This sermon was preached at St Peter's Evangelical-Lutheran Church, Public Schools Club, Adelaide, 9am.
Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.
In the book of Exodus, we come across an amazing passage, where we read about Moses sprinkling the people with blood of the covenant. We read: And Moses took the blood and threw it on the people and said, “Behold the blood of the covenant that the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words.”
The people of Israel had been rescued from Egypt, and were now in the wilderness, and had received the 10 Commandments. After this, God gives them various laws about how they should set up and establish the worship, and build the tabernacle and the ark of the covenant, and all kinds of things like that. But before all that, we read about how Moses makes a sacrifice and offering to the Lord, and he takes the blood of the animals and sprinkles the people with it.
Then we read: Then Moses and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up, and they saw the God of Israel. There was under his feet as it were a pavement of sapphire stone, like the very heaven for clearness. And he did not lay his hand on the chief men of the people of Israel; they beheld God, and ate and drank.
This is a wonderful passage, and describes an amazing thing, where Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and these seventy elders, go up, see God, and eat and drink in his presence. It’s hard to say too much about this passage, because of the great and wonderful mystery that it describes.
We should keep this passage in mind, when we come to our Gospel reading today, which describes a great banquet. Our reading begins where a man says to Jesus, Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God! And Jesus tells a parable: 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.” Then we read: But the all alike began to make excuses.
Our reading today is talking about these two things. First of all, it’s taking about the banquet itself, about eating bread in the kingdom of God! Second, it’s talking about the excuses that people make who refuse to come.
First, let’s talk about the banquet itself. What do we think that the banquet is? I’d like to consider this banquet in three different ways: first, this banquet is the whole Christian faith. Second, this banquet is the Lord’s Supper. Third, this banquet is the life of Christians in prayer. All three of these things are connected, of course, but I’d like to consider each of these things separately.
So, let’s think for a moment about how the whole Christian faith is a heavenly banquet. Remember that in the Old Testament passage we read before, when Moses ate with God, we read that they saw God: We read: They saw the God of Israel. There was under his feet as it were a pavement of sapphire stone, like the very heaven for clearness. Normally, human beings were not allowed to see God, but this passage shows us Jesus Christ, who will descend from heaven in the fulness of time, and who will allow us to see him, and touch him, and meet him, and that kind of thing. St John at the beginning of his first letter, says: That which was from the beginning (he’s talking about God, who was from the beginning, in fact, Jesus Christ, who was with the Father from the beginning) That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life… that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you. At the beginning of the book of revelation, we also see this wonderful picture of Jesus, where his face was like the sun shining in full strength. This is also like the Transfiguration, where Jesus himself took Peter and James and John with him up a mountain, and his face and his clothes began to shine.
We see here in the Scriptures many wonderful descriptions of Jesus as the true Son of God, in fact, true God himself, our heavenly king. And when we become Christians, we meet this heavenly king, we become part of his kingdom, and he invites us to his heavenly banquet. In the Gospels, we read about Jesus and how he meets people in a humble way, eats and drinks with them, teaches them, gathers them, blesses them, heals them, talks with them. Jesus clothes himself in the form of a servant, he gives a friendly appearance, and becomes just like us, so that people can approach him, trust him, and be with him without fear.
So right at the heart of Jesus teaching about this heavenly banquet, is himself, as the man who puts on this banquet himself, who throws this wonderful banquet. And although he is God himself, he appears in the Gospels in human flesh, so that he can welcome people in a friendly and accessible way.
This brings us to the fact that at the heart of the Christian faith is Jesus himself, but also the forgiveness of sins, as the great gift of Jesus to his people. You see, if Jesus only appeared like he did with Moses and the 70 elders, standing on an expanse of sapphire, if he only appeared like he did in the Transfiguration, standing on the mountain with his face and clothes shining with white light, if he only appeared like he did to John, in the book of Revelation, in radiant light and with glory and power, we would be afraid of him. We would avoid him. We would be like the people of Israel when God gave Moses the 10 Commandments, and say: Do not let God speak to us, lest we die.
So, right at the heart of the Christian faith, is Jesus himself, but then also the forgiveness of sins. Jesus actually comes to meet people in human flesh, in a friendly way, in the form of a servant, as a gentle and humble king, because he wants to give us the forgiveness of sins. And when we have the forgiveness of sins, then we have access to God. We can come into the heavenly banquet, and eat with God.
And, then, of course, at the heart of the Christian faith, is Jesus himself, the forgiveness of sins, but then also the gift of eternal life with him, where we will feast in a heavenly banquet for eternity.
At the heart of our reading, and in its most simple reading, this is what Jesus is talking about. He wants people to come to him. He wants people to receive the forgiveness of sins. He wants people to have eternal life. This is exactly what we read in that famous passage in John’s Gospel: God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, so that whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.
However, we read: But they all alike began to make excuses. We read in our reading that people make all kinds of excuses, and then the master sends his servants to invite others, the poor, the crippled, the blind, the lame, and even to compel others people to come in from the highways and hedges, so that God’s house would be filled.
The three excuses we read about are that one man wants to see his field that he bought, one man wants to inspect the oxen that he bought, and one man has married a wife. Now, of course, all of these matters are very practical, every day things that we often need to deal with. We need land, we need livelihood, and we need marriage, a family. Having these things are all good gifts from God, and are good things to be occupied with. However, they should not be our excuses not to come to the banquet. Rather, Jesus says: Seek first the kingdom of God, and all these things will be added to you.
When Jesus calls you, you should come. When he invites you to his banquet, you should not make excuses, but come. The banquet will happen with or without you. If you don’t come, others will come. But you are invited, and it is a wonderful thing to be part of this banquet: it is a wonderful thing to be with Jesus and to meet him, it is a wonderful thing to have the forgiveness of sins, it is a wonderful thing to have the promise of eternal life.
Now, let’s also consider the fact that the whole way in which the Christian faith is structured, if you like, is around this heavenly banquet. What I’m talking about is that just as Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the 70 elders saw God and ate and drank with him, so also on the night before Jesus died, he gathered his disciples together, and they ate and drank with him. Jesus instituted his holy Supper, which is the heavenly food of Christians. Through the means of bread and wine—in, with and under bread and wine—Jesus gives us his body to eat and his blood to drink. It is a wonderful precious gift.
In the same way that the whole Christian faith has Jesus at its centre, with the forgiveness of sins, and the gift of eternal life, so also in the same way, in the Lord’s Supper, we have Jesus actually giving us his own body and blood to eat and drink, we have Jesus actually, physically, present here, we have him giving us the forgiveness of sins (he says: this is my blood shed for you for the forgiveness of sins), and we have the promise of eternal life. St Paul says: As often as we eat this bread and drink this cup, we proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. The Lord’s Supper continues right up until the end of time, and also for us personally, we receive the Lord’s Supper right up until that time when we enter into the gates of heaven, strengthened in that heavenly food.
Actually, Luther says in his catechism that in the Lord’s Supper, that Christ gives us the forgiveness of sins, life and salvation. Why does he say: “life and salvation”? Luther explains by saying: For where there is forgiveness of sins, there is also life and salvation.
Of course, this makes sense, but what is he talking about, and why does Luther make this particular point about the Lord’s Supper? Let me give an example. Let’s say you have a friend, and you enjoy going around to their house, and doing things with them, and eating at their table, and all that kind of thing. But then you have a fight and some kind of disagreement. When this happens, not only have you lost your friend, but you can’t come into their house anymore, and you can’t come and eat at their table like you used to, and enjoy the many things that they have in their house, and the joy of just being in their company. But if your friend forgives, then you can come into their house again. So also in the same way: in the Lord’s Supper, we don’t just receive the body and blood of Christ, but we also receive the forgiveness of sins, and also the door of heaven is opened for us, and God invites us into his own home to feed us, and we can come in and enjoy his company and all the wonderful things in his kingdom. So the forgiveness of sins gives us an entry into heaven, and this is how the Lord’s Supper works too. St Paul says in Romans: Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we also have obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
But also when we come to the Lord’s Supper, there is a warning on the part of Paul that we should receive the Lord’s Supper recognising what it is that is actually there, the body and blood of Christ, and trusting that this is for the forgiveness of sins. He writes in 1 Corinthians 11: Whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. Of course, all of us are unworthy. But Paul is not talking about that. He knows that he unworthy to receive the Lord’s Supper too. But he is talking not about who we are, but how we receive the Supper. We are sinners, and we struggle with sin, and against sin. We are not worthy to come into God’s presence, but when we eat and drink in faith, trusting that this is the body and blood of Christ, which is for the forgiveness of sins, we eat and drink in a worthy manner, not because we are worthy, but because of Christ and his Word.
Now Paul says here: For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill and some have died. But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. Notice the warning of Paul against receiving the Lord’s Supper in an unworthy manner. He gives the warning of judgment, and even possibly weakness, illness and death. But, if we turn these things around, and consider what happens when receive the Lord’s Supper in a worthy manner, instead of receiving it to our judgment, we receive it to our blessing and for salvation. Instead of receiving it for weakness, illness and death, we receive it for our strength, for our health and healing, and for eternal life. This is why when Christians are troubled, and worried, and feeling weak, and such like, we should go to the Lord’s Supper, and feed on Christ’s body and blood, and trust him to look after us as our Good Shepherd. We commend into his hands our sins, but also our weaknesses, our sicknesses, our troubles, our fear of death. This is why the church has a special ministry to take the Lord’s Supper to people when they are weak and ill and close to death.
But this brings me to third thing I wanted to talk about with respect to this banquet, and that is the life of prayer of Christians. Now, we have a wonderful Good Shepherd, and in our culture, we are often so practically minded, that we make all kinds of excuses not to come to Jesus. Unbelievers make all kinds of excuses not to come to the faith, as we mentioned before. Many Christians make all kinds of excuses not to come to the Lord’s Supper. But also, many Christians make all kinds of excuses not come to Jesus in prayer. We often only come to him as a last resort.
Sometimes when we talk about prayer, it’s easy to think about these super-duper Christians, who are super-spiritual, and who pray in such a way that the words just roll of their tongue. I know that you have worries, and troubles, and things that weigh on you. Bring them to the Lord’s Supper, and bring them to Jesus in prayer. Jesus says: Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.
Jesus has a wonderful banquet in his hand prepared for you. But we often treat him as if he is just so stingy, and never wants to give us anything. At the same time, we know that in this life, whatever he gives to us, is according to his will. If we are poor, if we are sick, if we are weak, if we are anxious, never mind: we are with Jesus, we have a Good Shepherd, and he will give to his sheep everything that they need according to his will. This is what we’re talking about when we read in Revelation, where Jesus says: Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. You see, there’s a banquet here. And so many times, when we feel pressured and troubled and anxious, we know that Jesus is knocking on the door, asking us to give him access to our troubles, and not to deal with them all by ourselves. This is what the Christian faith and the Lord’s Supper and the whole teaching about the heavenly banquet is all about. What’s troubles do you have that you won’t tell Jesus about, and that you want to solve yourself?
Don’t you know that Jesus says: Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest? Don’t you know that Jesus says: I am with you always to the very end of the age? Don’t you know that the Lord is your Shepherd, and that you shall not want, that he makes you to lay down in green pastures, and that he restores your soul? Don’t you know that when Jesus fed the five thousand, that he took the loaves and the fish, and thanked God for the wonderful provision he gave to them before they had even received it?
But also, don’t you know that your troubles have been of great benefit to your soul? Don’t you know that Jesus has never left you, and that he will lead you through every valley of the shadow of death, for his glory? Don’t you know that the place where you find yourself now, is precisely where the Lord wants to have you? Cast your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. He has peace, strength, provision, rest and refreshment, and a rich banquet, already in his hand for you, and he will give it or even withhold it for a time, according to his blessed way that he wants to deal with you. Be satisfied with him, be satisfied with the banquet he gives to you, the Supper he feeds you with, so that whether you are in need or in plenty, you have his glorious grace. When you have Jesus, you have everything. If you don’t have Jesus, you have nothing. You don’t even have your field, your oxen, or your marriage, or whatever else it is, that is your excuse. You are nothing, you have nothing, you can nothing, but you have a Saviour, who is all, who has all, and who can do all!
So come to his banquet. Don’t
make excuses. The Lord of heaven and earth is here, standing on his crystal
expanse, and he prepares rich and heavenly food for you. And blessed are those
who will eat bread in the kingdom of heaven! Amen.
And the peace of God which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and your minds safe in Christ Jesus. Amen.
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