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“And He came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near,” (Ephesians 2:17, English Standard Version).
Do you ever invite unfriendly people, or people you do not get along with, over to your homes to eat a meal with you? The rude neighbor? The coworker who is a jerk or causes trouble? The overly demanding boss? The friend who stabbed you in the back? The hot–tempered or quarrelsome sibling, parent, uncle, aunt, or child? The person who can't stand Lutheran theology, who just can't stand the idea of infant baptism, who thinks we are too old fashioned singing this strange old liturgy and those ancient hymns? Or that person who disagrees with our political viewpoints all the time?
Part of having someone over for dinner, or accepting an invitation to a dinner, is for the company and the conversation. You want to spend time with the person you invite. You want to hear from that person and hear about what that person is doing in their life. Even better, you want to show hospitality to the person. You want to be able to show and tell them that they are an important part of your life. Often, we invite people over for dinner, because we have something important to tell them or news to share with them.
“A certain man was continually preparing a great banquet, and He invited many, and at the time of the banquet He sent His servant to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come, for already it is prepared.’” (Luke 14:16–17, my translation).
Now a banquet like the one in today's Gospel lesson is both dinner and the speech. And conversation about the speech. You cannot eat and run. You must stay for the speech. If you do not want to hear the message of the person hosting the banquet, or you do not want the meal, or you do not want to be with the host or the other guests for an evening, perhaps you decline the invitation.
One year during my previous vocation when I was particularly disgusted with how things were going in my company, our company Christmas party invitation came. Something was amiss. The company went cheap on us. Previous years' Christmas banquets had been at the Kentucky Derby Museum at historic Churchill Downs or at other fancy Louisville locations catered by first class caterers. The drinks were free. Not so that year. We were reduced to a Holiday Inn at the airport catered by the hotel kitchen, and drinks were no longer free — “cash bar”. Not exactly an exciting invitation to me.
The company president and owner would probably tell us what he often said — how wonderful everything could be if we would just work a bit harder, run a bit leaner — but with a “Merry Christmas” attached. I didn't want to hear that lousy message. I didn't want to eat the meal, go to that location, pay for my drinks. So, I came up with a convenient excuse and avoided the whole thing. I declined the banquet, such as it was.
But unlike my company Christmas party, or unlike our responses to other invitations, there is no justification for missing the great banquet that Jesus speaks of. It is fully and lavishly prepared. Everything is free. Nothing is lacking. The location is perfect and heavenly. The Host is Divine. The meal is Holy. The speech is full of comfort and glad tidings. The other guests are saints.
The man who is preparing this banquet has something important to tell. He has Good News to share. He wants to show hospitality. He wants the company He invites to know how much He loves them and cares for them. This host is none other than our Heavenly Father.
Now, the wisdom of this world says: Invite those to your banquet who will invite you back to repay the favor. This world's wisdom says to invite those who are on your team — only those who are close to you, only those who will show you love back in return. This world's wisdom says that you do not invite those with whom you do not get along with to the banquet. One does not eat with enemies. The wisdom of this world says to avoid confrontation, avoid hurt feelings, avoid uncomfortable moments, avoid that which might sting or wound.
The Heavenly Father did not follow the wisdom of this world. He has His own wisdom, a foolishness that is wiser than all the collected wisdom of this world. He has “prepared a table for [us] in the presence of [our] enemies,” (Psalm 23). His cup overflows anyway! God the Father sent His only begotten Son into the world that hates Him to invite many to His great banquet. “He came and preached peace to you,” the apostle tells us. “Come, for already [the banquet] is prepared,” Jesus says. “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.”
Your Father in heaven has invited you through the Gospel and in Holy Baptism to His banquet despite your inherent rebellion and sinfulness. Despite your unwillingness to give up on your idolatry and the pet sins we all like to resort to. Despite the fact that before God's righteous Law, you are only worthy of death and eternal damnation, He still invites and calls you in by the Gospel. Despite the hostility that exists between you and God due to sin, despite your scoffing at His Word of invitation, despite your sinful excuses, despite your wickedness, despite your hatred.
Despite all these things, you remain invited and called to come in. While the Law of God calls for repentance, the Gospel promises your forgiveness. Christ's blood shed on the cross has atoned for your sins, has made peace for you with God. The Gospel received in Word and Water remains your sure and certain and eternal invitation and call to God's great banquet.
This banquet is some feast. It is, even now, already prepared. The Servant who has been sent to gather the invited in has also been made the banquet speaker and the meal as well. He preaches His Gospel to you. His Holy Spirit works faith and repentance in you. He feeds you with His own Body and Blood for the forgiveness of sins. Here you have a heavenly banquet on earth — hidden under earthly means, for sure, but nonetheless the very fullness of heaven itself.
“But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who has… broken down in His flesh the dividing wall of hostility… so making peace, [that He] might reconcile us… to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And He came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near,” (Ephesians 2:13–17, ESV). “Come, for already [the banquet] is prepared.”
But wouldn't you know it? Despite all of the wonders of this banquet — despite the peace with God that is offered so freely on account of Jesus' blood and righteousness — there are still so many who turn down the invitation, as if it is a cheap cash bar banquet at a low rent motel, and as if the dinner speaker has nothing important to say, nothing that He can give them that will make them happy.
“And they began one and all to reject and avoid [the invitation]. The first said to Him, ‘I bought a field and I need to go out to see it. I ask you to have me down as having refused to accept the invitation.’ And another said, ‘I bought five yokes of oxen and I am traveling to approve of them. I ask you to have me down as having refused to accept the invitation.’ And another said, ‘I married a wife and because of this I am not able to come.’” (Luke 14:18–20, my translation).
Notice that everything else has become an idol. A new piece of property. A new home. A new set of oxen. A new car. A new boat. It's easy to draw the parallels with today's materialism. At least they ask to be excused. They might still come at a later date.
But the husband with a new wife — he does not even ask to be excused. He just will not show up, ever. How many young men and women from this congregation and others like it marry spouses that do not agree with them on Christian doctrine and then fall away from the Evangelical Lutheran faith to which they vowed at their confirmation they would suffer all, even death, rather than fall away from? Too many! Think of what might happen to the size of our congregations if parents and children were more discerning and careful about who was marrying into their family, lovingly insisting on unity in faith and doctrine before children take marriage vows. Large and extended families, with pews full of children and grandchildren, in the Divine Service are God's method of “church growth”!
So, are we surprised that so many reject the great banquet that happens here every Sunday in the Divine Service, this “foretaste of the feast to come”? Are we surprised so many reject the final great banquet to come on the Day of Resurrection? Idols of many shapes and sizes — the allurements of the devil, the world, and our flesh — are enemies of God's banquet and God's message. Guilt and shame keep many away. The devil has convinced them they ought never to deserve such a kind and loving invitation. Satan will do whatever it takes to keep people from God's great banquet, from faith in God's Son Jesus Christ, from the message of peace with God that Jesus comes to preach to us.
What happens? Does the Host give up? Does the servant quit issuing invitations?
Not on your life! “You lead [them] in here,” the Host orders the Servant. Our Lord Jesus Christ has all along been going out to all the ends of the earth to bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame. “Lord, it has been done and continues to be done as You ordered, and still there is a place,” the Son responds. The Host insists, “Go out [everywhere] and compel [people] to enter in so that my house might be filled,” (Luke 14:21–23, my translation).
Until the Last Day comes, God will continue to come and preach peace to us through His Son. He will continue to call those near and far off — those who are poor in spirit, crippled by sin, blinded by idolatry, made lame by guilt and shame. He will not give up until He has safely gathered in His banquet guests, until He has filled His heavenly banquet. The food and the message are that important, eternally vital, packed with all the love and grace that God has and is.
And if, until the end of time, our Heavenly Father insists that His Son continues to invite and lead all of the hurting people of this world to His banquet, and if His Son continually obeys His Father's will, and, out of love for His people, continues to come to those far and near and preach peace to you and to them, and if we by faith in Christ have been made members of His body, then how can we do otherwise? How can we not invite all those around us to this great weekly banquet? How can we not confess the peace, love, mercy, and comfort that is so freely given us here to our family, friends, and neighbors who are not here right now, who even now are sitting elsewhere ignoring and rejecting their invitation to life and peace in Jesus Christ?
Remember, forgiven and redeemed banquet guests, as you travel the highways and byways of this world, as you suffer the indignation of the rejection that this world has for Christ and His Gospel invitation, as you bear your crosses brought on by the devil, the world, and our sinful flesh, just how vital and wonderful and comforting this banquet and this message of peace from Christ is. It is a heavenly banquet feast, brought to earth to forgive, strengthen, and comfort you. It is the single most important, eternally vital thing God gives you to participate in by faith each and every week. Through this banquet and its message, God gives you faith in Christ, forgiveness of sins, the seal and guarantee of eternal life and resurrection from the dead.
Pray that, by faith in Christ and the power of His Holy Spirit, we might freely confess this joyous banquet feast to all the world and, without fear, continue to lovingly invite those who are missing and even now have a place prepared for them, and that, by God's grace, they might joyfully come to hear and eat of this heavenly feast. God grant our prayer for Jesus' sake. Amen.
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
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