A sermon on Luke 14:16-24 for the Second Sunday after Trinity. Delivered by Pastor Caleb Strutz.

One thing that seems really complicated to me is wedding invitation etiquette. I’m not even talking about who you have to invite and how to navigate those webs of relationships, but just how the invites are sent. It’s not enough to just have the invitation, you’re also supposed to send out a “save the date” even further in advance. I can kinda get the logic—as soon as you have a date, you want people to block it out and then you can give them more details or get a more accurate head count later on—but it just seems like a lot of work and a lot of stuff going out in the mail. It’s a lot of work but it’s worth it for that couple because you want to make sure that people can be there to celebrate with you.

Invitation etiquette was even more complicated in the ancient world. Jesus tells the story of a man who’s hosting a great banquet. The invitations have been sent, the people have RSVPed—they’ve said they’re gonna be there—and now it’s time to let them know that the feast is ready. But when he sends out this second round of invitations, everyone seems to have changed their mind. Today we consider the invitation to God’s great feast, which He extends also to you. Although many respond to this invitation with excuses and rejection, the invitation continues and God’s house is filled.

I. Excuses and Rejection

First, we need to set the scene for this parable to understand what’s going on in the context and what Jesus is trying to convey to His audience. He’s been invited to a Sabbath meal at the house of a prominent Pharisee so they can keep eyes on Him and watch Him closely. He heals a man on the Sabbath, which they don’t really like but can’t really speak against.

Jesus uses this to teach on taking the lowly place so that you may be exalted and on showing hospitality to those who can’t repay you—very clear attacks against the Pharisees.

Then Jesus tells this story. Understood in this context, its meaning is very clear. God had invited His chosen people to partake in the feast of His grace. But when the time came and God sent His servant, whom we can see as Jesus, to invite them again, they rejected Him. We can see this first group as the prominent, educated Jews, the people who should have known, who had accepted before, but now make excuses.

So the servant is sent instead to the lowly, “the poor and the maimed and the lame and the blind.” In the story, they’re still in the city, still Jews, but not quite whom you would have expected. But there’s still space. The hall isn’t full. So Jesus is sent also outside the city, to the pagans and the Gentiles, to bring salvation to them as well.

While more details of the parable can be filled in more nicely looking at that context, Jesus’ words remain true for all people of all time. So we can also see in this parable how people respond to this invitation today.

And so often it is met with poor excuses. The examples Jesus gives in the story are ridiculous. Who buys a field without inspecting it? And the field will still be there tomorrow, it’s not like it’s a pressing matter. Similarly, the oxen could wait another day, that’s not much of an excuse. The third guy just got married, why not bring your bride to the feast, enjoy that party together?

But that’s the thing with excuses. They never hold up. They’re not real reasons, just polite ways to say, “I don’t really feel like it.” And some things never change. As we try to extend this Gospel invitation to others, how after are we met with… indifference? Lame excuses? No real reason at all?

But before we get too into pointing the finger at others, we need to recognize that same tendency in ourselves. Even if you’ve accepted that invitation and you’re here there’s always the call to enter in deeper that far too often we brush aside.

“Yeah, I’ll come to church, but Bible study too? Yeah, I’ll come to church, but doing something everyday on my own? That’s asking too much. Sure, I’ll do my thing, but inviting someone else? Having spiritual conversations with others? That’s too uncomfortable.”

We like what we’re used to. We think we’re good where we’re at. But pushing it deeper, taking it seriously, letting the Gospel actually change the way we live, all too often, that’s an invitation we refuse. We make lame excuses that are just that, lame excuses. We fail to realize what rich blessings we have, just how deep God’s love for us is.

II. Invitation Continues

When the master receives news of the rejected invitations, he gets mad. That’s a little weird, right, if someone flakes out of plans with you, you might be sad or disappointed, but mad? That only makes sense when you see how great the feast is.

The master is angry, but he doesn’t dwell on it. The table is set, the food is ready, someone has to fill those seats. So he gathers the poor and maimed and lame and blind, the people sitting on the side of the road, the people you’d never invite. But that’s not enough, there’s still room, he goes out to get the foreigner and the stranger and the outcast, he wants his house to be filled. The invitation continues, in spite of rejection. That’s how great his love is. That’s how great the feast is.

In spite of the sin in our hearts that would reject this invitation, God has still invited you. He still wants you to be here. We have done nothing to earn this invitation. That’s obvious from the story, right? We are those in the third group, the Gentiles from the highways and the hedges, that must be compelled to come in. And, indeed, we have been compelled by God’s great mercy and love.

He has given everything to prepare this great feast for us. He has prepared the banquet of forgiveness and grace. He sent His Son into this world not only to extend the invitation, but to face that rejection, to be put to death on a cross, to take our sin and our shame and wash it away.

That’s why He wants you here. That’s why He has given you this invitation. Because He has given everything to give you these great blessings. No excuse is good enough because look how good it is: forgiveness, life, salvation, everything we need for this world and the next. Consider the great bounty of God’s grace, prepared for you.

Now often when we use this feast or banquet language, we think of heaven. And that’s not wrong, that’s true, but it’s also too narrow. A bit more of the context here: Jesus launches into this parable after someone says to Him, “Blessed is he who shall eat bread in the kingdom of God!” (v15). So this parable is in some ways a bit of a corrective. Right, that’s true, but that’s not the entire point. The banquet of God’s grace and mercy is not just this far-off distant thing, but it’s happening right now. Jesus is extending the invitation to those eating with Him to really eat with Him, to partake of the bread of life.

The invitation God has extended to you is not just a future one. It’s an invitation for you to be here. The blessings of God’s grace are not far-off and distant, they are given to you here and now. You don’t have to wait to eat bread in the kingdom of God, you can do it right here at this altar. You get to enjoy this great feast now, or, at least, next week, when we have the Lord’s Supper—but here’s that invitation. Christ calls you to partake of His Supper, to eat and drink His Body and Blood for the forgiveness of all your sins. The riches of God’s grace are readily available, the invitation still stands, God has brought you here to fill His house.

But the parable is left incomplete. The house is never filled. There is always more room, always another invitation to be sent. We not only appreciate our place at the table but want others to join us, too. Although we may be faced with excuses and rejection, the goodness of the feast motivates us and compels us to bring others to join in this banquet. “Blessed is he who shall eat bread in the kingdom of God!” “Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!” (Rev 19:9). Amen.