Sunday, November 11, 2026
Twentieth Sunday of Pentecost
Text: Isaiah 25:6-9
On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined. – v. 6
Lead In – While any attempt to picture our future hope will inevitably fall short, it is still beneficial to try to imagine it. Scripture gives us vivid images of the resurrection—the final day when our bodies are raised to eternal life in a new heaven and a new earth. The Bible paints this reality using rich imagery: the river of life, the Peaceable Kingdom, and a world so radiant it has no need for the sun or moon. This morning, our readings from Isaiah and Matthew also offer a compelling description: a magnificent feast and a grand wedding banquet. For those of us who love feasting and celebrating, there is anticipation and comfort here.
- Criticisms of Pie in the Sky and Opiate of the People
There would be some who would take issue with the encouragement to contemplate heavenly realities. Never mind the admonition in Colossians 3:2, “Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.” Perhaps you have heard the saying “Some people are so heavenly minded that they are of no earthly good.” Like that is a real danger! I will gladly side with C.S. Lewis in what he wrote in Mere Christianity. It is worth quoting. Lewis writes,
A continual looking forward to the eternal world is not (as some modern people think) a form of escapism or wishful thinking, but one of the things a Christian is meant to do.
It does not mean that we are to leave the present world as it is.
If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next.
The Apostles themselves, who set on foot the conversion of the Roman Empire, the great men who built up the Middle Ages, the English Evangelicals who abolished the Slave Trade, all left their mark on Earth, precisely because their minds were occupied with Heaven.
It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this.
Aim at heaven and you will get earth ‘thrown in’: aim at earth and you will get neither.
It was Karl Marx who accused Christians of escapism, that religion functioned as the opiate of the people. Consider the death toll from the revolutions spawned by Marxist ideology. We are talking about tens of millions. The proverb holds true of the Leninist, Stalinist revolutions: You can’t make an omelet without breaking eggs. Evidently, a lot of eggs!
The idea that heavenly minded Christians are of no earthly good is a red herring if ever there was one. In point of fact the Christian hope helps us endure the present difficulties, hardships, and pain. When you finally see light at the end of the tunnel the gloom and doom begins to lift.
- Code Words or Symbols Employed by Isaiah
In our Isaiah reading, the prophet speaks of the ‘mountain of the Lord’ and of a lavish feast hosted and spread by the Lord of Hosts. It is a grand picture. This is none other than Mount Zion, code word for Jerusalem and especially of the Temple in Jerusalem built atop Mount Zion. This is what the Psalmist speaks of in Psalm 48:1-2: “Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised in the city of our God! His holy mountain, beautiful in elevation, is the joy of all the earth, Mount Zion, in the far north, the city of the great King.”
According to the Book of Revelation, the last Book of the Bible, the earthly Jerusalem is a prefigurement, a foreshadowing of the heavenly Jerusalem. The Apostle John in Revelation 21:2 shares this heavenly vision: “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.”
Next we learn that on the mountain of God the Lord of hosts will make a feast for all peoples. For all peoples! The nation of Israel in the Old Testament often forgot that she was chosen to be a blessing to all the nations of the earth. The descendants of Abraham were chosen to be a light to the nations. It was always our Lord’s intention to rescue the whole race of Adam and Eve from death and the devil that our sins embondage us to.
Although the feasting and celebrating is yet in the future, the hope it provides lends encouragement as we endure hardships in this present age marred and corrupted by our sins. The lesser feasting we are sometimes permitted in this age, even at its best, is a faint artifact compared to what God will provide. God’s feast will be better than anything we have ever experience on earth. Our feeble attempts to continuously feast in this age has diminishing returns. The vocations we have been given in our baptism do not include continual partying and pleasure seeking. Instead, they include involvement in God’s redemptive work as we love God, love and serve our neighbor, and bear witness to the Savior of the world. And God is kind and does allow us frequent foretastes of the feast to come, especially at His Table in the Divine Service.
The most outstanding thing about the feast to come when Christ returns is what is on the menu. For the believer it is described as rich food, as well-aged wine, and succulent meat full of marrow. I like my ribeye steak medium rare, thank you! But also, of interest is what the Lord swallows up at this meal. As His people enjoy the finest of food and drink, He swallows up what is rancid and foul. The Lord of hosts will swallow up the covering that is cast over all peoples, and the veil that is spread over all nations. Death itself will be swallowed up. He swallows up what has plagued us from early on in the Garden when Adam and Eve took the bite of the forbidden fruit. Death has been since that time at the top of the food chain. It consumed us all in each generation. But not anymore!
Death is not at the top of the food chain! The One who is the Resurrection and the Life is. When the crucified One rises from the tomb on the third day, sin, death, and the devil are defeated. And the kingdom of heaven is opened to all believers. Truly, in the word of the Apostle Paul, death is swallowed up in victory. And for you and me it means that death has lost its sting. Joined to Christ in baptism, we are joined to His conquering death so that we can look forward to sharing in a resurrection like His. Now we look forward to the day when He will wipe away our tears for the final time. Then will commence feasting and celebrating without end.
- The Invitation Is Undeserved, But Is to Be Received
Just two Sundays ago we had a reading from Isaiah 55. It cast God’s promise for those who had been punished in Babylonian Exile that salvation awaited repentant sinners. This salvation was also spoken of in terms of a feast. Verses 1 and 2 read, “Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food.”
In our Gospel Reading heaven’s banquet is described as a Wedding Feast for the king’s son. Picture having received an invitation to the Inaugural Ball for the President. Do you suppose that would be a gala affair? Provided that it was someone you voted for, who wouldn’t want to attend such an event, especially if it were free of charge and the proper attire was provided for you! Well, whether you would want to attend the Inaugural Ball, I should think anyone in their right mind would want to attend the Wedding Feast of God’s Son, our Lord Jesus Christ! So, why would anyone refuse the invitation?
In the parable Jesus tells, some simply paid no attention to the invitation. The king indicated with his invitation that the dinner had been prepared, his oxen and fat calves had been slaughtered, and everything had been made ready. We can imagine no expense had been spared. No doubt, in addition to fine food and drink arrangements were made for music and dancing. And yet we read in Matthew 21:4-5, “But 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.”
I am reminded of Jesus’ Parable of the Sower in Matthew 13. Among the unfruitful seeds were those planted in soil among the thorns. We read in verse 22, “As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.” Note the “cares of the world” and the “deceitfulness of riches”. And one went off to his farm, another to his business. When we aren’t working hard then we are playing hard, as we go off to one entertainment after another. There is an invitation every Lord’s Day at the Altar, the Table of the Lord. “Take, eat; this is My body, which is given for you.” … “Drink of it, all of you; this cup is the new testament in My blood, which is shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.” And we say of this meal that it is a foretaste of the feast to come! And yet, for many who should know better there seems to be more important matters to attend to.
In Jesus’ parable there is also a tragic reason why someone was booted from the king’s wedding feast. In Jesus’ telling the attendants were to bind the scoundrel hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Our Lord is dramatic in his story telling. I guess someone thought he could accept the king’s invitation on his own terms and not put on the wedding clothes provided for all the guests. Isaiah 61:10 identifies the proper attire for heaven’s banquet: “for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness.” As bad as ignoring the invitation altogether, is thinking we can come to our Lord on our own terms and on our own steam. No, we are to lay down our arms and come with repentant faith.
And Now for a Final Word – Baptized believers who live by the great hope we have in Christ are able to live far more fruitfully in this present age than those without a sure hope. Imagine the despair of those whose hopes are anchored in the uncertain and fleeting—whether placed in political leaders, global peace, or the pursuit of an earthly utopia. When leaders with feet of clay inevitably fail, when injustice persists, and when sickness and death claim every generation, where do they turn? As Christians, however, we are promised a heavenly feast and the ultimate end of death—an assurance secured by the only one to ever rise from the grave. Hope for this future gives strength and vitality to live in the present moment, even in the face of adversity. So go ahead and talk about it, imagine it, and cherish it. Christ is the great hope for the world! Amen.
The peace of God which passes all understanding guard and keep you in the true faith unto life everlasting. Amen.