Shepherd of the Springs
Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod

From the Old Testament of the Day: Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? [Isaiah 55.2]

From the Epistle: Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore, do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. [Ephesians 5.15-17]

From the Holy Gospel: And those servants went out into the roads and gathered all whom they found, both good and bad. So the wedding hall was filled with guests. But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw a man who had no wedding garment. [Matthew 22.10-11]

I.

Today is the 20^th Sunday after Trinity, and it begins the period after The Feast of St. Michael and All Angels, or, as it is called especially in England, Michaelmas. The Sundays after Michaelmas point us to the end times and the expectation of our Lord’s glorious return, to bring the New Testament era to an end and to usher everlasting life under the new heavenly bodies above us and the new earth around us. And, connected to the expectation of our Lord’s return, on the day when judgment occurs, is that on this coming judgment day it will be too late to become a Christian. On that day, if you aren’t already a Christian, you won’t be one then, and you will spend eternity in hell.

Hell exists, and it will be highly populated on, and forever after, that day. It’s occupants will not be people whom God didn’t love, or for whom Christ didn’t die. Hell will be populated with people whom God did love, and for whom Christ died, but nevertheless will be highly populated with people who were sinful and rebellious against God, who despite Christ’s death for them, lived outside of Christ’s sacrifice and outside of Christ’s Church. And that reality will become visible to all on the day of judgment of all mankind.

And this judgment is coming soon! This is the annual underlying reality of the Sundays of Michaelmas, the last Sundays of each Church Year, so today’s Sunday captures the urgency of the work of the Gospel, the work of "Evangelism, Good and Not-Good"

II.

In the Old Testament of the Day, the prophet Isaiah raises a crucial question: Why are you living outside of Christ’s Church, which means you are outside of forgiveness, outside of salvation, outside of life before God covered in the righteousness of Christ? The prophet puts it this way: "Why do you spend your money – your life – on that which is not true bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy – and which does not save you?"

The prophet pleads: "Listen diligently to me, and thus you will eat what is good – your life will consume what is for your good – and you will delight yourselves is God’s rich food of forgiveness, life, and salvation." That food is none other than the ear-food of the hearing of God’s Word, and the mouth-food of the Lord’s Supper.

The Church, you see, has been around even before the birth of Jesus. Its first members were Adam and Eve, after their expulsion from the Garden of Eden. Since that day, the purpose of the Church – the only purpose of the Church – has been, and continues to be, the rescue of the lost; it continues to be the feeding of the found on the Word and the Sacraments for the forgiveness of sins, for the life of redemption, and for the everlasting salvation of body and soul. When Isaiah calls sinners to come to the waters, to come to the free food of salvation, he is calling you to life within Christ’s Church.

That is why the prophet Isaiah continues to plead to this very day, through voices of the of Christ’s appointed spokesmen: He pleads through the voices of the Apostles (those thirteen appointed by Christ as the foundation of the New Testament Church). He pleads through the voices of the Prophets, whose appointed ministry is expressed chiefly in the Books of the Old Testament – which still speak to be heard in the Church of the New Testament. He speaks through the Evangelists, those who were inspired to write the first books of the New Testament. He speaks to those who are called pastors and/or teachers, perhaps most clearly translated pastor-hyphen-teachers, who preach and teach the salvation of lost mankind in the work of the holy cross. These are the voices of God, in human form, and they call, invite, and warn about the necessity to be in, and not apart from, the Church of Christ on earth.

This truth brings up the ever-present not-true argument: "Quote: I don’t have to be in the Church to be a Christian!" Wrong! There is no salvation outside of Christ’s Church, period! That is why the call of the prophets and the Apostles, the Evangelists and the Pastor-Teachers, and every voice joining them from within the Church itself: "Ho!" – as the King James Version translates it; or better understood today, "Hey You! Come to the Waters, come to the feast."

"Seek the Lord while He may be found. Call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked (and who isn’t among the wicked? Answer: No one, except Christ Himself) – let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Let Him return to the Lord, that He – the Lord – may have compassion on him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon."

Of course, for many that doesn’t seem to make sense, it doesn’t seem to be right, it doesn’t seem to be fair – as sinful mankind counts fairness! So, the Word from God continues: "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways," declares the Lord: "And so it is that My word that goes out from My mouth shall not return to Me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I intend, and it shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it."

III.

And so, in the Holy Gospel of the Day, Christ pictures His Church on earth as this place of a great wedding feast, filled with sinners who had no claim upon the benefits of that feast. They were not worthy of it, and most were not even aware of the need of this place we call "the Church." But, they were compelled to be there, and once there, they were fed of the food of immortality. Oh, happy day!

But, for one, it isn’t yet a happy day. For, as Jesus teaches, the king of the feast (who is the picture of God Himself), finds someone present without the proper clothing, the clothing of repentance and forgiveness: a repentance and a forgiveness that applies to everyone, and hence it is pictured in the parable by the NT era practice of covering all wedding feast participants with the same outer vestment.

But, there is one, you see, who declines the vestment – if he is going to be at the wedding, if he is going to be at the Holy Ghost created gathering, which is called, "Church," he’ll be there on his own terms! "Oh, no you won’t!" the voice cries out. And that voice is the voice of God! No one comes to Church on his own terms! You come on God’s terms – that this fallible thing call the Church is God’s vehicle for accomplishing infallible forgiveness, and righteousness, and salvation – or, when you do come, you come still under judgment, still apart from forgiveness.

That is the meaning of this parable. When it is correctly understood, it produces "good evangelism," inviting by beggars for other beggars to come and find bread. Any other understanding of the purpose of the Church produces "not-good evangelism," for such inviting keeps people under their sins! You are here by, and with, good evangelism, for you are here as beggars, answering Isaiah’s call to come "that your soul may live!" And thus, for you, the Church is the place of forgiveness and peace, the place of joy in the gift of eternal life!