Second Sunday after Trinity
D. G. Phillips
Evening Prayer
Cherry Hill June
1, AD 2008
1 John
3:13-24 St. Luke 14:15-24
A certain man
made a great supper, and bade many; and sent his servant at
supper-time to say to them that were bidden, Come, for all things
are now ready.
In these Sundays during Trinity
season we are considering the stages of our sanctification in the
Spirit - we are being brought step by step from our current darkness
into the glorious light of heaven. Today we are in one of the
opening Sundays of this season of Trinity. What would be the
beginnings of our growth to maturity in Christ?
In the second
lesson tonight, Jesus has been at a feast at the house of a Pharisee
who invited him, and there is all sorts of tension at the table.
Imagine a table full of Pharisees who are trying to catch Jesus and
he speaking to them in parables, very directly really, critiquing
them in such a way that it is not understood immediately. Our
reading tonight picks up about halfway through the supper. One
commentator has suggested that one man, perhaps recognizing the
incredible battle of words, was trying to cool down the tense
situation (Matthew Henry’s Commentary), speaks of what he thinks
might change the direction of the conversation, and be common ground
among them all…
Blessed is he
that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God.
Ah, the blessed
life of heaven…where
political disagreements do not exist; where there are no more power
struggles; where we feast on the finest things with the company of
heaven; where everyone loves their neighbour as themselves; where we
are at perfect peace with God; where desire reaches out and is
eternally satisfied; where there is no more fear.
Blessed is he
that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God.
Here is
something we can all look forward to some day.
But Jesus says
it doesn’t have to be some day in the future. And it is not God who
is holding people back from the Kingdom of heaven, but it is we who
hold ourselves back from entering and feasting in the Kingdom.
He tells another
parable to the supper guests:
A certain man
made a great supper, and bade many; and sent his servant at
supper-time to say to them that were bidden, Come, for all things
are now ready…all things are ready, now.
We needn’t wait
until we die to feast in heaven…all things are now ready.
So how can we
experience more of this heavenly feast even now?
Our readings
suggest that it is either a lack of love or a lack of fear
that prevents us from participating in the life of heaven even now.
Love God and
fear God and you will feast even now!
Let’s look
first at loving God, then at fearing Him.
St. John’s says,
We know that we have passed from death unto life (that is,
entered the Kingdom of God), because we love the brethren.
We love God if
we love our brothers and sisters. And the degree to which we do
that, not in vain words, but in deed and in truth, is the
degree to which we have entered the Kingdom.
Jesus has shown
us what that love of our neighbour looks like, it is self-sacrifice:
Hereby
perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us:
and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
It is not just
if we feel like doing it, but a kind of decision of our mind, an
obedience to a command, we should believe on the Name of … Jesus
Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment – act in
the way Jesus would act and does act – if we would love God and love
like God loves.
And in the
second lesson, God-like love is shown most clearly, when we show
love for those who are undeserving of our love, who are not seeking
to be loved by us:
The Father in
heaven invites the poor, the maimed, and the halt and the blind,
that is us really, who have nothing to offer Him, who can’t draw
near to Him on our own, who can’t see Him, who are undeserving of
love – we were not the chosen people. But the Father searches out
the high-ways and hedges and he has found us, that his
house might be filled.
To love like the
Father we are to actively seek out people who are unloving to us,
taking the extra step – going outside the bounds.
And as we do
this we eat bread in the kingdom of God, we participate even
now in the life of heaven. We live the resurrection life and
unexpectedly find ourselves repaid even now – filled with greater
love, filled with God.
So love of our
neighbour moves us into the Kingdom of heaven.
What about a
fear of God? How is that helpful?
Fear is normally
what makes us run away or at least to freeze and not come closer.
But we are told
again and again in Scripture that the beginning of wisdom is the
fear of God? Why do we pray in today’s collect that we would have
a perpetual fear and love of God’s holy name?
Well look at the
Gospel lesson:
A certain man
made a great supper, and bade many; and sent his servant at
supper-time to say to them that were bidden, Come, for all things
are now ready. And they all with one consent began to make excuse.
The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must
needs go and see it; I pray thee have me excused. And another said,
I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them; I pray thee
have me excused. And another said, I have married a wife, and
therefore I cannot come.
Imagine if God
tapped us on the shoulder in a dream, or sent an angel to confront
us in the midst of our busy day and asked us to come to participate
in the greatest feast and we said, maybe not, I’m kind of busy with
other things.
Does that not
terrify you a bit, that we could do that – be so sleepy, so much in
the shadow of death that we could turn away from a Divine
invitation? that we could turn down the Giver of Life? Imagine the
sleepy Pharisees sitting at table with Jesus and being unmoved,
simply trying to see the one who is God incarnate slip up?
I know I have
done that – and in fact I’m sure we have all done that – again, and
again, and again. Because God is daily knocking at our hearts,
inviting us further into His kingdom to feast on love.
But if we turn
away to our own pursuits to make our lives, no matter how noble we
may think our pursuits are, if that activity is not in response to
an obedience to the divine call, if our activity is not about the
love of God and our neighbour, we will lose our lives.
For I say
unto you, That none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my
supper.
Not because God
is forbidding them, but as a statement of fact – they chose not to
taste, not to heed the invitation.
So a certain
fear of God also moves us into the Kingdom of heaven – a
healthy fear of offending Him, a fear of the awesome power God has
given to us to choose life with Him or death without.
Love God and
fear God and we will feast even now!
Do neither and
we will not taste of His supper.
We have a
Saviour, Jesus Christ, who knows our frailty and so gives us these
parables to wake us up to the possibilities of eternal life with God
and danger of walking away. He also gives the power to be forever
alert to that danger, and the desire to draw near to Him in love.
Today we have
heeded the Divine invitation to eat bread in the Kingdom of Heaven –
we have come together to worship Him, to be strengthened by His Word
– let us pray that we might be filled with a holy fear and a
love of God.
O LORD, who
never failest to help and govern them whom thou dost bring up in thy
stedfast fear and love: Keep us, we beseech thee, under the
protection of thy good providence, and make us to have a perpetual
fear and love of thy holy Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
