Aunt Trudie always makes kringle for the Georgson family Christmas party. My family still gets together for that but especially when I was a kid that party was a really big deal. Everyone has to be there. It was always held at my uncle’s farm. The cousins—and there were quite a few of us—exchanged presents. The food was always wonderful, especially Aunt Trudie’s kringle. For those of you who don’t know that’s a traditional Danish pastry, and it’s delicious.
Except I remember one year where she couldn’t make it, I think because of a snow storm. We missed the kringle. And we missed Aunt Trudie.
Our Gospel for today is a parable from Jesus about missing the party. We’ve probably all had situations like my family Christmas party where someone couldn’t make it to an event and we wished that person could be there. There’s a hole left by that person’s absence, like the spot where the kringle should be. And in most of those cases, the person who wasn’t there probably wished he or she could be there too. But Jesus’ story is a little different. Invited to the greatest gathering ever, these men made excuses. They didn’t want to be there.
What about you? Jesus has graciously invited you to his feast. Don’t despise his invitation. There’s room for you.
Jesus was at a banquet when he told this parable, which is recorded in Luke 14. The banquet was put on by a leader of the Pharisees and it appears that the whole reason Jesus was invited was so that they could test and judge him. Just before this one man remarked, “Blessed is the one who will feast in the kingdom of God!” And it was in response to this that Jesus said,
“A certain man made a great banquet and invited many people. 17When it was time for the banquet, he sent out his servant to tell those who were invited, ‘Come, because everything is now ready.’ 18But they all alike began to make excuses.
“The first one told him, ‘I bought a field, and I need to go and see it. I ask you to excuse me.’
19“Another one said, ‘I bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out. I ask you to excuse me.’
20“Still another said, ‘I just got married, and so I am unable to attend.’
21“The servant arrived and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house was angry and said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town, and bring in here the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.’
22“The servant said, ‘Master, what you commanded has been done, and there is still room.’
23“Then the master said to the servant, ‘Go out into the highways and hedges, and urge them to come in, so that my house may be filled. 24Yes, I tell you that none of those men who were invited will taste my banquet.’ ”
It’s the perfect parable to tell in this house of Pharisees. Here were all these men who thought of themselves as very righteous, who were looking forward to the kingdom of God that they felt they deserved. But they refused to accept that the man sitting there in the house with them was the very Messiah they needed. They refused to believe that the kingdom of God was here right now.
It’s always disappointing when you prepare for any sort of get-together and the people you invite can’t come. If the reasons they give as to why they can’t come are bad excuses, it’s especially disappointing, or it might even make you a little angry. This was even more the case in Jesus’ day, where meals were considered very important social events. To be invited by someone was often a great honor. To turn down an invitation was a great offense.
That this was a great banquet to which many people were invited shows immediately that this is a major event. This is a wealthy man with servants and room to feed a crowd. And everyone was invited ahead of time, with plenty of time to prepare. It wasn’t until the servant went out to tell them that everything was ready that they started making their excuses.
Jesus says that they all began making excuses. He gives three examples that summarize the whole situation. One man says he just bought a field that he needs to go and inspect. One man just bought some oxen and needs to try them out. One man just got married.
Disappointing doesn’t really even describe it. It’s infuriating. This is much worse than someone missing the family Christmas party, even worse than if someone would skip it on purpose. This would be more like if you asked your best friend to stand up for you in your wedding and an hour before the service you call him wondering where he is and he says, “Oh, yeah, I decided to mow my lawn instead.”
It’s no surprise the master was angry. These men knew this was coming. He had specifically invited them. And now that the time had come they were despising his invitation. They were despising him.
It’s not too hard to figure out what Jesus was getting at with this parable. The Pharisees were just like those ungrateful guests. All of Israel was God’s chosen nation. They had been invited to the banquet of the kingdom of God ever since God first made his promise to Abraham. God sent Moses and all the prophets to bring them to his Word. Most of all, God had now sent his Son, the fulfillment of all his promises. Jesus came as the bread of life from heaven, and they had no interest in coming to the feast.
Jesus’ parable is a warning to us too though. Look at those ungrateful guests and their excuses. Aren’t those also things that often take priority for us? One man bought a field. Maybe it didn’t seem like much, but it’s more land than Abraham ever owned. He knew that his permanent home was in heaven. Do we let our love for this world and the things of this world become our focus in life?
The second man had his business. A successful one too, it seems. Five yoke of oxen. But wait! Who is it that gives you the ability to work? Who is it that prospers your work? Do you always remember that, with humility and gratitude?
The third man had just gotten married. Nobody is saying marriage is unimportant or that a wedding isn’t a major life event. But this banquet was planned a long time ago. Married people still need to eat. And people who get married still have souls that thirst for the Word of God. A marriage can be blessed and strengthened by God’s Word. Or it can be the reason we despise our Lord’s invitation to his feast.
The Pharisees should have known better. They had God’s Word in the Old Testament. Now they had the promised Messiah sitting right there in the house with them, sharing their feast, willing to teach them, ready to die for their sins. But shouldn’t we also know what a great blessing the feast of salvation is? How many times have we shrugged at our Lord’s gracious invitation to his Word and Sacrament: “I would read my Bible, I would spend time in prayer, I would go to church, but not this time. Maybe next time. I ask you to excuse me.”
But then something happens in this parable that you would never expect. That the master is angry is no surprise at all, but he doesn’t simply throw his banquet in the trash. He broadens the invitation even more. He invites the outcasts of society. He invites those who are far away. “My house will be filled,” he says.
He invites you. Those people streaming into this great banquet were not the people the Pharisees would have invited into their homes. They were not the people the Pharisees imagined dining in the kingdom of God. They had no name, no status, no wealth, no reason they deserved to be there. But that’s actually the point. They weren’t there because of them. They were there because of the one who invited them.
There’s room for you at God’s feast too. He doesn’t even expect you to bring a kringle. How do you know it? Jesus didn’t just come for the sins of some. He came to die for the world. He came for the worst of sinners, for those who are poor and crippled and blind and lame in spirit, knowing that they have nothing to contribute to their own salvation. He came for those near and far, down every highway and across every hedge. And when you were baptized your name was written in heaven, in the book of life, with a table place card just for you.
Don’t despise that invitation. It is greater than everything you possess. The banquet of the Gospel is laid before you now, in Word and Sacrament. You’ll taste it in full at the feast in heaven.
There’s always room for you here at church. You matter, every one of you, in our blessed fellowship, our church family feast. How much more do you matter to your Savior, who shed his blood for you on the cross, who prepares for you a place in heaven, who says to you, “Come, everything is now ready. Come to my banquet. There’s room for you.”
Amen.