Sermon - Trinity II 2024 - Luke 14:15-24

The Great Banquet, Brunswick Monogrammist, between 1525-1545

Come, for everything is now ready

1. Jesus is present now

2. We fear the Lord now

3. His gifts are ready now

There are a plethora of disasters which could strike in our lives and cause us much fear. However, most healthy individuals don’t live in a constant state of fear of all of the bad things which could potentially happen. Rather, we usually just fear those dangers which are present and imminent. For example, we don’t run and hide in the basement every time a cloud passes overhead, but we do run in fear to the basement when there is a known tornado coming our way. With that in mind, what are the things that you fear? Hopefully, you are wise and on the top of your list is God. “For the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.”

Because the Lord is present now, and we would be wise to live with that mindset. The foolishness which many fall into is to believe that Jesus is not present now. It’s that foolishness which Jesus responds to in today’s parable. While Jesus is sitting at a house of the ruler of the Pharisees, someone said to Him, perhaps offhandedly, maybe intending it to be a nice throwaway platitude. “Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!” It’s a nice enough statement and it’s true, however it also reveals an important assumption in the man’s heart. He said it in the future tense, blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God.

But what the man missed is that eating bread in the kingdom of God isn’t just a future thing that would happen, but it was a present event happening in his very midst. The man Jesus whom he was sitting beside and eating bread with is the God-Man, the Messiah. And when he rejected Jesus as being the Christ, he also rejected the invitation to eat bread in the kingdom of God, since the kingdom had already come in the person of Jesus.

Jesus attests to this reality of God’s kingdom being right now in the parable when He drives home the point that the banquet is no longer in the future, but it’s already here and happening. “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, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’” There it is! The prophets announced the invitation and declared that the Messiah would be coming soon. Upon Jesus’ arrival the time to enter into the banquet, into God’s kingdom, has also arrived. Since Jesus has arrived the news is: “Come, for everything is now ready.”

Since Jesus has ascended into heaven and is now seated upon His throne, the kingdom of God, the reign of King Jesus has begun and is ongoing among us today. Most obviously we eat bread in the kingdom of God here in the Divine Service. Truly, the bread and wine here is the body and blood of Jesus, given and shed for you, and from this altar you are eating bread in the kingdom of God. Or we know that no one lives by eating mere bread alone, but by the word of God, and here in the Divine Service you chew on, are fed, and ruminate on the word of God.

Since Jesus reigns as King over all creation, that means this is not the only place where we eat bread in God’s kingdom. Because of the ascension, Jesus rules over us in every facet of our lives. Jesus is present and ruling over you wherever you may be. Whether you’re at work, or with your family, or your leisure time, or you’re on a trip, or you’re having lunch, wherever you are and whatever you may be doing Jesus is present and you’re eating daily bread in the kingdom of God.

Since Jesus is present now and everywhere, because His kingdom has come, our response is to fear the Lord now. How we live in the fear of the Lord reveals whether or not we think God is real and present among us now. One of the ancient church fathers, Tertullian, has a really wonderful quote about faith and fear and believing that God is present. Tertullian writes about heretics: “Thus, from the very nature of their conduct, may be estimated the quality of their faith. In their discipline we have an index of their doctrine. They say that God is not to be feared; therefore all things are in their view free and unchecked. Where, however is God not feared, except where He is not? Where God is not, there truth also is not. Where there is no truth, then, naturally enough, there is also such a discipline as theirs. But where God is, there exists the fear of God, which is the beginning of wisdom. Where the fear of God is, there is seriousness, an honourable and yet thoughtful diligence, as well as an anxious carefulness and a well-considered admission (to the sacred ministry) and a safely-guarded communion, and promotion after good service, and a scrupulous submission (to authority), and a devout attendance, and a modest gait, and a united church, and God in all things.”

When one doesn’t believe that God is present now, then one does not fear the Lord, and one lives as though he can live in whatever sins he wants. This is when many begin to make excuses to avoid God, as Jesus showed in the parable. The three excuses really come down to work and family, both of which are good things and blessings from God, but neither of which are valid excuses to avoid God’s kingdom. There’s nothing wrong with working and needing to check on the fields or the livestock, nothing wrong with marriage. However, these things must be put in their proper place and must not become more important than God’s kingdom. We hear excuses like this regularly when it comes to skipping church. Probably most people not here today, if you were to ask them why they weren’t here, would give you some excuse. Perhaps you yourselves made those excuses in the past. But the fact remains that there is no valid excuse.

The reason we might make lame excuses is because we don’t honestly think that God is present now. Because if the person believed that God was truly present, right now, here in this brick building, to make people immortal, there is no valid excuse imaginable they could come up with to miss Him. Just say the excuse out loud: I would rather do fill-in-the-blank than meet God. I would rather sleep than meet God. I would rather play baseball than meet God. I would rather watch TV than meet God.

The same goes for other facets of our lives. If we don’t believe God is present then we behave like a fool and do every manner of vile thing. We have a saying “do you kiss your mom with those lips?” in order to make people reflect on what they say. But, our parents aren’t always around, and God is. We could say: Do you praise God with those lips? God is watching you, are you really going to watch that? Are you really going to do that?

But when you understand that God is present, then you live your life in every facet with properly ordered fear towards God. Like Tertullian said, where there is a fear of God, there is seriousness, diligence, carefulness, safely-guarded communion, and devout attendance. It is for this reason that I conduct myself reverently in leading the Divine Service and try not to be casual, this is why we all behave more reverently here than we might in other places, why we teach children not to run inside of the sanctuary. When we believe God is present here, we fear God here, and we behave differently.

Likewise, since God is present everywhere, we ought to always behave with fear and reverence toward God. This doesn’t mean you can’t ever be silly or have a good time, but it does mean that no part of life should be irreverent towards God or wicked. This is why we have crucifixes in our homes and other places we spend time, so that we would be reminded that God is present and we should think and behave accordingly.

But before you think that God is present only to be a spoil-sport, remember that the kingdom of God is like a great banquet. To dwell with Jesus in the Divine Service and in every aspect of our lives is to be compared to reclining at a banquet and feasting and celebrating. Dwelling in God’s kingdom at this banquet required a tremendous sacrifice: the suffering and death of Jesus. Imagine how great an offense it is when you invite someone to your home for a meal, prepare everything, clean the whole house, set the table, and then they don’t show up. You call them, and they give you a lame excuse. Probably you wouldn’t invite them over again. God sacrificed much more in laying down His own life in order for you to be welcomed into the banquet feast of His kingdom. If you reject God’s presence from your life now, He declares that you will never taste His banquet in eternity.

But for those who do not deny Jesus Christ, who gladly live in His presence with reverent fear today, He invites and urges you to come in and remain in His feast forever. Picture the most enjoyable party you’ve ever been to: the children singing and dancing, everyone eating delicious food and drink, the laughter and hugs and smiles, talking and visiting and reminiscing for hours on end; those parties are but a glimpse into how God describes His kingdom where we shall dwell forever. He wants His house to be full, because God’s kingdom is meant to be enjoyed together. So it will be full, even if many make excuses, God will raise up Christians to fill His mansion and feast at His banquet.

The call rings out: Come, for everything is now ready!