Mass affect [Trinity 2; St. Luke 14:15-24]

Jesus speaks to us today, saying,

“A man once gave a great banquet and invited many.”

From the Epistle, Jesus also speaks through St. John telling us that we KNOW we have passed from death to life and that Christ has laid down His life, for us, for that purpose. We know because God’s Word declares this to us in the promise of baptism; to be dead and buried to our sin and alive towards God as Jesus was and is.

Dead Men do not attend banquets. Sinners do not enter into this great feast. As Jesus says it is ready for those who have been invited and no one else. However, Jesus does not even allow us a measure of comfort there. He concludes with the statement that none of those who were invited will taste the banquet.

The Invited do not get in. They have better things to do. They substitute other things such as work or chores, objects and stuff, and even blame family on their absent-ness. Maybe they think that, since God is everywhere, it doesn’t really matter where they worship, as long as its true. God knows what’s in their heart after all.

If God is everywhere, then what does Church matter? If God is everywhere, then what does denomination or religious affiliation matter? If God is everywhere, who are you to say that Christianity is right or that Islam is wrong?

The Bible joins Jesus and His Church together so that they can not be separated. If you are in one, you are in the other. If you reject one, you reject the other. You can’t have Christ without His Church.

Thus, our Lutheran Confessions state very clearly that we do not abolish the Mass. It is retained and celebrated among us with the highest reverence (AC XXIV). You should remember this one, for we went over it in Bible Class. The Great Feast of the Lord is held and the Divine Service provides a foretaste.

Jesus tells us, through St. Paul, that we must prove all things and hold fast to all that which is good (I Thess. 5:22). In fact, since there is a banquet, there must be a sacrifice because we need something to eat. Since there was a death, we need to be able to proclaim it. No death, no feast.

Repent. You reason in your hearts that if you got as much profit and gain out of the preaching of the Gospel as I get out of my own business, I would attend. But, since you don’t, you won’t.

Are you the people who uninvited themselves from the Feast or are you the poor, blind, crippled, and lame? You favor casting aside God’s Church for something informal and emotionally charged. The Mass is not for excuses, it is for those who have no business being in the presence of God whom sin has crippled, blinded, and killed.

The Mass is not a Roman Catholic thing. It is the offering of a sacrifice, but not by you, by Jesus. The Mass, therefore, is ingrained into the Church Year and you pass it by without thinking. Each year you celebrate Christmas, or CHRIST-MASS.

The Mass is Christ’s. It is the Divine Service that He comes down into to physically be with His people and offer His sacrifice to you for free. Any and every time the Sacraments are celebrated in the Church it is Mass; Christmass, Epiphanymass, Lentmass, Eastermass, or Trinitymass.

All Sundays deserve a celebration of the Mass, because all Sundays are a reminder to us of Good Friday and Easter, in which the Lord of all saw fit to take His own life, lay it down for all of creation, and take it back up again.

This is the Gospel. This is the power of God for your salvation. In proclaiming the Lord’s death, we proclaim that sinners get to live. We get to do that, it is not a requirement for salvation, but the Lord allows us this special participation.

For as often as we eat and drink the Body and Blood of Christ, we proclaim His death until He comes (1 Cor. 11:26). In the Mass, the Divine Service, you are proclaiming the Gospel to the whole world. His death is our life. His guilt is our innocence.

For God has arisen. Creation’s groans have reached His ears and our sin smells to high heaven. He sends His saving Word, Jesus, in the flesh, to fight fearlessly and sharply against all sin and evil. Through the Word, we endure in the light that shines through the cross of Christ.

Lifted upon an instrument of death, Jesus purchases life for His poor, blind, and dead creation. Risen to new life, He justifies those whom He has chosen out by His gifts and Gospel and calls and gathers all, on His own.

Yes, you are the ungrateful who make excuses about coming to Church. You are also the ones who can’t make it here alone. IN Christ, your excuses are drowned in the waters of baptism and come out as shouts of Hosanna! In Christ, your ailments and inability to be of any worth are exchanged for the righteousness of Christ.

You are not worthy to be here, but in Jesus you are the Son. You are an heir to the Kingdom. You are the most holiest and sanctified person on the whole planet and therefore privy to any and all good things from above.

Which is what this banquet is: it is a free gift, given by God for you to simply receive. There is no entrance fee, no pre-examination, and no offering required. It does not require your approval, your enthusiasm, or your vote.

Jesus simply lays out the Feast before you and gives instructions: Eat, drink. In the Mass, the Lord gives a sacrifice to you, not to please you, but to make you pleasing. The Lord’s sacrifice gives you a clean heart, a right spirit, and forgiveness of sins.

In fact, we are doing nothing else but following the example of the Apostles. Immediately after the Ascension of Jesus, they took to their heels and celebrated the Mass. In Acts, we hear that they “devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.”