The Great Banquet

Sermon for the Second Sunday after Trinity

Luke 14:15-24

June 14th, 2026

The Parable of the Great Banquet

“A man once gave a great banquet and invited many. And at the time for the banquet he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’”

In the Gospel reading, Jesus is dining at the house of the ruler of the Pharisees on the Sabbath Day. At the meal are lawyers and Pharisees. These are intelligent men, great theologians. They knew the bible and God’s Laws better than anyone. They believe they are living and walking in God’s Kingdom, but they aren’t. Despite their intelligence and vast knowledge of God’s Word, they don’t understand God’s Kingdom. They believe salvation is earned through their righteous living and their ability to keep God’s Laws and not through God’s Kingdom of grace and mercy found only in Jesus. They have chosen the ways of the earthly kingdom over God’s Heavenly Kingdom found in Jesus.

Jesus tells the parable of the Great Banquet in response to one of the Pharisees at this banquet table who said, “Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!”

The Great Banquet Jesus talks about in the parable is God’s Kingdom of grace and mercy found only in Jesus. At the Great Banquet is heavenly food that nourishes and strengthens your soul. It forgives your sins. It redeems you from sin and eternal death because it is Jesus Himself. We feast on Jesus through hearing the Gospel which is the power of salvation that creates and sustains faith in Christ alone. We eat His body and drink His blood in the Holy Supper. As much as we come and hear and eat and drink we are nourished for life eternal and we are guaranteed a seat at the Great Banquet in paradise.

The Pharisees in the parable have chosen the things of the earthly kingdom over the things of God’s Kingdom of grace and mercy found in Jesus. Jesus tells the parable as a warning. By rejecting the invitation to feast on Jesus in this lifetime, they were shutting themselves out of the eternal banquet to come at the Resurrection. You must feast on Jesus today or there is no happily ever after in the life of the world to come.

We are feasting on Jesus today in His Word and Sacrament. But we are not immune to the sin of the Pharisees. Jesus always tells His Parables with a warning. What the Pharisees display in the parable by choosing the things in this earthly kingdom over the invitation to come to the Great Banquet is the fruit of unbelief. We can choose the earthly things over the heavenly things we have been freely given and reject Jesus invitation, shutting ourselves out of the Great Banquet in the life of the world to come.

Hear the warning. Examine your lives. Where do you see the fruit of unbelief? Are you finding ways to reject Jesus invitation to come and feast on Him today?

The main fruit of unbelief the parable warns against is rejecting the invitation to gather together in the weekly Divine Service where we feast on Jesus. You know this. I’ve preached this faithfully and frequently for two years and three months. Every Sunday morning is the Great Banquet of Jesus where we feast on Him. Choosing to not come when you could you are choosing the earthly over the heavenly and eating the fruit of this world and not the fruit of Jesus which He won for you on the Cross. Rejecting Jesus invitation is the fruit of unbelief.

This morning I want to focus in on a more serious aspect of this rejection of the invitation. For some of you, rejecting the weekly invitation is a greater sin because you have children. By choosing the things of this broken world over coming here to feast on Jesus every Sunday with your children, you are not only hurting your own faith but the faith of your children.

Listen to Jesus. Jesus said, “Let the children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the Kingdom of God.” And Jesus said, “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea.”

Make no mistake, Jesus is speaking to you parents.

All sin is equal in that it damns apart from repentance and faith and forgiveness in Christ. But not all sin is equal in its implications. Some sins do more damage than others.

If you aren’t bringing your children to the Great Banquet on Sunday morning in the Divine Service and to Sunday school you are doing great damage to your child’s faith. You as parents are responsible for that damage. God will hold you accountable. You are also teaching your children that church really isn’t that big of a deal. They will follow in your footsteps as they grow older. If you make these 2 ½ hours on Sunday morning an option, they will too.

Notice I said 2 ½ hours on Sunday morning. That includes Sunday School. Yes, your children need to be in Sunday School after the Divine Service. Or adult Bible class if they are in 7^th grade or older. Choosing to not bring them the Divine Service and Sunday School when you could is not the fruit of faith. It is the fruit of unbelief. It’s choosing the earthly over the heavenly.

This fall, God willing, we will have two teachers for Sunday school, so the expectation will be increased for all parents with kids Pre-k through 6^th grade to be in Sunday School. 7^th and 8^th in Adult Bible class.

Why does 2 ½ hours on Sunday morning matter so much? Because it is the way God has chosen to work and sustain faith in you and your children throughout your lives. It is God’s will for you and them. God does good things to you and your children in Jesus in the Divine Service. Your sins are forgiven. You grow and mature in your faith. You become stronger and able to fight the good fight until the end. Your faith won’t survive apart from this gathering together in the Divine Service.

Most of you know this and take it seriously. We are seeing the benefits of this preaching and teaching. Over 50% of our members are coming to feast on Jesus faithfully and frequently on Sunday morning. Many of you are then staying for Bible class and some of you are making sure your kids are in Sunday School every Sunday. God be praised!

But we have a long way to go. The children are the future of this church. We need to live and make decisions as if we actually believe that. Live like we believe their faith and the future of this church is at stake by our decisions today.

For those who are attending the Divine Service and Bible class and Sunday School faithfully and frequently on Sunday morning, are we seeing the fruit of faith produced? The answer is yes. I have a simple and yet profound example of the fruit of faith that is seen among all of you that are making Sunday morning a priority in your lives. Pastor Karsten has filled in for me two times since I’ve been your pastor. Both times he has testified of the fruit of faith he’s seen among you. The first time he came he said emphatically that what he experience among you was great joy. It was overwhelming. You wanted to be here. It made him want to be here and to come back. And I’ve heard this from others who have visited St. Paul as well. This is the fruit of faith.

This coming together to feast on Jesus is not a burden but true heavenly joy. It is joy that isn’t forced or fake. It is joy that flows freely from faith that is glad to be in the house of God where Jesus is found. This is directly connected to what God does to you in Jesus in the Divine Service. And the joy you have in here you take out into the world, and it flows from you to those you meet who need to hear what Jesus has done for them. God be praised!

Just this week Pastor Karsten told me about the second fruit of faith he’s seen among you. He stated that while teaching Bible class he is especially impressed with the depth of the spiritual maturity of our people. This is the fruit of faith that is produced when you are willing to put in the hard work and listen and learn. Stay that extra hour for Bible class. Bring your kids to Sunday School and VBS. Come to Tuesday morning Bible class. Your faith matures and progresses. Your wisdom, knowledge, understanding and discernment grows. I’ve seen this firsthand. Your ability to confess the faith today compared to where you were two years ago is outstanding. God’s Word is shaping and forming your life and your confession when you immerse yourself in God’s Word.

The same thing will happen to your children if you bring them to church and Sunday school and VBS. They will learn and grow to confess the faith. The Holy Spirit will work in those little souls. The habits and priorities you establish in their lives today they will carry with them into their adult lives and then one day they will teach the same to their children.

That is your God given responsibility as parents. Bring them to Jesus every Sunday. Jesus said, “Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God.”

In here is the Great Banquet of Jesus. In here we are fed and nourished, we grow and mature in the faith, we are saved eternally. We are the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame, those in the highways and hedges. We don’t deserve to sit at the great banquet and feast on Jesus. But God in His infinite grace and mercy came to us, spoke His life into us, filled us with His Spirit, washed us clean in the blood of Jesus and seated at His Great Banquet. Once again today we will feast and we will live and endure into eternity and the life of the world to come with Jesus. Thanks be to Jesus. In Jesus name. Amen.