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INJ
St Luke 1:15-24
'Supper Time'
Divine Service
The Second Sunday after Trinity Sunday | June 1st, 2008
Dear Saints,
I always mess up people's names. Not on purpose, but you know how it is, you look someone in the face and you mind is blank. And this is tough when you have a bunch of people in a row.
The worst time was this last Ash Wednesday when we had individual absolution. This is really wonderful, that we come up to the Lord's Altar to hear one at a time “I forgive you all your sins.” And every one was through and I had everyone's name right, and last of all comes B.K. And I put my hands on his forehead and said, “G., I forgive... er. I mean, B., I forgive you all your sins.” Oops.
Whenever I mess up someone's name, especially a man, they almost always respond, “You can call me anything you want, just don't call me late for supper.” You know.
But look, in the parable that our Lord tells today from Luke 14 about the Master's Supper. Everything ready, the meal is prepared, and the servants go out to call the invited guests, but none of them come. They've all got excuses, reasons they can make it. They are all late for supper, they never show up at all, and the master is angry. So the master of the house sends out the servants to call the poor an the maimed and the lame and the blind, and when there is still more room the master invites those on the streets and lanes, the highways and the byways.
Why, we want to ask, is Jesus telling this parable? In these verse Jesus is sitting at the table is Pharisees, eat. And one of them says, (this is the verse right before our text), “Blessed is he who shall eat bread in the kingdom of God.” You see the problem here, it's the word “shall”, the future tense. Here this guy is sitting at the table with Jesus, and he's thinking about the future, about what will happen, about the coming of the kingdom of God, and he is completely blind that the kingdom of God has come, that the kingdom of God is sitting across from him, that he could reach out and touch the kingdom of God. For the kingdom of God is where ever Jesus is, where He is preached and heard and believed and sin is forgiven and eternal life is had. It is the church.
So Jesus tells this parable to say that the kingdom is here, that the feast is now. This supper is the meal made ready by Jesus and His death, it is the feast of His salvation. Coming to church is coming to this feast. “You can call me whatever you want, just don't call me late for church.”
Such a feast the Lord has set for us. The menu is our salvation and eternal life, because the meal is Christ Himself. Martin Luther preached about this feast in such away way that we would see what it is that the Lord invites us to.
Just as a hen or anything else is not kept on the spit and roasted in order to remain there permanently, but upon being roasted is removed from the spit and placed on the table for people to eat and be nourished, have their hunger satisfied and become stronger, so Christ, having suffered with terrible pain on the cross, was afterwards removed from the spit of the cross, laid in the tomb, risen from the dead, and so on, in order that the whole world might have this food. For Christ was the world’s genuine Bread of Life, for Jews and Gentiles alike.
So now this heavenly food, so carefully prepared and subjected to the intense fire of the cross, is served up and offered to the whole world. Wherever Christians are gathered, there you find the table. The preaching of the gospel is the dish. The servers are the pastors. Christ is the food. Through the pastor’s mouth the food is laid on the table and served; for when the gospel is preached, this food is served up and offered. It is embraced solely in the Word and is heard by both young and old, learned and unlearned, rich and poor, and the like. Each person receives just as much as anyone else in the world if only he believes, for it is a food that fills and satisfies; yes, it is possible for the whole world to have their hunger sated by this food. All believers partake of Christ, and each receives him wholly, despite which Christ remains whole, something that does not occur when earthly food, whether a hen or capon.
This food is offered in the following way: the gospel is proclaimed, telling how Christ suffered, was crucified, and died for our sins. Everyone in the world is urged to come and not to stay away, to eat of this food, gladly hear the gospel of Christ, and believe what the gospel proclaims. For to the serving up belong three things: first, the dish, which is the Word of God; second, the waiter, that is the pastor’s mouth; and third, to believe it with all one’s heart. When these three things come together, man’s heart and soul begin to eat, saying, Here is a deliciously prepared hen or chicken; here Christ is proclaimed; I see and hear what this food is, the “roasted” Christ; I am to eat of this; hence, I must believe what is proclaimed and taught in the gospel. Whoever believes this with all his heart eats of this Christ.
So it is that the feast is prepared on the cross and served up in the church. This is not some future hope but our present reality. It's right under our noses.
And yet there are many who look to the future and miss what is in front of them. I hear plenty of excuses for not coming to church. “It's too early. It's my only day to sleep in.” Or this pernicious lie: “I don't need to go to church to be close to God.” This is simple self-deception. You do need to go to church to be close to keeping God command “Remember the Sabbath Day by keeping it holy,” and you do need to go to church to feast on the salvation that the Lord has prepared. People put off coming to church but look forward to heaven. “I'll be close to God then,” but what about now? “Now I'll be close to my flesh,. my desires, my stuff, the things that make me happy.” Repent. Come. The invitation is to all, to you, do not put off the blessedness that the Lord has for you.
But it doesn't do too much good preaching about people who don't come to church, because you all are not those people. You are, after all, here this morning. You have heard the invitation and come to the feast, and are here tasting and seeing that the Lord is good and merciful and loving and compassionate.
For us, then, there is another point. When those who were invited did not come, Jesus says to go and find the poor and maimed and lame and blind. Why? Because these are the ones who cannot repay.
Before the parable we have before us today, Jesus was instructing the Pharisees. He saw how they always went after the best seats, so He tells them that they ought to take the lowest place. Jesus was always humble, and teaches us His humility. Then He says this (and this is Luke 14:12-14):
12 He said also to the man who had invited him, "When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid. 13 But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, 14 and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just."
The poor and lame and maimed and blind are the ones who cannot repay, and these are the ones that Jesus wants as guests.
There is a great danger that makes its way around the Lord's church: the thought that the Lord's mercy demands repayment. This is not true, and is dangerous. But I hear it sometimes from preachers: “Just think of all the things that the Lord has done for you, now what are you going to do for Him?” May such manipulation never be heard from this pulpit, and may the Lord take such wicked thoughts from our minds. The Lord's mercy has not put us in debt to Him. No. The Lord's mercy has rescued us from debt, forgiven our trespasses, set us free.
The Master doesn't want repayment, He just wants you to come, to eat, to rejoice in His goodness, now, today, here at this table. So come, dear saints of God, come to His feast. Taste His goodness. The Lord Jesus Himself has washed your hands and your feet and you are ready to sit at His meal. Come. Believe and live. Amen.
And the peace of God which passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
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Pastor Bryan Wolfmueller
Hope Lutheran Church | Aurora, CO