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Proverbs 9:1-10 + 1 John 3:13-18 + Luke 14:15-24
We’re talking about banquets today. We’ll have a little banquet after church in honor of the fathers on Fathers’ Day. In the lesson from Proverbs, wisdom sets out a banquet of knowledge and insight and fear of the Lord. And Jesus told the parable of the Great Banquet. He told it while attending a sort of mini-banquet, a Sabbath supper, at the home of a Pharisee who had invited him so that he and his Pharisee friends could watch Jesus and hopefully trap him in something he said.
But Jesus turned the tables on them. First he healed a crippled man during that Sabbath-day supper and challenged the Pharisees—who were such sticklers about not doing any work on the Sabbath—to show how healing that man was wrong. They couldn’t. Then Jesus noticed how they all chose the places of honor at the banquet, and taught them in a parable that that kind of pride and self-serving attitude was sinful and wrong and would not get them anywhere in the kingdom of God, that God exalts the humble but humbles those who exalt themselves. Finally, he taught them not to invite their rich friends and neighbors to their banquets—those who could invite them back and repay them. Instead, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.”
But the people at that banquet disagreed with Jesus. They thought he was out of his mind. What? Blessed if we invite the poor, crippled, lame and blind? No, thank you. “Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!” Of course, the Pharisees thought that was them, because they were rich and righteous and obedient to the Law of God, because they were good and decent people who deserved to sit next to Abraham and partake in the banquet of the deserving.
Their thoughts drifted off to a magical—and imaginary—kingdom of heaven where they could feast with God. And all the while, there was Jesus, reclining at the table with them. God had come down to earth and dropped his kingdom right in their midst. The banquet had come to them, was right in front of them, but they missed it; they didn’t want it; they didn’t want Jesus for a banquet.
So Jesus tells them this parable of the great banquet, and whether or not it got through to those Pharisees, we don’t know. But we do know that these words were recorded for our learning, so that we don’t share the fate of those who turned down God’s invitation. The banquet of God is spread out before you in the person of Jesus Christ.
A man once gave a great banquet and invited many. The man, the master of the banquet in the parable, is God the Father. And the banquet he gives is his Son. It’s a banquet of the forgiveness of sins, life and salvation. It’s a banquet of adoption as children of the Father in heaven, a banquet of peace and comfort and joy, a banquet of celebration, all wrapped up in the person of Jesus Christ. There is no other banquet that will be going on for all eternity. Hell will not be one big party. At this supper, God himself joins his guests and dines with them forever.
The many who were invited are the Old Testament Jews. God had been sending out invitations to the people of Israel by the word of his prophets ever since the days of Abraham. God had been preparing his people for ages, “It’s coming, the banquet is coming! The Christ is coming! Here are the signs you should look for so that you are ready when he comes!”
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.’ The time for the banquet was the coming of Jesus: his birth from the Virgin Mary, his preaching and teaching, his suffering and dying, his resurrection and sitting at the right hand of God and the sending out of his Holy Spirit. In the person of the God-Man, God had gotten everything ready. Satisfaction for sins had been made by Christ’s death on the cross. All righteousness had been gained for mankind by the righteous life of Jesus. Next week we’ll celebrate the Nativity of John the Baptist, who was the very first prophet send by God to announce to the Jews, “Come, for everything is now ready. The Christ is here. Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near!”
But one by one, those who were invited made excuses for themselves so they wouldn’t have to attend this particular banquet. “I just bought a field. I just bought some animals. I just got married.” I’m just too busy for this banquet. Notice, it’s not that they were engaged in sinful activities. There’s nothing wrong with buying and selling and working and spending time with your wife. But if those things matter more than Jesus, if you’re so attached to those things and busy with those things that you pay no attention to the Gospel invitation, then you’re like the Pharisees that day when they had Jesus right there at their house. The banquet was ready. Jesus was speaking to them, giving himself to them, even offering to exalt them if they would just humble themselves and believe in him. But they had better things to do. They imagined a different heavenly banquet—one with their friends, with their relatives; a different heavenly banquet in which they got to be rewarded because they were good and decent people; a different heavenly banquet that didn’t revolve around Jesus. And so they turned down the banquet that was right in front of their eyes.
Jesus is teaching us clearly in this parable that this is how it will always be with the Gospel. Many will hear of God’s love in the Person of Jesus Christ, of his sacrifice for sin, of his resurrection and of his forgiveness offered freely to all who come to him. But most will find better things to do. Most will imagine a different version of heaven, a version like that of the Pharisees, where Jesus isn’t all in all—where they themselves get to be all in all. Most will hear the Gospel and see the Sacraments being offered—and will refuse the invitation, will not believe in Jesus, will not want him for a banquet.
Now, in the parable, when the servant reported this refusal on the part of the invited guests, the master of the house became angry. Isn’t that amazing? What angers God is not the many, many and horrible sins of mankind. Oh, they do anger him and he poured out his anger on His Son for them. Now he offers a refuge from anger in his Son. But if someone turns that down, turns down the crucifixion of the Son of God—the Father will not put up with that.
And yet his first concern is not retribution. It’s filling his house. ‘Go out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor and crippled and blind and lame.’ Remember, Jesus had told the Pharisees they would be blessed (happy!) if they invited the poor, crippled, blind and lame to their banquets. Why? Because that’s what God the Father does and has always done. He doesn’t invite people into his kingdom because of their goodness or worthiness, but because he is a gracious God who wants to give and give and give some more to people who can never repay him. Here the poor, crippled, blind and lame may or may not be poor, crippled, blind and lame physically, but they are all poor, crippled, blind and lame spiritually. God chooses to dwell with sinners and invites miserable sinners to the banquet of his Son. And those who know that they are sinners according to the Ten Commandments—they are the ones who want to attend a banquet where it is Jesus and only Jesus they get as the host, and as the meal.
So the servant goes out and brings in the poor, crippled, blind and lame. The Gospel goes out from the mouth of every preacher, But, he says, still there is room. Isn’t that good news? As long as this Gospel is preached on earth, that saying will always be true: Still there is room in the Father’s house. Still the door is open to all who wish to dine with Jesus.
The master of the house gives the order to his servant, ‘Go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled. The servant is to compel people to come in—any and all people, it doesn’t matter who you are or what you’ve done. But the compelling isn’t by physical force. It’s putting the Law before the eyes of hardened sinners and putting the Gospel before the eyes of terrified sinners. This is what the Church, through her ministers, is to do, and this is all she is to do – to preach the Gospel and administer the Sacraments according to the institution of Christ. And in a little while, the Father’s house will be filled and the banquet will go from being a banquet that you enter by faith, to being a banquet that you experience by sight.
Jesus concluded his parable, and we conclude this morning, with a warning. For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet. In the end, when it’s too late, those who were invited and refused the invitation will realize how foolish they were to turn Jesus away. But then it will be too late. Don’t let it be too late for you. The banquet is right in front of you again today. Jesus is here, in the Word and in the Meal. Trust in him and feast with him, until the Father’s house is full. Then the banquet will really get going. Amen.
