The Gracious Call of the Master

The Gracious Call of the Master

Luke 14:15-24 T Trinity 2

INI

God never chooses people to go to hell. The prophet Ezekiel says that God wishes everyone would repent of their sins and live (Ez 18:22). God never desires death for His creation. Though, He gives His creation a free will to respond to His gracious call to life, or to choose the path of destruction.

That truth lies behind the parable from today’s Gospel. In it, Jesus shows the hard truth concerning the doctrines of election, predestination, and salvation. There are two types of people in this parable: the spiritually hungry, and the proud in spirit. God chooses and compels the spiritually hungry to receive His gracious feast, while those who are proud in spirit choose themselves for eternal torment. They value earthly vocations over the heavenly call to be a Christian. They reject God’s call for salvation, excusing their behaviors as valid excuses before the Almighty.

But Jesus makes this much clear: the Lord’s Call for salvation is for everyone. For God shows no partiality between peoples, races, or cultures. That’s at the heart of the parable. The invitation to receive the saving work of the Messiah was initially for the Jewish people, promised from of old through Moses and the prophets. And God made good on that promise in Jesus’ ministry. The feast was set. All they needed to do was receive Jesus as their long-awaited Christ.

But many did not. The Pharisees, and many of the Jewish people, rejected the Lord’s call to salvation through Christ. And that rejection kindled God’s anger. He’s not indifferent to those who reject His gifts. For that’s blasphemy against the Holy Spirit who calls us by the Gospel and enlightens us with His gifts.

This rejection didn’t come from nowhere. In the parable, we hear excuses. Many of which may sound familiar. One man had a field he needed to tend to. One had livestock he needed to examine. And another just got married. Now, none of these things are evil in themselves. In fact, marriage is a great vocation that the Lord gives us. And certainly the Lord gives jobs to each and every one of us that we might provide for our families. God gives us lots of different roles in life. But these good gifts become dangerous idols when they are mis-prioritized.

And that’s what the Lord warns us of. Our jobs cannot take a backseat to church, lest we serve mammon before God. We can’t plan family events in replacement of receiving the Lord’s Supper on Sundays. Our families and jobs are good first article gifts, the likes of which we pray for when we pray in the Lord’s prayer, “Give us this day our daily bread.” But Satan is more than happy to take these good gifts of God and turn them into our idols.

C.S. Lewis describes this well in the Screwtape letters. He writes “The greatest evil is not now done in those sordid ‘dens of crime’… but in clean, carpeted, warmed, and well-lighted offices… by quiet men… who do not need to raise their voices.” In other words, Satan doesn’t always lure us away from the eternal banquet feast through obvious rebellion. Evil isn’t always immediately obvious. Sometimes all it takes is a full calendar, a travel ball schedule, or a few weekends of leisure until you become full by what life has to offer instead of what God has to offer. Satan’s strategy is subtle. If we aren’t careful, we’ll slowly start to form habits that value everything else before we schedule everything else around this eternal feast.

And when that happens, something is revealed. The spiritual appetite has dwindled. And when the Spirit isn’t fed, the flesh will always win. As Jesus says in John 3, “that which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of spirit is spirit.” Paul clarifies that the desires of the flesh are against the will of God. He says in Galatians 5 – “for the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do (Galatians 5:17).”

God gives people what they want. He delivers the spiritually proud over to their desires, just as He did to Pharoah and His rejection of God’s invitation through Moses. But to the spiritually hungry, the invitation stands: “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” (Matthew 5:6)

And satisfied they are. In the parable, the master of the great banquet sends out messengers to gather anyone they could find on the streets! It doesn’t matter if they’re poor, crippled, blind, or lame. In fact, they benefit the most from this feast, because realize they couldn’t ever deserve such an invitation! They see it for what is: the invitation is grace.

Well, in fact, some were never even given a chance to deny the invitation. Instead, the master compels them to come in. Why? Because the Master wishes to fill His house with guests.

In the interpretation of this part of the parable, Jesus makes clear that His ministry is for the Gentiles too. Some among the Jews accepted the invitation, but many didn’t. But there was still room in this heavenly banquet hall. The poor, the outcast, and the broken were not only welcomed, they were wanted. Because their physical condition served as a  picture for the state of their soul. That is, they are broken, needy, and desperate for God’s eternal  restoration. And when that’s what you know about yourself, NOTHING can keep you from saying yes to the feast.

We see the same spiritual hunger in Mary, the sister of Martha. While Martha busied herself with service, Mary sat at Jesus’ feet – just listening. Martha complained about Mary’s lack of help, but Jesus replied: “One thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”

Martha’s work wasn’t sinful – it was good. But it distracted her from the one thing she really needed. That’s the point of today’s parable. Many are distracted by good things – work, family, responsibilities. But only one thing is needful. And that’s what Mary chose. She chose the feast that God prepared.  The spiritually proud walk away, while the spiritually hungry are drawn in, and fed. And that good portion – which is Christ Himself – will never be taken away.

The Gospel is salvation for all who truly hear it. God has set the table for all humanity to feast on the eternal life won through the merits of His Son Jesus’ death and resurrection. The food is ready. His body and blood which deliver the salvific gifts of Calvary’s cross are here today, and every Sunday. The invitation He gives today strengthens us to receive the feast in eternity. May He give us hearts that hunger and thirst for the righteousness which only He can give – not just for today, but to the end of our days. The table is set. It’s time to feast.

INI

Pastor Joshua Ralston