Our text opens up with some of the best Gospel we could hear. "Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God." That's talking about you, you who believe in Christ, who look to Him for salvation, who see your sin and recognize He has given you His righteousness in your baptism. Yes, that's you.

The proof this is talking about you, is here at the altar. Every one of you--if you are not yet able to come and feast at this table--would be able to, simply after you have learned what we believe, teach and confess here and are willing to confess the same. This would be your guarantee. Yes, you will eat bread in the kingdom of God.

Still, this is not just a future event. You have been eating this bread, ever since you were baptized. Jesus talks about how His flesh is real food and His blood is real drink. You have been feasting on it, ever since faith had been begun in you. Back when you were first baptized, you were invited to the feast, and have been feasting. Your faith, created and sustained by the Holy Spirit, has been feasting continuously as it has been fed by the Word of God.

So, it may not be JUST a future event, but it is still one, that is, a future event. We look forward to the day we are in heaven--when we will see the angels and the saints we have been communing with while we have had this meal here on earth. We will see the Almighty God, Jesus in the flesh. We will hear the song of the angels. "Holy, Holy, Holy." "Worthy is the Lamb," and we will feast.

Right now, though, we can't see Him. We can't hear His own personal voice or anything going on around Him. We only know it is happening. When we are with Him eternally, however, we will experience it with our senses. We're not there yet, so our senses don't pick up what's really happening. Instead, we just marvel that we get to come.

Rather than jumping around in excitement, shouting and dancing or rocking out because God invites us to His table, it's more like what we sang for our entrance hymn. Silent contemplation. Silently receive. "Let all mortal flesh keep silence." We are in the presence of holiness, even though we can't feel it. Holiness, but lifegiving holiness, because we have been declared holy ourselves and invited to come.

If it actually gives life, why wouldn't we want to be here? That sounds like a good question. Why wouldn't we? But apparently, some didn't and to tell you the truth, we're not always so eager either. That comes out in the parable Jesus tells.

A man prepares a great banquet and invites His guests. This is now the second invitation. They knew it was coming. They had been invited earlier. It was just a matter of waiting for the day when the actual banquet would come. And now it comes. And altogether, as one practically, they make excuses.

It's interesting to see the verb form for the action they want to do, their reason for not coming. It doesn't say this one man just bought a field, or this other just got his oxen; or this other, that he just married. The NIV, the translation we used to use put it that way, but it's not the case. They just have these. This man has a field. This man has oxen. This guy is married. Who knows for how long? It appears they want the servant to think they just got these so he will think their reason for not attending is legitimate. They have convinced themselves, why not he?. Whatever it is they have, it's more important than going to this feast. So, really it doesn't matter what they say.

We have a word for excuses like these--flimsy.

But then we know this all too well ourselves. I've been reading a book this week that was given to me when I attended the first Doxology event. It's talking about Christian meditation, but this isn't done by focusing on a word or a sound or a pleasant image. It is done by reading the words of God and savoring them. The author points out, what I should have already known, that Jesus is actually here as I read the words. This means, as I hear what Jesus does for certain people in the reading, I should see that being done for me, because Jesus is as just as much here for me as he was for them. For instance, this parable He spoke with those who had been listening to him at the table--this is being spoken to us by Him right now. Of course, we can't hear what Jesus is saying right now, but the Holy Spirit does, and so He declares to us what He hears from Christ. Talk about a living Word! Talk about compelling to be in His Word! This isn't just information. This isn't just an obligation. This is a chance to hear Jesus speaking to me.

But then when the time came to actually do it, I was as bad as those guys who made excuses for why they couldn't attend the banquet. I could feel the excuses rising. They were popping into my head or popping out of my head. "You're too busy." "You already pray quite a bit." "You're reading the Old Testament, so it won't be the same."

I yielded to those excuses more than I would like to admit this week, but in some ways it was good I had them--especially this week. I've made those excuses before, but they gave me an insight to the excuses these guys were making and the ones we all make.

What's it like for you? If it's not reading His Word at home, it's coming to worship on Sunday morning. You know the mental games we play with ourselves. "You're tired. You worked hard this week. You need a break." "You were up late last night; you're not even going to be able to stay awake." "The sermon goes over your head and even if you understand it, it's not what you need." "There are too many distractions." "You have to keep the kids occupied and can't listen for yourself." "People will be there who have not been nice to you, and you don't want to see them." Take your pick. Add to the list. I'm sure you struggle with some of these or some similar to them. That's because we don't really get the value of what is going on here. Neither did they.

Jesus' parable is a warning. We can say we love God, but if we need to convince ourselves to come to His banquet, then it's not as much as we think.

And then we need to think about the idea this is a feast. This isn't fast food. We dine, and when you dine, you sit and enjoy it; you drink in the atmosphere. I learned this when I was in New Orleans during the Lenten season. Our host, as we visited, made it clear to us there was a difference between eating and dining. Dining takes longer. I also remember drinking in the atmosphere of that place. Despite it being Lent, New Orleans was wrapped in a party atmosphere. She was dressed in her party colors--purple, green and gold. Everything felt festive.

A couple weeks back, our high school seniors were celebrating their graduation. It was a special time for them. There was a festive atmosphere I'm sure they didn't want to end too quickly.

In the same way, the Divine Service doesn't feel festive like Mardi Gras or High School graduation, but the feast taking place is actually a festive occasion. It is Jesus' celebration of His victory over sin, death and the devil, and we are invited to be part of the celebration. The celebration of heaven, here on earth, doesn't feel like earth's celebrations, but it is actually better, because it accomplishes quite a bit more.

The thing is, to get its benefits, we are to just sit there and take it in, and we have trouble just sitting there. Being passive and being served is not our thing. When I preach, a lot of us want to hear me use the sermon to say, "O.K. now, here's what we should be doing." Instead, I've been called to tell you what God has done for you and what He continues to do. But that gets to be old hat; we think we already know all that.

We also forget that I've been called to show you how to meditate on the Word, and for that matter, do the actual meditation for you. That's what the sermon is. Remember, Christian meditation is done by spending time reflecting on God's actions for us, and it calls for sitting and dwelling on it for a while, thinking and enjoying it. "Do, do, do." That's what we think. Instead, don't just do something. Sit there. We need to sit and enjoy fellowship with the Almighty God as He comes to us as the Trinity, giving us gifts at the feast.

Fathers, you are the spiritual heads of your families. You are the ones called to be the pastors in your household. Help your family to get this. You know what I mean by Christian meditation. Help your family recognize the pace we live all the rest of the time, has to (speaking gradually slower) slow--down--dramatically. It doesn't mean we talk slow, but it means we spend a little time when we are doing family devotions and when we are at worship. I realize this seems out of touch based on our usual frantic pace, but if you're creative, you can find the time. Fathers, help the ones you have been called to serve.

But having said all this, pointing out the warning Jesus makes to us in this parable, look at what the master does. He sends His servant to get other people. He brings in the outcasts from among them, and then He goes after a whole class of people who are outcasts--Gentiles.

Yeah, this is a reality check. We're not as wonderful as we might like to think we are, but He invites us anyway. I think it has been well established how we are not as wonderful as we might like to think we are, that we are not as devout as we would like to think, that we don't love God as much as we like to think, but that only brings out, in wonderful contrast, God's grace and mercy even further. Yeah, we don't deserve it, but here we are.

After the poor, the blind, the crippled and the lame have been invited, then the servant is sent out to get more. In a culture like this, etiquette is kind of strange. If there were to be a fancy shindig and it's something we would really like to attend, we would like for an excuse to be invited. Then, of course, if we were invited, we would immediately accept. In Jesus' culture, people were obligated to refuse if they had not been invited earlier. It would be impolite to accept the invitation. Therefore, the servant is told to compel the people to come in. Urge them. Tell them all the rules of invitation are suspended.

Yes, that's what we need to hear also. If we really realized what we had here and we knew how sinful we were, we would feel unworthy to accept the invitation to be here at the feast. Therefore, our Lord invites us again and again, and forgives us again and again throughout the Divine Service. He wants us here. He wants us to be at this feast, just as He wants us to be at the eternal one. We may want to do something, to serve our neighbor and we are given more than ample opportunity all the rest of the week, but for now, the one thing needful is for us to just sit here and enjoy the feast.

AMEN