Second Sunday after Trinity

St. John writes to us in his epistle, “Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you” (1 John 3:13). John is simply repeating the words of Jesus, who said to the disciples, “If the world hates you, know that it hated me first” (John 15:18). Certainly, the world hates Jesus. In our Gospel text, Jesus is dining at the home of one of the Pharisees. But this is not a friendly invitation. During the first half the meal they were watching him carefully to see if he would heal on the Sabbath. He did, of course, and they hated him for it. We’ll read about that at the end of September. Then Jesus began to preach the gospel to his enemies. Why? Because that’s what Jesus does. It’s what he did for you, preached the gospel to you when you were his enemy.

As Jesus was speaking, one of those at the dinner table cried out, very piously, “Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!” (Lk 14:15) He’s not wrong. It’s true. To eat bread in the kingdom of God is a great blessing, indeed. But he is wrong. Here is this man, literally reclining at the table with Jesus, thinking about how great it will be someday: “Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God.” Wherever Jesus is, there is the kingdom of God already. This man, however pious his words sound, is actually confessing an anti-creed, a statement of unbelief. He is sitting next to the Bread of Life, the King of Kings, and he says, “If only we could get to eat bread someday in the kingdom of God!”

So Jesus responds with a parable, “A man once gave a great banquet and invited many. And at the time for the banquet he sent his slave to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready’ ” (Lk 14:16–17). God the Father is throwing a banquet. His banquet is often called the kingdom of God, or heaven, or the marriage supper of the Lamb. God desires that all people would taste of his banquet, and so ever since the Fall, when sinful man declared war upon God and was driven away from the Tree of Life, God has been inviting his enemies to his heavenly supper. From cover to cover the Old Testament is the story of God sending one slave after another to tell his people of the invitation.

The greatest slave of all, is our Lord Jesus. On the night before the Crucifixion, he stripped himself of his outer garments, took a towel and basin, and washed his disciples feet. “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve” (Mt 20:28). Actually, Jesus used a different word: “The Son of Man came to slave.” Because of our history with the ante-bellum South, Americans seem to be allergic to the word slave. So our translators usually substitute the word serve, or servant. If they had studied under my Greek professor, they would never have dared to do this. “No, the king did not send his servants with the invitation! He send his slaves! That’s what Jesus said. If you don’t like it, tough!”

And who are the slaves that God sends out to announce his banquet? In the Old Testament, they were called prophets. They spoke saying, “The time is at hand! The kingdom of God is near! Repent, and believe the Gospel!” Today, those slaves are called pastors. The message has not changed, except that instead of saying, “The time is coming,” we are commanded to say, “The time has come!”

Yes, God has slaves. I am one of them. That’s what New Testament slaves of God are called. This means that I don’t do what I want. I do what I’m told. I say what I’m told to say. A slave is a low position, even a derogatory one. Perhaps this explains why God only allows men to be pastors—he thinks too highly of women. But the lowest slave of all is Jesus. He is the one who says to all of us, “Come, for everything is now ready. The table has been set. The sacrificial animal has been slaughtered.” What animal? The Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. “The wine has been poured.” What wine? The blood of God’s own Son, which he pours out for us, who were his enemies. Can you see the arrogance of the man who cries out, “Blessed is everyone who willeat bread in the kingdom of God,” as though God had something better to give him than Jesus, who was already sitting at the table with him?

People often ask, “If God is love, how can he send people to hell?” It’s quite the opposite. The whole world is already madly spiraling down into hell. We are, by default, born onto a sinking ship, surrounded by an ocean of sin. God, in his mercy, sends his slaves with the message of rescue and salvation. “Come, for everything is now ready.” Through Holy Baptism, God plucks drowning sinners from the depths and places them into the holy ark of the Christian church on earth. Blessed, indeed, are those who do eat bread in the kingdom of God! How do we know that? Because, we’ve been eating the Bread of Life every since God snatched us from the jaws of hell.

But what of those who reject the invitation? Does God send them to hell? No, you could say, they do that all on their own. They jump overboard from the ark, abandoning their baptism, and embracing old sins. They slash the life boats and shoot flares at the helicopter pilots. They try to drown the rescue swimmers. They regard the feast to which Christ invites them as nothing more than an offer of plain bread and wine.

Those who reject the offer of salvation are not always violent in their refusal. In fact, many are actually very polite. Two of three men in Jesus’ parable used the word, “please.” As one of God’s slaves, whose job it is to invite people to the banquet of heaven, I’ve only dealt once or twice with people who refused angrily. Everyone else has been impeccably polite. “I’d love to come to church on Sunday, Pastor, but Wednesday is the day I water my plants.” Uh huh… That sounds ridiculous, I suppose, but so does every other excuse you’ve ever given for not coming to the banquet. Whoever heard of a man buying land without seeing it? Or buying oxen without first taking them on a test drive? The excuses are always silly, and yet, how easy it is to offer them. “I can’t wait for the day when I can eat bread in the kingdom of God.” Would you like to be waited on today by Christ himself as he serves you the Bread of Immortality?” What? Oh no, I’m too busy thinking about how great heaven’s going to be. And also, we have plans for this afternoon. Thank you ever so much, but we couldn’t possibly come.”

This refusal makes God angry. He is angry when people refuse to be rescued. Why? Because he loves them. So he commands his slaves, “Then go get the poor and crippled and blind and lame. Go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled” (Lk 14:23). The banquet hall of heaven will be filled to capacity, and since those who were first invited wouldn’t come, God extends his invitation to the dregs of humanity, that is, to really wicked sinners. He invites people who don’t deserve it, couldn’t earn it, and can’t ever pay him back. In other words, God invites you.

Some people will be offended by this invitation. “What do you mean, we’re the poor and crippled and blind and lame?” But how much better instead to receive the invitation with joy, to kneel at your Lord’s altar, recline at his table, and joyfully receive your place in the kingdom of God. Yes, the greatest course of the banquet is yet to come, amazing beyond belief. But the kingdom of God is already among us. The table is set, and everything is now ready. Wherever Jesus is there is his kingdom. Where his Body and Blood are given into the mouths of his rescued enemies, who are now believers, there is the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation. Blessed are those who eat the Bread of Life today in the kingdom of God! Amen.