Posted on 08/19/2016 8:02:44 AM PDT by Salvation
The Gospel from Thursday’s Mass (Thursday of the 20th Week of the Year) contains one of the most shocking parables Jesus ever told. It is the Parable of the Wedding Feast from the Gospel of Matthew, and it tells the story of a king who gives a wedding banquet for his son. Most know it well, but in case you want to review it, the full text is available here: Parable of the Wedding Feast.
It does not take a degree in biblical theology to understand that this parable is an allegory. The “king” is God the Father, the “son” is Jesus, and the wedding feast is the great wedding feast of the Lamb described in the Book of Revelation:
Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting: “Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear.” (Fine linen stands for the righteousness of God’s holy people.) Then the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!” And he added, “These are the true words of God” (Revelation 19:6-9).
The invited guests are the Jewish people of that time who, when the feast is ready, ignore or reject it for various reasons. Some guests express concerns for land (I just bought a farm) or profit (I own a business). And a group of them (for unknown reasons) lay hold of the king’s servants (who represent the prophets and, later, the Apostles), beating and even killing them.
This rejection represents not just the rejection by the Jews of history, but also the long human history of ignoring or rejecting God in favor of worldliness (land), profit (business), and hostility to the truth (the beating and killing of the king’s servants (the prophets and Apostles)).
And yet the focus is on the rejection by the Jews of the time, for the parable calls them the “invited guests.”
The reaction to their rejection, related by Jesus Himself, is that the king (God the Father) was enraged and sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city (Matt 22:6).
This detail is especially shocking to many modern readers, because we have bought into a watered down notion of the holiness of God and the significance of human choice for or against Him. The common modern vision of the Father is that of a doting older man (like George Burns or Morgan Freeman) who exists more to get us out of trouble and offer friendly advice than to summon us to holiness, obedience, and a critical choice.
But take note: this detail of the king burning their city is told by Jesus Himself. And as we shall see in this coming Sunday’s Gospel about the wide and narrow roads, He is not playing around! However we want to “rework” God and render Him harmless, however we want to try to oppose God’s love and justice, however we want to render human choice insignificant, the biblical text will have none of it. The bottom line is that no one loves you more than does Jesus Christ, yet no one warned of judgment and Hell more than He did.
Don’t be surprised if this parable shocks you; it is meant to do so. It is a call to sobriety in the face of the four most critical truths of our life: death, judgment, Heaven, and Hell. This parable teaches that we will either enter the wedding feast and celebrate with the Father or we will be caught up in the conflagration when the Lord comes to judge this world by fire (e.g., 2 Pet 3:7; Malachi 4:1; 2 Thess 1:7).
Add to this shock the fact that the parable was actually fulfilled in 70 A.D. (as a kind of precursor to the final end of the age) when, after forty years of pleading with the Jewish people to come to Christ, a fiery destruction came upon Jerusalem. After rejecting the Lord’s warnings (cf Matthew 24, 25; Mark 13; Luke 21), rejecting the call of the early Apostles and Church, and picking a pointless war with the Romans, the Jewish nation was utterly defeated. Jerusalem was sacked and burned and more than a million Jews were killed.
The choice is ours, but the judgment is certain to come: “God gave Noah the rainbow sign, no more water but the fire next time!” (Negro spiritual)
The only safe place to be is at the wedding feast of the Jesus the Lamb, who saves us from the wrath to come (1 Thess 1:10).
Jesus, with weeping, had warned,
Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing. Look, your house is left to you desolate (Matt 23:37).
The next shocking part of the parable comes in the second half. The enraged king (God the Father) orders his servants to go into the streets and gather everyone they can. This detail represents going out to the Gentiles and the Great Commission.
Thanks be to God that the response is good and the banquet is filled. But then comes yet another shock:
When the king came in to meet the guests he saw a man there not dressed in a wedding garment. He said to him, ‘My friend, how is it that you came in here without a wedding garment?’ But he was reduced to silence. Then the king said to his attendants, ‘Bind his hands and feet, and cast him into the darkness outside, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.’ Many are invited, but few are chosen.
This makes us moderns wince. Perhaps part of our trouble with these verses is that we may think that the newly invited guests were dragged in right off the street with no chance to change clothes. But there is nothing in the text to suggest that they were not given time to don their wedding clothes. The other guests all seem to be clothed properly and the focus shifts to one man who is not properly dressed.
Whatever the debated cultural parameters of the story, the theological parameters are more clear. The wedding garment is provided by the king (God the Father), who clothes us in righteousness at our baptism.
For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear. (Fine linen stands for the righteousness of God’s holy people.) (Rev 19:8)
Yes, this is the baptismal gown, the robe of righteousness, which God gives to the baptized, who have been washed in the blood of the Lamb! In the Baptismal Rite, the celebrant points to the white garment of the newly baptized and says,
You have clothed yourself in Christ. Receive this baptismal garment and bring it unstained to the judgment seat of our Lord Jesus Christ, so that you may have everlasting life (# 578).
In the parable, the man is without a wedding garment not because he is poor or was pulled in off the street, but because he cast aside the garment he was given. Remember that the garment is no mere piece of cloth; it represents righteousness. And this righteousness is received and must be cherished. Without it, we cannot endure or remain at the Wedding Feast of the Lamb, which is Heaven.
Thus ends one of the most shocking parables Jesus ever told. (We will examine the “many are called but few are chosen” aspect of the text this coming Sunday.) And though the parameters of this parable do shock, Jesus speaks them with an urgent love to bring forth godly repentance from us and to stir an evangelical urgency in us to reach others before “Great and Terrible Day of the Lord” comes (cf Joel 2:31; Mal 4:5 inter al). On that day there will be only two places: safe at the wedding feast with the Lord or outside in the fiery judgment that is coming on this world.
An old spiritual says,
“God’s gonna set this world on Fire one of these days.”
Another old spiritual goes like this:
“I got a robe, you got a robe, all God’s children got a robe. When I get to heaven gonna put on my robe and go wear it all over God’s heaven! Everybody talkin’ bout heaven ain’t a goin’ there!”
Make sure you’ve got your robe and keep it washed in the blood of the Lamb.
Paul included himself in the Rapture, BUT he did so with ‘whether we wake or sleep’. Have you heard of ‘it could happen at any time and the time is not even known to The Son(!)? If even Jesus —Whom Paul conferred with on The Gospel of Grace, the JESUS in HIS glorified body— did not know the hour, then Paul was wise to make no specific statement on it, rather to cover the two possible states, alive or dead, don’tchathink?
“but I have not seen one example of the Catholic Church not following the teaching of Jesus and the Apostles.”
This is one example and there are many many more.
“Infallibility of the pope”
Romans 3:10-12 Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition (DRA)
10 As it is written: There is not any man just.
11 There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.
12 All have turned out of the way; they are become unprofitable together: there is none that doth good, there is not so much as one
Don`tchathink
you have a good week end and we will talk to you next time.
Don`tchathink
you have a good week end and we will talk to you next time.
I hope this helps you understand. As you can see it does follow the teaching of Jesus and the Apostles.
It is clearly stated in Matthew 28
Then Jesus approached and said to them, “All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19h Go, therefore,* and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit, 20i teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.* And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.”
The Catholic Church’s teaching on papal infallibility is one which is generally misunderstood by those outside the Church.
Vatican II explained the doctrine of infallibility as follows: “Although the individual bishops do not enjoy the prerogative of infallibility, they can nevertheless proclaim Christ’s doctrine infallibly. This is so, even when they are dispersed around the world, provided that while maintaining the bond of unity among themselves and with Peter’s successor, and while teaching authentically on a matter of faith or morals, they concur in a single viewpoint as the one which must be held conclusively. This authority is even more clearly verified when, gathered together in an ecumenical council, they are teachers and judges of faith and morals for the universal Church. Their definitions must then be adhered to with the submission of faith” (Lumen Gentium 25).
Infallibility belongs in a special way to the pope as head of the bishops (Matt. 16:17–19; John 21:15–17). As Vatican II remarked, it is a charism the pope “enjoys in virtue of his office, when, as the supreme shepherd and teacher of all the faithful, who confirms his brethren in their faith (Luke 22:32), he proclaims by a definitive act some doctrine of faith or morals. Therefore his definitions, of themselves, and not from the consent of the Church, are justly held irreformable, for they are pronounced with the assistance of the Holy Spirit, an assistance promised to him in blessed Peter.”
The infallibility of the pope is not a doctrine that suddenly appeared in Church teaching; rather, it is a doctrine which was implicit in the early Church. It is only our understanding of infallibility which has developed and been more clearly understood over time. In fact, the doctrine of infallibility is implicit in these Petrine texts: John 21:15–17 (”Feed my sheep . . . “), Luke 22:32 (”I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail”), and Matthew 16:18 (”You are Peter . . . “).
Christ instructed the Church to preach everything he taught (Matt. 28:19–20) and promised the protection of the Holy Spirit to “guide you into all the truth” (John 16:13). That mandate and that promise guarantee the Church will never fall away from his teachings (Matt. 16:18, 1 Tim. 3:15), even if individual Catholics might.
http://www.catholic.com/tracts/papal-infallibility
“Call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven” (Matt. 23:9).
So call no man God.
That is pretty clear except to the protestors.
The rest of the story...
Jesus was talking about the scribes and pharisees
As for you, do not be called ‘Rabbi.’ You have but one teacher, and you are all brothers. 9Call no one on earth your father; you have but one Father in heaven. 10Do not be called ‘Master’; you have but one master, the Messiah. 11e The greatest among you must be your servant. 12f Whoever exalts himself will be humbled; but whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
So it wasn’t a literal ban of those words, but telling us to be humble and understand that there is one God in Heaven.
The Lord HIMSELF be with you, FRiend. Your sense of humor serves you well.
Spoken TO the disciples.
Always the claim to follow ALL the teachings of Jesus and always an excuse for why Catholics don’t.
To some deee, this is true. But what I believe He is ruling on is not to give some man a religious title, “Father” whether it be Sanhedrin or other sanctimonious people who hole themselves forth as a spiritual father, rather than being recognized as such for their humility in Christ and practical wisdom.
Very simple... those who are living and alive are “
changed, in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye”...another words when they are taken up, they are given their new bodies immediately. They exchange corruptible flesh for an incorruptible one...it just happens ,,,on the way up! It’s so simple most 5 year olds could figure it out, but that was the point Christ made when he said, suffer the children to come unto me, for of such is the Kingdom of heaven!
Then why don’t you dispute the title Rabbi or teacher.
We assign titles based on the roles in society.
Jesus was concerned that some were not giving the proper respect to God the Father
Jesus sent the Apostles out to preach and teach and baptize to all about the good news to all nations.
A biological or adopted father is also a spiritual teacher to his children.
Yes there are some individuals that may take their office or position too seriously.
Priests and Bishops take vows or promises of obedience, chastity and sometimes poverty. Christ gave His Apostles and their successors the sacred tasks to change the Bread and Wine into the Body and Blood of Christ, and the forgiveness of sins.
When we call a priest “Father” we recognize that he is representing Jesus to go forth preach and baptize all nations.
Matthew 7:22&23
It sure sounds pretty but if you forget about that one little bitty verse in thesolonians and read the entire chapter in
1 cor 15 you get a complete different picture.
Yes Jesus said we must have the faith of a little child, meaning believe what he says with out any doubt.
Jesus said he was going to raise the believers up at the last day, yet the people who believe in the rapture theory has the rapture before the tribulation or at the middle of it or any time except when Jesus said he would raise us up which is the last day.
Paul explains that our bodies must be sown ( meaning buried ) before they can be changed.
The question i have asked more than once is just which generation is going to be in the rapture? Paul was obviously not in it and from what i have heard every one for the last 200 years has expected to be in it.
But almost every one i know has been buried in the grave, yes i am getting that old.
Have a good week.
Helps me to understand that all of MAN is fallen and commits sin and that NO man is infallible no matter who he is? Oh that “your first pope” was fallible and that others that follow him are magically infallible. You remind of of Satan quoting Scripture you almost got it right only twisted a word or two.
Genesis 3:4 Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition (DRA)
4 And the serpent said to the woman: No, you shall not die the death.
“The Catholic Church’s teaching on papal infallibility is one which is generally misunderstood by those outside the Church.”
I love how you have to put the RCC’s teaching and not God’s teaching... why you say because you can’t find it anywhere in Scripture. It’s completley understood it’s not of God therefore it’s of Satan no more no less.
“The infallibility of the pope is not a doctrine that suddenly appeared in Church teaching;”
July 18, 1870, the First Vatican Council declared the infallibility, so you are saying that it took over 1800 years to make it official yeah sure it did.
NOT iaw with RCC teaching, but iaw the teaching of God himself all the Apostles were all elders as Scripture says.
1 Peter 5:1-4 Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition (DRA)
5 The ancients therefore that are among you, I beseech, who am myself also an ancient, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ: as also a partaker of that glory which is to be revealed in time to come:
2 Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking care of it, not by constraint, but willingly, according to God: not for filthy lucre’s sake, but voluntarily:
3 Neither as lording it over the clergy, but being made a pattern of the flock from the heart.
4 And when the prince of pastors shall appear, you shall receive a never fading crown of glory.
Revelation 21:14 Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition (DRA)
14 And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them, the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
“Church will never fall away from his teachings”
Which teachings the ones in the Bible or the one that your cult has made up as you go.
1 . Prayers for the dead . …………-—————————……300 A.D.
2. Making the sign of the cross ………………………… …300 A.D.
3. Veneration of angels & dead saints …………-————…….375 A.D.
4. Use of images in worship………………………………… . 375 A.D.
5. The Mass as a daily celebration……………………………… 394 A.D.
6 Beginning of the exaltation of Mary; the term, “Mother of God” applied a Council of Ephesus……………. .-———————————————————— 431 A.D.
7 Extreme Unction (Last Rites)……………………………… ..526 A.D.
8. Doctrine of Purgatory-Gregory 1…………………………… .593 A.D..
9. Prayers to Mary & dead saints ……………………………… .600 A.D.
10. Worship of cross, images & relics ……………………… … 786 A.D.
11 Canonization of dead saints ………………………………… ..995 A.D.
12. Celibacy of priesthood …………………………………… …1079 A.D.
13. The Rosary ……………………………………………… … 1090 A.D.
14. Indulgences ……………………………………………… …..1190 A.D.
15. Transubstantiation-Innocent III …………………………… 1215 A.D.
16. Auricular Confession of sins to a priest …………………… 1215 A.D.
17. Adoration of the wafer (Host)……………………………Approx 400 A.D.
18. Cup forbidden to the people at communion …………………..1414 A.D.
19. Purgatory proclaimed as a dogma……………………………..1439 A.D.
20. The doctrine of the Seven Sacraments confirmed …………….1439 A.D.
21 Tradition declared of equal authority with Bible by Council of Trent…………………………………………————————… 1545 A.D.
22. Apocryphal books added to Bible ………——————……….1546 A.D.
23. Immaculate Conception of Mary……………………………….1854 A.D.
24, Infallibility of the pope in matters of faith and morals, proclaimed by the Vatican Council ……………… 1870 A.D.
25. Assumption of the Virgin Mary (bodily ascension into heaven shortly after her death) ……………………………-—————————————————……1950 A.D.
26. Mary proclaimed Mother of the Church……………………… 1965 A.D.
Your cult is just like all the other cults on this planet you have added to the Holy Scripture and made it equal or more than the Word of God and that is why you and your kids will be thrown on the bed of suffering.
Revelation 2:22-23 Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition (DRA)
22 Behold, I will cast her into a bed: and they that commit adultery with her shall be in very great tribulation, except they do penance from their deeds.
Repent of your evil and save yourself the clock is running out and once the door of the Ark is closed you will suffer like it or not.
Watch what happens in/to Jerusalem. There is the key to end times. Believers are taught to be ready at any moment and that has been GOD’s instruction for the souls of believers since Paul wrote his letters.
I wasn’t positing a theory as to the timing of the rapture, just asserting that the thing will happen at some point!
I believe Paul was simply saying that when Christ makes his final move to end evil on the Earth, there will still be living Christians standing for the faith on the Earth! He will raise the dead in himself first then the rest he will simply just change!(I have heard that some think that the living Christians will just shuck off their corruptible flesh, leaving it all behind but since Jesus rose from the grave, he took his flesh with him and did not leave any bones. The Father would later “glorify” Jesus’ body) That is the simplest explanation of the rapture.
Everyone else is arguing about when or if ever or if never concerning the timing of the event and throwing about a lot of dust! I am asserting that the thing itself will happen at the time of God’s choosing; indeed the thing itself will happen!
Your comment; “Repent of your evil and save yourself the clock is running out and once the door of the Ark is closed you will suffer like it or not.”
That is good advice for you. Keep studying the Catholic teachings and you may begin to understand if your mind is open to God.
God Bless.
Keep practicing your pagan rituals believing that in them you have eternal life. You will get to see how the world changes once the True Church JESUS is building is taken out of the way and the father of catholiciism is no longer restrained from all his evil intentions.
Hopefully one day you and others will return to all the teachings of Jesus and the Catholic Church.
God Bless.
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