Sermon for the 2nd Sunday after Trinity
Homily for 2nd Sunday after Trinity, 2020
Fr. Tony H. Melton
Text: Luke 14
I’ve looked forward to this Sunday for quite some time. The Gospel for this morning is the closest thing to a “life verse” that I have found in the Bible. The parable of the wedding feast, where people on the invite list excused themselves from the banquet in favor of their livelihoods, homes, and marriages.
As you know, Vandi and I are not from here. We hail from Dallas, TX, and landed here in July of last year. One of the first tasks of a “parachute” church planter is to learn the culture you’re in: the good, the bad. There is so much good here. You folks are a big part of that good. There are so many people that love their wives and their husbands, that care for their homes, that work hard in their business, and invest in healthy forms of entertainment. Yet as we drove to and from church on Sunday, we saw teenage boys in baseball jerseys, gleaming whiter than an acolyte’s vestments, the stands full of cheering parents, uncles, aunties. The coffee houses and bistros were full of happy couples in their yoga pants and fleeces. And of course the mountain with a full parking lot, people hiking to the top listening to their TED talks. These are all wonderful things. Truly! Except that that they were happening on Sunday morning.
And slowly an understanding of our context began to emerge, and this parable became a paradigm for understanding Northwest Atlanta. The invitation to the Gospel has gone out, the Feast is happening now, and it is forsaken by the majority of people who elevate the mantra of “live, laugh, love” over the worship of the One True God.
Our primary text today is the Gospel passage from Luke 14, looking first at the biblical and cultural context of the parable, then applying it to our context, and finally to our lives.
The parable of the wedding feast is found twice in the Gospels— in Matthew and in Luke. It is in Matthew that we get the idea that this is a royal wedding feast. Luke just says it is a man throwing a great dinner party. When the feast and festivities were all prepared, the call went out to all who were invited to come, but those who were invited made excuses. One had purchased 5 yoke of oxen. Another had just bought a piece of property. One had just married a wife. All asked to be excused. Some background.
You may have noticed that our Old Testament reading was from Deuteronomy 20, where the instructions for going to war are found. Before an army went into battle, the leaders of the army were to address the men and ask if any had recently bought property, or cultivated a vineyard, or betrothed a wife. If a man had done any of these three, but had not enjoyed them, he was excused from service in the army. From those that remained were the captains of the army chosen. This passage of Scripture is appointed for us this morning, because this is the Old Testament context of the parable of the wedding feast. God is very kind. He loves to see His people enjoy life. It is His good will to see a man enjoy his house, to eat and drink and enjoy his work, his wine from his vineyard. Heaven smiles when a marriage is consummated. God values “live, laugh, love” so high that in these common situations, one would be exempt from the battle that God himself had ordered.
In the parable that Jesus tells, the three men give three excuses. In the first, the man had bought property, upon which either to build or to plant. The second man had bought 5 yoke of oxen, presumably to till the ground for crops. The last had recently been betrothed and was still on his honeymoon. In these three excuses are recalled the three ancient excuses from war in Deuteronomy 20. In other words, the same excuses which would have exempted a man from holy war are nowhere near sufficient to exempt one from the Messianic marriage feast. Again, it is not that God disapproves of the building and improvement of one’s own home, or the enjoyment of the wine from the field that you cultivate with your oxen, or the marital bliss of newlyweds. But when these wonderful things are placed higher than attending the wedding feast of Jesus, then the master of the house is angry.
Eric Liddell is the famous missionary and martyr from the movie, “Chariots of Fire.” He was a sprinter, his main event being the 100. But at the 1924 Paris Summer Olympics, he learned that his race was scheduled for a Sunday morning. He refused to participate, and instead ran the 400, a much different race for which he had never trained. Few people understood his actions. Why was he being so absurd? Wouldn’t an Olympic gold medal excuse him from attending church on one Sunday? Yet, he would not excuse himself, and he dropped out of the race for which he was favored to win. By a miracle, he won the 400 event on Saturday. Why did Liddell make this decision? Is it because he valued the worship of God more than the glory of the world? Certainly. But that’s the heart of matter. Eric once said, “When I run, I feel His pleasure.” He ran because God loved his running. Right? That’s 100% why he ran! So it made no sense to run when it displeased God. Running, to Liddell, was a sacrament of God’s joy, a gift. And this is what the world did not understand.
When I see the three exceptions from war in Deuteronomy 20, I see emblems of life in Northwest Atlanta. By God’s grace, this area is full of attractive homes, good food and wine, and people in love. But turn your thoughts to the Wedding Feast of the Lamb. What do you see? We are gathered around God’s table, in God’s house, with the most precious Wine known to man, at a marriage feast where we are the Bride. Don’t you see? The good things in life that God blesses—home, wine, love—they point to the fulfillment of all our yearnings in the Marriage Feast of the Lamb. All of our blessings are sacramental, meaning they come from God to lead us back to Him. But when they are taken, and used, and in our pleasure we forsake His invitation to the Feast, we miss the point of these things! Live, Laugh, and Love are idols unless they find their fulfillment in the Marriage Supper of Jesus.
Now you might be saying, “Fr. Tony, we’re here! We’ve come to the Banquet.” Indeed you have. This is why we use the words from this parable in the Liturgy. When we present the Body and Blood to the congregation, the celebrant says the words of the servant, “Come, all has been made ready!” We need to place ourselves within each character of the story. We are invited guests who make excuses when excuse ourself from daily divine invitations, when we do not pray, when we do not tithe, when we hoard our blessings, when we don’t give our homes, our influence, our children back to God, then we are the people who choose the blessings of life, but deny the Giver of Life.
But there are other characters in the story that deserve our attention. We are those who have attended at the 2nd request: the maimed, blind, the Gentiles, those who the Pharisees of Jesus’ day did not deem worthy to attend. Yet here we are, by God’s gracious invitation. Hallelujah that have been invited!
But more so for you, launch team, you are the servants that the master of the house instructs to “go out into the highways and byways and compel others to come in, that my house may be filled.” Is that not what we are called here? Is that not why God has called us together right across from where so many are enjoying the gifts of God’s beautiful creation, but failing to give Him worthy praise? Do we not have a vocation in this area which has largely rejected the invitation to go out and gather in those who do not know Jesus, or who have known Him but have lost their way? We are the servants! Jesus says, “Go out! Leave the comfort of the Master’s house and go where you’re uncomfortable, and compel people to come to the Marriage Feast of the Lamb, of which the Eucharist is but a foretaste!” This parable is a paradigm for us, and I know that you see that. So when Dcn. Bill says at the end of the Liturgy, “Let us go forth in joy and peace to love and serve the Lord,” think of the command from Jesus to go and compel our friends, neighbors, and strangers who desperately need what we have been given. But first, let us enjoy the feast to which we have been invited, and to which all the blessings of this life find their true end and fulfillment. Amen.