Luke 14,15-24 3223
2. Trinitatis 48
Marcus and Marcellianus, Martyrs at Rome, 286 (Diocletian, 284-311/12)
18. Juni 2023
1. ℣ Yahweh delivered me:
℟ For He delighted in me (Psalm 18,19).
O Yahweh, our Great Redeemer; answer us when we call upon You, so that You deliver us from lies, betrayal, slander and a tarnished reputation. Amen. (Psalm 118,5 Gradual).
2. »When one of those who reclined at table with Jesus heard these things, he said to Him: „Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the reign of God!“ But He 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: ‘Enter, for everything is now ready.’ But they all alike began to make excuses. 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 go.’ So the servant arrived 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: ‘Lord, 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 enter in, so that my house may be filled. For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet.’“«
3. Jesus told a number of parables about the reign/kingdom of God. Today’s Gospel pericope is one of them. Underlying this parable is the Jewish concept of עוֹלָם הַבָּא (olam ha-ba world to come). It is a perfect vision of the world that will exist at the end of day once the Messiah has arrived and God has judged the living and the dead, both individuals and nations. Justice will prevail over any injustice that was not addressed in this present world (עוֹלָם הַזֱה olam ha-ze). It is an idyllic place where the righteous dwell following their resurrection in the Messianic Age. This is what the man who said Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the reign of God is referring to.
4. Who wouldn’t want to experience this Messianic Age? Jesus responds that many will unfortunately reject the joy of that age. Jesus arrived to usher in this Messianic Age. Well-respected Jews, scribes, Pharisees and priest were invited to rejoice in Messiah’s arrival. Many of them rejected Jesus and the Messianic Age. First, they rejected John the Baptizer who prepared the people for Messiah’s arrival. Who is this John who looks like a wild-man living out in the wilderness? No, we will not accept him or his message of repentance. Second, they rejected Jesus who brought the Messianic Age into their midst with signs and wonders: the blind see, the deaf hear and the dead are raised. Yet they couldn’t see past the company Jesus kept. Who is this Jesus who cavorts with sinners and tax collectors? No, we will not accept him or his signs.
5. Jesus spoke directly to their rejection. »To what then shall I compare the people of this generation, and what are they like? They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling to one another: „We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not weep.“ For John the Baptizer has come eating no bread and drinking no wine, and you say: „He has a demon.“ The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say: „Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!“ Yet wisdom is justified by all her children.« (Luke 7,31-35). They rejected John’s cry to repent and also Jesus’ proclamation of forgiveness.
6. The scribes and Pharisees weren’t the only ones who rejected Yahweh’s invitation to eternal life. After Jesus’ teaching that He is the Bread of everlasting life, many of His disciples turned back and no longer walked with Him (John 6,66). Even today people are offended at some of the things Jesus said or didn’t say. He doesn’t fit their preconceived ideas of who He should be. He said challenging things that they cannot accept. They won’t accept His Divine claims. They reject His death as the vicarious sacrifice for sin. And a host of other excuses they give for rejecting Jesus’ invitation. Some Christians take Jesus for-granted and simply remove themselves from His presence in the Word and Sacraments.
7. The Psalmist exhorts us: »For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture. Today, if you hear His Voice, then do not harden your hearts« (Psalm 95,7a.8a). Do not test Yahweh and try Him, for to do so incurs His wrath (Psalm 95,9.11). The generation that Moses lead out of Egypt tested and tried Yahweh, and He declared: they shall not enter My rest (Psalm 95,11). Those who despise Jesus’ invitation to eternal life through Him risk everlasting condemnation unless they repent.
8. Jesus is gracious and merciful. He welcomes the despised, the outcast and even the worst of sinners to His banquet. He even seeks them out. His banquet hall will be full, for every rejection will be filled by one who rejoiced in the invitation. Jesus is patient and long suffering. The Parable of the Prodigal Son teaches how merciful and forgiving God the Father is to those lost in sin. The parable concludes with this statement: »It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found« (Luke 15,32).
9. The banquet feast in the reign of God will be full of sinners who were given the invitation to eternal life and they received this invitation with faith and great joy. We sho have believed enter that rest of the reign of God (Hebrews 4,3). Jesus gives us a foretaste of this heavenly banquet in the Lord’s Supper. When He institutes this Sacrament in the Synoptic Gospels, Jesus declares that we will partake it with Him in the reign of God (Matthew 26,29; Mark 14,25; Luke 22,15-18). Paul tells us that whenever we eat this bread and drink this cup, we proclaim Jesus’ death until He returns (1. Corinthians 11,26).
10. Irenaeus writes: „But our opinion is in accordance with the Eucharist, and the Eucharist in turn establishes our opinion. For we offer to Him His own, announcing consistently the fellowship and union of the flesh and Spirit. For as the bread, which is produced from the earth, when it receives the invocation of God, is no longer common bread, but the Eucharist, consisting of two realities, earthly and heavenly; so also our bodies, when they receive the Eucharist, are no longer corruptible, having the hope of the resurrection to eternity“ (Against Heresies IV, 18, 5).
11. Jesus has brought the Messianic Age and the Messianic banquet into our midst, proclaiming: »I am the Bread of life; whoever comes to Me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in Me shall never thirst. All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and whoever comes to Me I will never cast out. For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in Him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the Bread of life. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is My flesh. For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.« (John 6,35.37.40.47-48.51.55-56).
12. Come here, souls afflicted,
By misery and grief oppressed,
To God your hearts unite,
Who blesses you with delight.
Come, lay aside your fears
And sin’s doubt and tears;
Receive the mystery sublime,
Sent by God from heaven in time (Kommt her, ihr seid geladen elkg 243,3 2021 Ernst Moritz Arndt 1819).
This is most certainly true.
12. The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4,7). Amen.
13. Let us pray. O almighty and Eternal God, who fillest all space, whom nevertheless no space can contain, from Thee as the Source of all things we have our being; to Thee as the end of all things we draw near; we acknowledge that every good and perfect gift is from above; may Thy blessing therefore descend upon us, Thy servants, who apply ourselves to our work or studies; inspire us in our enterprise, help in our endeavors, promote our designs, purify our minds that yearn to know themselves and Thee; be present with us, and direct such works as we undertake in dependence on Thee and devote to Thy honor; O Father of lights, give us discernment to know the truth; O Father of spirits, give us courage to uphold what we know to be true; O Prince of Peace, grant us wisdom to labor for peace, to uproot evil, to worship Thee with one heart and one mouth and to pay Thee due reverence, to the glory of Thy Name, the good of Thy Church, the increase of piety and the salvation of our own souls. Amen. (2. Trinitatis, Vespers Collect. The Daily Office.)
To God alone be the Glory
Gode ealdore sy se cyneþrymm
✠
All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4. Edition © 1990 Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, Septuaginta, Vol. I and II 2. Revised Edition © 2006 Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 28. Revised Edition © 2012 Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart.
Evangelisch-Lutherisches Kirchengesangbuch. Copyright © 2021 Selbständige Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche, Hannover.
The Daily Office. Copyright © 1965 Concordia Publishing House.
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