Isaiah 25:6-9

Isaiah 25:6-9 | 10.15.23 | Andrew F. Weisner, Ph.D. |

For Sunday, October 15, AD 2023

Isaiah 25:6-9
⁶On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wines, of rich food filled with marrow, of well-aged wines strained clear. ⁷And he will destroy on this mountain the shroud that is cast over all peoples, the sheet that is spread over all nations; he will swallow up death forever. ⁸Then the Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces, and the disgrace of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken. ⁹It will be said on that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, so that he might save us. This is the Lord for whom we have waited; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.

Psalm 23

Philippians 4:4-13
⁴Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. ⁵Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. ⁶Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. ⁷And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. ⁸Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. ⁹Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you. ¹⁰I rejoice in the Lord greatly that now at last you have revived your concern for me; indeed, you were concerned for me, but had no opportunity to show it. ¹¹Not that I am referring to being in need; for I have learned to be content with whatever I have. ¹²I know what it is to have little, and I know what it is to have plenty. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being well-fed and of going hungry, of having plenty and of being in need. ¹³I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

Matthew 22:1-14
22Once more Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying: 2‘The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son. 3He sent his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding banquet, but they would not come. 4Again he sent other slaves, saying, “Tell those who have been invited: Look, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready; come to the wedding banquet.” 5But they made light of it and went away, one to his farm, another to his business, 6while the rest seized his slaves, maltreated them, and killed them. 7The king was enraged. He sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city. 8Then he said to his slaves, “The wedding is ready, but those invited were not worthy. 9Go therefore into the main streets, and invite everyone you find to the wedding banquet.” 10Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered all whom they found, both good and bad; so the wedding hall was filled with guests. 11 ‘But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing a wedding robe, 12and he said to him, “Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding robe?” And he was speechless. 13Then the king said to the attendants, “Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” 14For many are called, but few are chosen.

Homily

         At Oktoberfest, Autumn parades, Fairs, and festivals, what do the joyful ingredients always include? Good FOOD!

          In the southern culture of the United States, many churches celebrate each Fall a tradition called „Home Coming,“ when people who were once members of a congregation (especially people who grew up there as children) who have moved away come back on a particular Sunday — that is, „come home“ — for a special worship service which is followed by – lots and lots of good food! “Dinner on the grounds” they sometimes call it, because (at least, in the past) there were so many people they all could not assemble inside a building, so they met for the big lunch outside, „on the grounds!“

As I was growing up, it was for me the same as it is for many other people: holidays, weddings, even funerals, special occasions when families and friends get together, what do we do? Have a meal together. Young men and women, as they begin their courtship, sometime soon into it, what are they going to do? Have a meal together.

Long-long ago and in a land distant from here, to people who suffered harsh poverty; who experienced the vagaries of injury, sickness, and death; who suffered vast disparity between the rich and the poor, oppression from „the haves“ upon the „have-nots,“  to these people the Lord God held out through the prophet a vision: “⁶On this mountain, the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wines, of rich food filled with marrow, of well-aged wines strained clear. ⁷And he will destroy on this mountain the shroud that is cast over all peoples, the sheet that is spread over all nations; he will swallow up death forever. ⁸Then the Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces, and the disgrace of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken.”

In another setting, long ago, to people who were hungry, who lived with what we now refer to as “food insecurity,” who lived from day-to-day not knowing for sure whether they will have enough to eat, Jesus says that the kingdom of God will be like this: “a king gave a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding banquet,” … but many of those invited, belligerently, would not come, so the king sent out his messenger slaves, saying, “Go therefore into the main streets, and invite everyone you find to the wedding banquet.’ Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered all whom they found, both good and bad; so the wedding hall was filled with guests.”

Certainly, this had to have been good news to Isaiah’s people who suffered injustice, who were uncertain of whether they would have enough to eat! To people listening to Jesus in first century Palestine, not sure if there would be enough to get by day-by-day, Jesus holds out a vision of what they have to look forward to in the future: “a king gave a banquet… and everybody was invited.” Not only the rich will be invited; not only the politically powerful will be invited; but everybody will be invited. And the king who offers this invitation is grander than any human political king of a nation; it is the king who favors the poor, the down-trodden, the orphan and widow and foreigner. It is the king who has conquered death and sorrow; it is the king above all kings, the Lord Sabaoth.

Eating and drinking. It is a center-piece of what human beings do together. Not only is it necessary for our survival – we need to take in nourishment, but it is at the center of joy and fellowship. And it is one of the central means by which our gracious creator God chose to make himself known to us, available to us, near to us: “Take and eat; take and drink: Until the fullness of the kingdom of God, when I will wipe away every tear — for death shall be destroyed —  in my resurrected presence, I will be with you, and unite myself to you, in eating and drinking – bread and wine.”

Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.

—

From: The Rev. Andrew F. Weisner, Ph.D.
The North American Lutheran Church (NALC)
Antioch Lutheran Church, Dallas, North Carolina