WEBVTT

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In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and

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of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Glory be to Jesus Christ.

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Glory be to God forever. The second gospel that

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we've heard read today is one in the regular

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cycle of the year. It's from Matthew. The first

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one, of course, is because tomorrow is the Feast

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of the Cross. But I want to focus our attention

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on the second gospel. which is taken from chapter

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22 of St. Matthew's Gospel. The marriage feast,

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the marriage feast of the father and the son,

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the marriage feast of the lamb. This is one of

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the richest parables, in my estimation, one of

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the richest parables of our Lord's. Why? Because

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it avails itself of... a number of equally legitimate

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interpretations. The variety of interpretations

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is really fascinating. But really, it focuses

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in on a couple of main ideas and themes. Clearly,

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the marriage feast is given by the king, that

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is, God the Father. And the marriage feast is

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for his son, obviously. Jesus Christ, the marriage

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feast, the mystical supper, the Lord's Supper.

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So many of the fathers, a common interpretation

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of this is that the marriage feast stands for

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three things basically which are really connected,

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interconnected. The marriage feast is the church.

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The marriage feast is the Eucharist. The marriage

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feast is the kingdom of heaven. One trajectory

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of the fathers is that to be invited to the church,

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the first people that were invited proved unworthy.

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They all had excuses. This is the version of

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this marriage feast in St. Luke's. This is what

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St. Luke... tells us there. People all had excuses

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why they wouldn't come. And then the father that's

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presenting the feast has an interesting phrase

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I really like that isn't in St. Matthew's. He

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says, the first ones that were invited weren't

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worthy. Go out to the highways and byways and

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compel them. compel them to come to my feast.

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So the first ones, the originally invited guests,

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were the Jewish people who by and large and as

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a group did not accept Jesus as the promised

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Messiah. Of course, there were many who did.

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But then the servants are sent out everywhere,

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highways and byways, all different kinds of people,

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all different nations. all different cultures,

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and invited to come to this marriage feast, which

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is the Church. This illustrates, obviously, the

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Catholicity of the Church, that the Church is

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meant for all peoples of all times, of every

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culture, and of every region. But I'd focus our

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attention this morning on the idea of the mutual

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connection between the Church and the Eucharist

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and the Kingdom. One of the recurring themes

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of Father Alexander Schmemann is that the Church

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is essentially Eucharistic. The Church is most

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the Church when it's celebrating the Eucharist.

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Another contemporary theologian, the Greek metropolitan

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John Zizoulas, says that without the Eucharist,

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there isn't any church. There's no church without

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the Eucharist. Very strong statement. And, of

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course, he said this even before this current

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pandemic business and the virus. And we see how...

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with our people how much they long how much they

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miss the eucharist it's so central to our life

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as christians this of course is all an interpret

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and an anticipation of the kingdom of heaven

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the church itself which is the kingdom on earth

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the church which is when it is most essentially

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being the church celebrating the Eucharist. And

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the church, all of this is a foretaste of that

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eternal banquet with God in the kingdom of heaven.

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This is so clear. How do we begin the liturgy?

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Blessed is the kingdom of the Father, Son, and

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Holy Spirit. But there's one curious element

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in this parable of the marriage feast. And that

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is the one fellow who happened to be there without

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a wedding garment. And, of course, the fathers

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find this very intriguing. How are we going to

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interpret what is this wedding garment? And the

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man who threw the feast, the king for his son,

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comes up to him and says, Where's your wedding

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garment? He was speechless. And then he says,

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go, tell us the service, go, bind him hand and

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foot and throw him out. Now, how many of us who

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have had a wedding for our sons or daughters

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would behave like this? You know, somebody comes

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in and probably don't even, I had never even

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noticed really what kind of clothes they were

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wearing. But maybe the person who has a, you

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know, some old shabby suit, you're not going

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to go, him, get out of here. Or a woman who has

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some dress that you think is not fancy enough

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for a wedding. Go, leave. No, no. So there has

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to be some interesting characteristic of what

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this garment is. Something that is essential

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that was lacking in this man. Notice it was essential

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because when the... The king comes up to him

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and says, you know, where's your wedding garment?

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What? He was speechless. He knew that he was

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lacking something that he should have worn to

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this. So the thing that is lacking, of course,

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the fathers see here. An interpretation of baptism.

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In order to get into the kingdom, you have to

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be baptized. You have to be clothed in that white

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garment, the baptismal garment, that the early

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church used for the newly baptized, that we use

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here at St. Seraphim's for the newly baptized.

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They also say a variation of this, which is consistent.

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with the garment as a baptismal garment, that

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the garment that we need to get into the kingdom

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of heaven is faith and good works, good deeds.

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Without our Christian faith, without putting

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this faith into action by living appropriately

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as Christians, we won't get into the kingdom

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of heaven. I think all of this is put together

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if we look at a very interesting aspect of this

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wedding feast, which is found in chapter 19 of

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the book of Revelation, the marriage feast of

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the Lamb. And in 19, this is a vision, of course,

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that St. John has of the kingdom of heaven. That's

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what the apocalypse is. the book of Revelation.

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At this wedding feast, they cry out, there's

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a thunderous peal. Alleluia! The Lord our God,

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the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and exult

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and give him the glory, for the marriage of the

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Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself

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ready. The bride, of course, is the church. The

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bride is us who are made ready to participate

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in this marriage of the Lamb. It was granted

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to her, to the bride, to be clothed with fine

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linen, bright and pure. For the fine linen is

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the righteous deeds of the saints. And the angel

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said to me, Write this, the angel said, John

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is saying, the angel said to me, write this,

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blessed are those who are invited to the mystical

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supper of the Lamb, the marriage supper of the

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Lamb. How wonderful those words are. How greatly

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have we been privileged to be invited to this

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mystical supper. The Church, the Eucharist, and

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the kingdom of heaven. Let us, by our faith and

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good deeds, prove ourselves worthy and be wearing

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this wedding garment. Hallelujah. Praise the

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Lord who invites us to this marriage feast. Amen.