Trinity
2 – June 9th and 10th, 2018 – Luke 14:15-24
In the
Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit +
They
lied. They lied. When they said why they “couldn't” come, they
were lying. Oh, some of them used the proper, polite language –
animals, fields, please have me excused. Others hid behind loopholes
– in the 1st Century a Jewish newlywed was excused from
all social obligations. But none of these were reasons they couldn't
come – they just didn't want to come. Oxen and fields could wait,
and even a newly wed wife knows that there are just some parties her
husband ought to be at. The simple truth is that they just did not
want to come.
When
Jesus tells this parable, He is at a dinner that He had been invited
to. It was a Sabbath Dinner at the house of a “ruler of the
Pharisees”. And it had been a lousy dinner for Jesus – it's the
one where there was the fellow who had dropsy, and they were all eye
balling Jesus to see if He'd heal the poor schlub. And once Jesus
actually heals the guy and tells them why it's fine that He healed
the guy, the Pharisees try to ignore Jesus and carry on as though he
weren't there. If there would have been a dinner to skip out on,
that would have been the one to skip! But no, Jesus is there, and He
teaches these obstinate, proud Pharisees. And He gives this parable.
And note – in the story, the feast would have been fantastic – a
“great” banquet. We aren't talking cold cuts and deli trays (not
that there's anything wrong with that). We aren't even talking a
pork chop pot luck, as lovely as that is. We are talking cruise line
catering, prime rib, Michelin Stars the top of the top sort of dinner
party. One that no person in their right mind would skip.
And
the three people who were invited, they just didn't want to go to the
party. In reality, they just didn't like the host that much, didn't
trust him. Figured his idea of a feast wouldn't be up to their
standards – and they played the utter fool. So they miss it. And
here's where the parable turns. Their foolishness doesn't stop the
master of the feast – he orders his servants, “Go out
quickly to the streets and the lanes of the city, and bring in the
poor and crippled and blind and lame.”
Alright, if the “good” people don't want to come – just bring
in the people they'd spit upon. Dinner's ready, and by George we are
going eat and celebrate. But then the servant says, “Sir,
what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.” And
the master said, “Go out to the highways and hedges and compel
people to come in, that my house may be filled.”
Now,
think like a Pharisee for a moment. The main reason why you didn't
like Jesus was He kept preaching and teaching and dining with the
poor and sinful and scummy, the ones not worthy of your high society.
Do you see what Jesus is saying to the Pharisees? If you don't want
to be with Me, be with the Messiah, if you don't want a Savior –
I'm not going to sit on a block of ice crying because you are stupid
– I'll gladly save the poor and lame and the nastiest of the nasty
– the highwaymen and bandits and even robbers crucified on a cross
next to me. But as for you, if you want to keep on with your
stubborness, well - “for I tell you, none of
those men who were invited shall taste my banquet.” Pout
all you want, Pharisees, about how your prestige and “goodness”
aren't appreciated, how you're losing your privilege and respect.
God's plan of salvation still carries on... and if you are determined
to have it carry on without you, well, too bad for you.
Now,
the question that remains for us today, my dear friends in Christ, is
how do we folks gathered here today “hear” this parable? Because
there is a great danger, a terrible way to misunderstand this
parable. In this parable Christ does give a dire warning to the
Pharisees – if you blow off the feast, if you blow off Christ
Jesus, then you are lost. As the Apostle says:
And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name
under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.
That's just the way it is. But here's the problem. Here we are at
Church – at the feast - and instead of hearing this as a warning to
us, as a reminder to us that we ought not get proud and smug like the
Pharisees, a warning that we ought not get all high and mighty and
think that we just wonderful people unlike the rest... we can hear
this parable through a filter of pride and smugness. We can look
around and say, “Hmmm... lots of people not here. Not like it used
to be in the old days.” And we can nurture little fires of
condescension towards our neighbor. That's not what this parable is
for. Jesus doesn't tell it to its first hearers to increase their
pride but to break it.
And
that's how we must hear it too. One of the dangers of our sinful
flesh is that it loves to compare, and it especially loves to compare
in a way that places ME above someone else. I'm better than them.
The problem is this runs completely against the message of salvation
in Christ Jesus. It trashes the Gospel. Jesus
Christ came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the
foremost. Whenever
I think I'm better than other people, I'm no longer looking for my
own Savior – and I certainly don't want them treated as well I'm
treated – I deserve to be treated better than them! That's why the
Pharisees couldn't see, couldn't understand Jesus. They couldn't
figure out why He would waste His time with scum. They couldn't
conceive that He actually loves those people. The Pharisees couldn't
even see that that Jesus loved the Pharisees. The Pharisees were so
caught up in fighting for position and prestige, that they didn't see
Jesus' love when He was sitting with them at dinner. They missed the
feast and wouldn't come when the feast was right in front of them!
Therefore we ought to repent, and we ought to fight against and beat
down and put to death any thought or desire in us that would make us
smug and ignore Christ Jesus.
Because there is no smugness in Christ. Instead, He
shows love, over and over again to the unworthy. Love to us. The
great feast of eternal life is indeed prepared because Jesus Christ,
in perfect love, went to the cross for you and died for your sins,
for your smugness and pride, for the disdain you show. And He went
to the Cross and died for those who suffer in this world, for those
who are caught up in sin, for those who have fallen into Spiritual
blindness. He died for all. He prepared salvation for all.
Honestly, truly. In full. Every sin ever done, He took it up and
put it to death upon the Cross.
Here
is another danger, another way we can botch this parable. We can
mishear the last sentence, where the master says, “for
I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my
banquet.” We
can hear that and start viewing it in terms of “well, this person
doesn't qualify anymore because they did X.” No, this isn't about
figuring out who out there “qualifies” for the Gospel, who out
there is “good enough” to be saved because we aren't saved by our
works – rather we are saved by grace that is given freely to us,
while we are dead in trespasses. The Master isn't forbidding the
excuse makers from showing up – if one of them came running up and
sheepishly said, “the fields can wait” - he would have come in.
But that just wasn't going to happen. He doesn't say they can't
come, just that they shall not. It isn't going to happen, not
because of the master, but because of them.
And
he can say that because he's the master. God Himself knows who won't
come in the end – but you and I are not God, and we have absolutely
no business trying to figure out or even worse presuming that the
Holy Spirit won't work faith in some person and bring them to the
feast. We aren't the master, we are the servants. And so when we
see someone who isn't here and should be (which frankly is everyone
who isn't here), we don't condemn them, we don't consign them to
hell, we don't cross them off the list. We view them as blind and
lame and crippled – we view them as poor miserable sinners who need
to be forgiven – so we proclaim the Gospel. Jesus has died for
you: come to the feast where there is forgiveness, where there is
baptism and preaching and absolution and the Lord's Supper – come,
and receive life from Christ. And we treat them that way even if
they are “bad” - even if they have hurt us. So what if they are
bad – I'm the foremost sinner, I'm the biggest sinner I know, and
if Christ died for even an evil jerk like me, covering those sins
(even those sins that hurt me) is small potatoes. Go
out to the highways and hedges – that's
where the really bad people are – the robbers and muggers and
murderers. There is forgiveness, even for them. And Christ would
have His house full. Call them to His house as you come across them
– because you can tell them with absolute Gospel certainty that
Christ has died for them and loves them and wants them to receive
forgiveness and life in His name – and that He will pour it upon
them abundantly at Trinity.
And
some won't listen. And some will put up excuse after excuse –
maybe old excuses and maybe new ones. We have our own sinful flesh
to fight against – we know how those temptations work. But Christ
Jesus has poured His Spirit upon you, making you new, giving you
strength to put your sinful flesh to death: “Put
to death therefore what is earthly in you.”
And when that is scary, when your sin looms large as you fight
against it, remember, that even today the call goes out – come to
the feast. Come, for all things are ready, for Christ has died and
has risen, and He has done this for you, so that you are indeed
forgiven. And He shall come again, and you will be raised to life in
His name. This is His sure and certain promise to you, out of His
great love for you. In the Name of Father and of the Son and of the
Holy Spirit +
No comments:
Post a Comment