Second Sunday After Trinity, June 9, 2024
Second Sunday After Trinity, June 9, 2024
The man… the master of the house… the man with means enough to throw a banquet with the expectation that many would attend… the man sent out his servant to announce, “It’s ready! Come now, eat and feast!” (Is. 55:1). Rather than the expected rejoicing and celebration that the banquet was at hand, the servant heard only excuses. Those invited had good reasons for not accepting the invitation: each had a duty to do (cf. Lk 10:29-37). One had to steward the land; one had an investment to secure; another had marital duties. Their excuses justified their rejection of the banquet.
Excuses. We’ve all used them. Excuses provide good and acceptable reasons for certain behaviors or attitudes on our part… reasons that justify us before the court of public (or private) opinion… reasons that maintain our righteousness in the given situation. Excuses. We’ve all used them. Excuses explain and give context to our sins. The adulterer says, “We didn’t mean for it to happen. We just fell in love.” The murderer says, “I don’t know what came over me. I didn’t mean to kill him; it was an accident.” The one guilty of coveting asks, “Why should my neighbor have such beauty and not me?”
If you listen closely, you can hear people make excuses for their sin rather than make confession of their sin. Perhaps you’ve even done it yourself. An excuse, however, is not a confession; it is, rather, a justification. These justifications deny your justification by faith. To be justified by faith means the end of excuses… the end of justifying yourself… the end of using your so-called duty (even religious duty—cf. Lk 10:31-32) to excuse your absenting yourself from the master’s banquet.
The master depicted in this parable is a thinly veiled stand in for the Lord himself. The banquet being thrown is the Lamb’s High Feast. You have no excuse to refuse the invitation. The Lord has already justified you. Trust him! Believe him! He does not lie! The Lord… the Master of All… will have a full house… every seat at the Table will be filled (Lk 14:23). What’s your excuse for not attending?
Table Talk: Discuss those times you’ve excused your sin rather than confessed your sin.
Pray: Heavenly Father, lead me to confess my sin instead of making excuses for it. Amen
Luke 14:15–24
15 When one of those who reclined at table with him heard these things, he said to him, Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God! 16 But he said to him, A man once gave a great banquet and invited many. 17 And at the time for the banquet he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited, Come, for everything is now ready. 18 But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it. Please have me excused. 19 And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to examine them. Please have me excused. 20 And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come. 21 So the servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house became angry and said to his servant, Go out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor and crippled and blind and lame. 22 And the servant said, Sir, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room. 23 And the master said to the servant, Go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled. 24 For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet.