Nothing is More Compelling :: Luke 14:15-24
Compel them to come in order that my house may be filled (v.23).
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, you are cordially invited to attend the greatest feast of all time. You should find nothing more compelling. It is an unimaginable banquet, provided by the Lord of Hosts himself: A feast of rich food full of marrow and fine, well-aged wine. You should find nothing more compelling. It will refresh what you didn’t know was lacking, nourish you into the ages, and give you new life, eternal life. Nothing should be more compelling.
It’s free. Your seat is guaranteed. You know the dates and times. Don’t worry about what you’ll wear: the Lord of Hosts will provide for you. Don’t worry about how filthy your lives have actually become: the Lord of Hosts will cleanse you.
Go quickly, and spread the News. The invitation is yours.
Nothing should be more compelling.
But people everywhere said ... Gee, thanks, but I’ve got more compelling things to do. See, I bought some land; I bought more cows; I got married recently. See ya later.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, I don’t understand why we do this to ourselves. I don’t understand why we always think we have more compelling things to do, more compelling places to go, more compelling lives to live.
NOTHING IS MORE COMPELLING IN OUR LIFE IN CHRIST THAN CONTINUALLY RECEIVING HIS WORD AND SACRAMENTS.
Are you coming?
Our Gospel reading from Luke chapter 14 is one in a series of difficult lessons for us to hear and to learn. We like to think there are more compelling lessons. We like to think there is better good news. But as our Lord reveals today nothing is more compelling than attending the pure Gospel moment of the Lord’s Great Feast of Word and Sacrament.
Christ didn’t invite only Jews to this banquet of banquets; his invitation has been extended to the entire world. Christ isn’t just for a select few; he’s for all of you everywhere, whatever your lot in life is. Christ has been sent to save the down, the out, the blind, the lame, the crippled, the weak, the dregs of society ... He has come to you and me.
Y’all have been baptized, clothed in the riches of the Lord of Hosts himself. Most of you have even confirmed this faith in Christ that the Holy Spirit gave you. You know there is nothing more compelling than maintaining this faith in Christ. Nothing is more important. Because of it, you’re no longer strangers and aliens, but fellow citizens with the saints in heaven.
Yet we skip out on the Lord’s Supper. We spurn baptism. We stop listening for absolution. We act like there is something more compelling in our week, in our lives. But on this side of heaven, there isn’t.
The Parable of the Great Banquet from Luke 14 reveals this truth. Here, Jesus shows us the nature of the Christian faith. First and foremost, there is nothing mandatory here. But it is divinely compelling. God ... in all his goodness, in all his steadfast love and mercy ... saw us hungry and homeless, weak and beaten down ... that is, he saw us poor, crippled, blind, and lame in the streets and the alleyways. ... He saw us being wracked by sin, because that is one of the effects of sin: blindness to the Gospel.
Our Lord saw us in our need, and so he did what we couldn’t do for ourselves ... he embraced us, our life, and prepared a feast of forgiveness for us. He met us where we were at, coming to us in the flesh, being God with Us ... to heal us in the Supper of the Lord of Hosts. He now enables us to hear and to see, to jump with joy though we were once lame, to join the angels and archangels, and all the company of heaven in lauding and magnifying his glorious name as he celebrates ... yes, as HE CELEBRATES ... the marriage of Christ and the Church.
Come, all of you who are weary and heavy laden; He will give you rest.
But don’t wait.
The doors to the banquet hall will eventually be closed to those who spurn the invitation.
When we recognize this urgency, nothing becomes more compelling. The first one to make excuses, said to him, I’ve bought a field, and I need to go see it. Excuse me. And another said, I bought ten cattle; I’m gonna go to test them. Excuse me. And another said, because I married a wife, I’m not able to come. The servant then announced these things to the Lord. And he was furious. (vv.18-21)
It would be a mistake to stress the differences between the excuses. To do that is to miss this point: All of these excuses are dishonest. The real reason those who are called spurn the Lord’s Supper is that, in their hearts, they have a low opinion of the host. They think salvation depends on their lives, their work, their piety. They think they can find their own way, at their own pace. They even think they don’t need the forgiveness of sins. So they say, I’m not going today.
Excuses are a coverup for our own idolatry, our own covetousness. We struggle to devote even one hour a week to our Lord. But you are not the most important. Your time is not the most valuable. And your work does not have to be done this hour. As the Lord says, you can be replaced.
Instead, Jesus is showing us here that we are poor sinners who need the rich, nourishing foods the Lord provides: forgiveness, peace, blessedness, eternal joy and bliss. Nothing should be more compelling to attend than the Lord of Host’s feast of word and sacrament. As Luther reminds us in our catechism: Some pretend that it is a matter of liberty and not necessity. They pretend that it is enough to believe without it. For the most part, they go so far astray that they become quite brutish, and finally despise both the Sacrament and God’s Word [LC VI.40-41].
Brothers and sisters in Christ, in the name of Jesus, repent.
For I tell you that none of those men who were called will taste my supper (v.24).
Instead, confess your sins, and acknowledge the primacy of the Lord. God desires all of you to come to the knowledge of the truth, to hear his promises of grace and mercy and peace. He desires all to return to their baptisms. He desires all men to feast on his abundant forgiveness. He desires all to be one with him. These things compel us to thank the Lord and sing his praise.
What is more compelling than receiving the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation? Fasting and bodily preparation are certainly fine outward training for our lives in Christ. ... but those who faith in these words ... given and shed for the forgiveness of sins ... certainly have what they say.
To be sure, the Lord of Hosts won’t grow weary when we spurn the Supper. He does after all keep calling until his sanctuary is full. Go out swiftly into the streets and alleys of the city, and the poor and the crippled and the blind and the lame ... bring them in here.
And the servant said, Lord, that which you commanded has happened, and still there is room. And the Lord said to his servant, Go out into the roads and to the fencerows, and compel them to come in order that my house may be filled. (vv.21-23)
Now we understand the Proverb of the day that says, Wisdom built her house. God keeps calling. Wisdom slaughtered her beasts; she mixed her wine; she set her table. Just as the Lord of Hosts does for us in the Divine Service. Come, wisdom says, eat my bread and drink the wine I have mixed. Leave your foolishness and live, and walk in the way of understanding (Pv 9:1-2,5-6). Wisdom leads us to the peace of God.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, the work of redemption was indeed accomplished on the cross of Christ, who suffered the punishment we deserve and was raised for our justification ... yet the forgiveness of sins cannot come to us in any other way than by the preaching of Word and reception of the sacraments. The forgiveness of sins is so special that it is compelling us to seek them in these means that draw us closer together to him and with each other. By receiving these sacraments, God reminds us of what he has done and is doing by pouring out his water and word, and giving his body and blood to us, broken and shed for us on the cross. Receive them with joy. They are tangible gifts. These means lead us to embrace the living hope of the resurrection. What could make receiving these gifts more compelling?
Here, we discover something more than just a feast of his Glorious Word, we discover he is not just with us spiritually, but he is here with us physically ... in, with, and under the means of grace. Here, He reconciles us to himself, and he enables us to reconcile with each other. Here, he sanctifies us through the baptism he poured out upon us; he declares his absolution to us; he nourishes our bodies and souls into eternity.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, all the gifts of word and sacrament lead to the divine supper. They all go together. It is now compelling to not despair about these things any longer. The forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation are yours here. Come as often as you can.
For he himself is our peace (Eph 2:14).