Second Sunday after Trinity, 2000
Luke 14:15-24

The Celts of Scotland had a lovely tradition during the Middle Ages. It had to do with bread baking during the feast of Michaelmas. Michaelmas used to be as popular as Christmas and Easter but has faded into obscurity as the population has moved from the country to the cities. Michaelmas falls on September 29. On the eve of September 28, the Scottish fathers and sons would go out and gather whatever was ready in the fields. The collection would serve as the ingredients for their harvest bread called "strewen." The grains, wild herbs, and dried fruits that the men had collected were brought home and given to the wives and daughters. The women would then stay up all night and make small strewen loaves. The finished product was fascinating. A heavy loaf that lasted long.

In the morning the loaves were taken to an early morning Mass where the priest would bless them. Then there would follow a procession through the town. The loaves would be distributed to the poor people. Strewen thus became a symbol of charity. In an age like ours when fast, highly processed foods are common, we miss the ritual of preparing a meal, and the ritual of coming together to share a meal, to break bread together. Food prepared in a quality way has the ability to nourish the soul as well as the body. [From Mars Hill Conversations .]

The Jews of ancient Judea consumed two meals a day. The first was eaten around 10 AM; the second was taken in the evening at sundown. The banquet described in our Gospel text is clearly an evening affair. In those days, only men would be invited to a banquet, and they ate reclining on mattresses. Our Gospel takes place at such a supper.

A crowd dines surrounding a large table in the banquet hall. Jesus and His disciples are present, along with a contingent of Pharisees and other Jewish dignitaries. Just as the festivities reach a jolly level, everyone reveling sumptuously on the fine wine and cooking, one of the guests remarks, "Blessed is he who shall eat bread in the kingdom of God!"

The comment was directed to Jesus, but the others must have heard. Maybe the man offered it as a toast with goblet upraised: "Blessed is he who shall eat bread in the kingdom of God!" However the circumstances, Jesus responded with a parable; a parable that would challenge the assumptions of the attendees.

How did the Jews understand their colleague's remark? What was the thinking behind it? The proclamation evoked a couple themes. For the Jews of that time, a banquet aptly represented the coming messianic kingdom. The Kingdom of God they longed for was symbolized by a great supper. Eating bread in the kingdom of God was an image of the arrival of the Messiah and the blessing of His kingdom. "Blessed is he who shall eat bread in the kingdom of God!" speaks to the bliss of those who will share in the messianic banquet at the end of time.

Moreover, the Jews would have understood, "Blessed is he who shall eat bread in the kingdom of God!" as a reference to themselves. They were the ones who enjoyed the historic claim to being part of the People of God. Their privileged status was secured by means of their birthright. A wonderful future awaited them when the Messiah appeared. The banqueters nodded their approval and kept eating.

How about the parable itself? The parable concerns a wealthy man who throws a great supper, inviting a large crowd to join him. According to custom, two invitations would be sent out. A few days before the actual feast the host would send his slaves to announce to the guests the date and time of the forthcoming supper. Then a couple of hours before the commencement of festivities he would send his servants to deliver a second invitation.

The master of the household followed this protocol in our Lord's parable. The mansion buzzed with the hustle and bustle of preparing a great feast. The first invitations had gone out. Three hours before the first course was to be served the slaves went out to deliver the second invitations. Here, the parable takes a bizarre turn. Every last one of the guests comes up with an excuse. They all cancel. One is preoccupied with a newly bought field that he wants to look over; one is busy with newly acquired oxen that he wants to try out on the plow; one has recently married and would prefer to stay home with his wife; and so on it goes.

The slaves return and inform the master of the household that nobody is coming. He becomes angry. But instead of abandoning his dinner party, he makes a bold move to supply substitute guests. He arranges for bringing in the disadvantaged -- "the poor and the maimed and the lame and the blind" (Luke 14:21). His slaves quickly go to town and round up everybody in the roads and alleys. A whole troop of them marches into the banquet hall and yet the room is not full. So the master of the mansion sends out the slaves once more. This time to the "highways and hedges" which means they start inviting people outside of the city limits. They wander the roads that wind among the fields, vineyards, and gardens. Work hands are walking home from a day in the fields. Quarantined lepers are huddled near their huts. Shepherds are bringing in the sheep. Farmers are finishing up their daily chores. Fishermen are mending their nets. The slaves give one and all an invitation. The invitees are famished and gladly accept. The house fills up and rings with good cheer. One culinary delight after another passes before them. The master of the household smiles. The feast is a success.

What is the meaning of the parable? What are the points that Jesus is trying to make? Those who study the New Testament parables discover a perplexing variety of interpretations. The Early Church interpreted them allegorically, the Reformers preferred to look for the literal meaning. What is the best method? Perhaps a combination of both approaches would work best. As we study the parables we look first for the literal meaning, and then try to uncover obvious allegories.

Jesus spoke the parable to His dinner companion in order to correct some erroneous assumptions. One false assumption concerned the timing of the kingdom of God. The man who told Jesus, "Blessed is he who shall eat bread in the kingdom of God!" was expressing a future, otherworldly view of the kingdom common at that time. For him and his colleagues the kingdom of God was a reality that awaited death and the afterlife. As Christians, don't we share this conviction? Of course we do. We will never encounter the total bliss of Heaven on earth before the Final Judgment. Sin and death, suffering and the curse will always mar and distort things. Nevertheless, Jesus told His dinner companion, and by extension He tells us, "Come, for all things are now ready" (Luke 14:17). "Come now and enjoy the kingdom banquet." The Lord is teaching them that in Him the kingdom was already in motion. Though completion of the Kingdom of God awaits the Last Day, there is nevertheless a sense in which the kingdom of God has already begun to transform our lives and leaven the earth. The Lord shed his blood at Calvary, bound Satan; He ascended into Heaven, and now rules all things as King of kings. This being the case we can be sure that the Kingdom of God is active and moving forward. The parable harmonizes with other statements on the timing of Christ's kingdom. Jesus' message was "Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand," and, "if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you" (Matthew 4:17; 12:27) "Come, for all things are now ready" means "Come to me and receive the blessings of My kingdom. It is ready now; it is inaugurated. I invite you. The kingdom is present as you come to my banquet."

Next, the Lord corrects the position of Israel in this parable. God gave a great supper and invited whom? The Jews. They were the first in line to receive God's invitation to His kingdom banquet. The Israelites were well aware of their privileged status. Yet, when their Messiah arrived they would not accept Him. Christ came to Israel and she refused His invitation. The nation snubbed Him and cancelled. Did the master of the household respond by shutting down the banquet? Or postpone it until a remote date? Absolutely not! The party will go on. There may be a new set of guests, but the kingdom celebration will go ahead. There will be no delay.

This is an important point to make in our day. Pop theology tries to tell us that Jesus offered the Jews an earthly kingdom, and when they didn't accept it, He decided to set aside His kingdom feast until a future millennium. In their view Jesus returns from Heaven at the Second Coming and the Jews finally accept Him as He sets up a Jewish Kingdom based on Old Testament ceremonial laws. Consequently, according to this persuasion, the present Church age does not truly participate in the kingdom of God. We are stuck in a historical parenthesis. God's kingdom is entirely heavenly, the Church is destined for doom, having nothing to do with creation except for the saving of souls. How do we react to this opinion? People should know that it is a novelty utterly foreign to the Early Church and Reformers. It is unbiblical. No such delay in the kingdom's arrival took place! Ethnic Israel has a glorious future when she converts to King Jesus and comes into the Church. Revelation 11:24 ff. imply that that national conversion shall take place at the "fullness" or conversion of the Gentiles before the Second Coming.

According to our parable, Jesus, as the master of the household, did not defer His banquet. He went ahead full bore, extending the invitation to those outside of the confines of Judaism. "The master said to the servant, "Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled" (v. 23). Going out into the highways and hedges is an allegory of the Gospel bursting the old wineskins and flowing over the confines of Judea to the Gentile cultures. Indeed, Jesus commanded: "you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth" (Acts 1:8).

The words of Jesus hint that the Church would carry the Gospel to every corner of the globe. The outward focused, missionary-oriented enterprise of winning the world to Christ is the Church's permanent duty. Missionaries deserve our prayer and support. This week's front-page news from the Philippine jungles saddened us. Missionary hostage Martin Burnham and Filipino nurse Edibora Yap were killed in a gun battle. Islamic terrorists are again responsible. Thank God, the wife, Gracia Burnham survived. We pay tribute to Martin Burnham and nurse Edibora. They gave their lives to build the Kingdom of God in a remote area doing what Jesus asked them to do. Their example can inspire us to make the same sacrifice.

Furthermore, it should not surprise us that the Lord gives attention to the poor and maimed, lame and blind . The master of the house commanded His slaves to "go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor and the maimed and the lame and the blind." This may be a subtle rebuke to the Jewish leaders. Though the religious elite scorned weak ones, Jesus took them in. He invites the unpretentious folk of society. The Christian influence of Western Civilization should not be taken for granted. Ever since Christianity civilized the barbarians, a respect for human beings has held sway. As much as anthropologists may try to romanticize pagan cultures, they cannot deny the fact that these are cruel to the disadvantaged of society. Ancient Greece and Rome were no better; they were brutal. Jesus teaches us respect for people, not because they are clever, or attractive, or useful, but just because they are human beings. They are created in the image of God; they have souls that live forever. Jesus reminds us over and again that we must love especially the lesser people ­ unborn babies, the elderly, the mentally handicapped, the blind and crippled. An atheistic abortion mentality will seek to dispatch unproductive persons. Princeton professor Peter Singer openly advocates infanticide. According to him parents should have the option of exterminating their offspring in the first few months after birth if they are not satisfied. Such a notion is unthinkable for followers of Jesus. The Christian worldview ascribes intrinsic, eternal worth to all souls. On earth the weak and ugly may seem the least in the kingdom of God, but we do not see how they will end up in Heaven, only God does. In God's scheme of things, they may end up the greatest. That means we strive to love the unlovely, tolerate the troubled, protect the weak, and defend the poor.

The parable teaches another truth. We must respond to the Lord's invitation when He offers it . Woe to those who make excuses. Why do Christians not come to the feast? Some have given themselves over to rebellion. They no longer desire for Christ to reign in their lives, they have no time for Him. By and by, their hearts grow hard. Such calloused sinners need our prayers. Nothing else will turn them.

Others do not come to Christ, the Bread of Life, because they are young and foolish. Before his conversion St. Augustine told God, "Give me purity. But not yet." He was having too much fun; he enjoyed sin and didn't yet realize the emptiness and vanity of it all.

Others never or seldom come to Christ because, like the people in the parable, "they all with one accord begin to make excuses." They have trapped themselves in the material affairs of life and neglected spiritual priorities. If you are one of those, the Lord Jesus tells you that you endanger your very soul when He invites you to dine with Him at His royal table and you decide that you have better things to do. The Church calls you today to come to the feast. There is no better place to be. The sacrament works with great power as you come in faith week after week. Could it be said of frequent communion that "familiarity breeds contempt? Does the repetition make it stale and meaningless? I do not think so. Familiarity only breeds contempt for what is contemptible. For the best things familiarity can breed desire. Come now to the Lord's Supper. The Savior extends to you a special invitation. Come for the refreshment of body and soul.

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