by speaking to you.

And so it is that, when the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ raised Him from the dead, He caused you also to be born again, His child, to a new and living hope, unto the Life everlasting.

That sure and certain hope and that eternal Life are yours in Christ Jesus. He has given that to you in Holy Baptism, along with His Name, His Father, His Holy Spirit, His forgiveness of your sins, and every other grace and blessing, more than you could ever imagine. And He gives it all to you, again and again, by the preaching of His Word, especially His Holy Gospel, whereby He forgives your betrayals, your denials, your enmity, your lack of love, and every other sin within your heart and mind, words and actions. That is why we rejoice in the Holy Apostles of Christ Jesus, who were called and sent to preach that beautiful good news of the Gospel; and that is why we remember with thanksgiving St. Simon and St. Jude (not Peter and not Iscariot) on this day.

It was the Lord Jesus who chose these men. They were lightly esteemed by the world, to say the least. Indeed, they were persecuted, and they were martyred for His Name’s sake. But they were befriended by the Lord and beloved of God in Christ Jesus. How shall we love them any less?

Why did Jesus choose these guys, these two men concerning whom we know almost nothing? Why did He choose them? It was for Love’s sake: For the Love of the Father and the Son in the Holy Spirit, He loved them, even to the end. And He loves His Church on earth, even to the close of the age, to whom He called and sent His Holy Apostles to preach and to act in His Name and stead.

In the same way that He has chosen you and appointed you to love and serve your neighbor, so has He chosen and appointed St. Simon and St. Jude, and countless other pastors and teachers ever since, even to this day, to love and serve you and His whole Church with His Word. And wherever that Seed of His Word is sown, there He bears much fruit, which remains unto Life everlasting.

Now, the fruit of His Word is the fruit of His Cross, and so it is borne in suffering, in great distress, even in martyrdom. The blood of the martyrs was the seed of the early Church, and that is still true. It is in dying with Christ Jesus that you are raised up to live in and with Him, now and forever.

St. Simon and St. Jude are remembered together, because they are said to have suffered and died together in Persia. You also bear the Cross, even unto death, for the sake of Jesus’ Name. And you also, like the Holy Apostles — for you are no less beloved than they are — you, like the Holy Apostles, are protected by the Word of Christ through faith in His Resurrection from the dead.

When the Church remembers and gives thanks for the saints who have gone before us, it is in the hope that we also share the same Resurrection and the same Life, which is theirs and ours by faith in Christ Jesus. It is hope, because it is not yet seen. But it is a sure and certain hope, because it is as sure and certain as Christ Himself is true. And it is for you, as surely as He speaks His Word to you, as surely as He has named you with His Name and anointed you with His Spirit in Holy Baptism, and as surely as He feeds you with His own holy Body and precious Blood. 

Though you cannot yet see Him, and though you do not feel or experience His Resurrection in your mortal flesh, which still gets sick and gets hurt and shall die, even so, you love and trust in Him, and you hope in His Flesh and Blood, because He has befriended you, and because He has chosen you, and He has called you to Himself. And the Lord who loves you does not lie. He strengthens you, and He is with you. And if you are called to lay down your life for His Name, then He shall stand with you, even to the last.  He strengthens you especially by forgiving you all of your sins. He does it over and over and over again, and thereby gives you His own eternal Life in place of your death. His indestructible Life in both body and soul, both now and forever, is yours in Him.

Consider that His Body was made desolate upon the Cross, an abomination, cursed by God. In fact, He became a curse, like Shiloh and Jerusalem; and He was destroyed like that once great Temple.  But in His Resurrection the Lord your God has established His House on earth for you and for all.

The Lord’s House is found wherever the Word of Christ the Crucified is preached, wherever Holy Baptism is administered in His Name, and wherever His holy Body and precious Blood are given and poured out in remembrance of Him.

Not only that, but as your dear Lord Jesus feeds you with the Fruits of His Cross on the one hand, it is also the case that His Resurrection from the dead and His Ascension to the Right Hand of the Father, His own crucified and risen Body and His own holy and precious Blood — these are your true and salutary worship of the living God. In Him, you and your thanksgiving are received unto your Father in heaven, and you are saved in the glorious company of the Apostles, the Prophets and Martyrs and all Saints. It is in that company that you stand in your dear Lord Jesus Christ.

In the Name + of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Justified by Grace through Faith in Christ Jesus

Two things are true for each of you, and for everyone on earth, for everyone of every nation, tribe, tongue, and people: You are a sinner, conceived and born in sin; and you are redeemed by Christ the Crucified, in order to be set free by His grace through faith in His forgiveness.

That you are a sinner is true in yourself and your experience, from your conception until death.

That you are redeemed and set free is true for you in Christ Jesus, the incarnate Son of God.

The first truth is made known and made worse by the Law of God, which judges you guilty and condemns you. The second truth is manifested and made yours by the Gospel of God, whereby He judges you righteous and vindicates you.

The inherent contradiction and constant tension between these two facts cannot remain forever. If you continue in the Word of Christ, and thus abide in Him, then you will be free indeed, and you will remain with Him in the House of His God and Father forever and ever, Amen. But apart from Christ Jesus, you remain enslaved by your sin, and you cannot remain in the house but will finally be imprisoned by the Law, sentenced to eternal death and damnation.

If you would know the truth that sets you free, then die to sin and live unto righteousness. How so? By hearing and heeding the Word of Christ Jesus as it is preached to you and taught in His Name, and by following after Him as a disciple through faith in His Word.

Believe the Word of the Law, which exposes your sin for what it is, and so confess that you are a sinner, unable to set yourself free or to redeem yourself by any power or wisdom of your own.

Believe also in Christ Jesus and His Word of the Gospel, which freely forgives all your sins, and so confess that He is the Son of God, your Savior and Redeemer, by whom you are set free to live.

The problem is that you do not recognize your slavery, nor Christ’s freedom, for what they are. You imagine that your slavery to sin is really freedom, and that your death is really life. And you suppose that the true freedom of Christ Jesus — the freedom of faith in His Gospel — is a burden and a bondage that imprisons you; that life with Him is onerous, tedious, pointless, and boring.

Do you not imagine that doing whatever you want would be your idea of perfect freedom?

And do you not suppose that giving attention to the Word of Christ, watching to prayer with Him, and taking up the Cross to follow after Him, is rather a lot of effort and work which you’d prefer not to bother with?

Like a child (of whatever age) you falsely believe that life would be such a sweet dream and a happily-ever-after without the boundaries and rules and structures of a household and family. If only you could be in charge! If only you were the boss!

And as a proud, self-sufficient, self-righteous, independent adult, you boast of your wisdom and experience, your keen knowledge and savvy understanding, your accomplishments, your plans, your progress, your prizes, your pedigree and place in the world.

You’ll do what you have to do — to get by and to avoid punishment — but you’ll resent whatever isn’t by your own choice or to your personal liking.

Yet, for all your boasting and all your prideful self-reliance, you are not free. Not apart from Christ Jesus. To do whatever you want, according to your fallen sinful nature, is simply suicide in slow motion — or else on fast forward! One way or the other, it leads to your death and damnation.

You’re so addicted to your sin, you don’t even realize or recognize that it’s killing you. What you regard as your own “free will” is really a ravenous monster, which consumes you with your own craving hunger and destroys you with your own burning desires.

You’re searching for a place of peace and rest, a place where you belong, where you are safe and sound and satisfied. You’re searching for your house and home. But you won’t find it on your own, and you won’t find it anywhere outside the Body of Christ Jesus.

Does that seem harsh or unfair? Does it seem too demanding or even legalistic to say that your freedom and life are found only in Christ, and that Christ is found in His Church where His Word is preached and taught, confessed and prayed, in the fellowship of His Family?

Again, at the heart of your sin is your confusion of slavery with freedom, and vice versa.

But, in truth, “freedom” from God is nothing but the slavery of sin and death, from which you can by no means set yourself free; whereas faith in Christ and Christian discipleship are real freedom, unto the Life everlasting of body and soul in the crucified and risen Body of Jesus.

Righteousness and holiness, innocence and blessedness, and divine life are yours by divine grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone, apart from any works of your own doing or decision.

Christ and His Gospel, His Church and Ministry are not means to some other end, whereby you would achieve and accomplish salvation for yourself. Rather, He and His Word, His works of love, and His gifts of grace are your Life and your Salvation, on earth even now and in heaven forever.

The purpose of His Law is not that you should justify yourself. That never was the plan. And the purpose of His Gospel is not mere information that you must study in preparation for a final test.

To continue in His Word; to be catechized from infancy through adulthood into old age; to live in the regular rhythms of His Church, week by week, year by year; to remember your Baptism; to confess your sins and receive Holy Absolution; to eat and drink His Body and His Blood at His gracious invitation — all of this is simply to live in and with Christ Jesus, by His grace.

To depart from these ways and means of life in Christ; to turn your back on Him; to shut your ears to the preaching of His Word; and to absent yourself from His Church — is to leave the house and home of your God and Father for the false “freedom” of sin and death.

Dear child of God, don’t run away from home! Don’t despise the Gospel or refuse the real freedom of forgiveness and life in Christ Jesus. Nor drive yourself to despair by seeking and striving to save yourself. You can’t do it. But neither do you have to.

What neither you nor the Law could accomplish, Christ has done and accomplished for you in His Flesh and with His Blood. He has kept the Law perfectly, fulfilled and satisfied it. And He has also suffered all its judgments, condemnations, and punishments in your place and on your behalf.

He has given Himself unto God in perfect faith, and He has given Himself for you in perfect love. He has shed His own Blood as the propitiation for your sins — and not for your sins only, but for the sins of the whole world. So has He also redeemed you, purchased and won you, from sin, death, the devil, and hell. He has bought you with that price, and you are His own — not as a slave, but as a beloved brother or sister, as a beloved child of His own dear God and Father in heaven.

He sends His angels, His messengers, to preach His everlasting Gospel as a voice from heaven on earth, to work His works and to give His gifts in His Name. He has never failed to provide such faithful servants of His Gospel, such ministers of His Word in every generation, but He has always raised up faithful pastors and teachers for His Church, to shepherd His sheep and feed His lambs.

Fear God, therefore, and worship Him, not in the terror of His wrath, but in the confidence and peace of His forgiveness. For the Hour of His Judgment has come in the Cross of Christ, His Son, who was crucified for your sins and raised for your justification. His Cross is your Atonement, and His Resurrection is your righteousness. That is how sure and certain it is.

The Hour of that Judgment is here for you in the giving of Christ’s Body and the pouring out of His Blood for the forgiveness of all your sins in His Holy Supper. That is His good judgment.

To eat and drink His sacred gifts is not slavery but freedom. It is to live, not as a slave, but as a son of God in your Father’s House. So does it strengthen you and keep you steadfast in the one true faith, unto the Life everlasting. For the Son thereby sets you free, and you are free indeed.

In the Name + of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

A Podcast on Pastoral Care, Church Fellowship, and the Practice of Closed Communion

The practice of Closed Communion has been the consistent teaching of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod throughout its history, yet it can be awkward and difficult to understand and to carry out consistently and clearly in the week-by-week life of the Church. Misunderstandings of Closed Communion, its meaning and purpose, have resulted in a variety of different practices across our congregations.

As part of my ongoing efforts to address these concerns and teach on these matters, I've recorded a half-hour audio-video "podcast," with the help of Rev. Danny Mackey (Pastor of Grace Lutheran Church in Muncie, Indiana, and our Indiana District Secretary), in the hopes that it will prove helpful to both pastors and laity. It approaches the topic of Closed Communion on the basis of our Church Fellowship, especially as a fellowship of pastoral care, within which the Sacrament of the Altar is administered in continuity with our shared catechesis and confession of Christ Jesus and His Word.

The podcast is available here: https://vimeo.com/1021013604

To Fear, Love, and Trust in Christ Jesus, Your Savior

The issue that confronts you in this Holy Gospel is the question of what it is — whatever it is — that you cling to and depend upon. What is it that you fear, love, and trust above all things? Which is really to ask: What is your god? What is it that you worship with all your heart, soul, body, mind, and spirit, with your time, treasures, and talents?

As Dr. Luther so profoundly describes in his discussion of the First Commandment, your god is whatever it is that you look to for life and depend upon for your happiness; and when you have it, you are content and satisfied, you feel safe and secure, but if it is threatened or taken away, then you panic and are thrown into despair, as though there were no longer any hope or happiness.

With that in mind, it is apparent that those who are poor in this body and life are no less tempted to make wealth, money, and possessions into their false god than those who are rich. The fact that you may not have it certainly does not mean that you don’t want it more than anything else in the world! The poor often spend their lives thinking that, if only they were rich, they’d be happy.

But those who are poor do have an advantage, in that they are less likely to fix their hopes and rely upon what they don’t have. In recognizing their poverty and need, they are more likely to repent of their sins and to look to the Lord for His forgiveness and His gift of life. That is yet another way of becoming and learning to live like a little child in the presence of God.

The especially difficult challenge for those who are rich in their worldly possessions, is that they do seem able to rely upon those material things for life and health and all manner of advantages. Their wealth and their possessions are all good gifts and blessings from the Lord their God, but it requires the humility of repentance and the clarity of faith to receive them with thanksgiving, to use them to His glory and for their neighbor’s benefit, and not to put their trust in those things.

The same thing holds true, of course, whether your “wealth” in this world happens to be money or some other gift and blessing of God. Your intelligence and education may become your idol and false god, to which you cling for security and success. Or your athletic abilities, your bodily health and strength, or your outward attractiveness, charm, and charisma. Or maybe you are more tempted to “fear, love, and trust” in your marriage and family, your wife or husband, your children and grandchildren. Or you might be prone to rely upon your track record of dedicated service to the church — on being a pastor — as though that were the key to eternal life in the Kingdom of God.

Bear in mind that these examples of “wealth” are all good things, gracious gifts and blessings from the hand of God. But the real problem is found in the attitude of your sinful heart, when you cling to and depend upon the gifts instead of their Giver; when you worship your wealth of whatever sort it happens to be, instead of worshiping the Lord your God. That is not to be!

Sad to say, you do fix your heart, mind, and strength, your body and life, upon your possessions and your stuff, your achievements and activities, your hopes, dreams, and aspirations, instead of fixing yourself on Christ and following after Him by faith in His Cross and Resurrection. Which is why you must let go and leave behind all of those idols in order to enter the Kingdom of God.

Consequently, the more of whatever you have, the more you are called to give up and leave behind. Not that you must necessarily liquidate everything and donate it to charity, or quit your life and go into seclusion. On the contrary, it is much more to be a change of heart and attitude, whereby you live by faith in God and in self-sacrificing love for your neighbors. It is not so much your stuff that is the problem, far less the people in your life, but the idolatry of your sinful heart and flesh.

What you must give up and leave behind, therefore, are all of your attachments to everything other than God, whether people or things, whether tangible or intangible, whether it be what you have or what you really want. It is necessary that you give up and leave behind all of those attachments, that you take up the Cross and follow Jesus, and that you die to yourself and live unto God in Him.

Tragically, whether you have a lot or very little, in your native sinfulness you are not able to give up your false gods and leave them all behind. You simply cannot do it, not by any wisdom, reason, or strength of your own. And don’t imagine for one moment that St. Peter and the other disciples gave up everything they had to follow Jesus by any innate abilities of their own! It was rather that Jesus called them to repentance and faith by His Word of the Law and the Gospel. He called them to take up the Cross and follow after Him, even to the point of persecution and death. And it was only by the power of His Word and Holy Spirit that they answered His call and followed.

It is the same for you, as well, who are called by the Gospel and enlightened by the gifts of His Word and Spirit. Otherwise, your sinful heart would go on trusting your own wisdom, reason, feelings, and opinions, relying on your money and material possessions, and prizing your family and friends above the Lord your God. Well, if you are honest with yourself, you will know better than I do what are the idols and false gods in your life. They are, again, those things which, when they are in place, then you are content and secure; but whenever they are threatened in some way, or if they are taken away from you, then you become frantic with despair and hopelessness.

To be sure, left to yourself and your own devices, all would be lost and hopeless. To save yourself is not simply difficult; it is impossible. You cannot save yourself. You cannot even come close!

Thankfully, what you could never have done for yourself, the Lord Jesus has done for you. He has obtained salvation for you by the sacrifice of His Cross and with His bodily Resurrection from the dead. And now He saves you — by grace alone — by the Word and Ministry of His Gospel.

In willing obedience to His God and Father, in perfect faith and holy love, He did let go of all that was His and made Himself nothing — even to the point of His death on the Cross — not to achieve any benefit for Himself, but to atone for the sins of the world and to reconcile sinners to God.

So it is that, by the preaching of His Word, and by the gracious working of His Spirit, He calls you to receive and trust what He has accomplished for you by His Cross and Resurrection. All that He has done for you and gotten for you, He offers and gives to you by the Ministry of His Gospel — even as you who are called, ordained, and sent to preach and administer the same Holy Gospel in His Name and stead are thereby privileged to distribute these Gifts Christ freely gives unto others.

And by His Word and Holy Spirit — by faith in His forgiveness and the sure and certain promise of His Resurrection — you are set free from your reliance on riches and from your worship of wealth, so that you are rather able to receive whatever the Lord has given you in this body and life with thanksgiving, and to use it all in faith and love according to His good and acceptable will.

It is likely the case that repenting of your misplaced trust in wealth and riches will sometimes mean that you must give up on certain things altogether, in order to alleviate their hold upon your heart and mind, body and soul. Various addictions can only be broken by going “cold turkey.” And it may well be that the fruits of repentance will include the surrender of things you have relied on.

Beyond all that, however, it is not so much your stuff or your habits but yourself that you must give up, and set aside, and put behind you. It is the work of the Cross, within your Holy Baptism and throughout your life, that puts you to death and buries you with Christ through daily contrition and repentance. And it is the forgiveness of His Cross that raises you up to a brand new life in Him.

By and large, repentance and faith in Christ Jesus do not require that you must give up or get rid of your possessions, far less that you must abandon your neighbors. It is rather that repentance and faith result in a brand new relationship with the people and things in your life, so that you are able to enjoy and appreciate whatever you are given with a heart that fears, loves, and trusts in God.

To say it simply, your entire life is lived under the Cross of Christ in the hope and promise of His Resurrection from the dead. Relying on His forgiveness of sins, you find true peace and Sabbath rest in the grace of His Gospel, regardless of how much or how little you may have in this world.

In point of fact, to inherit eternal Life and to enter the Kingdom of God by grace through faith in Christ Jesus, is to receive one-hundredfold the gifts and blessings of God in the Body of His Son. That is true already here and now within His Church on earth, the household and family of God to which you belong by His gracious adoption, and wherein you are surrounded by numerous brothers and sisters in Christ. So shall it be, all the more so, in the Resurrection of your body to the Life everlasting of your body and soul in the Kingdom of your God and Father in heaven.

Oddly enough, among the gifts and blessings that you have from the Lord, the most important — although it is the hardest of all to receive and understand — is the strange, divine, paradoxical blessing of the Cross. That includes, for example, the persecutions that Jesus says will come your way on His account and on account of the Gospel. And do not be surprised that such trials and tribulations are all the more fierce and persistent for those who serve the Ministry of the Gospel.

Such persecutions in this body and life, and the Cross of Jesus that you bear, will take many and various forms — some of them subtle, and some of them quite obvious and traumatic. They may at times involve the loss of your family and friends, or the loss of your house and home, or the loss of your money and goods, as happened in the case of Job in the Old Testament.

Be that as it may, whatever the particular shape or form of the Cross in the course of your Christian faith and life, it remains the gift and blessing of the Lord your God. It is the Cross of Christ Jesus that you bear, with which He has marked you as His own by His Word and Holy Spirit in your Baptism. And as the Cross is the height of His own divine glory as your Savior, it is likewise your greatest glory as a child of God, because it is the power and wisdom of God for your salvation.

It is by the Cross of Christ that you are saved. And so it is that, when you bear that Cross, you are already sharing and participating in the eternal life and salvation which Christ has thereby obtained for you and all, which He gives to you and bestows upon you by His grace and through His Gospel.

Thus does He feed you, here and now again, with His own sacrificial Body and Blood, given and poured out from His Cross into His Church, for the forgiveness of all your sins, and for life and salvation in Him. And it is in and with that Holy Communion that you receive and share the fruits and benefits of His Cross, and that you are united with the entire household and family of God, which is the Bride of Christ, His Holy Church, who is your Mother in the same Lord Jesus Christ.

In the Name + of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Like a Bride Made Ready for Her Husband

Everything is done for the sake of the beloved Son. Everything is done for Him. It is in the Name of Jesus, and for His sake, that the Father loves the Bride, and for the sake of Jesus that He rejoices over her with lavish generosity and gracious hospitality. The Father loves the Bride because she is the Bride of His beloved Son. He loves her as He loves Him — with divine, eternal Love.

It is the Bridegroom who speaks this Parable and reveals the Kingdom of Heaven within it. And He is at the heart and center of it all, not only as the Author of the story, but the Author and Giver of Life by His Word of the Gospel, by the gift of His Holy Spirit through His forgiveness of sins.

The whole story is about this Bridegroom, Jesus Christ. The Feast is held in His honor. And yet, He is the One who has been sacrificed in order to become the Feast. He is the One who has been slaughtered, so that you might eat and drink, cleansed and forgiven. He feeds His guests from His own hand, as the Waiter, for He is among you as the One who serves. And what He sets before you is nothing else and nothing less than Himself, His own holy Body and His precious Blood.

Indeed, the invitation and the call that you have received to this Wedding Feast are actually a marriage proposal. You are called, that is, not simply to be a guest of the Bride and Groom, but to be a member of the bridal party and, what is more, to be a member of the Bride herself, the holy Church. For the call and invitation are a betrothal, that you be wed to Christ, the beloved Son.

Take to heart, therefore, the seriousness, the importance and significance of this call and invitation. The King would have you be united to His Son, joined to Him, as one flesh and blood with Him, both now and forever, so that even death is never able to part you from Him. The Father would have you married to His Son, and He would love you in Him as a dear and delightful daughter.

So it is that, from heaven Christ came and sought you out — to call you to Himself, to make of you His Bride by the washing of the water with His Word. In your Holy Baptism, He has cleansed you, and He has clothed you in His own righteousness. He has made you ready for Himself, as a Bride made beautiful for her Husband. He has dressed you for the Wedding and for the Wedding Feast. You are gloriously adorned, and there is no spot in you at all; there is no wrinkle, no blemish, and no flaw. There is nothing to be seen but the beauty with which Christ has made you beautiful.

And now, made ready, you are called to partake of the Feast. To rejoice and celebrate with Christ, your Groom, your Husband and your Head. To eat and to drink the Meal that He sets before you, the Meat and Drink indeed, which He has prepared by His sacrificial death upon the Cross.

“It is finished,” He has spoken from that Cross. There’s nothing more to be done that He has not done. His Feast is ready. Everything is ready. So, come and eat. Already here and now, His great Feast is set before you in the Holy Communion. You are called to celebrate and rejoice by eating and drinking this Food and this Drink, and thus to abide in Christ, and He in you, in the Kingdom of His God and Father — already manifested here under the Cross within His Church on earth.

The Feast in question is not simply a metaphor. It is not simply a picture of something yet to come. It is already here and now in the Lord’s Supper. The Sacrament really is that central and important to the Christian faith and life. This is what the Kingdom of Heaven is like. More than that, this is the Kingdom of Heaven, which is here with you on earth in the Body and Blood of Christ Jesus.

The Lord’s Supper is not simply a means to some other end. It’s not play-acting in remembrance of what happened a long time ago. Nor is it a dreamlike anticipation of some “sweet by-and-by” yet to come. No, here you actually taste the Feast that goes on forever in the Kingdom of God.

Therefore, do not despise His Feast. Do not reject His gracious invitation.

On the one hand, you despise His Feast when you are unwilling to come, when you engage in other activities while turning your back on that which Christ the Lord has set before you; when you treat the things of this world as a higher priority than the things of Christ Jesus, the things of heaven.

On the other hand, you also despise His Feast when you presume to come dressed in your own attire; when you refuse the hospitality of your Host by refusing to wear the garment He provides.

Consider this Parable’s troubling conclusion: Just when you think that you’re finally sitting down to eat, the King comes in, and He scans His guests, and there He sees a man not wearing wedding garments. He says to him, “How did you get in here, friend, not wearing wedding garments?” And the man is speechless. He has nothing to say for himself. So, what does this mean for you?

How shall you know that, coming to the Feast, you will not be spotted for the sinner that you are, and thrown into the outer darkness of death and damnation, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth? With what worthiness do you dare to come and recline at the Table of the Lord?

The conclusion of this Parable is frightening, if it is heard apart from faith in the Gospel. But that is precisely the point and the problem at hand in the case of this man without a wedding garment. He has approached the Feast apart from faith in the Gospel. He has presumed to dress himself, instead of receiving and relying on the hospitality of the King in the righteousness of Christ.

Do not attempt to feed and clothe yourself. Do not stay away from the Feast in fear that you are not worthy. And do not try to work and strive and primp in order to dress and adorn yourself, as though you could ever be made worthy by such efforts to sit at this Table and to eat this Feast.

Simply come in this confidence, that you are called to feast upon the One who has given Himself for you in love, and you are dressed in His righteousness from the waters of your Holy Baptism. That is where you have received the wedding garment. It has already been given to you. It is already yours. You have already been dressed by the hands of the One who loves you so dearly.

And here your heavenly Bridegroom cares for you as His Bride, His beloved Church. He clothes you, and He feeds you in His love for you, in His faithfulness and mercy, in His steadfast loving-kindness and tender affection for you, whom He has sought and called to be His own. Humble yourself to receive His good work and His gracious gifts, since He is your Savior and your Head.

His care for you, that is your wedding garment. Not what you do for yourself, and no amount of preparation on your part, but His gracious, loving care for you — that is your wedding garment.

Do not come trusting in yourself, nor in any human might or merit. Rather, fix your eyes on your Bridegroom, Jesus Christ, by fixing your ears upon His Word of the Gospel. Rely upon Him, and come to the Feast. Wear the clothing with which He has clothed you in your Baptism, that is, the righteousness, innocence, and blessedness of Christ Himself, which now cover you in His peace.

To wear those garments of salvation is to live by faith in Christ and His forgiveness, clinging to His Word and trusting His Gospel. It is to come, knowing that you are not worthy of yourself to eat and drink this Meal, but that Christ has made you worthy, that He has called you to Himself, and that He has wed you to Himself. Come to the Feast believing that. Here there are only the free gifts of God, and for your part there is only thanksgiving. There is nothing else you can give to Him who gives you everything by grace, except to return thanks through Jesus Christ your Lord.

When everything is a gift, as it is here, there is nothing for you to do but to say, “Thank you!”

It is for this reason that one of the primary names which the Church has given to the celebration of the Lord’s Supper is “Eucharist,” the Greek word for thanksgiving. What else do you have to bring? But clinging to the Cross, you simply give thanks for the free gifts of God in Christ Jesus.

That is what characterizes the Kingdom of Heaven: Thanksgiving and rejoicing, praising the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has done everything for you, who gives everything to you, and who withholds no good thing from you. You, then, give thanks to Him. That is what faith does, as surely as it hears and believes what God says and gladly receives what He freely bestows in the Gospel. Rejoice, give thanks, and sing to the praise and glory of His Holy Name!

Rejoice in what is good and right and true. Be gentle of heart. Be honorable in all of your actions. Be pure and chaste in all of your thoughts, in your words, and in your deeds. And do whatever you are given to do with excellence, as the Lord so enables and provides; not as though you were competing, but to the glory of your God and Father and to the praise of your heavenly Bridegroom.

Trust His grace and favor. And living by His grace through faith in His Gospel, be at peace as you go about your days in this world. So far as it depends on you, be at peace with everyone. If you are hurt, bear it in Christ, in patience, forgiveness, and love. Be content and confident in what the Lord has done and said and given to you; do not be anxious or worried about anything.

Remember that Christ has clothed you with His righteousness. He has dressed you in the robes of salvation. He’s got you decked out in better than your Sunday best. That’s true both day and night, wherever you are, whatever you’re doing, whatever you happen to be wearing. You are clothed by and with and in Christ Jesus. How then shall you live in relation to your neighbors in the world?

Glorify the Holy Name of Christ by confessing His Name, not only in what you say, but also in how you act, in how you live your life within the world.

Do not clothe yourself again in death. That is the garment that was spread over all the nations by the fall into sin, the pall of death that covers the entire world apart from Christ. Do not clothe yourself in that legacy of fallen Adam, but be clothed by Christ Jesus with His Life and Salvation. Be clothed by Him in wedding garments fit for the Feast of a King.

Don’t go rolling around in the mud, in the muck and the mire, when your Lord has dressed you in such wedding finery. But where you have stained the wedding garment with which the Lord has dressed you, don’t take it off; and don’t try to cover yourself with fig leaves or high fashion. Only return to the waters of your Baptism; not to be baptized again, but to be cleansed by the Blood of Christ, again and again, as often as you fall, through His Absolution, His forgiveness of sins.

And being clothed and fed by Christ — though He and you are despised by the world — clothe and feed your neighbors with the love of God in Christ, even as you daily return to His love in the Gospel. Pass the serving tray, as it were, with which the Lord Jesus Christ continues to serve you.

In living by faith and with such love for others, you glorify your Bridegroom who has dressed you so beautifully and so well, and who cares for you with a passion that never wanes or ceases.

Be content, be confident, and be at peace in Him. Receive the gifts Christ freely gives, and know that you belong here at His Feast, not simply as a guest, but as His own dearly beloved Bride. From heaven He came and sought you, and He has called you to Himself. He loves you, and He will never leave you nor forsake you. Come, then, to the Feast, and rejoice in His great salvation.

In the Name + of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.