That My House May Be Filled

In Nomine Iesu!

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

Sermon Text: St. Luke 14:16-24

“‘And the lord said unto the servant, “Go out into the highways and hedges, and constrain them to come in, that my house may be filled. For I say unto you, that none of those men that were bidden shall taste of my supper.”’”

Prayer in Pulpit before Sermon:

Almighty and Everlasting God, the Source of all life and joy, Who, by the glad sound of the Gospel, hast called us to have part in Thy Kingdom and glory: shine into our hearts, we beseech Thee, by Thy Word and Spirit, and draw us with the cords of Thy constraining grace, that we may heartily choose that good part which shall not be taken away from us, and give all diligence to make our calling and election sure; through + Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior + Jesus Christ. Amen. 

My dear friends, our Lord + Jesus had been invited to the house of one of the rulers of the Pharisees to sit down to eat with them. It was a Sabbath. They had already shown they had only invited Him to catch Him in some violation of the Law. They had shown that they did not care about Him at all. This whole meal was a ruse to brink an accusation against Him. Consider the events that led up to our reading for today from the Evangelist St. Luke. As He sat down to eat bread, there appeared a man with dropsy. We will hear more about this later in the Trinity season. He was only there as a plant. The Pharisees gathered—men who are supposed to be well-versed in the Word of the Lord God—did not actually care about this man with dropsy. They expected the Lord to heal him, but only so they could say He violated the Sabbath day.

They further showed their disdain for the Lord + Jesus when they all struggled amongst themselves to attain to the chief seats at this meal. They did not care about the Lord + Jesus, they only cared about themselves. They did not care about the poor man with dropsy, but only cared about bringing a charge against the Lord. Both of these events brought about a response from our Lord + Jesus. He corrected their hardness of hearts. He corrected their lack of compassion. He corrected their conceit. Now, He corrects their rejection of Him. For one of them while sitting down at meat remarks how glorious it will be to sit down to eat bread in the Kingdom of Heaven.

They had the very Bread of Heaven sitting down to eat bread with them, and they failed to see Him for Who He was. They were still focused on earthly things. The man’s declaration was not about sitting down in Heaven with the Lord God at an eternal heavenly banquet. It was a statement about how good it would be to have meals like this current one in the future. His comment about sitting down to eat bread was a response to the Lord’s rebuke that the hearts of these Pharisees was in the wrong place. Instead of propping up themselves by inviting the people whose status in life was of the right pedigree, they should invite the lame, the blind, the maim, and the poor; those who could not return the favor. The man’s response is not “Well and good!” His response is the equivalent of “Bless your heart.” This is what prompts our Lord’s parable for today.

A certain man gave a great Supper. That certain man is our heavenly Father. He has planned to give us an eternal feast in Heaven. It will be an eternal victory feast for the work of our Lord + Jesus in redeeming mankind from sin and death. All things were now ready, and so He sent forth His servant. He sent forth His One and Only Beloved Son to bring to the feast all those who had been invited. Those people bidden to the feast included these Pharisees with whom He had sat to down eat. They should have been overjoyed that they were able to sit down to eat with the Son of God in the flesh. They should have been thrilled to eat meat with the Lord God in our flesh Himself.

They should have listened to His preaching. They should have rejoiced that He healed those with various ailments, like the man with dropsy at the beginning of this chapter of St. Luke. The Lord + Jesus had come to invite them to the eternal wedding feast in Heaven, but they could not be bothered by such things, for they only cared about earthly things. They cared about the best seats at this meal. They cared about not losing their positions of power. A position that the Lord + Jesus threatened to take away by His mere presence. They had no care for the blind, and maim, and lame, and poor. They wanted nothing to do with them. They wanted nothing to do with our Lord + Jesus. They only invited Him to their meal, so that they could watch Him, and have cause to bring an accusation against Him.

The Lord + Jesus had been sent to the people of Israel to bid them to come to the Supper of the heavenly Father, but they all with one consent began to make excuses. They rejected the invitation of the heavenly Father. They ignored His servant, the Lord + Jesus. They refused to heed the invitation. Indeed, they had already received the invitation. The time to come to the feast was at hand. The Lord + Jesus, the Messiah, the Anointed One of the Lord God, was here to invite them to an eternal banquet in heaven. And they made excuses. 

Therefore, the heavenly Father, the certain man who arranged for this great supper, and had sent out His servant, our Lord + Jesus to invite them to the great supper, rescinds their invitation. Just like the Lord + Jesus had told the Pharisees to invite the blind, the lame, the maimed, and the poor to their feasts instead of their friends, the certain man in the parable also tells His servant to go an invite the poor, and the maimed, the lame, and the blind to His great supper.

This informs us, and should have informed the Pharisees, why our Lord + Jesus sat down to eat with sinners (which comes in the next chapter of St. Luke). Because that is how they viewed individuals with physical maladies. They only saw them as people who had committed some sin, which resulted in them being blind, and lame, and maimed, and poor. They were this way because they were sinners. They were cursed with these maladies, because the Lord God had withdrawn His blessings from them. At least this is their train of thought. What they heard the Lord + Jesus saying was that they were to sit down and eat with sinners. This is why the man’s response prior to this parable is the equivalent of “Bless your heart!” He did not actually think it would be a good thing to sit down at such a table in the kingdom of the Lord God with the poor, the maim, the lame, and the blind.

The Pharisees rejected these types of people, and they rejected the One Who gathered all these people to Himself. Our Lord + Jesus, because He had been rejected by the ones who had received the original invitation, now invites those who society had cast away. The Pharisees—the religious leaders—instead of giving comfort to these poor individuals, even if that care only contained a word of comfort, or an invitation to a meal, refused to do even this small task. They cared only about themselves and their positions of power. But our Lord + Jesus gathers them to Himself. He sits down to eat with such has these. He will sit down to eat with such as these in the kingdom of God. He will sit down to eat with poor, miserable sinners such as we are at the eternal heavenly banquet.

The great supper has room for everyone. The original invitation was rejected by those invited. Our Lord + Jesus gathered to Himself all the poor, the blind, the maimed, and the lame, but there was still room at the feast. So then, He is sent into the highways and hedges to call all to the heavenly feast. It was the Apostles, at the command of the Lord + Jesus, who went into all the world to proclaim the good news of the redemption from sin and death found only in our Lord + Jesus. They invited the whole world to come to the great supper of our heavenly Father. We have been invited to sit down to eat with our Lord + Jesus. We have been invited to come and be with our Lord + Jesus and hear His preaching, and eat the meal of His Body and Blood in bread and wine. We have been invited to receive from Him the forgiveness of our sins—the healing of our souls. Indeed, the whole world has been invited to come to His great supper.

The whole world continues to make excuses. They are no different than those who received the original invitation. My dear friends, let us not be like the unbelieving Jews, and the unbelieving world. Our Lord + Jesus has come to invite us to sit down to eat with Him. Indeed, He has come to invite us to feed upon His very Body and Blood given in bread and wine. He has invited us to eat His Flesh and drink His Blood for the remission of all our sins. Let us come to this great supper which He has prepared for us, for this meal is a foretaste of the great supper we will enjoy in heaven if we continue to cling to Him in faith. For we are the spiritually poor, and lame, and maimed, and blind. We have been cursed by sin and shame. But our Lord + Jesus has paid the penalty of our transgressions upon the tree of the holy cross. He has opened up for us the gates of eternal life. Let us with glad hearts enter into the eternal great supper and sit down to eat with our Lord, and all the saints who have gone before us. In the Name of our Lord + Jesus, the Christ. Amen.

Prayer in Pulpit after Sermon:

Almighty God, be pleased to accompany Thy Word with Thy Holy Spirit and grant that Thy Word would increase faith in us; bring into the Way of Truth all such as have erred; turn the hearts of the unrepentant; and for sake of Thy Name grant succor to all heavy hearts and those who are heavy-laden, that they may through the mercy of the Lord + Jesus Christ be relieved and preserved so that they succumb not to the temptation of despair but rather that they gain the victory over the world, the flesh, and the devil; through the same + Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with the Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.

The Votum:

The peace of God, which passeth all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through Christ + Jesus. Amen.

Soli Deo Gloria!