Trinity 2 2023
Luke 14:15-24
Rev Douglas D. Irmer, Emeritus
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Dearly beloved,
The grace of God is on full display. There is nothing in this reading that points to our obedience. “Come to the banquet, for now all is ready.” And, in fact, the grace of God is so overwhelming it is even in the mouth of one of those who sat at table with him: “blessed is he who will eat bread in the kingdom of God.” At least one scholar refers to this as a Lukan beatitude. The gospel of God’s grace is a flood that can’t be staunched, even by our unwillingness or refusal of that grace.
We have seen these people before, the ones who receive the invitation from the man and refuse it for various reasons. They are us, of course. God’s gracious invitation comes to us and Almighty God, in His mercy and wisdom has given us more than we either deserve or would ask for. God blesses us with worldly blessings which we then begin to ascribe to our own initiative or hard work or insightfulness or our own appeal.
We see them here as we saw them in the Old Testament, these excuses, reasons to get out of an obligation. Where did the means come for us to purchase our earthly possessions? Do we have a house, land or a bank account with a nice balance? What role do such considerations play in our lives and our activities? Are we supposed to give up these things? Are we scolded for having these things?
One man refuses to attend God’s gracious banquet because he has just purchased a field and I think of him like the man in the Old Testament who is excused from battle because he has a new field and hasn’t yet had time to reap its harvest and enjoy its fruits. But where did this man get his field? Where did he get the means to acquire that land? Here this man is using an excuse about war to excuse himself from receiving God’s grace. Yet it seems that he has put the grace of God in one instance, the field, in opposition to the grace of God in the banquet.
We pray, “give us this day our daily bread.” What is meant by daily bread, “Daily bread includes everything that has to do with the support and needs of the body,” including clothing and shoes, house and home and land.
God in His great grace and mercy gives us these things yet we so easily look on them as accomplishments of our own hard work and determination to the exclusion of the invitation to the banquet.
We may think that at least God’s Word doesn’t join us with the man who has just bought five yoke of oxen. It’s been a long time since I bought oxen. In fact, I’m pretty sure I have never bought oxen. It’s a wonderful thing about the holy Law of God that it searches us out and condemns us when we least expect. Did I say that’s a wonderful thing? I certainly did. God’s Law is strong and almighty and we can’t do anything to avoid being condemned by it. I suppose that the oxen are the man’s actual livelihood. Can you imagine anyone being so slow to understand or so ignorant enough to choose work over the grace of God? “I can’t get to church today because I have work to do. These last years very probably include work that was formerly done at a place of business, but is now done at home.
Once again we lose sight of the fact that it is God who gives us work to do. It is God who determines that we are able to work and gives us all that we need to support this body and life. Part of what we need in order to support our body and life is our health and the strength of our body and our mind. Once again we tend to argue against one aspect of God’s grace to overcome the gracious invitation to His banquet.
This we see also in the man who claims marriage as an ample excuse to ignore God’s gracious invitation and neglect the heavenly gifts He gives us in this life. How many couples tragically desert their Christian lives because one or the other partner in the marriage has no taste for the grace offered by God in His banquet.
You know that we can’t possibly discuss a banquet given by Almighty God in Holy Scripture and not discuss the heavenly banquet spread before us here. It is truly the heavenly banquet here on earth. In fact in St. Matthew’s gospel, this banquet with the invited guests who don’t come is referred to as a wedding feast.
Yet those guests who were invited would not come. It can be inconvenient, can’t it? Not many of us here live close to St. Peter’s, some of us drive long distances and long periods of time. And why do we come here? For a small piece of bread and a little sip of wine? Do we come so our friends, neighbors and coworkers will see and know how pious and Godly we are. Do we come for fine entertainment and social engagement?
Once again it is the grace of God that invites and compels us to come. We don’t come to this church or any church anywhere for any earthly purpose or reward. We aren’t here because we will get better marks in God’s gradebook. We aren’t here to fill our stomach or even to gratify our psyche. God in His mercy has called us. He has summoned us. He has invited us.
In our baptism God calls us. He calls us by name and we are His. Jeremiah writes, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you.” That is the call and invitation we have received. In Holy Baptism the pastor put water on our heads, but not just plain water, but the Word of God in and with the water. In baptism you are given God’s name: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This is how we know God, because He has revealed His name to us and given us this holy and sacred act in which we are made one with Him.
In our baptism we are united with Christ in His death, as St. Paul writes in Romans 6, “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?” We were raised with Christ so that we might walk in newness of life with Him.
Holy baptism is death. It is death to our excuses. It is also death to us. We die in our baptism. Our old Adam drowns and dies in our baptism. Not just one time or one day. Our death to our old Adam isn’t just on our baptism day. Notice that it is our old Adam to whom we die. It’s not someone else’s fault. It’s not possession by some wicked and evil spirit. It is certainly that, but it is also our responsibility. It is our old Adam who is drowned and dies. My computer kept trying to auto correct that last sentence to, “was drowned and died.” But it happens every day. This struggle is ongoing, as we confess.
And since God has called us in our baptism, since He made us a new creation and gives us new life in Christ, He calls us to His banquet. Lest we think God called us because we are so deserving, St. Paul writes, “not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth.” Now, in our baptism we are wise in Christ Jesus.
God calls us to this banquet, Himself. In this banquet of Holy Communion, the Lord Jesus Christ graciously gives us Himself, His body and blood together with the bread and wine. Here our sins are forgiven. Here we are restored to life. This is the gracious banquet that God the Father offers in this parable. He invites us, not to bring something, not to try to appease His wrath. The Lord Jesus Christ appeased the wrath of God the Father when He suffered and died on the cross. There is no longer any need for God to be angry and wrathful with you. We know that this sacrifice is full and complete. After thus suffering and dying on the cross, the Lord Jesus arose again from the dead. Not only does He bring you with Him from the dead, but His sacrificial death has satisfied the wrath of God the Father.
Lest we get carried away with how wonderful we are in Christ, look again at the end of this parable. “[The Master] 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 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 filled. For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet.’”
Look again at those who are called and those who are compelled to attend the feast: the lame, the poor, the blind and the crippled. Those who were inhabitants of the highways and hedges; those who were unloveable that no one else wanted, these are the ones admitted to this man’s feast.
There is a teaching, a doctrine called election. It can make us uncomfortable because like all other doctrines it can be misused and mis-taught. But here it is, as clear and simple as I can make it. We are saved because God has elected us to salvation. Jesus promises, “And then he will send out the angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.”
This is an important teaching in light of this Gospel, because it means that there are indeed those whom God has elected, those whom God has called to eternal salvation.
Are you feeling ugly and unlovable? Do you feel unimportant and neglected, wondering whether God’s love still extends to you? This is where the Master compels those in these circumstances to come to His feast and this is where you must remember that God, Himself, has called you to His banquet. Trusting in Jesus Christ for your forgiveness and salvation, you are who God has called to His heavenly banquet.
Blessed is he who will eat bread in the kingdom of God.
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Luke 14:15-24
Rev Douglas D. Irmer, Emeritus
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Dearly beloved,
The grace of God is on full display. There is nothing in this reading that points to our obedience. “Come to the banquet, for now all is ready.” And, in fact, the grace of God is so overwhelming it is even in the mouth of one of those who sat at table with him: “blessed is he who will eat bread in the kingdom of God.” At least one scholar refers to this as a Lukan beatitude. The gospel of God’s grace is a flood that can’t be staunched, even by our unwillingness or refusal of that grace.
We have seen these people before, the ones who receive the invitation from the man and refuse it for various reasons. They are us, of course. God’s gracious invitation comes to us and Almighty God, in His mercy and wisdom has given us more than we either deserve or would ask for. God blesses us with worldly blessings which we then begin to ascribe to our own initiative or hard work or insightfulness or our own appeal.
We see them here as we saw them in the Old Testament, these excuses, reasons to get out of an obligation. Where did the means come for us to purchase our earthly possessions? Do we have a house, land or a bank account with a nice balance? What role do such considerations play in our lives and our activities? Are we supposed to give up these things? Are we scolded for having these things?
One man refuses to attend God’s gracious banquet because he has just purchased a field and I think of him like the man in the Old Testament who is excused from battle because he has a new field and hasn’t yet had time to reap its harvest and enjoy its fruits. But where did this man get his field? Where did he get the means to acquire that land? Here this man is using an excuse about war to excuse himself from receiving God’s grace. Yet it seems that he has put the grace of God in one instance, the field, in opposition to the grace of God in the banquet.
We pray, “give us this day our daily bread.” What is meant by daily bread, “Daily bread includes everything that has to do with the support and needs of the body,” including clothing and shoes, house and home and land.
God in His great grace and mercy gives us these things yet we so easily look on them as accomplishments of our own hard work and determination to the exclusion of the invitation to the banquet.
We may think that at least God’s Word doesn’t join us with the man who has just bought five yoke of oxen. It’s been a long time since I bought oxen. In fact, I’m pretty sure I have never bought oxen. It’s a wonderful thing about the holy Law of God that it searches us out and condemns us when we least expect. Did I say that’s a wonderful thing? I certainly did. God’s Law is strong and almighty and we can’t do anything to avoid being condemned by it. I suppose that the oxen are the man’s actual livelihood. Can you imagine anyone being so slow to understand or so ignorant enough to choose work over the grace of God? “I can’t get to church today because I have work to do. These last years very probably include work that was formerly done at a place of business, but is now done at home.
Once again we lose sight of the fact that it is God who gives us work to do. It is God who determines that we are able to work and gives us all that we need to support this body and life. Part of what we need in order to support our body and life is our health and the strength of our body and our mind. Once again we tend to argue against one aspect of God’s grace to overcome the gracious invitation to His banquet.
This we see also in the man who claims marriage as an ample excuse to ignore God’s gracious invitation and neglect the heavenly gifts He gives us in this life. How many couples tragically desert their Christian lives because one or the other partner in the marriage has no taste for the grace offered by God in His banquet.
You know that we can’t possibly discuss a banquet given by Almighty God in Holy Scripture and not discuss the heavenly banquet spread before us here. It is truly the heavenly banquet here on earth. In fact in St. Matthew’s gospel, this banquet with the invited guests who don’t come is referred to as a wedding feast.
Yet those guests who were invited would not come. It can be inconvenient, can’t it? Not many of us here live close to St. Peter’s, some of us drive long distances and long periods of time. And why do we come here? For a small piece of bread and a little sip of wine? Do we come so our friends, neighbors and coworkers will see and know how pious and Godly we are. Do we come for fine entertainment and social engagement?
Once again it is the grace of God that invites and compels us to come. We don’t come to this church or any church anywhere for any earthly purpose or reward. We aren’t here because we will get better marks in God’s gradebook. We aren’t here to fill our stomach or even to gratify our psyche. God in His mercy has called us. He has summoned us. He has invited us.
In our baptism God calls us. He calls us by name and we are His. Jeremiah writes, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you.” That is the call and invitation we have received. In Holy Baptism the pastor put water on our heads, but not just plain water, but the Word of God in and with the water. In baptism you are given God’s name: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This is how we know God, because He has revealed His name to us and given us this holy and sacred act in which we are made one with Him.
In our baptism we are united with Christ in His death, as St. Paul writes in Romans 6, “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?” We were raised with Christ so that we might walk in newness of life with Him.
Holy baptism is death. It is death to our excuses. It is also death to us. We die in our baptism. Our old Adam drowns and dies in our baptism. Not just one time or one day. Our death to our old Adam isn’t just on our baptism day. Notice that it is our old Adam to whom we die. It’s not someone else’s fault. It’s not possession by some wicked and evil spirit. It is certainly that, but it is also our responsibility. It is our old Adam who is drowned and dies. My computer kept trying to auto correct that last sentence to, “was drowned and died.” But it happens every day. This struggle is ongoing, as we confess.
And since God has called us in our baptism, since He made us a new creation and gives us new life in Christ, He calls us to His banquet. Lest we think God called us because we are so deserving, St. Paul writes, “not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth.” Now, in our baptism we are wise in Christ Jesus.
God calls us to this banquet, Himself. In this banquet of Holy Communion, the Lord Jesus Christ graciously gives us Himself, His body and blood together with the bread and wine. Here our sins are forgiven. Here we are restored to life. This is the gracious banquet that God the Father offers in this parable. He invites us, not to bring something, not to try to appease His wrath. The Lord Jesus Christ appeased the wrath of God the Father when He suffered and died on the cross. There is no longer any need for God to be angry and wrathful with you. We know that this sacrifice is full and complete. After thus suffering and dying on the cross, the Lord Jesus arose again from the dead. Not only does He bring you with Him from the dead, but His sacrificial death has satisfied the wrath of God the Father.
Lest we get carried away with how wonderful we are in Christ, look again at the end of this parable. “[The Master] 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 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 filled. For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet.’”
Look again at those who are called and those who are compelled to attend the feast: the lame, the poor, the blind and the crippled. Those who were inhabitants of the highways and hedges; those who were unloveable that no one else wanted, these are the ones admitted to this man’s feast.
There is a teaching, a doctrine called election. It can make us uncomfortable because like all other doctrines it can be misused and mis-taught. But here it is, as clear and simple as I can make it. We are saved because God has elected us to salvation. Jesus promises, “And then he will send out the angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.”
This is an important teaching in light of this Gospel, because it means that there are indeed those whom God has elected, those whom God has called to eternal salvation.
Are you feeling ugly and unlovable? Do you feel unimportant and neglected, wondering whether God’s love still extends to you? This is where the Master compels those in these circumstances to come to His feast and this is where you must remember that God, Himself, has called you to His banquet. Trusting in Jesus Christ for your forgiveness and salvation, you are who God has called to His heavenly banquet.
Blessed is he who will eat bread in the kingdom of God.
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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