The Gospel Call Goes Out to All :: Luke 14:15-24
Blessed is anyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God (v. 15)!
Have you ever thought that yourself ... that that’s the day we will be blessed? That the highest possible blessing is the day we get to dine with the saints in heaven and enjoy all the bliss and glory of heaven? Blessed is anyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God (v. 15).
It’s not uncommon for us to think like that, to long for the future. In the here and now, we long for the there and then. And I think that that is a good thing. One of our favorite hymns in the service book seemingly captures that thought.
I’m but a stranger here. Heav’n is my home.
Earth is a desert drear. Heav’n is my home.
Danger and sorrow stand ’Round me on ev’ry hand,
Heav’n is my fatherland; Heav’n is my home (LSB 748).
It’s a very popular hymn, probably because it helps us cope with all the struggles of the here and now as we look toward the there and then. We know we were created for something better. So we ... the baptized saints of God ... long to escape this valley of sorrows.
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But Houston, Jesus has identified a problem here.
If you heard our readings today, you should recognize the who, what, when, where of this problem before us. Who is the certain man? What is the great feast? Where is the kingdom of God? When will we get to eat this bread of heaven?
Jesus gives us the answer. The Certain Man spreads a rich feast for sinners during their lifetime. This Certain Man brings the truth home that God wants all men to share in his Great Feast prepared here on earth. He calls out to all: saints and sinners alike. He calls out to all, desiring all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth (1 Tm 2:4). He calls to all with a crisp and clear message: The kingdom of God has come. When all who are invited become guests at his table, they dine with the saints in heaven. When others spurn the feast of grace, mercy, and forgiveness ... when they make excuses for themselves ... all their desires to reach heaven’s feast of joy might become idle dreams.
Brothers and sisters in Christ ...
THE GOSPEL CALL IS GOING OUT TO ALL: ARE YOU COMING?
This is our theme.
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This Gospel call to a heavenly feast has been going out to all for at least three millennia.
As our Old Testament reading revealed: Wisdom issued an invitation to the divine feast at least a thousand years before Christ. Listen to Proverbs 9[:5-6] again ... Come, eat my bread and drink the wine I mixed. Leave your simple ways, and live, and be blessed in the ways of understanding. The Gospel call to all didn’t stop there. The prophets took the message into the streets and alleyways as well. As Isaiah proclaimed: Come to the waters. Come, buy and eat ... without money and without price (Isa 55:1). Jesus then amplified it, declaring in Matthew 11:[28]: Come all you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest.
And that is exactly what Jesus was doing before our reading. A Pharisee had invited him to his table. And so Jesus came. There he healed a man. There, he prepared us for a better Gospel call to all. Are you ready for it?
Jesus said, a certain man [who] prepared a great feast, and invited many. At the hour of the supper he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited, Come, because now it’s ready. Yet they all began to make excuses. The first one said: I have bought a field, and I need to go see it. I ask you, Excuse me. And another said: I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to examine them; I ask you, Excuse me. And another said, I got married, and on account of this I can’t go. So the servant returned, he announced these things to his Lord, and then the master of the house was angry (v. 16-21a).
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Why do so many of us reject the Gospel call to all? What is it about our land, animals, and family that give us the idea we will be excused from the greatest feast of all time? The feast prepared by the certain man in the parable is nothing other than the full and free salvation God has prepared for all men. The rich foods served are all the blessings of Christ. Do we not long for these things? Do we not believe the word of Christ? Are we searching for ways to despise God’s call to all?
God’s feast is not a buffet. We don’t get to come and go as we see fit. We don’t get to set our land, animals, and family above all things: that is idolatry. We should be longing for the feast. To quote our own catechism on this issue: It is surely a sin and a shame that He so cordially and faithfully summons and encourages us to receive our highest and greatest good, yet we act so distantly to it. We permit so long a time to pass without partaking the Sacrament that we grow quite cold and hardened, so that we have no longing or love for it (LC V 67).
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Brothers and sisters in Christ, repent. Recognize where and when the Kingdom of God comes, and that the Great Feast of the Lamb in his kingdom is now ready. God’s call is now going out to all. Are you coming?
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Therefore, the master said to his servant, Go quickly through the streets and streets of the city, and bring in here the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame. And the servant said: Lord, I have done as you ordered, and there is still room. And the Lord said to the servant: Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled (vv 21b-23).
The Lord is calling to all who recognize their sin and their need for a savior to join him for the feast of forgiveness ... given to you by our Lord Jesus. This invitation comes through preaching, or proclamation of the Gospel, which announces to you the good news of the forgiveness of sins and eternal life in Jesus Christ. This invitation is part of the whole Gospel message: the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ, given through baptism and proclaimed through the supper.
Jesus made that all possible by being born without sin, and living his life without sin. He did this to become the perfect Lamb of God who takes away all your sin. He then carried your sin to the cross, where he ensured your sin would suffer and die with him. God then raised Jesus from the dead for your justification. He has made us right with God.
You know this Gospel message: It is the call meant for all. As Saint Paul wrote in his epistle to the Ephesians: Now in Christ Jesus y’all who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ (Eph 2:13). And nothing is more important than to hear this message. Through it, the promise of eternal life is being given to you.
Though thousands of people all around you reject Christ and his salvation, his call to all continues to be proclaimed unceasingly. Won’t you now receive it? Our Lord longs to have his temple filled. He longs to refresh us with the water, bread, and wine of life ... baptism and the Lord’s supper. Through these means of grace, God enables us then to proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. As Luther wrote: Let this then be said for encouragement, not only for those of us who are old and grown, but also for the young people, who ought to be brought up in (true) Christian doctrine and understanding. ... Since children are baptized and received into the Christian Church, they should also enjoy this communion of the Sacrament (LC V 85, 87).
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Brothers and sisters in Christ, don’t allow Satan, the world, and your sinful nature to keep you from hearing the call to all and receiving the feast of forgiveness. The Great Feast of the Lamb in his kingdom has begun. The value of his Sacrament can hardly be overstated for anyone who wants to know where God is at work in this world. From his Father’s right hand in glory, Jesus continues to distribute to people of every age the very same body and blood with which he earned their salvation. He is preaching peace to you who are far off and to you who are near. For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. Let us, then, heed God’s call to all, and we join with the saints of all time in the common celebration of the covenant he established for us ... in Jesus’ name.