2641AFC100926 – Suit Up! The Time Is Near! ← PODCAST LINK 🤓

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Isaiah 25:9-10 ^a –
⁹ It 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.
¹⁰ For the hand of the Lord will rest on this mountain.

Psalm 23:6 –

⁶ Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
    all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
    my whole life long.

Philippians 4:11-13 (GNT) [1] – ¹¹ And I am not saying this because I feel neglected, for I have learned to be satisfied with what I have. ¹² I know what it is to be in need and what it is to have more than enough. I have learned this secret, so that anywhere, at any time, I am content, whether I am full or hungry, whether I have too much or too little. ¹³ I have the strength to face all conditions by the power that Christ gives me.

Matthew 22:1-14 –The Parable of the King's Wedding Feast

Matthew 22:8-14 (GNT) – ⁸ Then he called his servants and said to them, ‘My wedding feast is ready, but the people I invited did not deserve it. ⁹ Now go to the main streets and invite to the feast as many people as you find.’ ¹⁰ So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, good and bad alike; and the wedding hall was filled with people.

¹¹ “The king went in to look at the guests and saw a man who was not wearing wedding clothes. ¹² ‘Friend, how did you get in here without wedding clothes?’ the king asked him. But the man said nothing. ¹³ Then the king told the servants, ‘Tie him up hand and foot, and throw him outside in the dark. There he will cry and gnash his teeth.’”

¹⁴ And Jesus concluded, “Many are invited, but few are chosen.”

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you. Today I ask you to look at The Parable of the King's Wedding Feast. In this parable, Jesus tells about a King who prepared an elaborate wedding banquet. Many guests were invited. I described this a few years ago in "1343AFC102513 – Accountability?", and I'm going to put just a few lines of that post here:

In the Parable of the King’s Wedding Feast in Matthew 22:1-14, the King’s invited guests snubbed him, so he ordered his servants to bring in strangers, stragglers, and seat them for the banquet. Then there is a strange incident of a man who did not wear a wedding garment. How could he? He was drafted as an impromptu guest. Yet the other impromptu guests were prepared. What does this mean? How does one prepare for the Wedding Banquet of our King? What is our “wedding garment?” First of all, it is our repentance. We must be ready to renounce our sinful nature and put on the Righteousness of God's Love. Jesus' listeners would have understood that in order to participate in the wedding feast, one would have to change their garments or at least cover them. The point was that no one – no matter what their wealth or poverty, class or ordinariness – all would have the same apparel and their distinctions would be temporarily hidden. Their differences were muted so that nothing could detract from the joy of the celebration. Wedding feasts went on for a week or more, so it was much more than our celebrations of watch the “show,” go eat your fried chicken, potato salad, and cake, and then go home. Now, let’s imagine this chap in this image was one of those who were “drafted” to attend the king’s feast. How do we think he feels about that? How do WE feel about him?

The man in Jesus' parable had not changed his apparel before entering the feast, and for that he was kickedout. He was called but not chosen because he dishonored the call. He was judged as being DELIBERATELY DEFIANT. He had not changed before entering the feast. HE chose individualism over familial unity, and thus he was excluding himself from the community celebration. The unrighteous and unrepentant also have not changed and are not prepared for the Wedding Banquet in Heaven. There's no excuse for being unprepared, because Christ the King has given us everything we need to enter in. All who were called to the wedding feast of the king were privileged to celebrate with one another to honor the founder of the feast. It was intended to be a family affair.

The family giving the wedding gave all the guests a special garment to wear at the wedding feast. The man in this parable who showed up without the freely-given garment committed a terrible insult, worse even than those who were the first to be invited, and then later refused to come to the wedding at all. The point of the lesson is that God gives us everything we need, every “good and perfect gift,” to make it easier to answer his call. But, no unrighteousness, nothing impure, no shadow of doubt or sin may enter into the Supper of The Lamb. Jesus was teaching the uselessness of unrighteousness. We must learn to trust in God’s Gift of Righteousness which derives from knowing Christ Jesus as Lord, not our own righteousness based on living as “A Good Person Who Is Very Spiritual.” (See Philippians 3:8-9) That, and about five bucks, will get you a Caffè Latte Grande at Starbucks.

To be prepared for The Supper of The Lamb, we can profit in some instructions by The Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 5:21 – ²¹ For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. We can also turn to Chapter 61 of Isaiah which begins
 “The spirit of the Lord God is upon me,
    because the Lord has anointed me

And a bit farther down the page we read in verse 10 –
¹⁰ I will greatly rejoice in the Lord,
    my whole being shall exult in my God;
for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation,
    he has covered me with the robe of righteousness,
as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland,
    and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

We rejoice in the Lord in every celebration anticipating the Marriage Feast of The Lamb and The Bride of Christ, the Church! That is the day when we shout ”Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, so that he might save us.”

How will we be asked to suit up for that Eternal Banquet? This seems to be a popular image that is used in many places on the Internet. This is a bit like some of us imagine “he has covered me with the robe of righteousness“(← Music Link) would look like. It certainly doesn’t look like a bad thing to be “clothed with the garments of Salvation.” Why do we resist it so? Why do we “kick against the goads?” (We recall Acts 26:14 and Ecclesiastes 12:11 GNT) What is so “wrong” about trying to live a righteous life? Adelphos, there is nothing “wrong” about trying to be truly righteous. It is when we get locked into believing that we can get by with DIY Righteousness (← Look it up, please.), that we become like the obstinate man in Jesus' parable. We are reminded by the Prophet Isaiah in Chapter 64, Verse 6 –
⁶ We have all become like one who is unclean,
    and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy cloth.
We all fade like a leaf,
    and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away

That last line is echoed in Verse 3 of one of my favorite worship hymns “Immortal, Invisible, God only Wise” (← Music Link). I often sing this (or play it in that jukebox we all have up there next to the movie screen behind our forehead) as the beginning of my Morning Prayers. Remember: ALL our prayers addressed to any Person in the Trinity should begin with Praise, as we offer adoration, worship, and thanksgiving thus honoring our trust in God.

We praise and thank him for calling us to be his servants, we praise and thank him for creating us, and we praise and thank him for loving us before we ever knew him. We praise him, thank him, adore and worship him for all the Gifts he has given us, those Blessings from him which he intends for us to use to honor him and to honor our neighbors. My gifts include (but are not limited to) music, literature, administration, teaching, exhortation, scripture, and much, much more. The largest and most amazing gift, far outpacing the combined value of all the other gifts, is Love. He has given me so much love that I can't keep track of it, and I can't give it away fast enough and deeply enough to reduce the overflow. And even with all those blessings, I can still act like that unwelcome guest and be a real jerk, someone even I don't like to be around. I have been entrusted with much; the expectations of my Master, my family, and my friends are high; my performance under those expectations often fails. The recompense for failure is loss – loss of gifts, loss of respect, loss of resources, and usually loss of comfort. This recompense, however, never includes loss of Love. It seems no matter how much I lose anywhere in my life, Love floods in to fill the void, and then the Love nurtures and restores the gifts I have wasted.

When that happens – which is pretty often since I manage to get in the wrong lane so often, I am reminded of the closing of Psalm 23 – 
⁶ Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
    all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
    my whole life long.

In 1620AFC051316 – The House of the Lord, I mentioned, ”{There is} a prophecy that God will build David a "house." 2 Samuel 7:4-11 – verse 11c: Moreover the Lord declares to youthat the Lord will make you a house. Hopefully you are beginning to think (or remember, or are already tired of) that בְּבֵית־ [“beth”] also means "A household, family, family of descendants, descendants as an organized body [Church], 'The family of (you or me).'" Yes, in this passage, you can, and usually should, read "house" as "family or descendants." WE WILL BELONG TO THE FAMILY OF God! @WOW!! And how long is “my whole life long”? Eezzy-Peezy! YOLO-F! BUT WAIT!! THERE’S MORE!! As believers we already belong to the Family of God. When we share Christ in the Eucharist we already share in the Supper of the Lamb. Listen for the prayer near the end of the Eucharistic Prayer for “Ecce agnus dei ecce qui tollit peccata mundi" which is a Latin phrase meaning "Behold the Lamb of God, behold him who takes away the sin of the world.” That is followed by “Blessed are those who are called to the Supper of the Lamb”

How can we ever, ever be ready for that? How can we be prepared to live through everything the World throws at us? How can we live well while suffering?! How about Romans 5:3-5 (GNT) – ³ We also boast of our troubles, because we know that trouble produces endurance, ⁴ endurance brings God's approval, and his approval creates hope. ⁵ This hope does not disappoint us, for God has poured out his love into our hearts by means of the Holy Spirit, who is God's gift to us. We also have this encouragement from The Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 4:8–10 – ⁸ We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; ⁹ persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; ¹⁰ always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our bodies. Is this possible?

Well, of course it is, for “With God all things are possible.” And so we can finish suiting up by recalling The Apostle Paul’s word to the Philippians in Philippians 4:11-13 (GNT) – I have learned to be satisfied with what I have. ¹² I know what it is to be in need and what it is to have more than enough. I have learned this secret, so that anywhere, at any time, I am content, whether I am full or hungry, whether I have too much or too little. ¹³ I have the strength to face all conditions by the power that Christ gives me. Many of us have that verse memorized as I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. Authorized (King James) Version (AKJV)

No matter how crazy life gets, we should always, always remember we are suited up for the Lord’s presence. This is no sports uniform, or party outfit we are asked to put on. No. We MUST suit up with The Whole Armor of God, because, indeed, the Time is near. There is a bit more about that here – 1049AFC120210     1050AFC121010     1051AFC121710           1052AFC122410 and here – The Full Armor of God — Links (The Catholic 365 links no longer work. They discontinued them. 😞) However, PUH-LEEZ read Ephesians 6:10-18 – preferably in the (GNT) – so that we all understand we’re not suiting up for some gala, but for a real, Live war that’s been going on for millennia, and we’re winning! The Devil is losing, headed for a fiery end, and There he will cry and gnash his teeth.

Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever —
at your service, Belovéd!

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Bonus  (← Music Link)

Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture passages are from the New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE) New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Biblical languages inserts from Bible Hub (Bible Hub: Search, Read, Study the Bible in Many Languages) Visit at http://biblehub.com

Aloha Friday Messages by Charles O. Todd, III is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License

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