The Lord's Supper is for the Repentant :: Luke 14:15-24

O Lord and host of the great supper, You have prepared all that is necessary for us to be blessed in Your Kingdom. Lead us to hear your call and have true faith ... that we know nothing greater than Your feast. Grant us repentance and build us up in Your Word. In Jesus’ Name.

Jesus was at a feast in the house of a Pharisee. He had just finished telling everyone a parable about the Lord’s Great Feast ... of how to prepare for it (Lk 14:7-11), and of how blessed you will be when you attend this magnificent and neverending event (vv 13-14). Suddenly, one of the guests cried out, Blessed is anyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God! (v 15) 

And oh, how right he was! Blessed is anyone who responds to the call of the Gospel, and thus receives the forgiveness of sins. But sadly, though they have been invited to come, some people don’t actually want to be blessed by God ... they are more interested in maintaining tradition or trying to bless themselves (vv 18-20). They aren’t interested in enjoying all that the Lord has prepared for them, namely a celebration of forgiveness. But thanks be to God ... 

THE LORD STILL BLESSES ALL WHO ARE REPENTANT WITH HIS GREAT FEAST IN HIS GREAT KINGDOM

This is our theme. 

I.

Jesus often describes his kingdom ... the Kingdom of God in Luke and the Kingdom of the Heavens in Matthew ... in terms of a great supper, the Lord’s supper. In the Lord’s Supper, God fills every spiritual and bodily need with the finest feast of the kingdom. To borrow the language of Isaiah: On this mountain ... (our sanctuary is part of the mountain of God) ... YHWH Sabaoth will make for all people a feast of rich food and well-aged wine. This is the feast Jesus describes. On this mountain, he will swallow up the covering that is cast over all sinners, that is sin and death. And he will wipe away all your tears (25:6-8). 

And so we are called by the Lord’s wisdom ... Come, eat of my bread and drink of the wine I have mixed. Abandon your simple-mindedness and live (Pv 9:5-6a)

This is the reason we have the Divine Service. Here, in his service to you in his kingdom, God serves his people. He has invited all to receive his gifts that come through his Word and Sacrament in his kingdom. He announces to you in his kingdom that your sins are forgiven on account of our Lord Jesus Christ, who was born without sin so that he could live without sin and be the Perfect Lamb of God who takes away the sin by suffering and dying for you and then rising from the dead as the firstfruit of salvation. Now all who have faith in this Gospel of our Lord will enjoy the same in his kingdom. 

Our Lord is now calling you who have received this true wisdom to come forth to the feast of forgiveness he prepared for you. 

Here, God feeds his people in his Divine Service to you with our Lord’s body and blood, which was given and shed on that cross of forgiveness. He delivers this to you these means of grace even while we remain sinful. By his means, God nourishes our faith to strengthen us for the daily spiritual battles we face against the devil, the world, and our own sinful nature. Blessed is anyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God. 

II.

And still too often we spurn the call to be blessed in his kingdom.

As Jesus told us, a certain man made a great supper and called many. And he sent his slave in the hour of the supper to tell those who had been called, ‘Come, because the supper is already prepared.’ And they all began ... to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a field, and I have the necessity to go out and see it. I ask you, have me excused.’ And another said, ‘I have bought five yokes of oxen, and I am going to examine them. I ask you, have me excused.’ And another said, ‘I have married a wife, and on account of this, I am not able to come’ (vv 16-20). 

The original audience to hear this Word of the Lord consisted of self-righteous and self-satisfied Pharisees who despised the gracious teaching of Moses and the Prophets that pointed us to Jesus. They didn’t think they needed repentance. They actually despised the Gospel. The reason they despise it is because they don’t see their own need for it. They didn’t think they could be forgiven apart from the Law. They want their status determined by what they do, by what they own, by what they produce, by what they give, by their own appearances. They think that the affairs of this life ... farm and field, cow and bull, husband and wife, children and grandchildren ... that these things and so much more like them are more important than the fruits of the kingdom.

After the slave announced to his Lord [what the people had been saying], the master of the house became wrathful and said to his slave, ‘Go out quickly to the streets and byways of the city, and to the poor and maimed and blind and crippled [and tell them] come here!’ 

And the slave told the Lord, ‘what you commanded has happened, and still there is room.’ So the Lord said to the slave, ‘Go out to the ways and fences and compel them to enter in order that my house may be filled’ (vv 21-23). The kingdom of God has drawn near. 

Brothers and sisters in Christ, there is no good excuse for spurning God’s call to receive the forgiveness of sins every chance you can. Poor, miserable sinners need the Lord’s rich, nourishing feast. Apart from the forgiveness of sins, there is only despair.

So hear the call to repent. Repentance is necessary to be a part of the kingdom of God (Mt 4:17). Repent of self righteousness. Repent of setting tradition above God’s Word, like the Pharisees. Repent of thinking this service is your service to God ... and not God’s service to you ... a service of Word and Sacrament in his kingdom. Repent of self-importance. Repent of not listening to the Law and Prophets. 

Wisdom teaches you to recognize your sin and your need for a savior. Wisdom teaches us that living in repentance means you are willing to set aside resentment or ill will. Wisdom teaches that living in repentance means you are willing to stop ignoring immorality in your life. Wisdom teaches us that living in repentance means having faith that it is Jesus alone who delivers the forgiveness of sin. He does this through his means of grace ... through Word and sacrament ... on account of him, and him alone. 

Look, the supper is now ready. The food is now prepared. The invitation is now going forth. Because as Paul told the Ephesians, now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ (Eph 2:13).

III.

This is where Christ makes the forgiveness of sins your own. Blessed is anyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!

Of course, you need to know ... you should in fact always remember ... We compel no one to eat and drink during this service. Baptism and absolution are means of grace that do actually deliver the forgiveness of sins, too. There is comfort in hearing the Gospel of what Jesus has done, is doing, and will do for you ... giving you life and salvation. There is comfort in remembering your baptism. You died in your baptism and were raised into the newness of life with him and in him (Rm 6:3-4). That means your sins are gone. There is comfort in being reminded that the Holy Spirit washed you clean in baptism, making you a temple of God (Eph 5:26-27) so that Jesus can now live in you and you in him (Gal 2:20). Because Christ is with you always, even to the end of the age, you are forgiven (Mt 28:20). 

Yes, the Word of God is what makes all of this possible. This is why the Word of Absolution is so comforting, too. Through the means of preaching, God speaks to you. He declares to you that your sins are forgiven on account of the life, death, and resurrection of our Jesus. 

These are good. But there is also nothing that is more special than actually receiving the forgiveness of sins personally. Blessed is anyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God! 

This is why God is calling to you, announcing the Gospel to you. This is why he has prepared his Supper for you! This feast of forgiveness blesses you. This is why the invitation has gone out to all ... and why it continues to ring forth. It is for you. This is why Jesus has prepared a feast that we can eat and drink whenever we gather. It is for your highest and greatest good.

So come! He is eager to serve all who are poor, maimed, blind, crippled ... four descriptions of the repentant sinner. Come, you who want meaning for life. Come, you who hunger and thirst for righteousness. Come, you who stumble under the burden of sin and shame. Come, you who are anxious. Come, you who mourn. Come, you who long for peace. Come, you who need a savior. The Lord’s Supper is his will to celebrate with you the good things to come in his kingdom. Blessed is anyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God ... in Jesus’ name.