Trinity 2
Text: Proverbs 9:1-10 & Luke 14:15-24
Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
The last verse of the Old Testament reading says,
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom,
and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight. (Proverbs 9:10)
But how do fear and wisdom relate to one another?
Well, let’s go back to the beginning of Proverbs chapter 1, where it is written,
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge;
fools despise wisdom and instruction. (Proverbs 1:7)
The use of “Fear of the Lord” should bring your mind back to the First Commandment,
You shall have no other gods.
What does this mean?
We should fear, love, and trust in God above all things.
In the First Commandment and the Book of Proverbs, “fear” reflects a filial relationship—a relationship of a son or daughter built upon absolute love and trust in God the Father. Only with absolute fear, love, and trust is one able to begin receiving wisdom for this life and the wisdom of life.
So, who or what is the key to understanding and receiving this wisdom of life?
The Apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “But to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.” ( 1 Corinthians 1:24)
The Apostle Paul highlights that Jesus Christ is the Wisdom of God. He is the key to knowing your heavenly Father, the Wisdom needed for this life.
But again, hear that verse from Proverbs chapter 1 a second time,
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge;
fools despise wisdom and instruction. (Proverbs 1:7)
“Fools despise wisdom and instruction.”
So now, who are the fools who despise wisdom and instruction?
Well, let’s look at the Gospel today.
Jesus was invited to the home of a ruling Pharisee for a meal. While He was there, He began to teach, using the analogy of a great banquet. But before Jesus opened His lips, a man reclining with Him at dinner said, “Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!”
And this is true: Everyone who comes and eats the bread of heaven at this altar will be blessed; they will receive the food and medicine of immortality.
But Jesus's parable presents the story of life, in which the invitations for a grand banquet have gone out, but no one can find time to come.
An important point needs to be made here: the invitations had gone out, so those who were invited were not surprised; they knew when the banquet would happen.
Still, it didn’t keep the first person from responding to the servant, “I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it. Please have me excused.”
Or the second guest who said, “I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to examine them. Please have me excused.”
Or even the third who responded, “I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.”
What are these things that can be seen as keeping people from coming to the banquet?
They are the gifts God gives to man.
The field was a gift for the man to work and tend.
The oxen were a gift for a man to work the land or transport goods.
The wife is a gift to love and cherish just as Christ loves and cherishes the Church.
Think about this: the gifts God gave to these men have now become obstacles to entering His presence.
The Lutheran Study Bible has this note regarding today’s Gospel, “Too often God’s gifts are more important to us than He, the giver, is.” (Lutheran Study Bible)
Is this true of you?
Do you allow the gifts God gives you in ordinary and daily life to become more important than He, the giver?
Sure, maybe you haven’t bought a field or oxen, but the Gospel this morning should bring you pause to ask, what keeps you from gathering weekly with the saints on earth for the banquet prepared at this altar today?
What keeps your neighbors from the vacant seats to your left and right from being with us?
Here is an important reason for us to hear again the Third Commandment,
Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.
What does this mean?
We should fear and love God so that we do not despise preaching and His Word but hold it sacred and gladly hear and learn it.
The word “Sabbath” means rest, and the way we receive rest is to sit at Christ’s feet, to receive His sacred Word, His Wisdom.
This, in turn, makes us His holy people.
But we aren’t called to do this alone either; rather, hear these words from the letter to the Hebrews,
[Do not neglect] to meet together, as is the habit of some, but [encourage] one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. (Hebrews 10:25)
This day is drawing near, the last day, the great day of God’s judgment. The day those who neglected Jesus’ invitation should tremble as Jesus says at the end of the Gospel, “For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet.”
As this day approaches, we should have a holy fear of our Heavenly Father, one that not only dreads being with the rich man of last week’s Gospel in Hades but also sees God as our Father who wishes nothing more than to give to us His Wisdom, His Son Jesus Christ.
And that’s precisely what He did; He sent His Son Jesus into this world as the very Word made flesh to dwell and live among you, to go to the cross and die for you, and now to feed you at this altar with a foretaste of the heavenly banquet that awaits us all.
This is what your Father in heaven wants for you.
So enjoy the gifts your Father in heaven entrusts to you, but remember to return to Him and give thanks.
Be careful, my friends, not to disregard the invitation you’ve received to the great and mighty banquet of heaven. Instead, continue coming as often as possible to receive strength for all the days of this life—the days of joy and the days of sadness.
In this way, your heavenly Father gathers all of you who are poor, crippled, blind, and lame – He calls and gathers those who find themselves outside the Church today, and He gives to them and you the wisdom of life. His Son, Jesus Christ. +INJ+
Rev. Noah J. Rogness
Good Shepherd Lutheran Church
Tomah, WI
