Proverbs 9:1-10; Ephesians 2:13-22; St Luke 14:15-24
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
This morning we hear from the Book of Proverbs. That book is full of wisdom and insight and good instruction. It is catechesis from a father to his son on what is true wisdom. What is really important. An appropriate lesson not just for the celebration of this day, but a lesson sorely needed in our world today. Proverbs speaks in pithy, concrete terms that are direct and easy-to-understand. In chapter six, it enumerates the things God hates. There are seven. Haughty eyes. A lying tongue. Hands that shed innocent blood. A heart that devises wicked plans. Feet that make haste to run to evil. A false witness who breathes out lies. One who sows discord among brothers. (Pr 6:16-19).
Seven is good. A holy number. But based on God’s behavior in Holy Scripture, it seems like there should be an eighth. Maybe they missed one? It is this: “People whose priorities are out of whack.” It doesn’t sound very sinister or wicked. But we know God hates it.
Why did God in the days of Noah, destroy the world with a flood? Jesus says it this way just a little later in Luke, They were eating and drinking and marrying and being given in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all (Lk 17:27). They had other priorities. Concerned themselves with other things.
Why did God send fire on Sodom and Gomorrah in the days of Lot? Jesus puts it this way, They were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building, but on the day when Lot went out from Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all (Lk 17:28-29). In other words, their priorities were out of whack.
Today our Lord Christ, who is dining at the house of a Pharisee, compares the Ministry of the Holy Gospel and the Kingdom of God, to the invitation to and feasting in a Great Banquet. This is something God the Father had prepared. Something He now rejoices to impart that others may share in His joy. He already invited them. They RSVP’d they'd come. But when the second invitation arrives saying, Come, everything is now ready, they are too busy wth their earthly pursuits to cherish the invitation. They all have excuses.
Now, they’re not flimsy excuses, dear Christians. One asks to be excuses to see a field he bought. That’s a big business deal. One asks to be excused because he needs to try out five yoke of oxen. One just got married and he need to be with his new wife. All busy with good things. Godly things. Their vocations.
But it left no time for ultimate things. There comes a time to leave the field, put down the plow, bring your new wife alone and rejoice with those who rejoice. St Paul writes to the Corinthians saying, From now on let those who deal with the world as though they had no dealing with it. For the present form of this world is passing away. I want you to be free from anxieties (1 Cor 7:31-32). But the men in this parable weren’t. They were too preoccupied. Too busy to love what God loves, their lips would not be tasting any banquet. A spurned God would see to it that they would be tasting eternal death.
Too busy, too preoccupied with good things to cherish ultimate things like the Ministry of the Gospel, like the Feast of the Kingdom. And that’s often our story too. We don’t hold back when it comes to spending on ourselves. But we hold back in supporting the Church and the Ministry of the Gospel because its not as important for us. We’re not too busy to do what we want to do, but some days we’re too busy and too preoccupied to pray even one “Our Father” for the sake of our neighbor. Once glance at your banking app, one glance at the timesheet of your life and it would be obvious what your highest priorities are. Is it Jesus? His Gospel? His Kingdom?
Repentance is needed, dear Christians. We are simple, as Lady Wisdom calls us. Let us turn in repentance and be gathered to Her Table.
Hear again the pithy wisdom from Proverbs: The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight. Here is further insight about that Holy One. That Holy One is our Lord Jesus Christ who is abundant in mercy. Abundant in loving kindness. Even to the preoccupied, the too-busy, and those whose priorities are out of whack.
That Holy One is a lot like the Servant in our Gospel who went out with His arms wide open inviting people to the Banquet. He wouldn’t stop until His hall was full. Even if it meant He would feast with a bunch of poor, crippled, lame and blind people; a “multitude [that] comes from the east and the west to sit at the feast of salvation” (LSB 510:1). For His priority was to be busy with one thing: filling the House of Heaven with undeserving people. For that Servant Jesus hated what His Father hated - pride and arrogance and evil and deceit. But He also loved what His Father loved - and that means you.
Here is further insight about this Holy One. He was different from all other men who ever lived. He is God’s Wisdom in the Flesh. He did nothing that God hated.
His eyes were not arrogant, but He had eyes of mercy.
He didn’t have a lying tongue, but a truth-telling tongue, even though it cost Him His life.
He didn’t shed innocent blood. He came to be the Innocent One killed for the guilty.
His heart didn’t plot evil, but His heart plotted to defeat the Evil One and spare you.
His feet didn’t rush into evil, but stayed away from it completely, so that He might credit His holy life to you.
He was no false witness, but the True and Faithful witness to God, the Martyr of martyrs who laid down His life to save you.
He didn’t stir up dissension. He came to bring peace by the blood of His Cross and through the glory of His resurrection from the dead.
He wasn’t preoccupied with other things. In fact, His only preoccupation was to save sinners, love them, and make them holy.
For He Himself is our peace, who has made us one and has broken down in His flesh the dividing wall of hostility, so making peace, reconciling us to God in one body through the Cross. Through Him we have access in one Spirit to the Father. You are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the Cornerstone.
People loved by God, here is further insight into that Holy One. He made no excuses despite the difficulty of His task; the great personal risk He took upon Himself. He owned everything, all the fields in the world, but He came to be poor and give it all up, so that you might be rich and that this redeemed world might be given back to you.
He wasn’t tempted with the purchase of oxen, but He was the Ox, the Sacrifice who carried your sins to the Cross to tread them under His feet and destroy them.
And Jesus didn’t get married. For He already had a wife whom He loves and cherishes, His holy Church, His Beloved Bride, for whom He laid down His life and whose blemishes He refuses to see.
Our God is indeed a God who hates certain things. If that makes you uncomfortable, go read the Ten Commandments. But chiefly He is a God who loves certain things. Things like bestowing His mercy on the contrite. Giving a Kingdom to humble beggars. Rejoicing with all His angels in heaven over one sinner who is not too preoccupied to repent.
Blessed is everything who will eat bread in the Kingdom of God! We are all beggars, this is true. So come, dear children, for the Bread is here. Come, you blessed ones, this is the foretaste just for you of that Great Banquet to come when “all trials shall be like a dream that is past, forgotten all trouble and mourning. All questions and doubts have been answered at last, when rises the light of that morning.”
In the Name of the Father + and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
This morning we hear from the Book of Proverbs. That book is full of wisdom and insight and good instruction. It is catechesis from a father to his son on what is true wisdom. What is really important. An appropriate lesson not just for the celebration of this day, but a lesson sorely needed in our world today. Proverbs speaks in pithy, concrete terms that are direct and easy-to-understand. In chapter six, it enumerates the things God hates. There are seven. Haughty eyes. A lying tongue. Hands that shed innocent blood. A heart that devises wicked plans. Feet that make haste to run to evil. A false witness who breathes out lies. One who sows discord among brothers. (Pr 6:16-19).
Seven is good. A holy number. But based on God’s behavior in Holy Scripture, it seems like there should be an eighth. Maybe they missed one? It is this: “People whose priorities are out of whack.” It doesn’t sound very sinister or wicked. But we know God hates it.
Why did God in the days of Noah, destroy the world with a flood? Jesus says it this way just a little later in Luke, They were eating and drinking and marrying and being given in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all (Lk 17:27). They had other priorities. Concerned themselves with other things.
Why did God send fire on Sodom and Gomorrah in the days of Lot? Jesus puts it this way, They were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building, but on the day when Lot went out from Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all (Lk 17:28-29). In other words, their priorities were out of whack.
Today our Lord Christ, who is dining at the house of a Pharisee, compares the Ministry of the Holy Gospel and the Kingdom of God, to the invitation to and feasting in a Great Banquet. This is something God the Father had prepared. Something He now rejoices to impart that others may share in His joy. He already invited them. They RSVP’d they'd come. But when the second invitation arrives saying, Come, everything is now ready, they are too busy wth their earthly pursuits to cherish the invitation. They all have excuses.
Now, they’re not flimsy excuses, dear Christians. One asks to be excuses to see a field he bought. That’s a big business deal. One asks to be excused because he needs to try out five yoke of oxen. One just got married and he need to be with his new wife. All busy with good things. Godly things. Their vocations.
But it left no time for ultimate things. There comes a time to leave the field, put down the plow, bring your new wife alone and rejoice with those who rejoice. St Paul writes to the Corinthians saying, From now on let those who deal with the world as though they had no dealing with it. For the present form of this world is passing away. I want you to be free from anxieties (1 Cor 7:31-32). But the men in this parable weren’t. They were too preoccupied. Too busy to love what God loves, their lips would not be tasting any banquet. A spurned God would see to it that they would be tasting eternal death.
Too busy, too preoccupied with good things to cherish ultimate things like the Ministry of the Gospel, like the Feast of the Kingdom. And that’s often our story too. We don’t hold back when it comes to spending on ourselves. But we hold back in supporting the Church and the Ministry of the Gospel because its not as important for us. We’re not too busy to do what we want to do, but some days we’re too busy and too preoccupied to pray even one “Our Father” for the sake of our neighbor. Once glance at your banking app, one glance at the timesheet of your life and it would be obvious what your highest priorities are. Is it Jesus? His Gospel? His Kingdom?
Repentance is needed, dear Christians. We are simple, as Lady Wisdom calls us. Let us turn in repentance and be gathered to Her Table.
Hear again the pithy wisdom from Proverbs: The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight. Here is further insight about that Holy One. That Holy One is our Lord Jesus Christ who is abundant in mercy. Abundant in loving kindness. Even to the preoccupied, the too-busy, and those whose priorities are out of whack.
That Holy One is a lot like the Servant in our Gospel who went out with His arms wide open inviting people to the Banquet. He wouldn’t stop until His hall was full. Even if it meant He would feast with a bunch of poor, crippled, lame and blind people; a “multitude [that] comes from the east and the west to sit at the feast of salvation” (LSB 510:1). For His priority was to be busy with one thing: filling the House of Heaven with undeserving people. For that Servant Jesus hated what His Father hated - pride and arrogance and evil and deceit. But He also loved what His Father loved - and that means you.
Here is further insight about this Holy One. He was different from all other men who ever lived. He is God’s Wisdom in the Flesh. He did nothing that God hated.
His eyes were not arrogant, but He had eyes of mercy.
He didn’t have a lying tongue, but a truth-telling tongue, even though it cost Him His life.
He didn’t shed innocent blood. He came to be the Innocent One killed for the guilty.
His heart didn’t plot evil, but His heart plotted to defeat the Evil One and spare you.
His feet didn’t rush into evil, but stayed away from it completely, so that He might credit His holy life to you.
He was no false witness, but the True and Faithful witness to God, the Martyr of martyrs who laid down His life to save you.
He didn’t stir up dissension. He came to bring peace by the blood of His Cross and through the glory of His resurrection from the dead.
He wasn’t preoccupied with other things. In fact, His only preoccupation was to save sinners, love them, and make them holy.
For He Himself is our peace, who has made us one and has broken down in His flesh the dividing wall of hostility, so making peace, reconciling us to God in one body through the Cross. Through Him we have access in one Spirit to the Father. You are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the Cornerstone.
People loved by God, here is further insight into that Holy One. He made no excuses despite the difficulty of His task; the great personal risk He took upon Himself. He owned everything, all the fields in the world, but He came to be poor and give it all up, so that you might be rich and that this redeemed world might be given back to you.
He wasn’t tempted with the purchase of oxen, but He was the Ox, the Sacrifice who carried your sins to the Cross to tread them under His feet and destroy them.
And Jesus didn’t get married. For He already had a wife whom He loves and cherishes, His holy Church, His Beloved Bride, for whom He laid down His life and whose blemishes He refuses to see.
Our God is indeed a God who hates certain things. If that makes you uncomfortable, go read the Ten Commandments. But chiefly He is a God who loves certain things. Things like bestowing His mercy on the contrite. Giving a Kingdom to humble beggars. Rejoicing with all His angels in heaven over one sinner who is not too preoccupied to repent.
Blessed is everything who will eat bread in the Kingdom of God! We are all beggars, this is true. So come, dear children, for the Bread is here. Come, you blessed ones, this is the foretaste just for you of that Great Banquet to come when “all trials shall be like a dream that is past, forgotten all trouble and mourning. All questions and doubts have been answered at last, when rises the light of that morning.”
In the Name of the Father + and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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