True Body, Full House [Trinity 2]

 [T E X T  O N L Y]

Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior. (Titus 1:4)

 

Who speaks to you today, from His Gospel heard in His Church, saying: 

“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!’”

 

Blessed, blessed, God Blessed. We are overwhelmed with how much blessing God gives to us and that is as it should be. We should want, therefore, to be as sure as possible that we are receiving those blessings. So amidst all the “blessed are the poor”, “blessed are the peacemakers”, and today “blessed are the Kingdom-bread-eaters”, we find these blessings located only in Jesus, specifically, only in making physical contact with Him in His Body.

 

One way of physical contact is by His Word, for there would be no blessing in this eating of bread if the Lord did not say there was blessing in the eating of bread. Likewise, there would be no kingdom if the Lord did not say “Let there be a kingdom”. 

 

Many falsely believe that there are actually two kingdoms, though they will not admit it. There is a kingdom on earth and a kingdom in heaven. There has to be a kingdom on earth for two reasons, first Jesus says the kingdom is at hand, and second from everyone’s favorite book, Revelation, Jesus is going to reign on earth for 1000 years. He’s gotta do it from somewhere.

 

There also has to be a heavenly kingdom, one because Jesus says His kingdom is not of this world and two, there has to be a heavenly kingdom, because what’s on earth now absolutely cannot be the kingdom God has prepared for believers. There just has to be something better.

 

In this way, we all become good Jews and believe that the Kingdom of God is a literal, physical, and political body that will appear in front of us, on earth, just before the Last Day. “Thy kingdom come”, we pray and we cannot separate the physical image that conjures in our minds from the literal kingdom it promises.

 

And yet, we do separate them, in our sin. We separate them because we love to divide and conquer. It is our sinful nature. We want God’s Kingdom on earth so that we can be in it and others cannot. We want favor and blessing so that we can point out those who do not have it, but we rest assured, that for the most part, we do.

 

Jesus isn’t as sure as you are, in your sinfulness. In fact, whenever someone brings this subject up, He always proves them wrong. When someone told Him, “blessed are the breasts that nursed you” He shot back, “rather blessed are those who hear the Word” (Lk 11:27-28). 

 

Today’s Gospel is no different. Someone tries to say something nice about heaven and Jesus says, “when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed” (Lk14:13-14). 

 

And we’re like, whoa Jesus. That escalated quickly. We were just trying to say something nice, no need to get all bent out of shape about it. You shall not judge! Take your negativity elsewhere.

 

Repent! You do not have the right body for corrupted earth, much less do you have the right body for heaven. Before you even think about eating or the kingdom, you have to think about ability and it seems as if Jesus is saying, that since you have ability, you are not fit for the kingdom. The poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame get in before you are even thought of!

 

You don’t have the right body.

You want to be blessed? Better check your able-ist privilege at the door. Got money? Ain’t gettin in. Use of both legs? Rejected. Able to look around? Get outta here. Mental faculties intact? Keep movin pal. 

 

There is no blessing for the able and for those who have all their stuff together. “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance” (Lk 5:31-32).

 

I have come to call sinners to repentance. Where is the blessing in being a sinner? Sin makes you poor, crippled, blind, and lame. Where is the blessing in being a sinner?

Jesus has come for you.

 

Where is the blessing in being poor, crippled, blind, and lame? Jesus comes to give you His Body in exchange. He has come to regenerate and renew. “Born again” we call it. Given a new generation, a new life. A second Life. The first was a bust. The second is eternal salvation in Christ.

 

God came in His own body to redeem your lowly body. God was made man, in order to remake man in His Image once again, because that image was lost in Adam’s fall. Jesus Christ, God in man made manifest, took on flesh and bone in order to retake the blessings of God for man, and give them back to man.

 

“Truly I say to you,” Jesus says in St. Matthew 19, “that you who have followed Me, in the regeneration when the Son of Man will sit on His glorious throne, you also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (v.28). In the regeneration, you shall sit with Jesus. The regeneration of body and soul. 

 

For you are corrupted in your body in two ways. First, you cannot stand to be in the presence of sin, so much so that you get sick, grow old, and you will die. Second, Your body cannot withstand the kingdom of heaven. That Kingdom is brought in by the cross and you are too weak for the cross, much less its glory and holiness found therein.

 

Jesus takes the body, all our bodies, into Himself. He, as man, ascends to triumph on the very cross you cannot withstand and against the very sin that destroys body and soul, He emerges from the Tomb victorious, in His Body.

 

It is Jesus’ Bread. It is Jesus’ Kingdom. It is Jesus’ Feast. To Jesus, the Father says, “when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind [in sin], and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just” (Lk 14:13-14).

 

And He does just that. He doesn’t call the righteous, He doesn’t call the holy. He calls the poor, wretched sinners to His banquet. Why? Because its not good enough for the others? No. Because, the blessing is not being in a fancy mansion, with fancy tables, and fancy manners. 

 

The blessing is: Jesus is regenerating bodies. He is making the Poor into princes. He is making the cripple sound of mind and body. He is making the lame into olympians. He is making the blind see. 

 

Why? Because the blessing is not ability. The blessing is that the Lord’s house must be full. “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’” (Lk 14:23).

 

In Christ, the blessing is: “blessed is everyone who fills the House of the Lord”. Do you take up space? You’re invited! Do you breathe, eat, drink, and grow? 

 

To you our Lord says, “Take and eat. The true Body of Christ, given for you!” 

The true Body of Christ, given for you. There is the right Body. There is the whole Body, the healthy Body, the Body that is able to save each and every person that has ever and will ever walk this earthly realm. Given for you.

 

Welcome to the Lord’s Body shop. He gives you His. No strings. No catch. You get it and you get in and you are blessed, in Christ. Blessed are you, dear Christian, for you do eat bread in the Kingdom of God, today, in the Body of Jesus Christ, your risen Lord and Savior.

 

Claim your true body in love, in the Word, in talk, in deed, and in the Truth. Your Lord comes to you to make physical contact with you in order to transfer His holiness to you. You want blessings? They are only located in the Body and Blood of Christ, no matter if you’re rich or poor, able or unable. All will be regenerated so that our lowly bodies will be like His Glorious Body, in Christ.