Second Sunday after Trinity - 06-21-09

The Church Season of Pentecost
The Second Sunday after Trinity, One Year Series
Our Savior Lutheran Church, Midland, MI (June 21, 2009)

“The Feast in the Kingdom of God”

Readings:
Psalm 34 verses 12 - 22
Proverbs 9:1-10
Ephesians 2:13-22
Luke 14:15-24

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Grace, mercy and peace be to you from the Father
and the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen

The text for today is as recorded in the Gospel Lesson from the 14th chapter of St. Luke, especially the following verse:

Luke 14:15-24 (NIV)

15 When one of those at the table with him heard this, he said to Jesus, “Blessed is the man who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God.” 16 Jesus replied: “A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests. 17 At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’ 18 “But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said, ‘I have just bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please excuse me.’ 19 “Another said, ‘I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I’m on my way to try them out. Please excuse me.’ 20 “Still another said, ‘I just got married, so I can’t come.’ 21 “The servant came back and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and ordered his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.’ 22 “‘Sir,’ the servant said, ‘what you ordered has been done, but there is still room.’ 23 “Then the master told his servant, ‘Go out to the roads and country lanes and make them come in, so that my house will be full. 24 I tell you, not one of those men who were invited will get a taste of my banquet.’”

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit

The Gospel lesson in Luke today is one for which there are many repetitions and variations throughout scripture. Jesus was teaching of salvation, and His explaining so more views, more lessons, and more repetition all help to give the hearers the best opportunity to hear and understand. In this lesson Christ is speaking to one person, yet all who “overhear” Christ’s reply will hear the lesson too. That is the way Jesus intended it to be, today you will overhear the same lesson too. And the setting for this lesson is the house of Pharisee. You’ll probably remember this Pharisee who was questioning Jesus with regard to the what could and couldn’t be done on the Sabbath. It was a back and forth discussion about “places of honor”(Luke 14:8) around a table, and inviting those people to the party who “can’t pay you back”(Luke 14:14) And so hearing all this discussion a man steps up to Jesus and says, “Blessed is the man who will eat at the....

“Feast in the Kingdom”

Now the man making this statement was probably thinking that it would be big honor to be invited to this great feast. After all, think about who would be there, probably everyone important. Evidently Jesus' host customarily invited only his relatives, neighbors and wealthy friends to dinner. They were the people who would return the invitation with another invitation. But, true children of God do more than that. Jesus told His host that he should also invite the poor, the maimed and the blind. These are people who would not be able to repay their host. Remember Jesus said, "You will be blessed because they cannot repay you. And what's more you will be repaid when the just rise from the dead."(v. 14) God rewards the deeds of His children.

This week we had invited guests in our church. These were guests who did not pay the church, neither is it expected that they ever will. Yet for all those who participated and helped in our Vacation Bible School. They know that we hosted many who had not heard the Word of God. Yes we did in fact have feasts of food, but more than that we learned about Jesus. We said prayers before our meals, prayers in church, and we talked about Jesus, Christ, God’s Son, Savior. And quite frankly for quite a few of these children, this week they were taught how to pray. Fold your hands, bow your heads, close your eyes... And by the end of the week they knew their memory verses, they went home with a big bag of crafts and goodies. But more than all that, we heard from parents and grandparents that these children went home with a song in their hearts. And for a few they couldn’t get them to stop singing those songs. And most importantly of all these children heard about Jesus Christ. They learned about baptism, they learned about their savior who cared for them very much.

And so it may be asked, what’s in it for us? Well some of the children were back from last year, some we may see now and again, some may never come back. But that is not the point. More than hotdogs and pizza’s were served at this simple and lowly banquet feast, in fact the main course was learning about Jesus Christ. These children are not high rollers, we didn’t make networking connections that will help us to gain something we need. Just the opposite. We invited children to hear of Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit was at work here, causing these children to hear about Jesus. And their parents heard about Jesus too. The Word has been planted in their ears, and it is always up to the Holy Spirit to work faith in those who hear God’s Word. From a financial point of view, from a time invested point of view, the investment may not seem worth the effort. But remember, inviting these children is important. Even in the parable of the sower God chose to plant seeds in soil that may not have had a good return. That is not our choice, to decide who we should share the Gospel of Christ, rather it is a reflection of our faith that we should share the Word of God with whomever we meet, at every opportunity we are offered. We are not given to pick and choose which banquet we are going to attend based upon who is going to be there. Regardless of their station in life or their age. we are called to proclaim the Gospel. And for all who helped, whether hear physically, whether time donated, ore even if these children were included in prayers all those deeds do not save them, but indeed God does reward them.

Jesus once said, “Give, and it will be given to you. They will pour into your lap a good measure—pressed down, shaken together, and running over. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return.” (Luke 6:38)

The point of this is, that the master in Jesus’ parable invited only influential people he knew, yet all his invitations met with excuses. One said he bought a field and had to go look at it. He bought a field without looking at it? Another bought five yoke of oxen and had to try them out. He bought all that livestock without looking at them? Another said he just gotten married and couldn’t come to the dinner. A newlywed couple turning down a free meal? And what of all these people and all their excuses? Well in fact as it turns out, they were lame ones.

But the parable was not really about a dinner, it was about a heavenly banquet feast. God sends out His messengers, that would be you and me, again and again into all places seeking all kinds of people, no matter how poor or how useless they may appear, whether they are young or old, whether they are healthy or lame.

And Jesus also warns us in this text to repent. We are told that God is very angry with people who give Him empty excuses like the sinful men of this world who very foolishly often reject God's invitations to the dinner feast of the Gospel. But even then God urgently keeps on inviting them. If these people continue to reject God’s Word they will not taste the dinner either in this life nor in the life to come.

In the hearing of God’s Word people are brought to faith. In the gift of faith and by God grace He shows His desire to have His house full. In sending His Son Jesus Christ to die for our sins on the cross he pens our heavenly banquet invitation with Christ’s own body and blood. In the water combined with His Word in our baptism with are assured that we will have a seat at that feast. In Holy communion we eat Christ’s body and drink His blood which is the Holy Supper of our Lord, and indeed is a foretaste of the feast to come. By human hands, we prepared a small banquet feast for a dozen young children in the here and now. Yes they went home with a song in their hears. But even greater still they went home with the knowledge of Jesus, Christ, God’s, Son, Savior. And with that knowledge the Holy Spirit guides them to a greater heavenly banquet feast. Imagine the Heavenly feast which Christ has prepared for them and for you. For all are blessed beyond measure and Jesus says to all, “Blessed is the man who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God.” Amen.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.
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