Excuses

Excuses

The Second Sunday after Trinity – 6/14/2026

Luke 14:15-24

Rev. Dr. Christopher W. Brademeyer

That portion of God holy Word for consideration this morning is our reading from the Holy Gospel according to St. Luke in the fourteenth chapter with special emphasis on verses twenty-three and twenty-four which read as follows:

“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. For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet.’”[1]

Thus far the Scriptures.

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

   I once knew a guy who bought a new house. He was pretty excited about the whole thing. A first house is a significant milestone, and my friend was so proud of it. He and his wife loved the old cabinets in the hallway, the little stained-glass panel above the front door, and the big oak tree in the back yard. As new homeowners sometimes want to do, he wanted to share the new home that he bought for his family with his friends and extended family.

     So he and his wife sent out texts and messages inviting all those they loved to a back yard housewarming barbeque. They bought burgers and brats, watermelon and corn on the cob. The coolers were filled with beer, pop, and ice. Tables were borrowed from their church; lawn chairs were rounded up. A new cornhole set was purchased and some wood was rounded up for a bonfire. Everyone said they would be there. My buddy and his family got excited.

    They waited. Start time came. The burgers and brats were on the grill. And they waited. The burgers got burned. The brats shriveled up. My friend started calling and texting people to see where everyone was. “Oh, I forgot. I started watching this new show on Netflix, it is pretty good. Sorry man.” “Ya, I uh, got busy.” “Well, I was going to go but my other friend called me to have drinks up town.” The excuses poured in. And my friend and his family were disgusted. Some of these friendships were damaged beyond repair. Others healed, but it was never the same after that.

    This sort of thing is not as uncommon as we would like to think. While it may not be as

dramatic as my friend or the master in our Gospel reading, it is present and known. The thing that is striking about all of this is how ridiculous it all is. We would rightly condemn the supposed friends of my friend for their weak excuses. Such excuse making reveals something about where their loyalties lie, where their affection is, and how much they esteem my friend and his family.

    Jesus’s parable here illustrates a similar point: the master is disregarded. His feast is a momentous event and an important matter. The excuses, which may be valid for a lesser thing, are silly in comparison to the grand feast that he wants to throw. Wives, and oxen, and fields are matters that are not minor, but they are also not pressing in the sort of way that would prevent attendance at the feast of the master. And even more surprising than the lack of interest on the part of the people is the insistence of the master that the party still go on. He does not cancel; he still desires a full house.

  The point our Lord makes here is straightforward: the Kingdom of God, the great Wedding Feast of the Lamb, is the great banquet that all of us have been invited to enjoy. But excuses are plentiful and weak.

   We have all heard them, haven’t we? If we are honest, we have all made these kinds of excuses from time to time as well. We claim to be busy, to be tired, and to be bored. Worse are those who deny the faith and coming to hear the Word because they think the repetition of Christian truth is unworthy of their time and consideration. That is to say, they think that hearing God’s Word at church is an optional thing.

    Let me be clear about these two excuses: hearing the Word of God and receiving the sacraments are not optional. The Third Commandment to keep the Sabbath Day means hearing and receiving the Word of God in the ways that God has promised to give it profitably to us: preaching, absolution, and the sacraments. In other words, it is hypocrisy of the highest order to claim Christ but reject His commands. One cannot have the Lord while despising what He says. As for the excuse that hearing the Gospel repeatedly is not worth one’s time, there is a serious misunderstanding at play here. The Word of God is not simply or only the giving of information about God. This is a common misunderstanding; preaching is not merely the giving of information about God or the explication of Biblical facts. While it is good for sermons to do this, preaching is more fundamentally the giving of Christ the Savior.

That is to say, preaching is the giving of Christ to you for your benefit. And while preaching certainly does communicate information about the Lord and His teaching, it also is an actual giving of Christ. In other words, even if you do not understand every point of a sermon, you still receive Christ your Savior. This is how we should think about the wholesome and truthful handling of God’s Word in the pulpit: it is nothing less than the reception of Christ Himself. And because it is Christ, it is salvation and life, even forgiveness of sins. This is why St. Paul writes elsewhere that “faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.”[2] This emphasis on the Word is not because a certain number of attended services is a threshold to get into heaven, rather, it is because God desires to graciously bestow His salvation on all suffering, poor sinners in need.

In addition, the other excuses fall flat on their faces. Being tired or bored or whatever is not insignificant. But what are these in comparison to the everlasting majesty of the Word of God? The sinful heart is always looking for excuses to ignore the Master's summons and will gladly believe nearly any excuse it can invent.

Take heed. You Christians must not give in to this apathy and laziness. We treat the breaking of the Third Commandment as a trifling thing, but it is most serious. Keeping one’s self absent from the Word of God is to be deprived of the very Word of forgiveness that the whole of the Christian enterprise depends on. Moreover, there is no promise that our Lord will preserve a place at the table for ones who persistently ignore His invitation to receive His grace. Some seem to think this, imagining that having their names on a church roll is sufficient, even while they never receive the Word of Christ.

Instead, the Master will send out His messengers: His pastors, His missionaries, His Christians, to bring in the poor, the downtrodden, and the lame. His feast will be filled, even if those initially invited pursue foolish things of lesser importance. And more than this, our Lord invites the poor, the lame, and the sick, those who, like us, come with nothing to offer, no bottle of housewarming wine to give. Instead, we can only beg, with hands outstretched, for the mercy of God that this feast was established to lavish on us.

This feast, dear saints, celebrated every Sunday, is where our Lord gives Himself through His Word, through His absolution, and through His Supper. We have here in our Divine Service a foretaste, the appetizer course if you will, of the great heavenly banquet of the Lamb where all the faithful are gathered to receive Him and His everlasting bounty of grace and mercy. Yes, dear friends, this is one party, one banquet to surpass all others. No amount of succulent meat or refreshing drink in this world can even begin to compare with the great feast set for us. And you, dear Christians, when you heed the call of your Lord and come here, get the foretaste of the great heavenly banquet to come. To use a crude analogy, our Divine Service through its faithfulness, beauty, and reverence, is meant to stoke your appetite for the full course of the things of God yet to come.

So, do not lightly dismiss this summons. Heed it. Consider it diligently. Grant it the utmost importance in your life and conduct. And, above all, keep your gaze and your faith on Christ Jesus the Master and giver of the feast, who has Himself bid you come. So come. Here the Master still serves His feast. Here Christ still gives Himself. Here forgiveness, life, and salvation are yours.

In the holy Name of + Jesus. Amen.

 The peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

[1] Luke 14:23-24 English Standard Version. All further quotations of the Holy Scriptures are from the ESV.

[2] Romans 10:17