The Here and Now Banquet
Luke 14:15-24
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.
St. Luke 14:15 Now when one of those who sat at the table with Him heard these things, he said to Him, “Blessed is he who shall eat bread in the kingdom of God!”
Dear fellow redeemed in Christ our Lord… Are you looking forward to heaven or are you more of a “here and now” minded person? Are you anxiously awaiting that banquet that God has prepared for those who love him, that marriage feast of the Lamb, or are you more caught up in what’s going to be on the table at today’s church picnic?
As God’s people, you have every reason to look forward, into the future, to the day of Christ’s return when He makes everything new and removes all the things that cause people to sin and to suffer. Now is not the time when suffering is taken away; that will happen when Christ returns. Here is not the place where sin and death cease to torment us; that will take place in the new creation and at the banquet God is preparing for us there. Certainly, we long for that feast.
But for those of us who are more here and now minded, God doesn’t disappoint. The banquet Jesus is referring to in our Gospel today with his parable of the great banquet is ultimately the future heavenly banquet. But it is also a banquet that has already begun here on earth. And you will miss out on that future banquet in heaven if you decline his invitation to the banquet on earth. The banquet is here; the banquet is now.
The setting for Jesus’ parable is the home of a Pharisee where Jesus had been invited to attend a little banquet. He was invited, it says, so that all the Pharisees there could keep an eye on him and maybe trap him in something he said or did. As usual, Jesus warned the Pharisees about their pride and self-centeredness, which showed itself in how they all went after the most important seat at the banquet.
One of them who heard Jesus’ warnings decided to change the subject and preach his own little sermon, “Blessed is the man who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God.” That sounds nice, but the man was missing the point. He was already missing the feast in the kingdom of God, because he had Jesus right there in front of him, and still didn’t want him for a Savior.
So, Jesus told another banquet parable, of a certain man who was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests. That “certain man” is God the Father Almighty. The invited guests were the Jews, the children of Abraham. And the banquet is the kingdom of God, the banquet with God that is here and now. The banquet is God’s salvation itself, redemption, forgiveness of sins, eternal life, adoption as God’s sons, a place in God’s family.
That banquet began when Christ came. Jews and Gentiles alike were completely lost in their sin. But God had finally fulfilled his ancient promise to step into human history, to send his Son as the Substitute for sinful man, as the sacrifice that paid for all sin, as a sacrifice that allows sinners back into the good graces of a holy God. The coming of Christ ushered in this great banquet, the kingdom of God itself, because in Christ God was reconciled to sinners. The banquet is here! The banquet is now!
And so, the Gospel went out in Israel, preached by Jesus, but also by John the Baptist and by Jesus’ disciples: “Come and celebrate at the banquet of God. Jesus is the Christ, your Savior from sin, death and hell! Repent of your sin and trust in Him as your Savior! God is a gracious Father to all who believe in his Son.” God the Father was so pleased to give his Son, and He dearly wanted to celebrate this gift with the Jews, His Old Testament people that He had put up with and even carried on eagle’s wings for two thousand years. At the time of the banquet He sent His servant to tell those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’
But they, for the most part, said, “No, thanks. We have better things to do.” They all alike began to make excuses. The first said, ‘I have just bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please excuse me.’ “Another said, ‘I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I’m on my way to try them out. Please excuse me.’ “Still another said, ‘I just got married, so I can’t come.’
That describes how most of the Jews received the Gospel of Christ. Most of them weren’t murderers or adulterers or outwardly wicked people. They just had better things to do than to listen to Jesus and his Gospel. They had their own work to do for God rather than be fed by the banquet of Jesus’ work and Jesus’ righteousness. They had their own way of trying to be saved rather than trusting in Jesus. They had their own human relationships to keep them satisfied. As a result, they turned down Jesus’ Gospel; they stayed home from God’s banquet.
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But notice what He does in His anger at those invited guests who turned down His gracious invitation. He doesn’t call off the banquet. He doesn’t take His Son back into heaven and call off His plan of salvation. No. He just extends the invitation to others. The owner of the house became angry and ordered his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.’
Notice how God shamed the proud and the wise and the self-righteous. He extended His banquet invitation to the poor and the lame, to tax collectors, thieves, and prostitutes and sinners, to little children, to the foolish things of this world. Those are the ones who heard Jesus’ Gospel invitation to come to Him and find rest, to come to Him and feast at the banquet in the kingdom of God – and they did! Such is the wisdom of God.
‘Sir,’ the servant said, ‘what you ordered has been done, but there is still room.’ Well, that’s not acceptable to the master of the banquet. He wants His house filled. He wants the salvation that His Son accomplished to be received and celebrated to the ends of the earth. Then the master told his servant, ‘Go out to the roads and country lanes and make them come in, so that my house will be full. These are the Gentiles – people from all nations who would hear the Gospel invitation and believe.
St. Paul spoke about this in the Epistle reading for today. “You are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household. It’s the same truth: The banquet is here! The banquet is now! The banquet in God’s household is for all people of all nations! The banquet is Christ and His kingdom: forgiveness, life and salvation, and the Gospel is God’s gracious and sincere invitation to the world to come to the banquet, to believe in Christ and be saved.
Those who believe receive all of that here and now. They already feast with God at this holy banquet, and are guaranteed a place at the banquet in heaven. Those who do not believe but instead decline God’s invitation to the banquet in Christ will lose out, not only on the banquet here and now, but also on the banquet to come. Jesus’ words to the Pharisee who rejected him were very harsh. “I tell you, not one of those men who were invited will get a taste of my banquet.”
This Gospel is rich in comfort for us, here and now. The Father’s will is clear: that His house should be filled – not with the rich and mighty, but with the poor and the lowly, from every tribe and nation. You and I are the ones along the roads and country lanes who have been brought into the banquet of Christ, called by the Holy Spirit through this Gospel to repentance and faith, baptized into God’s name and family, and through faith, we are even now feasting on the love of God for us in Christ Jesus – every day, all the time.
His forgiveness is ours now – His peace, His grace, His mercy – all of it wrapped up in Christ who comes to us in His sacramental gifts. We are, here and now, sitting at the banquet around Jesus’ Word. We are, here and now, about to feast with bread and wine at the banquet of His own body and blood, the food of immortality. And that banquet will accompany you home today, too, as you live your life in Christ’s kingdom, keeping his name holy in all that you do and all that you say, serving him as Lord and King with all that you are and all that you have.
But there is also a warning for us in this Gospel. We don’t deserve to sit at God’s banquet any more than the Jews did, and the day we become too busy or too bored to feast at the banquet of Christ is the day we join the unbelieving Jews outside the banquet hall. Does that mean you’re obligated under duress to be here in church at every service and at every Bible class? No. But consider this: Christ does not say to hear His Word every so often and be content with that. He says through the Apostle, “Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another” (Col 3:16). And he says, “Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing. But let us encourage one another, and all the more as you see the day approaching” (Heb 10:25)
The Sacrament, too, is part of the banquet and is offered weekly here for the same purpose, so that all who hunger for the comfort of Christ’s pledge of forgiveness might receive it. Now, does that mean you are obligated to come to communion every single time it’s offered? No. But Jesus’ gracious invitation says, “Do this in remembrance of me,” not, “despise this,” or, “leave this entirely undone.” As Luther rightly says in the Catechism, those who intentionally, with nothing hindering them, go a long time without communing at this banquet of forgiveness that Christ graciously sets before us cannot be considered Christians. To be a Christian and to yearn for the Word and the Sacraments of Christ go hand in hand.
So, what if a Christian finds that he no longer yearns for the Sacrament? Well, Luther’s advice is just as appropriate today as it was 500 years ago. First, put your hand in your shirt and feel to see if you still have flesh and blood. If so, then you’d better believe what the Scriptures say about your flesh, that it’s incorrigibly wicked. Second, look around to see if you’re still in the world (and if you don’t know, ask your neighbor about it). If you are, then you’ll have no end of temptation and misery before you. Besides that, you always have the devil around you, and if Christ himself suffered at the devil’s temptations, don’t think you’ll have an easier time with him.
Repent of your busyness, your coldness, your indifference. And then receive and believe His absolution: “I forgive you all your sins; I have taken them to Myself; you are forgiven and free to live in My Gospel.”
Come, dine with and on Christ in His Father’s house. You don’t have to wait till you die; you get to dine with Him now. The banquet is here! The banquet is now! Come, for everything is now ready.
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.
