Trinity 2 – June 24th
and 25th, 2017 – Luke 14:15-24
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. Everyone has RSVP's, and then the time arrives.
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 pair of 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. People who said they'd come just don't.
And 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. 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 – but 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 would 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. So He pours all this out upon you in His Word, and send
His Spirit upon you to make you to know this wisdom – and thus the
Spirit shall do even until the Last Day when we are called to the
eternal banquet without end. In the Name of the Father and of the
Son and of the Holy Spirit + Amen.
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