Sermon on Luke 14:15-24, for the 2nd Sunday after Trinity (1 Yr Lectionary), "Turn toward God's generosity"

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen. Meals are inescapably at the center of human life. Eating is a defining feature of our existence—stop eating, and you won’t be sticking around for too much longer. Meals and meal etiquette are at the center of much human culture. A feast or a banquet is an especially important meal—usually greater time and care is taken in preparation; and usually a feast or banquet is a celebration of something significant. Meals, whether a feast or an ordinary meal, are a place where hospitality, friendship, trust, brotherhood, and even forgiveness and reconciliation can be communicated. Meals truly are a key part of our human existence.

Today’s Gospel reading is part of a series of mealtime conversations with Jesus. It’s one of many in Gospel of Luke. Zoom out one step further to the whole Bible, and you’ll find dozens more examples of prominent meals with God, feasts or banquets. They are so important because they are often a sign of God’s presence and the place where He teaches His people about salvation. The prophet Isaiah, for example, 700 years before Jesus’ birth, speaks of a great heavenly feast, a feast of the Messiah, where death would be conquered, and all nations will be gathered (ch. 25). We’ll return to Isaiah’s prophecy later. Our Old Testament reading from Proverbs 9 today also talks about the feast of wisdom, with rich food and a broad invitation to all the simple to come and learn. Meals are central to our spiritual existence also, and Christ comes to be with us and to teach us.

While obviously not every one of those meals in the Bible are the Lord’s Supper, the Lord’s Supper does fit into the bigger picture of that “meal theology” or the theme of feasts in the Bible. Our worship service, and the Christian history of worship for 2,000 years, has been profoundly shaped by that simple pattern set by Jesus, of teaching and a meal. In everyday life we don’t often associate teaching with a meal, but Biblically, table and teaching are strongly bound together. So also today, Word and Sacrament—the outline of our worship.

So what was Jesus talking about at this meal in Luke 14? He’s responding to a person who recognizes the blessing of eating bread in the kingdom of God. This person is longing to be fed by God. Jesus’ tells a parable of a great banquet with many invited.

Notice that two invitations go out. The first invitation was extended to many. We are to understand that these people accepted the first invitation—they RSVP’d if you like. But the second invitation went out when the banquet is ready. Like a wedding reception or special banquet, the food has been paid for, cooked, and prepared, and now the previously invited guests are to be called in. When the messenger goes out to the invited guests, he’s “treated” to three astonishing excuses or refusals! Perhaps with modern ears, used to many excuses, they may seem rather ordinary—but on closer examination, they are not only very rude to the master, but are almost a slap in the face. No one, for example, in the ancient world, would purchase a field without first inspecting it, and doing a great deal of “due diligence.” This is not a legitimate sudden emergency that would cause him to break an RSVP for the banquet. It’s a sign that he doesn’t want to be there. It would be like a man calling his wife and saying, “Sorry hon, I’ll be late for dinner, I just bought a new home and want to go look at it.” Come on!

Secondly, when buying oxen or modern things like a car or costly work equipment, this also is not a spur of the moment decision. Both of the first two guests are simply putting a thin disguise on their obvious disinterest in coming to the master’s feast. They’re not blunt enough to just say “I don’t really want to come,” so they hide it with a lame excuse. Lastly, the third guest simply says “I’ve married a wife and therefore I cannot come.” In Middle Eastern culture, people then and now speak with great modesty about their wife, and this would have been the most offensive refusal of the invitation. The normal response would have been for the man and his new bride to joyfully join in the banquet. But this one does not even ask to be excused.

It is bizarre that anyone would turn away from God’s grace and generosity. But that’s just what happens, and it’s what Jesus pictures through this story. Jesus saw people turning up their noses at, or refusing God’s grace. Many were offended that Jesus was turning to sinners, tax collectors, and outcasts to sit down for a meal and teaching conversation, instead of those who viewed themselves as being more worthy, like the Pharisees. There were certain classes of people they thought just didn’t belong at a table with Jesus, or with the “upper crust”.

There was a mysterious ancient Jewish community, the Essenes, around in the time of Jesus. They were the people who lived where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found, actually. We don’t know about any contact with Jesus, as they aren’t mentioned in the New Testament alongside the Pharisees, Sadducees, or the Zealots—the other sects at the same time.. But remember how I mentioned a really important prophecy in Isaiah 25, about the great messianic banquet? A meal prepared by God, at which the power of death would be destroyed, and to which people from all nations would gather? Well the Essenes thought that no Gentiles would be allowed at this future heavenly banquet. They also thought that no one who had a visible blemish in their flesh, paralyzed feet or hands, no one who was lame, blind, or deaf, could be permitted to eat at this banquet. That’s a pretty stark contrast to what happens next!

When the master finds out that his invited guests have refused to come at the last hour, he does something unexpected. He turns his anger into grace by broadening his invitation to many others. Who? The poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame. Not sure if Jesus was directly commenting on the views of the Essenes, or if others in the audience would have picked up on this, but it’s such a radical contrast, that God is expanding the invitation out to all these who were needy and afflicted. The new invitees are not the rich and the prosperous, who can later return the favor. But they are exactly the people that the Essenes thought wouldn’t be welcomed into the messianic banquet. Even though in society, they were nothing, they are welcomed with great enthusiasm by the master. When this was done, and all these new guests are gathered in, the guest hall is only partly filled!

So the master sends them out for yet another round of invitations—going even further to the outskirts of town, to every person that they can find, to compel people to come in. I understand that this passage was at some points in history badly misinterpreted, to encourage forced or compelled conversions to Christianity, during the Inquisition, for example. But the real meaning in the context here, is that the rag-tag assortment of guests who are turned up from all over town—the poor, the lame, the outcasts, the strangers—they can hardly believe the invitation is serious! They can hardly believe that they should be welcome at the grand banquet of this wealthy master, who had invited so many special guests. Surely, they were not really wanted. But yes! The master says “Compel them to come in!” You might have to take them by the hand and bring them in—I really do want my house to be filled!

God has sent us to do this very thing. None of us were on the “original guest list”. And rather than falling into default groups of “worthy and unworthy” to enter God’s feast—we all are by default unworthy. And physical health, blindness, lameness, injury or blemish, is not even factored into Jesus’ invitation. Our income or social status isn’t factored in either. Rather, God won’t let His generosity be despised or go to waste. He’s not looking for repayment of His generosity, only that as many as possible join in receiving it and in the joy of the celebration! Come, for everything is now ready! the messenger urges.

Jesus lived this reality with His listeners. He sat at meals with whomever would listen to His teaching, and receive God’s kingdom. For those who put on airs, or despised the lowly, He was quick to humble them and show them that God’s grace is not an “earn-it” or merit-based proposal. God’s invitation goes out to all, and the poor, crippled, blind, and lame, and we are granted entrance by His grace, not our worthiness.

So we each stand in view of God’s invitation. Jesus wants to teach us, and to break bread with us. Is there any conceivable reason for turning away from the goodness and generosity of God’s gifts? Rather, isn’t there every possible reason for turning toward the generosity of God? Every reason to open our hearts and hands to be blessed? God has indeed gone to great expense for us. The precious blood of Jesus, innocent of any sin, is a price greater than we can ever imagine paying. God taking on Himself the cost of our sins, a price we cannot fathom.

And God has prepared countless feasts and meals for His people throughout history. The Passover, a celebration of their redemption from slavery, and a lasting teaching meal, to remind future generations of what God had done. Psalm 23 talks about the table He sets before us in the presence of our enemies, and that our cup overflows. The great messianic banquet of Isaiah 25, where all peoples gather for a rich feast, and God swallows up death forever. Jesus’ frequent meals with the lowly and rejected of the society, and certainly not last or least, the Lord’s Supper. God sets a table by His grace, and He is the one who makes us worthy to participate.

He washes us in baptism, teaches us His Word so we believe in our hearts and confess with our mouths. He leads us in repentance for our sins and in reconciliation with our brothers and sisters. Jesus makes us worthy to participate by crossing the boundaries of race, wealth, health, and status, to make His way to us, and to eat with us sinners! God’s table fellowship with us in Christ Jesus enters this very central human part of our existence—how we are fed. Stop eating for very long, and you won’t be sticking around! How much more is this true for our souls, than just our bodies—that they need to be spiritually fed and nourished! And God has richly poured out His generosity and so that His invitation stands: “Come for all is now ready”.

In every corner of life, God’s generosity is richly poured out and can be discovered. But especially here, where we gather around His gifts, do we thank and praise Him for that generosity, and turn toward His generosity with open hands, and the prayer on our lips, “Lord, have mercy!” May we always gladly take that posture of humble repentance and open hands, to be the recipients of His generosity and grace. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Sermon Talking Points

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1. The Jewish audience of Jesus’ teaching in Luke 14:15-24 would almost certainly have recognized the theme of a rich banquet or feast, from several Old Testament passages. Isaiah 25:6-9; 55:1-3; Proverbs 9:1-6. What surprises are there in Jesus’ parable, about who comes to the banquet?
2. Note that the frequent meals that Jesus eats with various people in the Gospel of Luke are always combined with teaching. How does this set the pattern for future Christian worship? Why are those two elements key to our worship still today?
3. In the parable, there are two invitations—we are to understand that the first was accepted, but the second was rejected. Luke 14:16-20. Why were these excuses “lame” and even offensive to the master? What were they refusing? Spiritually, what is the lesson for us? Whose generosity is often despised and rejected? Those who refuse it have no part in it (v 24)
4. What are various ways and examples of how God extends His generosity and invitation to us, and we have refused it or made excuses?
5. How does the master “reprocess his anger into grace”? Luke 14:21-23. How does this speak to the universality of God’s desire for the salvation of mankind? John 3:16; 1 Timothy 2:4; 2 Peter 3:9.
6. Vs. 23 talks about “compel them to come in.” Why would these last-minute guests need special encouragement that they really were to enter the feast? How do we make the same offer of grace to those in doubt?