Trinity 2 – Luke 14:15-21 – July 17th, 2012
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit +
When wisdom puts forth her call, will you come and
learn? When wisdom cries out, will you
be instructed and learn? Or when wisdom
asks you to come and join with the company of the wise, will you instead demand
to remain on your own, doing things your way, isolated and foolish? Wisdom or your own sinful and foolish flesh –
which will you listen to? This is the
question from the book of Proverbs which we heard read this morning, a question
which the Pharisees with whom Jesus Christ is dining are familiar with. Jesus and the Pharisees have been gathered
together, and He has already been teaching, and in response one person says, “Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in
the Kingdom of God!” Well, this is true. Those who are at, who participate in the
heavenly feast, well blessed are they! And yet, Christ decides there is more to
point out. He shows forth wisdom again –
so let us not be accounted among the foolish, but give heed to our Lord’s Words
today about what true blessing, true wisdom is.
But [Jesus] said
to him, “A man once gave a great banquet and invited many. And at the time for the banquet he sent his
servant to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’ So there’s the set up. There are plans for a banquet, for a great
and wonderful feast. Everything is
prepared, everything is ready, it is time to feast, it is time to celebrate, it
is time simply to rejoice in this wonderful blessing. How kind this man who hosts this banquet is! He makes no demands of those he invites. This is not BYOB, he doesn’t say, “You bring
desert if you want it, cause I’m not making any.” No, all is ready, all is provided by this
man. It is not merely a free lunch, but
a free feast, one long expected, given simply out of the generosity and love of
the host.
And yet – something horrible happens. But
they all alike began to make excuses.
The first said to him, “I have bought a field, and I must go out and see
it. Please have me excused.” And another said, “I have bought five yoke of
oxen, and I go to examine them. Please
have me excused.” And another said, “I
have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.” All these people who were invited, all
these people who had nothing asked of them, who had nothing demanded of them,
they decline. They won’t make it. They have excuses – and weak ones at
that. I bought a field – well, won’t the
field be there tomorrow? Come and feast
today, and we will rejoice over your field together! I bought 5 oxen – put them in the pasture,
let them rest, and you yourself, rest and rejoice at the feast. I have a wife – well, bring her along, there
is food enough aplenty! All weak
excuses. This is not a matter of “my
wife is sick and I must show love to tend to her.” This is not “my ox has fallen into a well,
and I must rescue it.” No, all of these
excuses that are given, they are things that could have been done later.
The master’s reaction is understandable. So
the servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house became angry. Understandable that. You’ve prepared a feast. You have gone to great expense, you have
labored and worked – and then, you are blown off. For no good reason. In fact, out of simple disdain. It is understandable that this master would
be a bit miffed, a bit put out. But this
master does not pout, he does not whine – he rather does something
creative. And [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.” And the servant said, “Sir, what you
commanded has already been done, and still there is room.” And the master said to the servant, “Go out
to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in, that my house may be
filed. For I tell you, none of those men
who were invited shall taste my banquet.” Alright, if that’s how you people want to be
– fine, we’ll feast and celebrate without you.
You want to be cold and alone – I’ll feast with others. You know what, it doesn’t have to be the
hoity-toity that I feast with – in fact, I’m sick of you and your proud
ilk. No, let the poor and the blind
come, the weak and the lame – the people you snubbers probably snub all the
time. In fact, let the strangers, those
weary from travel, those who are foreigners and passer-bys, wanderers and
vagabonds – let them come, they will rejoice and eat, and we are going to have
one fantastic bash. And in your stubbornness,
in your folly, you will miss it.
So, this is what Jesus teaches – and we know that there is
more to it than this. Jesus did not just
suddenly turn into Better Homes and Gardens or the Food Network – this is more
than advice for throwing the perfect party, even when things don’t work right
to begin with. No, we know what this
means. The master is God Almighty, who
has invited us into His House, His Church, invited us to the great and heavenly
feast that shall last all eternity. And
this is all His doing. What must you
bring with you, what must you do to earn an invite? Nothing. All has been prepared. The great servant Christ Jesus has done all
the work that is required, indeed, He Himself invites you to come, join in the
joys of heaven.
And people don’t come.
People hear of the free gift and don’t come. Life and forgiveness and salvation are
yours! Eh, why bother? We can be shocked at this – at this disdain
for the Gospel – and note, that is what it is, a disdain for the Gospel. The people here aren’t rejecting the “Law” –
this isn’t about Law, what must any of these people who are invited do? What work is left for them? Nothing, it has all been done – it’s all
Gospel. And we can think and wonder, how
can people ignore this – how can they just blow it off?
Easy enough. Now,
let me read from Proverbs again for a moment.
Do not reprove a scoffer, or
he will hate you; reprove a wise man, and he will love you. Give instruction to a wise man and he will be
still wiser; teach a righteous man, and he will increase in learning. How can people reject the Gospel, how can
they just blow it off? We do it, do we
not? Is not today the day where we
gather and eat the bread of Heaven, Christ Jesus our Lord, in His own
supper? How many aren’t here today? And lest we become smug because we are here
and someone else isn’t, how many of us blew off one of the Sunday’s last month,
or in April? Or had to drag ourselves
out of bed really not wanting to be here… but what would people say? And of course, what about our own family
devotions and study during the week – is that done eagerly, or perhaps not at
all? How many of us take advantage of
times of teaching? I’ve never taught a
class where I had to say, “Sorry, we don’t have any more room, you can’t come
today.” Do we, we who have the
invitation of the Lord to come to His House – to learn His Word, to receive His
forgiveness – do we ourselves value it and treasure it like we ought?
This is the thing.
Jesus speaks this word of warning to Pharisees, to educated, wise men
who knew their scripture. They knew the
promises of the Messiah. And when He
came, some would hearken to Him, but many would scoff, would ignore, would have
better things to do than to follow this Jesus – in fact, many would not only
reject our Lord’s invitation, but instead demand His death. They were the people who should have known
better.
We dear friends, we are the people of today who should know
better. Have you not been taught and
trained? Did you not learn the 3rd
commandment and it’s meaning – or is that all forgotten? Does your catechism lie ignored in a box or
dusty on a shelf? What is the 3rd
commandment? Remember the Sabbath day to
keep it holy. What does this mean? We should fear and love God so that we do not
despise preaching or His Word, but hold it sacred and gladly hear and learn
it. Hold the Word sacred. Learn it, be in it, study it, grow in
it. Remember that the depths of the
wisdom of God are deep, and that there is much to learn there, always more to
study and learn there, always more to understand.
And not because God is mean and petty. Not because God wants you to jump through
hoops, do little dances to entertain Him.
No. Because God loves you,
because the Father has sent Christ into the World to go to the Cross and die
for your sins, to rise to give you new life.
This is what Christ brings you in His Word. And God never wants your separated from that,
never wants you to fall away – and God knows how Satan works, how he stalks and
preys upon Christians – destroying so many not with loud and brash sins, but
with the simple sin of indifference to the Word. Satan wants you to think that you have better
things, more important things than to study the Word, than to join together
with your fellow Christians in the reception of God’s Word of Forgiveness and
His Holy Supper. But God wants to shower
His forgiveness upon you. There are many
chances you have not to simply study on your own – but to join with others, to
have that 2 or 3 or many more gathered in Christ’s name where you will be built
up. Be in the Word, because God’s Word
is wisdom and life and salvation. Indeed, this is all for our good, for our
benefit. We don’t prove anything to God
by our diligence in attending, we don’t earn brownie points with God by what we
do – rather, this place is about God serving us. God invites us to His house, calls to us in
His Word, so that we might be prepared for the eternal feast in heaven. This Supper today, which we will receive –
what is it for? Now may this true Body
and Blood of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, strengthen and preserve you in
the One True Faith. Strengthen, preserve
– go now and face the trials of life ready for heaven, ready to spit in Satan’s
eye when temptation comes, ready to go gladly when the Angels come to gather
you to Abraham’s bosom – Lord now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace!
God wants you to be strong and prepared. God wants you to have peace. God wants you to rest secure in the His love
for you, to dwell in His forgiveness, to know the wisdom of God – that is, to
know that God has mercy and love for you and sees to your salvation, does all
that is required. Know this, be in it,
live it in – so that you may have for all eternity the free life given you in
Christ. Amen.
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