Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.
Text: (Luke 14:15-24)
And the time came for the banquet he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited, “Come, for everything is now ready.” – “Go out into the highways and hedges and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled.”
Kä min ci gua̱a̱th mie̱th cop, cuɛ läätdɛ ja̱k, kɛ ɣöö bɛ nɛy tin ca cɔl jiök i̱, "Bia, ci ti diaal rialikä ɛn täämɛ." -- "Wër duɔ̱pni tin dit kɛnɛ jɔk wec, jakni naath kä bä kɛ ɣöö dɔ̱ŋ bi dhɔrä thia̱a̱ŋ."
Prayer: Lord God, our heavenly Father, enlighten our darkness with the light of your Holy Spirit, so that I may preach well and we all may hear well, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
At the of the Gospel of Mark, when Jesus is about to ascend into heaven, he says to his apostles: “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole of creation.”
In our reading today, we learn about God’s invitation to all people to come to his banquet. You are included in that invitation. God says to you today: “Come for everything is now ready.”
You can be sure that you are included in that invitation – God wants his house to be filled. Every one is called. There is not a single person in the whole world that is not called to faith, there is not a single person in the whole world whom God does not call to eternal life, to heaven, to be part of his holy church on earth, to hear his Word.
As a church, we are here because people were sent to all the corners of the world. There is not a single person who is part of God’s church on earth who was not called by God to be there. Anyone who walks through the door of a church, who finds themselves standing in the middle of the gathering of the church, was put there by God – you might have come to church for all sorts of reasons, and you might have come for all sorts of bad reasons – maybe you’re here because it your parents nagged you to come, maybe you’re here because you like the company of certain people, maybe you’re here because it makes you feel you’re a good person and it makes you look good, maybe you’re here because you’ve always come to church and you’ve never really thought why. Whatever your reason is, God has brought you here. And now that you’re here he wants you to listen to the call of his Holy Spirit.
We are part of a living church – a living community which God himself has brought together. God is the one who has said to you, “Come for everything is now ready.” Now God is the one who says to you, “Believe in my Son. Believe that he died for you.”
God is the one who says to you, “Awake, sleeper from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”
God is the one who says to you, “Repent and believe the Gospel.”
God is the one who says to you, “Follow me. Take up your cross and follow me!”
And listen specifically to these words: “Come, for everything is ready.”
You might think that your life is not ready. You might think that you’re not ready to follow Jesus. You might think that there are things in your life that you need to fix up first before you come to Jesus. But if you had to work out your life before you came to Jesus you would never come to Jesus.
The small catechism says: “I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ my Lord, or [even] come to him, but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel.”
You can’t believe in Jesus by your own reason or strength. You can’t come to Jesus by your own reason or strength. You can only be called by Jesus. You can only be called by the Gospel. Romans 5 says: God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Christ didn’t die for you when you first fixed up your own life. Christ died for you when you were still a sinner. If you are not a sinner, then Christ didn’t die for you. If you know that you are a sinner, then you can be sure that Christ died for you, even if you are still a sinner. I’m still a sinner, I’m sure you are too. Good! Then Christ died for both of us.
And the Gospel says: “Come, everything is now ready.” Those words are for you. There is no one in the whole world that Jesus Christ did not die for. And if that’s the case, then you can be sure that you are included in that call, you can be sure that your Lord Jesus Christ is speaking to you when he says: “Come everything is now ready.”
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But the problem with people is this: they are so ungrateful. You receive so much comfort from the word of God, you receive so much strength from it. You are so lucky to live in a part of the world where you have a church so close to you that you can easily get to. You are so lucky to have a car to drive there or a bus to pick you up in. You are so lucky to have had parents you drove you here. When was the last time you thanked God for that?
St Paul starts his letter to the Romans by saying, “First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world.”
How does he start his letter? By thanking God for the people whom he is writing to. We start everything in our lives as Christians by thanking God for what we already have. And at the end of our lives, we thank God for what he has given us. At the end of everyday, thank God for the day past. When you get up in the morning, thank God for the new day.
That’s why Luther in his prayers in the small catechism, both the evening one and the morning, starts by saying, “I thank you, heavenly Father…” “I thank you.”
But also, in the same chapter in the book of Romans St Paul talks about unbelievers like this. He says: “Although they knew God, they did not honour him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools.”
St Paul says: “They did not give thanks to him.” Do you know God? Good! Have you given thanks to him? That’s a job for you for the rest of your life. You have so much to give thanks to God for. And you have so much to give thanks for in having the church of God on earth here among you for you to be part of. There are all sorts of reasons why you have come through your life’s journey and are a person of faith. Give thanks to the Lord for he is good, for his love endures forever!
Give thanks, otherwise, as St Paul says: “Although they knew God, they did not honour him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools.”
Don’t be a fool.
Don’t be a person who says: “I have bought a field, and I must go out to see it. Please have me excused.”
Don’t be a person who says: “I have bought fixe yoke of oxen, and I go to examine them. Please have me excused.”
Don’t be a person who says: “I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.”
There is nothing more important in life than to listen to the word of God. There is nothing more important in life than to listen to the Holy Spirit’s call upon you to eternal life.
There is nothing more important. One man bought a field, one man bought some oxen, one man married a wife. And they all claim to be wise, and they are all fools.
What about you? Are you a fool too?
Has there ever been a Sunday where church services have been held where you were perfectly able to come, but you stayed home because you had something more important to do? Has there ever been a day in your life which was not begun and ended with prayer because you had something more important to do?
Fields, oxen, wives, husbands, children, money, cars, houses, food, drink, TV, video games, lawn-mowing, muscle-toning, back-scratching, ear-waxing, nose-picking, nail-clipping: There is nothing, nothing, nothing, that is more important to you than to come to God’s banquet. Anyone who thinks otherwise is a fool! There is nothing more important to you that to take time out from your life to taste and see that the Lord is good. There is nothing more important in your life than that you should hear the word of God and have your sins forgiven, that you should give thanks to him every day in prayer, and that as often as you can to eat and drink the body and blood of your Lord Jesus Christ. Attend God’s banquet when there are Sunday services. Attend God’s banquet in your homes and read the word of God and give thanks to him.
If you have a field that is more important, if you have some oxen that are more important, if you have a wife, that is more important, or a family that is more important, if you even have a philosophy or an idea that is more important, then watch out because at the end of our gospel says: “For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet.”
We read: “The servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house became angry and said to his servants, “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 have commanded has been done and there is still 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.”
Who does he ask to be brought in? The poor, the crippled, the blind, the lame.
The poor! They are the people who don’t have any money to buy a field.
The crippled, the blind, the lame! They are the people who can’t walk somewhere to inspect five yoke of oxen.
God’s never going to cancel the banquet. The invitation always still stands. But why wait till your legs are cut off before you come? Why wait until you have no field any more, why wait until you don’t have any eyes to look at any oxen? Why wait until there is no wife anymore, no husband, no children? Why wait until all these things are taken away before you will listen to God’s invitation to you?
But you see, the food is so good. Because the food is Jesus Christ himself.
Believe that when you hear the Word of God. Believe that Jesus Christ is actually physically, bodily here in the church every week. Believe that when you come to the Lord’s Supper, that Jesus Christ is putting his own body into your hands and into your mouth, and that he is putting his own blood upon your tongue.
That’s what we believe as Christians, and as Lutherans actually happens here! Don’t waste your chances to come and join in with all the angels and archangels and all the company of heaven!
The reason why we don’t think that church is as important as our field, oxen and wives, is because we don’t believe that Jesus is actually here.
The reason why we don’t think that the word of God is worth listening to, is because we don’t believe that there’s anything there that we don’t know already.
The reason why we don’t pray is that we don’t believe that it does anything!
The King of heaven is preparing a great banquet. The King of heaven makes us the best food we will ever taste and gives to us in the church and will give it to us every day in the rest of eternity. And you are all invited to receive it. You are all invited to come back. And you are all invited to taste and see that the Lord is good. You are not just invited! You are compelled! God wants his house to be filled!
Jesus says: “In my father’s house there are many rooms and I am going to prepare a place for you.”
So come, for everything is now ready!
Amen.
Lord Jesus Christ, we thank you for this comforting passage in the gospel of Luke, and we thank you for inviting us to your heavenly banquet, to heaven, to faith, to be part of your holy church on earth. Strengthen us the food of your word, and the food of your supper, and strengthen us with your Holy Spirit. Amen.
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