Wedding Garments

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.