Second Sunday After Trinity, June 9, 2024

Second Sunday After Trinity, June 9, 2024

The master is insistent. He will have his house filled. Every seat at the banquet table will be occupied. The master sends the servant out… out into hinterlands, as far as the highways reach… seeking out all those on the highways, even those hiding under or behind the hedges… the master orders his servant, “Compel them… force them… give them no option… gather them in. I want my house filled.”  Considering that the master here is a stand in for the Lord, the Master of All… considering that the banquet is that great eschatological banquet, the Lamb’s High Feast… considering both the Lord and the Banquet leads us to ask, “Do we have a choice?” Those who had been invited made their excuses and refused to attend. Might they not be the religious and political leadership that so opposed Jesus? The Lord and Master certainly rejects them, just as they rejected him (Lk. 14:24). The banquet… the kingdom… is ours not by our own doing but by the compulsion of our Lord who wields his servant, the Holy Spirit. This Holy Spirit “calls, gathers, enlightens, sanctifies, and keeps.” All of this done outside of our own understanding or effort… our own reason or strength. The Master will have his house full!

Prayers from one thankful that the Master compels his house to be filled…

Heavenly Father, my own reason or strength proves inadequate for my attendance at your banquet, call me through the gospel of Jesus Christ such that your Word compels me to attend. For Jesus’ sake. Amen

Heavenly Father, my own understanding or effort proves inadequate for my attendance at your banquet, gather me out of the world with its poverty and handicaps… out of my hiding place among the hedges that line the world’s highways. For Jesus’ sake. Amen

Heavenly Father, my own understanding or effort proves inadequate for my attendance at your banquet, enlighten me with your Word that forgives my sin and reveals me as held in the life of Christ. For Jesus’ sake. Amen

Heavenly Father, my own reason or strength proves inadequate for my attendance at your banquet, sanctify me through the preaching of your Word, your Word is truth, and the one truth is Jesus Christ my Lord. For Jesus’ sake. Amen

Heavenly Father, my own understanding or effort proves inadequate for my attendance at your banquet, keep me in this one true faith, use it to possess me such that I live from Jesus only. For Jesus’ sake. Amen

Heavenly Father, my own reason or strength proves inadequate for my attendance at your banquet, call, gather, enlighten, sanctify, and keep me so that I may anticipate that Great Banquet every day until that day when it is announced, “Come! Eat! The feast is prepared.” For Jesus’ sake. Amen