Ephesians
5:15-21* Matthew 22:1-14
"For I am the LORD, I change
not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed." Malachi 3:6
The Gospel today leads me once again to mention Divine Impassibility: It means that God does not change.
In fact, as our own Anglican Article I teaches, He is "without
passions." Some modern theologians object to this, and insist that the
scriptures present to us an emotional God who makes up his mind by reacting to
events. They see metaphorical language as literal, forgetting that God has
revealed His word to our minds by use of our own language. Emotion includes
motion, that is movement and change. But, God does not change.
The reaction to the king's kind invitation, bidding people to attend the
wedding of his son, reminds me of the fifth seal in the Book of Revelation:
“And
when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that
were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held: And they
cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not
judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? And white robes
were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest
yet for a little season, until their fellow servants also and their brethren,
that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.”- Rev. 6:9-11
When the guests who were invited snub him, and refuse his invitation, and then
persecute the messengers of his gracious invitation to the death, the king
becomes "wroth." His judgment falls on those murderers, and he sends
his army to slay them. In many passages of scripture we read about the wrath of
God. What is the wrath of God?
To answer that, we look at the image of God in this parable. The king
represents God, and the invitation represents the proclamation of His mercy
offered in the Gospel. The invitation is to attend "the marriage supper of
the Lamb" (Rev.19:9), the marriage feast of the King's Son. The image in
the parable includes the obvious implications of forgiveness of sin (purchased
by that Son on the sacrificial altar of the cross, and his resurrection that
destroys death), showing that the heart of the king is generous, benevolent and
gracious. "God is good."
When the invited people refuse this kindness, and persecute his messengers,
they incur his wrath. The king has not changed, the people have. His principles
are solid and unmoving. His wrath comes from the same heart as his generosity. Of
course, the wrath of God is not exactly like the wrath of this king, for the
king is a man who changes due to emotion. The king in today's Gospel appears to
be moved, sometimes by anger and sometimes by his own generosity. Unlike God,
this king can be surprised, because he does not know all things before they
happen. But, he is in the story only to represent God as an imperfect human
illustration, a character who is metaphorical in nature. The expression, “The
wrath of God” is itself metaphorical. What it means is that you stand on one
side of the line or the other, either accepting his kind and gracious offer in
the Gospel of his Son, or you refuse that offer and side with the world, the
flesh and the Devil. Because God never changes, you stand either on the side of
"wrath" or on the side of mercy.
Look at the word that the king uses when he must have his "bouncers"
kick out an impolite guest: "Friend, how camest thou in hither not having
a wedding garment?" This word, "friend," seems rather odd in
this context. In fact, it means that this impolite guest, the one who refused
the wedding garment (that is, refused the vestment handed out by the king's
servants at the door) in a gesture of disrespect, was in some way beloved of
the king. That is what it means that he was called "friend" (ἑταῖρος, hetairos). The same word is
used later in this same Gospel (St. Matthew) when Jesus addresses the traitor
Judas in the Garden of Gethsemane.
”And
forthwith he came to Jesus, and said, Hail, master; and kissed him. And Jesus
said unto him, Friend, wherefore art thou come? Then came they, and laid
hands on Jesus, and took him.”-Matt. 26:50
The Impassibility of God is always consistent with the
revelation that God is love (I John 4:8, 16). He does not change. Jesus loved
Judas, even knowing that the man was a devil, the traitor, for whom it would
have been good had he never been born -
and so calls him “friend.” Jesus was not changed toward Judas, though Judas had
renounced him, and had abandoned his apostolic office to betray him to the
death. "Friend, wherefore art thou come?"
The king casts the impolite and contemptuous guest out of his palace because
that man had placed himself beyond the reach of the king's generous and
gracious intention, the intention that had been obvious in the invitation
itself. The man did not need to buy some expensive garment, because it was the
host of such a feast who provided the garments, outer garments or vestments, at
the door. And, in polite society it was expected that a guest would put the
garment on over his own clothes.
”The
night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness,
and let us put on the armour of light. Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not
in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and
envying. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the
flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof.” -Rom. 13:12-14
We are told to "put on Christ." But, first we are instructed to cast
off the works of the flesh. Everything is provided for us. We put on Christ by
hearing the word of God, remembering that in Hebrew the word for
"hear" is the same word as "obey." We put on Christ by
staying within his Church. We put on Christ by hearty repentance and true
faith. We put on Christ by the sacraments that are generally necessary to
salvation. We put on Christ by cooperating with the Holy Spirit who forms
within us the virtues, above all charity.
These are gifts of God, provided like the wedding garment given to each guest.
We are invited and granted mercy and grace, to be partakers of the inheritance
of the saints in light, to be partakers of the divine nature having escaped the
corruption that is in the world through lust (II Pet. 1:4). We are given
everything we need so that we become behind in no gift; waiting for the coming
of our Lord Jesus Christ. As you are called in Christ, to become saints in
Christ, so live in Christ, having been baptized into his death unto sin, and in
whom you live unto righteousness.
If you refuse the invitation, or if you come to the feast but refuse the
gracious provision of the king, it is your choice to come under wrath, never
understanding the heart of one who calls you "friend." Above all,
from the cross He has called you "friend." Do not turn from His love.
Put on the Lord Jesus Christ.
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