Trinity 20

Matthew 22:1-14 - Trinity XX - October 21, 2012
The Christian’s Robe of Righteousness

“The kingdom of heaven is like a king who gave a wedding feast for his son.”   It’s interesting here that Jesus speaks the way He does.  No one asked Him about the kingdom of heaven: what it was or what it was like.  Instead they asked Him by what authority He did the things He did (Mt. 21:23).  Who gave Him this authority?  That’s what they asked.  And Jesus responded to their insolent inquiry by telling them parables about the kingdom of heaven.  The word kingdom tends to incite images of a static government with castles and towers and a throne.  But the word for kingdom is perhaps better translated as reign.  It is an active, dynamic thing.  The kingdom of heaven is not a power structure built far away.  No, it is the day-by-day ruling and governing of God over His dominion.  More specifically, it is the reign of Christ who governs and rules our hearts and consciences by the forgiveness of our sins. 

This is the authority of Jesus.  This authority He received from His Father.  He earned this authority by bearing the sins of the world on the cross.  Jesus rules us because we are His.  He owns us.  He has purchased and won us, not with gold or silver, the way the rulers of this world buy favor and obedience and by which they manipulate their subjects.  No. But Jesus made us His by buying us with His own holy and precious blood – by becoming our servant – by paying our redemption price with His innocent suffering and death.  All this He did in order that we, as we confess in the Small Catechism, “may be His own, and live under Him in His kingdom, and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness.”