Here's Your Invitation to the Best Wedding Reception Ever
Breaking bread together with family and friends opens doors to stimulating conversation, solidifies relationships, and leaves pleasant memories. That's what lies behind the burst of excitement from Revelation 19:5-9, "Here's Your Invitation to the Best Wedding Reception Ever." November 13, 2011.
Think back, and try to recall some of the most enjoyable, relaxing, happy moments in your life. Nine times out of ten they had something to do with food. There’s just something about breaking bread together with family and friends, especially at holidays and on special occasions. It opens doors to stimulating conversation, solidifies relationships, and leaves pleasant memories. That’s what lies behind the burst of excitement in the today’s second lesson from the Revelation chapter nineteen, “Here’s Your Invitation to the Best Wedding Reception Ever.”
We learn who’s invited
Let’s say that all of your friends and neighbors were invited to a wedding reception at an expensive five-star hotel with open bar all night, top shelf adult beverages, a five course dinner, and live orchestra, but you weren’t invited. On the evening of the grand event, you watch as they are whisked off to the reception in a complimentary limousine. At the last minute you discover a note at the bottom of the mailbox. It’s your invitation! You hurriedly dress, call a cab, and arrive as Happy Hour is winding down. As you scoot past the bar to the dining room, you overhear someone whispering, “Can you believe who’s here?” and feel like crawling under the rug. But a friend spies you and says, “I’m glad you made it!” You reply, “I’m just happy to be invited!”
That’s our reaction to this fabulous invitation to the best wedding reception ever, “Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb.” This geyser of gladness erupts because who would expect that the almighty God, whose holy fire blazed away on Mt. Sinai, whose face no human has ever seen, who caused two people to keel over in front of the apostles just for greed and lying – who would ever expect that this all powerful, all glorious, all holy God would invite sinners like us to be near him, much less join him in a feast? But he does.
Angels don’t gossip, but if they did, they’d be whispering when I enter the pearly gates, “Can you believe he’s here?” You might be thinking, “You’re the pastor. What have you got to worry about?” But I know stuff about me that only a few others know, and there’s some stuff even they don’t know. I’ll bet there’s stuff about you, too, that you wouldn’t want anyone to know. In spite of that, God still gives us this invitation to the best wedding reception ever. And no one, not the angels, not even those who know us well, are going to be surprised when they see us in heaven because they know God works miracles. No one is going to whisper behind our back or move to a different cloud so they don’t have to talk to us. No! We’ll be there simply because God was kind enough to invite us even though we don’t deserve it. No wonder we join all the saints who from their labor rest and sing, “Praise our God all you his servants, you who fear him, both small and great.” Here’s an invitation to the best wedding reception ever, and you’re invited!
We learn what to wear
When I finish a wedding service, and if we’re invited to the reception, I stop at home to pick up my wife, and she usually asks, “What were they wearing?” You know what she’s asking. My standard answer, “Anything you wear will be just fine,” won’t cut it because she’s not interested in the guys’ tuxes or what the bride’s mom was wearing or even the color of the bridesmaids’ dresses. What she wants to know is whether the reception is going to be formal or informal, long dress or dressy slacks and fashionable top.
The best wedding reception ever has a strict dress code. Only those wearing the proper clothes can get in and stay. Jesus once told a story about that. A man prepared a great banquet and invited everyone. But one guy was caught wearing the wrong clothes. He got tossed out on his ear. The meaning behind the story is scary. People who try to get into the best wedding reception ever, the wedding supper of the Lamb, while wearing the wrong clothes will be tossed out into a bottomless pit of pain.
So, how do we match up to the dress code for the best wedding reception ever? Most of us don’t look like models. We’ve got too many wrinkles, too many bruises, too many scars, too much air in the spare tire around the waist. We try to cover up as best we can. But God sees all of those imperfections, and he also sees all the wrinkles, scars, bruises, and excess baggage in our spiritual lives. Because of that, God has every right to declare, “You may have been invited, but you can’t stay at the wedding supper of the Lamb. You don’t measure up. You don’t pass the dress code.”
And yet we join the saints, lined up in bright array. How can that be? Listen! “Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding supper of the Lamb has come and his bride [the Christian Church] has made herself ready. Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear (fine linen stands for the ‘not guilty’ verdicts pronounced on the saints.” God has invited us to the best wedding reception ever and will allow us to join those whom we dearly miss and who have gone before us because he himself has clothed them and us with a “not guilty” verdict. The Bible tells us that Jesus is the groom, and this is what he did for us, his bride – he gave himself up for us to make us holy; and to present us before God as radiant believers without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless(Ephesians 5:26-27). This is better than a higher salary and lower rent. This is better than a cure for acne and arthritis. This is better than an expensive wedding reception at a great hotel. The Lamb of God lived for us and died for us so that his blood and righteousness are our glorious dress! Thanks to Jesus God does not see our imperfections and impurities. Thanks to Jesus we will not be tossed out of his wedding reception. Thanks to Jesus here’s your invitation to the best wedding reception ever, and you’ve got the right clothes!
We learn how long it will last
Did this ever happen to you? You get a wedding invitation, a nice professionally printed card. Inside you read the couple’s names, the place, and time of the wedding and reception, and you’re thinking, “That will be fun – nice food, nice folks, elegant setting.” But it turned out to more than a little disappointing. The bridal party was late for dinner because of the extra time for an extra set of pictures and stopping at a bar to play pool. A glass of wine was nine dollars. The best man’s speech went on almost as long as the bride’s dad who had to tell embarrassing stories and thank nearly everyone by name for coming. The food was over-cooked. The groom’s college buddies got well-oiled and a bit obnoxious. You hoped for at least one lovely dance but had to wait while the DJ, who thought he was a game-show host on TV, set up dances for every possible mathematical combination of bride, groom, and parents. By the time he invited others to dance, he used a play-list you’ve heard at a hundred other weddings, a medley from Glen Miller to Chubby Checker, a Beatles song, You’re the One That I Want from Grease with all the girls singing along with Olivia Newton-John because they’re the only ones who know the words, Roy Orbison’s Pretty Woman, Kool and the Gang’s Celebrate Good Times, and eventually rap and hip-hop. You tried to stick it out but couldn’t hear the person next to you because the music was so loud, so you made your way to the exit.
The best wedding reception ever will not be routine or boring. I know it’s difficult to imagine total unrestrained joy going on forever and ever, but it’s true. God promises that in this invitation, and he never disappoints. We won’t get overstuffed. We won’t get fat from the feast. Nor will our eardrums burst from the heavenly choirs even though “I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like the loud peals of thunder, shouting, “Hallelujah!” For our Lord God almighty reigns.” John is describing the joys of heaven. Heaven is being with God as he attends to our every need, cares for us, provides for us, and surrounds us in the beauty of his love, and John saw and heard the multitudes of believers gathered before our majestic and glorious God, singing, “Thank you, Lord, for the invitation. Praise to you, dear Savior, for giving me joy beyond all joy!” We will be in that chorus. Don’t worry if you’re not a musician or have avoided singing in the shower lest you crack a mirror or cause the neighbor’s dog to howl. You’ll have perfect pitch in heaven and a symphony chorus tone to your voice. Here’s your invitation to the best wedding reception ever, and it will go on for a long, long time!
In spite of my earlier description, wedding receptions actually are a delight because of the wonderful friends and family that gather and mean so much to us. It’s an honor to be invited and, no matter what the trappings, trimmings, music, or mood, it’s a thrill to be with the people you love. Now take that thought, make it the best ever, and add the fact that fellow saints who are shining in glory are waiting for you with open arms. So is Jesus. That’s his promise all wrapped up right here in your invitation to the best wedding reception ever. Amen.
Preached at Grace Lutheran Church, Milwaukee, WI (www.gracedowntown.org) on November 13, 2011
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