In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and
of the Holy Spirit, amen. Glory be to Jesus Christ.
Today's parable of the marriage feast is one
of the richest in symbolism of all of our Lord's
parables. It's rich because it admits of several
equally valid explanations. of what this parable
means. So we'll look at this morning, first,
what is this marriage feast? And then secondly,
that peculiar conclusion about a wedding garment.
What is the marriage feast? Probably in olden
times and today, a marriage banquet is the most
elaborate party, get -together, that any family
has or any church has, the joy of a marriage.
So the wedding feast is the church, the Eucharist,
and the kingdom of heaven. Most fundamentally,
it is exactly at the primary level that the gospel
passage about this parable means. It says the
marriage feast and invitation to that, to the
kingdom of heaven. This is what the kingdom of
heaven is likened to, Jesus says, a marriage
feast. And at that primary level, it is God the
Father calling the Jewish people to participate
in the messianic kingdom, the kingdom of the
Messiah. And then as the story unfolds, not everybody
was listening, was interested in participating
in this. So the father who's running the marriage
feast tells his servants, go out everywhere and
invite everyone you find. And this, of course,
refers to the calling of the Gentiles, that the
Gentiles as well as the Jewish people will inherit
this messianic kingdom, the kingdom of the Messiah.
Where does this kingdom begin? It begins first
and foremost in the church here on earth. and
at the church's most celebrated and intimate
worship service, which is the Holy Eucharist,
this sacred supper. The book of Revelation, which,
by the way, we're beginning to study again in
our Thursday evening Bible classes, but the book
of Revelation, towards the end in the eschatological
section, There's a very interesting sentence
that St. John says that an angel says, write
this, blessed are those who are called to the
marriage supper of the Lamb. Marriage feast,
supper, the Lamb, of course, is Jesus Christ.
Called to participate in this feast in the church.
in the Eucharist, and then its ultimate fulfillment
in the kingdom of heaven. So the marriage feast
has three levels of interpretation. The messianic
kingdom, the church, and the Holy Eucharist.
Then that wedding garment. What is that? Everybody
probably puts on their best clothes traditionally
when they go to participate in a wedding feast.
And the wedding garment is something special.
Here we are with the show and tell. Mark didn't
miss his cue. The wedding garment is baptism.
We know this very well because this church very
appropriately, the newly baptized catechumens,
put on this wedding garment after their baptism
and they wore it for a whole week. Okay, that's
good. Now, the priest, that is the first garment
that the priest puts on because before he puts
on, his priestly garments, he puts on the baptismal
garment, the primary sacrament of the membership
in the church. And the altar boys, sticarians,
that you see here, they're simply fancy, multicolored,
embroidered baptism garments, not just white.
How the church came to that, you know, I don't
really know, but I think it's a logical elaboration
of baptism garment. So, the wedding garment symbolizes
our baptism, our membership in the church. But
it is more than that. Not only baptism, but we
must preserve the purity of our baptism. That
is why this garment is traditionally white, a
sign of purity. So it's a purity of baptism.
The wedding garment also means faith. The wedding
garment also means good works. So in order to
enter into the kingdom of heaven, baptism and
have faith and show this faith demonstrated by
our good works, our works of love and consideration
for one another. So this is this rich feast that
we who are called to are blessed to be called
to this messianic feast, this messianic banquet,
which we are about to participate in. when we
receive the Holy Eucharist, Holy Communion, the
consecrated body and blood of Jesus, the wine
that has been consecrated and becomes the body
and blood of Christ. So let us pray then that
we do our best throughout our lives to maintain
the holiness and the purity that was ours when
we were baptized. And let us demonstrate this
by our faith and by our good works. Amen.