You Can’t Tell A Book By Its Cover

You can’t tell a book by its cover. A very true statement. However, I never thought it actually could mean a real book. I always thought the saying referred to people. You can’t tell what people are really like by looking at their outward appearance. It still means that to me. Now it means even more.

In last week’s sermon I talked about the man at the wedding feast who did not have on the correct clothes and got thrown out of the feast. Here is part of my sermon although I’m not sure everyone will agree with my interpretation as I’m no great Biblical scholar. It’s all open to interpretation. But, here goes mine.

“What About the Wedding Clothes? Jesus gives us the next part I would probably rather skip.  The Gospel is the good news of Jesus Christ.  This doesn’t sound like good news to me; however, it is important news.  Something we cannot overlook or gloss over.  The king comes into the banquet and sees a man who isn't wearing a wedding garment.  He asks: “Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?”  And the man is speechless.  You see many historians and commentators note that ancient Near Eastern monarchs or wealthy hosts frequently provided appropriate, ceremonial garments or robes for guests upon entering a royal banquet. Under this custom, if garments were freely provided at the door, the guest had no excuse for being underdressed, which explains why the man was speechless when confronted by the king and faced harsh judgment.  Putting on the wedding garment is likened to people “putting on the Lord Jesus Christ” which Paul talks about in Ephesians 4: 24  “Put on the Lord Jesus Christ.”  In Colossians 3: 9 Paul also says: “put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.”  And again in Galatians 3:27 he says: "For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ."  It’s a good metaphor we can understand.  A garment is the most visible thing about you, it’s what people see first. Paul uses this to show that your inner transformation must become an outer lifestyle. Just as you would never wake up and walk out the door naked, Paul argues you shouldn't step into the day without consciously "getting dressed" in Christ’s virtues (compassion, kindness, humility, patience) while actively throwing off the "nightclothes" of your old sinful nature.

What is Jesus telling us?  The invitation is free.  But grace is never meant to leave us unchanged.  We come to Jesus as we are.  But we don't stay as we are.  His grace begins to change us.  We begin to clothe ourselves differently once we know Jesus.

·         We begin to clothe ourselves with forgiveness, love, and service to others.

·          We begin to let go of bitterness, to turn away from sin.

·         We begin to look a little more like Jesus. Not perfectly. But genuinely.

And this is important:  We don't change so that God will love us.  We change because God already loves us.

The Christian life isn't simply saying, “I'm a Christian.”  It's allowing Christ to change the way we live letting Jesus’ character become visible in our life.  Let people see something of Jesus in the way we treat them.  The man without the wedding garment is thrown outside.  Jesus talks about “weeping and gnashing of teeth.”  There is judgment.  By not changing the man faces real consequences when he rejects the King.  We shouldn't soften Jesus' words no matter how much we don’t want to hear them or acknowledge them.. 

 But the overarching theme of this parable is that the king keeps inviting.”

In this case the outward appearance is indeed important as it develops from the inside out. This week I’m going to talk about image - somewhat related - as I lead worship again in Muncie, IN, at Lutheran Church of the Cross and lead a labyrinth walk after.

What does this parable have to do with my birthday gift and this phrase - “you can’t tell a book by its cover?” Well, after I came home and opened a birthday gift that had arrived while I was away, there was a book inside called “Turner House” about an east side home in Detroit. I love books. I love books about Detroit. I love books by Grisham, Krueger and Penny. My son knows me and sent me this book about Detroit. When I sat down to read it, something was different. The front and back cover talked about “The Turner House”. The inside contained a book called “The Letter Keeper” by Charles Martin. Surprisingly, Amazon doesn’t want the book back but did return my son’s money. It’s interesting, too, that they don’t have the same publishers.

In this case that familiar phrase - “You can’t tell a book by its cover” - is very, very true! And a good reminder that the same is true about people.