Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost [Proper 16, c] August 25, 2019
Luke 13:22-30
22 [Jesus] went on his way through towns and villages, teaching and journeying toward Jerusalem. 23 And someone said to him, “Lord, will those who are saved be few?” And he said to them, 24 “Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. 25 When once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us,’ then he will answer you, ‘I do not know where you come from.’ 26 Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’ 27 But he will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of evil!’ 28 In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God but you yourselves cast out. 29 And people will come from east and west, and from north and south, and recline at table in the kingdom of God. 30 And behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.”
In the Name of Jesus.
You have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God,
Hebrews 12:22.
It doesn’t hit us like that. Our eyes see an earthly city, and it looks nothing like the city of the living God.
But you are a citizen of the city of the living God, where there is only life, for he is the God not of the dead but of the living. The city of the living God is righteousness and purity, it is peace and harmony, it is life and health, joy and delight. You belong not to death but to life.
We don’t see it now. By the empirical evidence, we are thoroughly of the world. The world is of sinful flesh. We see not righteousness and purity, but uncleanness and guilt; not peace and harmony, but division and hatred; not life and health, but death.
We don’t see it now. But we have come to the city of the living God. Hebrews 12:22:
You have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in Heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new testament, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.
Jesus, the mediator of a new testament. You have come to the city of the living God because Jesus has made you beneficiary of his Testament.
Jesus, on the night of his betrayal, on his way to his death, seated twelve witness around a table, and to those witnesses he spoke his Last Will and Testament, so that upon his death, his wealth would be distributed to his beneficiaries. But for a testament to be put into effect, the one who made it must die.
Take and eat,
said Jesus on the night when he was betrayed,
This is my Body, which is given for you. Drink of it all of you, this is the New Testament in my Blood shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.
The Last Will and Testament of Jesus Christ before he died, so that upon his death, his Testament would be put into force and his wealth—that is, his Body and Blood for the forgiveness of all sins—would be distributed to all his beneficiaries.
You have come to the city of the living God. Not by sight. By sight, we are still in our sinful flesh and in this sinful world. But Jesus has made public his Last Will and Testament, and by that you belong not to the sin of this world nor of your flesh, but to his righteousness.
Our sinful flesh testifies that we do not belong to life, that we have guilt we must deal with, that we must find away to placate the Law of God. But the crucified Body and Blood of Christ testifies that the Law has been fully meted out on the cross, that we are innocent before God, and we belong to life.
You have come to the city of the Living God, says Hebrews. How could it be any other way for one who has been redeemed and cleansed by the blood of Jesus? Jesus, who atoned for the sin of the world, who came to bring the sinner out of death into life, out of the realm of the devil into the city of the Living God, who came to bring not the Law, but grace, this Jesus gathers you to his Table of cleansing and life.
It is the Word of Jesus that counts. His word of forgiveness overcomes all unworthiness of the one he invites. His wealth of his crucified Body and Blood overcomes any impoverishment of our sin and shame. From every nation and language, from east and west, north and south, his word of invitation draws sinners to recline at the Table of the Kingdom of God.
When his invitation goes forth—this invitation leaving no sinner out, for he has atoned for all, this invitation putting the sinner not under the Law, which always accuses, but under the Gospel, which always speaks grace, the sinful flesh hears that invitation and unfortunately turns it into Law.
Luke 13:23:
[Jesus] went on his way through towns and villages, teaching and journeying toward Jerusalem. And someone said to him, “Lord, will those who are saved be few?”
Will those who are saved be few? How the sinful flesh wants to limit the gifts of Jesus, to restrict Heaven.
This is Jesus, who at his Baptism took upon himself not the sins of a few, but of the world; who has eaten in the homes of tax collectors and sinners, spoken kindness to prostitutes and drunks, who has let himself be numbered with the worst that Galilee can produce. This is Jesus who has stood in front of Pharisees to speak grace to those the Pharisees are condemning, in front of Sadducees to speak honor to those the Sadducees are restricting from the Temple, who is sent to the world of sin and death by his Father who so loves every sinner.
Does Jesus want to restrict Heaven, to limit the city of the Living God? Luke 13:30:
[Jesus said,] “And people will come from east and west, and from north and south, and recline at table in the kingdom of God. And behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.”
The Kingdom of God will be restricted, but not by the desire and intent of Jesus.
The Kingdom of God will be restricted. But it will be restricted by those who want to justify themselves in order to count themselves first in line. They will be last. It will be restricted by those who hear Jesus’ invitation of grace, yet they want to be at the Table not by the invitation of grace, but by their own worthiness. They will not be at the Table.
Jesus does speak of those not be at the Table. Listen to how he describes those left outside. Luke 12:26:
“You begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us,’ then he will answer you, ‘I do not know where you come from.’ Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’”
To gain entrance to the feast, they didn’t say, “Lord, please have mercy on us and open to us purely out of your word of promise and grace.”
Nor did they say, “Lord, we are poor and miserable, sinners all of us, please, in your mercy let us sit at your table as those who depend only upon your kindness and grace.”
They spoke not of the Lord’s overflowing grace and abundant mercy, but of themselves, of what they had done, and of where they lived: We ate and drank in your presence, you taught in our streets,” they said.
They reference themselves. They look to their own works. They will not be at the Table.
Who will be saved? Those who know that in their sin, they are last. The last shall be first, and the first, last. [Luke 13:30]
We come as the last. Carrying nothing but our sin, covered in nothing but our shame, we come to him who speaks the invitation,
Drink of it all of you, this is the New Testament in my Blood shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.
At those words, we have come not to the city of this world which we know with eyes of flesh, but to the city we know with ears of faith. Hebrews 12:24:
You have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in Heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new testament, to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.
In the Name of Jesus.