Proverbs 9:1-10
Psalms 34:12-22
Ephesians 2:13-22
Luke 14:15-24
Grace,
mercy, and peace be to you, from God our Father, and our Lord and Savior, Jesus
Christ. Amen.
In the name of the
Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.
When you invite someone to come to dinner, who comes? Is it Joe Shmoe, some random guy who walks in
off the street whom you have never met before?
Of course not! You don't get to
go to the dinner unless you're invited by the host. And today, your dinner that you have invited
friends to isn't just any dinner, it's going to be a big fancy affair, a seven
course meal. So what do you need from
your friends and colleagues?
Confirmation that they're coming.
So you go about setting up dinner and the meal is fit for a king! The day of the dinner you get a cancelation,
I can't come because my dog is sick. An
hour later you get a text, sorry my car broke down, and so on and so forth
until everyone you've invited can't come, everyone with no good reason at all.
So
what would you do? Obviously you're
upset because you've planned this whole thing out and it's all in the
works. So you begin to call more
friends. It's last minute but you don't
care you just want to be able celebrate with others and let them enjoy this
great meal. So you invite a whole new
group, they show up, but it's not enough.
So you go to the soup kitchen and invite everyone there to come to your
house to eat. It's unheard of! But yet you do it, don't let this great
banquet go to waste.
But
there's still room! So you simply go to
the street corner and say we're having a free gourmet meal, come and get
it. It will be the best food you've ever
eaten. The food is so rich it is to die
for! And finally, the meal is ready to
begin and in you go and indeed it is the best, and what happens to those who
were originally invited? They don't get
to eat it, there are no leftovers, there is absolutely nothing for them to have
in fact they've been removed from your address book, from your list of
contacts, from your facebook page. It
sounds harsh, but they had their chance.
All of those who were invited ate everything that was available and the
reality is: their excuses were inexcusable.
I.
Why
does Jesus tell us his parable today?
Because many of the Jews were taking for granted being children of
Abraham. The host at the banquet that
Jesus went to said, "Blessed is
everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!" Indeed this is true. Blessed are they. Indeed it will be a great and everlasting
feast in heaven!
But
Jesus is saying the Kingdom of God will not go to the Jews just because they
think they deserve to be invited in, or just because they're descendents of
Abraham. Do you? Do you think that you deserve to be invited
in? Do you think that just because your
family founded this church you will go to heaven? Do you think that just because you have been a
member of this Lutheran Church all your life that you will go to heaven? Do you think that just because you have been baptized,
confirmed, married, and will one day be buried that you will go to heaven? Because if that's the case, you better start
to be worried. Do you think you deserve
this church or the rich foods offered here?
I
certainly don't deserve to be here. I
confess each Sunday in our Divine Service, "I, a poor miserable sinner." I am rotten to the core. I am a pathetic human being, unworthy of
God's mercy. I certainly don't deserve
to be called a child of God! I cannot
get myself into heaven any more than I can fly with my two arms.
That's
what Jesus is telling the man at the table, stop flapping your arms to get into
heaven. Because remember who he's
talking to: Pharisees. These guys loved
to talk about how good they were. They
would have considered themselves as the ones who would be invited to eat bread
with God.
But
Jesus warning is also two fold. He's
saying don't pat yourself on the back AND because you are invited, don't
dismiss the invitation. Don't dismiss
receiving God's good gifts. No excuse
will do and he hits on two of the big issues of today! Work and family! Rejecting God's gifts because you have to
work is not an excuse. You cannot claim
that God gave you a job so it's ok to ignore Him and what He offers. Nor is family an excuse. Lord, I choose to take my son to play soccer
or baseball instead of take him to receive God's gifts. Or the excuse that my
spouse won't let me receive your gifts is not valid either. No, Christ's warnings are crystal clear, If
you ignore the invitation you will never taste the banquet feast.
II.
So
what is this feast? It is the good news
of salvation, it is the gift of eternal life. It is Jesus Christ and himself crucified. In this I love to read the book of Revelation,
because we get this picture of being gathered around the throne of the lamb
partaking in the greatest feast. It
recalls the woman at that well in John 4 who Jesus invites to drink from him so
that she never thirsts. It recalls the
invitation in John 6, when Jesus says, “Truly,
truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his
blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood
has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is
true drink. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I
in him."
My friends, this is the good news.
You need to hear these words. For
these words invite you, compel you, to receive this precious gift.
For what is this invitation to eat
and drink that Jesus gives so vividly?
You are invited here, where you take in that foretaste of the
feast to come as you eat of Christ's body and blood that was sacrificed once
and for all on the cross at Golgotha for you.
For this feast is one of which you eat and drink of forgiveness. An excellent, strong, liturgical hymn is,
"This is the Feast" found in Divine Service, setting one and
two. In the refrain we sing, "This
is the feast of victory for our God."
That is what this feast is that you eat and drink today. This is the feast of the parable. It is the feast of victory as we celebrate
with the Lamb who was slain for you and me." That's why those who made excuses can't
partake later. The victory is done.
Our
Lord and Savior so desperately wants to save you that he comes offering his own
flesh and blood for you to eat and drink for your salvation. You can't force Christ to give it to
you. You can't just sneak in and take
it, because he already invites you to himself as he desires to teach you of
this gift so that you can eat and drink of it.
Beloved
in Christ, this is a cause for great rejoicing in the midst of this text. Our heavenly Father wants a full house for
this banquet feast, and he will invite anyone to come, yes, you, and even me
too. He's not inviting those who the
world thinks are worthy, nor is he inviting those who think of themselves as
worthy, but who does our text say he invites?
He said to his servant, "Go
out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor and
crippled and blind, and lame."
What an invitation! Those people
who are not normally part of the "in" crowd are the "in"
crowd now, they are the ones at the amazing feast!
You
and I are invited not because you are worthy, but precisely because you are
unworthy. You who are part of the
community and yet not given a second though, you who would not normally get to
enjoy the elaborate feast are the ones who get the final invitation. To add on top of this the place is still not
full, just as today, we are not full.
And so the Lord sends his servants, his pastors and even you, out into
the world to proclaim the good news to others!
The
master said, "Go out to the highways
and hedges and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled." This compelling is one of friendly
pressure. An example: A family member
likes to text while driving. Study after
study shows how this is dangerous, so you are compelled to tell this person to
stop doing it. Why? It's because you love them and want what's
best for them. As parents you remind your grownup children that to refuse to
come to church is unrepentant sin as you had taught them while they were kids
and you teach them of the benefits of coming to church that here is where they
receive Christ's means of grace, His Word and Sacrament.
Here though we are talking strictly
about the gospel invitation. The banquet
feast of Jesus is for the world. It is
why Paul says in 1 Corinthians 9,
"For if I preach the gospel, that gives me no ground for boasting. For
necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!" As pastors we are compelled to preach the
good news of Jesus Christ. As Paul says,
woe to me if I do not do it.
So since we are compelled to tell
someone the good news, how do we do it?
We don't do it like false religions like the Muslims who give the choice
of convert or the sword. We don't kick them out of the family or ostracize them
for not believing like Mormons. In fact
we do the exact opposite, we love them, telling them of what Christ has done
for them, and why Christ had to do it, and how one receives this marvelous gift
of forgiveness.
In this aspect you can tell them
about yourself, how you were a lost and condemned person, purchased and won by
Christ alone, by his shed blood. You don't tell them about how you deserve it
but rather how you, an undeserving wretch, sinful to the core, received God's
gift of mercy first in your baptism, and now as you hear God's Holy Word and
receive his blessed feast. While you may
not have the same compelling command to proclaim the good news as Paul or
Pastor Steeh, by your own baptism you have this compelling urge to tell others
because you have no desire to see an empty seat at our Lord's banquet
table. And so after coming to the
foretaste of this banquet feast you go out to invite others.
YOU
WHO WERE FAR OFF ARE COMPELLED TO COME INTO THE FEAST AND TELL OTHERS THE GOOD
NEWS.
Yes,
we are still being compelled today. We
must continue to be compelled because the devil wants you to think that you
cannot be here. But as the Lord tells us
in our parable today. He wants you here.
You who were unworthy of the gift of Jesus have been made worthy by Jesus'
blood, shed for you, for the forgiveness of all your sins.
The peace of God that surpasses all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.
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