Not everybody wants to go to heaven

Sermon for Trinity 2

1 John 3:13-18  +  Luke 14:16-24

It wasn’t part of today’s Gospel lesson, but the verse right before it provides the words that prompted Jesus’ telling of the parable of the great supper. Jesus was attending a Sabbath supper at a Pharisee’s house. And one of the men who sat at the table with Jesus made this comment to Him: Blessed is he who will eat bread in the kingdom of God! That comment, combined with the parable Jesus told in reply, reminded me (somehow) of the lyrics of a country song that was recorded years ago: “Everybody wanna go to heaven, but nobody wanna go now.” That song is actually a very accurate—and terrifying!— description of most people, even of many who call themselves Christians. Everybody wants to go to heaven, in theory. Everybody wants to “eat bread in the kingdom of God.” But nobody (practically nobody) wants to go now. In the song, nobody wants to go now because of all the sinful or, at least, carnal pleasures they still want to indulge in here on earth. That’s bad enough. But in the parable Jesus told in today’s Gospel, it’s even worse. In the parable, everybody wants to go to heaven, until they find out what “going to heaven” is really all about, at which point, many decide they don’t want to go there at all.

In the parable, Jesus tells of a certain man who extended an invitation to a large group of people, an invitation to a glorious supper he was going to host for them. For His own reasons, the host didn’t put a date or time on the invitation, just the fact that a great supper would be given, and they were invited to it when it was ready. And, at first, they all thought, “Blessed is he who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!” Aren’t we blessed for being invited to this supper? But when it was time for the supper, and the master of the house sent out servants to inform the invited guests that the supper was ready, all of them made excuses why they just were too busy to make it. “I have to tend to my property. I have to tend to my business. I have to tend to my family. So sorry. I can’t come.”

And that’s exactly what happened with the people of Israel. Since the time of Abraham, some 2,000 years before Christ was born, God had revealed Himself to them. He had taught them, trained them, explained to them how He had created the world, how mankind had sinned and brought death and destruction on our race. He had revealed to them His plan of salvation and had given them a special place in that plan. They would be the recipients and guardians of His Word. They would be taught the truth while all the nations around them went astray. They would be the people to whom Christ the Savior would be born and among whom He would preach and teach and live. The date and time of His coming wasn’t spelled out in the invitation. But they were given hints and clues, and when He finally came, John the Baptist was the first to announce to the nation that the supper was ready. It’s time to go! It’s time to repent of your sins and believe in Christ Jesus and live under Him as your King in the kingdom of God! You don’t have to wait to die to go to heaven. Heaven has come to earth in the person of Jesus Christ!

So, again, “going to heaven” or “eating bread in the kingdom of God” isn’t just something that happens after you die. It’s something that begins here on earth. The Pharisee who was speaking to Jesus in today’s Gospel account could have begun eating bread in the kingdom of God right then and there. Because to enter God’s kingdom is to come to Jesus Christ in repentance and faith, to submit to Him as your King, as the Son of God whom the Father sent into the world to redeem sinners from sin, death, and the devil, to call us away from sinful pleasures, to call us away from living for this world, to remake us into children of God, who are called to live a holy life on earth as we prepare for the eternal perfection of the heaven that awaits us after this life. That’s what it means to “go to heaven,” to live under Christ in His kingdom, both here on earth and hereafter in what we usually refer to as “heaven.” When the people of Israel, especially the Pharisees, started to realize that, they suddenly found that they were “too busy” to go to heaven. They wanted to enjoy their money and their earthly status. They wanted to practice their religion as a celebration of their cultural traditions, not as anything that had actual substance or truth connected to it. They wanted to live in peace and safety in their society. They wanted to focus on politics and on improving life in Israel. Everybody wanna go to heaven, but nobody wanna go now! God had given His Son to be born as a man in order to reveal God to mankind, in order to redeem sinful mankind, starting with the Jews, who had first been invited to this supper. But the Jews didn’t want God’s greatest gift. In fact, they hated it, hated Him and eventually crucified Him, because He wouldn’t let them have the heaven that they wanted.

And God, the Host of the great supper, was angry with those who didn’t wanna go when the supper was ready.

But God also knew ahead of time that it would turn out this way. In fact, it had to turn out this way so that the Son of God could die for the sins, not only of the Jews, but also of the Gentiles—of all people. God is determined to have His house filled, determined to give people eternal life through His Son. And so He keeps sending messengers out into the world to invite anyone and everyone, Jews and Gentiles, men and women, rich and poor, until His house is full. Anyone who wants to go to heaven—that is, to have Christ’s sacrifice applied to them, to have Jesus for a King and Savior—can go to heaven right now, can become part of His Holy Christian Church through Holy Baptism, can live under Him in His kingdom and taste the supper of God’s goodness and grace and love, both here and hereafter.

Sadly, the Jews weren’t the only ones to refuse God’s invitation. Many who have heard this Gospel, this good news, have found better things to do than to come into God’s kingdom and become members of His holy Christian Church, and many who have become members of the holy Christian Church have since walked away from it, in their hearts, if not with their feet. People don’t want to go to heaven now. There’s too much fun to be had! There are too many earthly goals to pursue. In the end, they’re really not to keen on going to heaven at all, if it means submitting to the kingship of a Christ who actually dares to tell us in His Word what’s right and wrong, and who condemns so much of what our culture celebrates, who requires repentance instead of just putting His rubber stamp of approval on everything we want to do or believe.

But, if you wanna go to heaven, and you wanna go now, if you want God for a Father and His kingdom for a home, both now and forever, then this is the only invitation that works, to enter His house through His Son Jesus Christ, to come into His holy Christian Church through repentance and Baptism, and then to live as members of His Church, regularly hearing and learning His Word, receiving Christ’s body and blood, each day turning away from sin and living for righteousness, being willing to lose everything, to give up everything that stands in between you and the great supper.

Still there is room in the Father’s house. Still the word goes out: Come! All things are now ready! And don’t you dare say you don’t wanna go now, because to say that is to say that Christ Jesus isn’t as important as some other thing or some other person in your life, and that sort of idolatry will keep you out of heaven forever. No, as the hymn said, Delay not, delay not, O sinner, draw near. The waters of life are now flowing for thee. No price is demanded; the Savior is here. Redemption is purchased, salvation is free. Hear God, the Holy Spirit, calling you now, calling you to faith and calling you to remain in the faith and to live as members of His Church. And for as much as we would like — as God would like! — for all men to come to the supper with us, take comfort in the fact that God knew that most of those whom He would invite wouldn’t come, and yet He kept inviting until you heard the message, until you came into His house. And now He gives us some small part in extending the invitation to others along the highways and hedges of this world.

Does everybody really wanna go to heaven? Not everybody, not when heaven is defined as Jesus defines it. But to those who wanna go, and who wanna go now, heaven stands open, with Jesus Himself as the Door, as the Supper, and as the King. May God the Holy Spirit keep all of us here, in heaven, until the day of Christ’s return, when we will fully taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed are those who take refuge in Him! Amen.