The Second Sunday after Trinity – Pr. Anderson sermon
St. Luke 14:16-24 “Come, For Everything is Now Ready”
June 9, 2024 | Christ Lutheran Church
In Nomine Iesu
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Lord God, heavenly Father, we give thanks to You, that through Your holy Word You have called us to Your great supper, and we beseech You: Enliven our hearts by Your Holy Spirit, that we may not hear Your Word without fruit, but that we may prepare ourselves rightly for Your kingdom, and not allow ourselves to be hindered by any worldly care; through Your beloved Son Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one true God, now and forever. Amen. (Evangelical Lutheran Hymnary, by Veit Dietrich, p. 158)
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. (Rom. 1:7, etc.)
The sermon text for today is taken from the 14th chapter of the Gospel according to St. Luke. We read selected verses in Jesus’ name:
But [Jesus] said to him, “A man once gave a great banquet and invited many. And at the time for the banquet he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’
“But they all alike began to make excuses.
“So the servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house became angry and said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor and crippled and blind and lame.’
“And the servant said, ‘Sir, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.’
“And the master said to the servant, ‘Go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled.
These are Your words, heavenly Father. Sanctify us by Your truth, Your Word is truth. Amen. (Joh. 17:17)
In Christ Jesus, who works in you fruits of faith, teaching you all He has done for you in this life, giving you courage and strength for your troubles and for sharing this Good News, dear fellow redeemed:
Whether you were outside playing when you were younger, or inside sitting on the couch watching TV, you most likely heard the cry for the household to hear, or maybe you shouted this saying yourself. “Dinner is ready!” When mom shouted this, you knew that you best get to your seat at the table in a timely manner. Now as we joke around with the urgency of getting ourselves to the table for supper, the parable that Jesus tells those reclined at the table also has a message of urgency. The kingdom of heaven is near, and it is a great banquet. A banquet that you want to be sitting at the table for. You hear the urgency when Jesus tells you specifically that you can come, for everything is now ready.
You might be wondering, “why do those words sound so familiar,” and we will get to that in a little bit. To understand this saying, we dive into the parable that Jesus is telling those around the table. But [Jesus] said to him, “A man once gave a great banquet and invited many. And at the time for the banquet he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’” So, Jesus is not just with anyone. It is a Sabbath and He is eating at a ruler of the Pharisees’ house. This also isn’t the first parable about the kingdom of heaven being like a banquet. After healing a man in their presence, He teaches them about a wedding feast, a great banquet, and then he gets to the message we have today. You might be wondering, “well this is the same thing,” but each message has been slightly different. The first is about sitting in a place of honor. The second is about who you should invite to the banquet. The message we have in front of us today is about who was given invitations.
To find out who accepted the invitations, we simply must read the very next sentence. “But they all alike began to make excuses.” Could you imagine putting together a large, elegant, and expensive banquet for all the people to make excuses. This isn’t even the worst part. They had gotten the invitation a long time ago. This was their reminder and now they have decided that they are too busy. Jesus is addressing the people He is eating with. We know the Pharisees thoughts. They don’t like Him or His message. Jesus is telling them that they have their invite. All they must do is look at the Old Testament. The Messiah was going to come because God promised. John the Baptist had a similar message. “Come, for everything is now ready.”
Well maybe the excuses are valid. Even though everything is ready, maybe it will be alright if we miss it. “The first said to him, ‘I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it. Please have me excused.’ “And another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to examine them. Please have me excused.’ “And another said, ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.’” These look like good excuses and maybe we have even had an excuse like this to get out of something. There are two takeaways here. The first is that the people who were invited were no ordinary group. They have wealth. The second is that in Jesus’ day, these excuses did not work to get out of an event like this. These excuses were insulting to the host. Now we can see how Jesus is painting the standard Pharisee. A man of wealth who only cares about that wealth. We also see Israel. How many times did God perform miracles in front of them as He brought them out of Egypt into the Promised Land and time and time again, they sinned against Him.
It is very believable to imagine the response to these excuses to be one of anger and frustration. “So the servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house became angry.” Everything is ready, and there are times we can have the same excuses. We know that we have all of God’s Word in front of us. We know how this ends. Since we know how it is, the devil loves to get us to use that as an excuse. “Why should you worry about what God says to you in His Word? Just look at what life has to offer you. Yes, the banquet is ready, but you have time to make sure you are ready to go. You don’t need to be in such a hurry.” Whatever excuse we drag out to forsake God and His Word is an insulting excuse. We don’t have to imagine the master’s anger because we know His anger. We know who Jesus is talking about and we know that God looks at our sins with His wrath and punishment.
As the world thinks that this is it, that God is cruel because He won’t accept the excuses, God reveals that He is merciful. The invitation hasn’t disappeared just because we have ignored it once, or twice, or three times. God is very persistent. He “said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor and crippled and blind and lame.’” The parable is about real events happening in Jesus’ day. Jesus has demonstrated this as His message is rejected by the Pharisees and He heals the poor, crippled, blind, and lame. This is the work of Jesus for His people. He is not going to neglect them as they have been neglected. He comes for the sick and needy. He tells them that everything is ready. There is hope for them.
The people in the streets have been waiting for something to happen. As it looked like nothing would get better, it was those who had nothing left who prayed and looked to the Scriptures for the promised Messiah. They knew He would come and make things right. They no longer had to wait. The promised Messiah arrived, and He stayed true to His mission. The banquet is ready, and it is for them through His perfect life. The servant comes with healing, telling these poor sinners that because of their faith, they can take heart, their sins are forgiven. No one would suspect a servant, unless they were looking at what Scripture said.
The parable is not only pointing out how God continues to invite people to the glorious banquet, but the one who is doing the reminding is the reason the banquet is happening. The Old Testament invited Israel as Isaiah prophesied the coming servant. “Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations” (Isaiah 42:1). The servant of God would make everything ready. With His perfect life, the world can’t dispute who He is. He prepares with a message of repentance and forgiveness. St. Paul fleshes out how special God’s servant is, “who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:6-8). This is why the message is urgent. There is no time to waste!
Jesus comes racing to you, revealing with this parable that you still have the invite. He sees you in your broken state. He is persistent. He tells you that everything is ready because He has made it ready. He put on flesh to be like you. He was tempted in every way, and He feels your sufferings. He put all your sins on His back as He died on the cross. Now is the time to turn from excuses. The servant comes to you crying out, “Come, for everything is now ready.” Jesus lived out your life, died your death, and now brings you to the banquet where there is room.
Jesus did not make everything ready to not have heaven filled. “And the master said to the servant, ‘Go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled. For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet.’” History tells us once the new church began; the Gospel was not just for the people of Israel. He died for all and “desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4). So, the church for the last two thousand years continues to share the Gospel through the Means of Grace. We preach about the heavenly banquet and administer a taste of it in the Lord’s Supper. It is before coming up to the altar where the Pastor invites you to “come, for everything is now ready.” A precious meal that brings you forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation.
As there is urgency in taking the Lord’s Supper often, it is that same urgency that the Lord continues to preach to you repentance and forgiveness. In this urgency you hear and see that God is not going to forget you. It is quite the opposite. Repentance is there for the days that excuses have been made. All might have made excuses, but the invitation is still there with God’s persistence. The servant takes away those excuses with His life. He points the world to what He has done, an urgent message for all. Salvation is won and through the Means of Grace it is brought to you. And just like when dinner is prepared, the banquet is prepared for you. The invitation stands. “Come, for everything is now ready.” Amen.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, forevermore. Amen.
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