『The Twentieth Sunday after Trinity | St. Matthew 22:1-14 | There's No Hiding Who You Are』のカバーアート

The Twentieth Sunday after Trinity | St. Matthew 22:1-14 | There's No Hiding Who You Are

The Twentieth Sunday after Trinity | St. Matthew 22:1-14 | There's No Hiding Who You Are

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The Twentieth Sunday after Trinity October 18, 2026 St. Matthew 22:1-14 Weddings are joyous celebrations that bring together friends, family, and sometimes a community. However, while weddings tend to focus on the bride and groom, today’s parable tells the story of two types of wedding guests: those invited but who don’t come, and those who do come but don’t attend the feast properly. For those invited but who don’t come to the feast, it’s a total rejection of the invitation. Their conduct isn’t just rude to the servants who delivered the invitation; it’s vicious. Jesus said, “They paid no attention and went off, one to his farm, another to his business, while the rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them.” Today we get angry when people don’t respond to a simple dinner invitation, but these invited guests didn’t just fail to respond at first; some responded to the messengers with violence. At first, it may not be clear, but hidden within the parable is the story of Israel being invited to the feast and rejecting the Lord’s invitation. The sad unfolding of the story of God’s people is that they not only give no attention to His Word and invitation to come to the wedding He is preparing, but they reject the messengers God has sent to call them into His presence; they kill the servants of the Lord, and they will also kill His Son, Jesus Christ, by crucifying Him on the cross. The rejection of Israel still occurs today among God’s people; we see it not only in churches that have no respect for the Holy Scriptures, but even in churches such as Good Shepherd, when the sheep don’t like the words of God or when those words don’t align with how we desire to conduct our lives, so we are inclined to become angry and frustrated with the messengers God sends among us. But today, let’s focus on the latter part of the parable: a guest arrives at the wedding feast without the appropriate attire—the wedding garment. At that time, wedding guests were expected to dress a certain way, wearing celebratory wedding garments, and if someone didn’t have the appropriate garments, the host would provide them. Now, remember that a parable is often a story with a deeper meaning. Today, Jesus’ words tell the story of someone who doesn’t appear to be what or who they seem. Life is full of people, places, and things that aren’t what they seem, each with its own hidden reality. For instance, we all know that some people wear masks to hide who they truly are, like a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Some places aren’t as their names describe; Greenland isn’t green, and Iceland isn’t full of ice. Or even more simply, a firefly isn’t a fly; it’s a beetle. A shooting star isn’t a star but a meteorite; shortbread isn’t bread but a thick cookie. A lead pencil isn’t even lead; it’s graphite. The philosopher Phaedrus wrote, “Things are not always what they seem; the first appearance deceives many; the intelligence of a few perceives what has been carefully hidden.” And this raises the question: are things what they always appear to be, especially in the Church? Or, more specifically, are people who they appear to be when they gather in the sanctuary of God’s church? Or do you and others conceal who you truly are? Reflecting on when the Lord sent Samuel to anoint scrawny David king over Israel, God said to Samuel in the Old Testament, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature… For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7) Honestly, this can be hard to hear; God knows your heart. God knows why you enter this sanctuary, whether to receive companionship or belonging, which can be a healthy second or third-order effect of the Church, or because “it’s just what you do?” You were raised to come to church, and over time the church has become more a place to gather and maintain membership, like a club or civic organization. However, entering this sanctuary is more than mere membership; it’s entering the ongoing wedding feast of Christ and His Church in true faith. And for this, today’s parable also helps us begin to understand what is known as the visible versus the invisible church on earth. Here’s what we mean by this… Everyone physically present in the sanctuary is a member of the visible church gathered around God’s Word and His sacraments; we know this because we can see one another with our eyes. But the parable also reveals that some who gather in the Lord’s sanctuary may not be true members of Christ Jesus’ church, the invisible church, because they don’t wear the appropriate clothing of faith. Instead, they come into this sanctuary merely because of tradition, the gift of earthly relationships they have formed, or, sadly, in some situations, for status within a community....
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