Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Amen!
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ:
[Intro]
As the title figure in the movie Father of the Bride, Steve Martin does everything he can do to cut the cost of his daughter’s upcoming wedding. He tries on his old tuxedo that he has outgrown. He offers to be the backyard chef at the outdoor reception. He even slashes the guest list down to a minimum.
But, when the man in today’s parable sends out his invitations to a great banquet, he doesn’t even think of cutting the cost. Instead, he invites everyone! He says no expense will be spared! He says no guests will be crossed off His list! This is a great banquet that no one would want to miss, and this certain man says, “Come, for all things are now ready” The question for us is this: are we ready? Are we ready to come to the great banquet?
[The Parable of the Great Banquet]
Today on this Second Sunday after Trinity, we see Jesus dining at a Pharisee’s house. Then came an interruption that must have surprised everyone when one of those at the table said to Jesus: “Blessed is he who shall eat bread in the kingdom of God!” (Luke 14:15, NKJV).
Jesus took this man’s words seriously. As Jesus knows everything, He knew what this man and the other like-minded guests needed to hear. So, Jesus taught them – as He continues to teach us the same – the Parable of the Great Banquet.
Through His parable, Jesus brings this truth to His hearers: God wants all people to share in His great banquet prepared here on earth. If they become guests at His table here, they will dine with all the saints in heaven.
This morning, Jesus teaches us the Parable of the Great Banquet that has been prepared and we are all invited to come and partake of this gracious feast. He teaches us saying, “A certain man gave a great supper and invited many, and sent his servant at supper time to say to those who were invited, ‘Come, for all things are now ready’” (Luke 14:16-17).
Now, this banquet has been prepared for a long time. In fact, way back through the times of the Old Testament, God was making ready this feast. The focus of this parable is on the time when the banquet was ready and the guests were invited.
This banquet prepared by the man in the parable is in fact God the Father, who is offering the full and free salvation that He has prepared for all people. The rich foods served at this supper are all the blessings of Christ’s salvation. In fact, Jesus Christ, is the servant whom God the Father sent into the world to bring His gracious invitation to sinners. So, every time Jesus preached and taught, He was inviting the Jews, saying: “Come, for all things are now ready! For the blessings of salvation are yours for the taking, and all by faith.”
In today’s world, we send out “Save the Date” notices. This is what this certain man has done by sending his servant to call those who were invited to the Great Banquet. Here, the man is alerting his guests that this big event is ready!
The date is set! The hall is ready! The supper of rich food and well-aged wine has been prepared! (Isaiah 25:6) This supper will be lavish! Everything is ready!
“But they all with one accord began to make excuses” (Luke 14:18a).
Where are the invited guests? All that hard work and not a single person shows up! This is plain rude. I’m sure we can all sense this man’s frustration. He felt much like modern parents do when sending out wedding invitations and the guests don’t show courtesy to at least RSVP!
The supper is ready, and no one wants to come. Instead, they make
excuses:
- The first pleaded necessity by saying, “I have bought a piece of ground, and I must go and see it. I ask you to have me excused” (Luke 14:18b).
- The second pleaded inconvenience by saying, “I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to test them. I ask you to have me excused” (Luke 14:19).
- The third was not even polite enough to ask to be excused. Instead, he pleaded, “I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come” (Luke 14:20). This man wanted to taste the pleasures of marriage, rather than attend the banquet.
“So that servant came and reported these things to his master” (Luke 14:21a).
Instead of rejoicing at being invited to the great banquet, the guests just find excuses not to go.
I’m sure none of you have ever made excuses about missing the
Divine Service on Sunday mornings. But, in fact, from time to time, we all make
excuses on why we can’t be at church each Sunday morning.
As sinful human beings, we are experts at coming up with excuses for anything. “It’s too cold. It’s too hot. It’s raining. It’s snowing.”
We make excuses all the time, just like those who refused to come to the Great Banquet. We plead necessity. We plead inconvenience. We plead pleasure. We too, would rather be excused to test out a new vehicle or machinery, watch Sunday television shows, play video games, attend a sporting event, or frankly, just sleep. We can think of thousands of other things to do besides being here in the Divine Service this morning.
How often do we fail at keeping the Sabbath day holy? Do we always fear and love God above all things so that we do not despise preaching and His Word by keeping it sacred by gladly hearing and learning it?
We all must repent of our sin of not trusting God and instead placing our trust in false idols.
But the point of the excuses in our parable is that each excuse
was dishonest. The real reason they declined the invitation was that in their
hearts they had a low opinion of the inviting host. Their excuses were a
cover-up for their contrary minds. They simply refused the invitation because
they were determined not to show honor to the host inviting them. These first
guests were the Jews who willfully rejected the gospel invitation Jesus had
issued those many, many times as He walked among them.
They had no good excuse, no valid reason for not coming. They were poor sinners who needed the rich, nourishing foods on God’s banquet table: forgiveness of sins, blessedness as God’s sons and daughters now, and eternal joy and bliss in heaven hereafter. Any excuse is actually their refusal to dine at God’s Great Banquet of grace and their real reason was that they “were not willing” (Luke 13:34).
Rightfully so, the inviting master becomes angry. Remember, the master is God the Father, and so this anger represents the wrath of God against all those who spurn His grace, the salvation He offers freely and unconditionally. So, when anyone rejects the crucified, risen, and ascended Christ, they reject the salvation that He has won. They are really saying, “Who cares? Who really needs a Savior?”
But what does God the Father do when millions despise His offer of free salvation through Christ? Does He just give up and say, “It is of no use”? No! He invites others! So, just as Paul and Barnabas did at Antioch when the Jews opposed Paul, Paul and Barnabas said, “It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken to you first; but since you reject it, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles” (Acts 13:46).
Despite the excuses, and his own anger, the man shows his patience as he continues to say: “Come, for all things are now ready!”
This time, this man invites even more people. He says to his servant, “Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in here the poor and the maimed and the lame and the blind” (Luke 14:21b).
And guess what? These invited guests actually do come! After they come, the servant says to his master, “Master, it is done as you commanded, and still there is room” (Luke 14:22).
This parable portrays Jesus as having gone out into the world of Gentiles through His apostles and all the gospel messengers who followed them, including you and me. Many have been won to faith in the Savior. But this puts no strain on the capacity of God’s kingdom to receive them. God’s banquet hall is big enough for all sinners.
This master then says to his servant, “Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled” (Luke 14:23).
Now, the word “compel” of which Christ speaks is purely the compelling power of God’s grace. This word has nothing to do with high-pressure tactics. This word has everything to do with the gospel.
Although many will reject the invitation, God’s grace continues to work unceasingly to bring many more to taste and enjoy all the blessings Jesus won upon the cross for all sinful people – including you and me.
But for those who reject the invitation, the master says: “For I say to you that none of those men who were invited shall taste my supper” (Luke 14:24). By saying, “I tell you,” Jesus puts the seal of divine authority on this truth that those who spurned the invitation in unbelief will not have a share in the salvation Christ has won for them and of which God the Father with all His heart wanted them to have.
[Are We Ready for the Great Banquet?]
The question for us this morning is this: how do we know we are ready for the great banquet?
Well, we cannot become ready on our own. We cannot become ready by going about our lives alone. We can only become ready through the merit and work of Jesus Christ alone! He keeps us ready by strengthening our weak faith and forgiving our sins through hearing His Word and partaking of His Sacrament here in the Divine Service.
Whenever we partake of the Lord’s Supper, we receive a glimpse of this heavenly feast to come! With these very words, “Given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins,” this shows us that in this Sacrament, we receive forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation through these words. For where there is forgiveness of sins, there is also life and salvation!
With these words, Jesus invites and urges everyone who is united with Him in doctrine and faith to partake of the Sacrament frequently. For if we are guests at His table here, we will dine with all the saints in heaven! We all need the comfort and strength of Christ’s forgiveness for living our new life – our justified and sanctified life – while we are assaulted by the devil and struggle with our sinful nature. You see, in the Lord’s Supper, we receive Christ’s very body and blood that forgives our sins and strengthens our weak faith.
However, the opposite is true for those who choose to remain far from the Lord’s Supper as their faith is weakened. Picture it this way, if you are hungry, you eat. If you do not eat when you are hungry, you will eventually die from starvation.
Or, if you are ill or physically injured, you seek medical help. If you don’t seek help, your illness or injury will get worse. The same goes with faith. If we are not receiving strength for our faith, our faith becomes weaker. So, do not starve yourself of the Sacrament of the very body and blood of Christ! Because of this, the Lord says, “Come!” He urges us to come and be nourished in the foretaste of this heavenly feast!
You see, through the very suffering and death of Jesus upon the cross, He has invited you and all people to the great supper in the kingdom of heaven!
Now, some will ignore this invitation. They will find excuses. But in His grace and mercy, God the Father continues to extend the invitation, saying: “Come, supper is ready!” Amen.
The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.
T SOLI DEO GLORIA T
Preached at St. John's Lutheran Church, Plato, Minnesota.
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