- Psalmody: Psalm 18:18b-19; 1-2a; Psalm 120:1-2; Psalm 7:11; Psalm 6:4; Psalm 13:6; 7:17b
- Lection: Proverbs 9:1–10; 1 John 3:13–18; Luke 14:16–24
In the Name of the Father and of the ✠ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
We human beings are complex and interesting creatures, being that we are created in the image of God with His good design, intent, and delight, yet with such an image that has been utterly corrupted. We are creatures of passion and emotion, even the stone-faced guys among us, because for every one of us there is always something that will stir us within. Life remains interesting when we discover, whether for shame or for joy, just how those complex thoughts and feelings within us have been handled, how we’ve responded, what we’ve said and done in the heat of the battle. The senses of urgency and anxiety are two that are known to show up together, so intertwined that it is a challenge for us to decipher which is driving which. Guests coming for a visit can create a healthy urgency because we want them to be honored in our home, comfortable, at ease, and warmly welcomed, to enjoy the finest of what we have to offer. Anxiety may arise because we’ve not planned well, kept the place unkempt, and now have limited time to get things ready to the degree that we see fitting for those we welcome.
In the Gospel, our dear Lord says, “A certain man gave a great supper and invited many, and sent his servant at supper time to say to those who were invited, ‘Come, for all things are now ready.’” The urgency was there, but the anxiety was not. The setting of this wonderful meal that the Man has prepared has real urgency, because Jesus is teaching us more than just how to be polite and respectful when invited for a meal, not making lame excuse, but serious consideration, be it on a common weeknight or for a very special occasion or holiday. This has to do with the urgency upon every human soul, and especially for those invited by the Master of the eternal feast. That Master’s feast of salvation has been prepared with great effort and delight of Him Who is providing the finest of what He has to offer, and it’s a great supper to which many are invited. The request for guests to share in His delightful sense of fellowship, solemnity, and salvation has long since gone out since man turned on God in the garden and now His call in a hope that the guests will see what and Whom they have anxiously waiting for them right now.
With this parable, Jesus was responding to one of those who sat at the table with Him who had said, “Blessed is he who shall eat bread in the kingdom of God!”. The man didn’t say “who eats bread” as in right then and there, as he sat in the presence of God Almighty in the flesh. He said, “who shall eat”, future tense, as in good things will come to us later most certainly, for what true value could we have in these evil days? He wasn’t wrong about the blessedness of the life to come, but he wasn’t mindful of the present reality of what Jesus brings about and the significance it demands to be stirred within us now. The man looked past the importance of the day and opportunity of eating at the Master’s, the Lord’s table. May our Sundays and other feast days of our gracious heavenly Master never be cast aside or absented by lame excuse because in each and every one is priceless, urgent treasure unrivaled in all the world! Our resurrection and the feast awaiting us on that final day is a hope and a joy we can depend on. Yes, this is most certainly true. Anticipate it with great delight, dearly beloved in the Lord, but do not discount with Whom you regularly feast now. What is to come doesn’t diminish the significance and importance of what this very present day means. It actually intensifies it, for the pleasures and riches, the trials and heartaches, the temptations to devalue Christ will all be removed then. It is now that we need the Supper to remain the stalwart Feast of feasts in the midst of the dry and dreary land of this life. The Christian, the invited supper guest, wisely embraces and treasures the gift that God gives him here and now. We cannot value the things of God only for future purpose or for the end of our lives. Such is contrary to a Christian heart’s desire. That heart cannot turn its face away from the invitation of its Savior Who is with His bride in the present.
The Master of the great supper, the great feast, the great banquet to come is the Master of today. Godly urgency, the value of His holy things above all others, the utter dependence and desire for the blessings of God, draws His children to Him when He calls. We are to be discontent in being away from Him and His celestial feast. We must understand how great the gifts that He gives in His house are, but even more importantly, how critical they always will be throughout this life until we get to that heavenly feast awaiting us. It is one thing to know where forgiveness is given. It is another to understand how much we need it, all the time, every time it is given. Every giving of the Lord in His precious Body and Blood is a satisfying feast that accomplishes more than we can ever understand or estimate, more than we can ever hope for, both forever and right now.
Prepare yourselves through self-examination before each Divine Service to help you realize more and more that you aren’t receiving a generic forgiveness that you may or may not need. No, in His Body and Blood, Jesus is feeding you specific forgiveness for those specific sins that you specifically commit. Your sins aren’t generic, but detailed, gruesome, and hurtful to yourself and those around you. But your Lord isn’t a generic forgiver either. He forgives your hateful, lustful, and spiteful thoughts. He forgives your forked-tongued words about your neighbor, family member, a person online, or other church member that you don’t like. He forgives your anxiety and feeds you peace. He forgives your specific sins when you repent of them and trust that He has the authority and the grace to forgive you in the Feast of Himself to which He calls you. That’s how and why the Sacrament is so important and so important for you to regularly receive it. Face your sin, acknowledge and confess it to yourself, and more importantly to God, and then come urgently to where you receive forgiveness on the Lord’s Day here at His altar.
Today, our Father in Heaven declares that He still has room for you to be among the great multitude to come from the east and the west to sit at the supper of salvation. He sends out to the streets and lanes of the city, out to the highways and hedges, out to ends of the earth to you. Remember this on Saturday nights and early on Sunday mornings. Remember it with urgency, but not with anxiety. Grace and compassion await all sinners here. He awaits you every Lord’s Day, the one day every week when you go to His house to hear His life-saving Word; the one day every week when you go to His house to eat the Eternal Meal at His table with Him, receiving the Body and Blood of the Son of God given and shed for you as you exclaim, “O Christ, Thou Lamb of God that takest away the sin of the world, have mercy upon us..[and] grant us Thy peace.” Thanks be to God that He urgently comes to us on a regular basis, calling out to His children, His friends, His own beloved and redeemed guests.
In ✠ Jesus’ Name. Amen.
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