LESSON: LUKE 14:16-21

“A man once gave a great banquet.” Luke 14:16

In this Gospel, as well as in the remainder of Holy Scripture, we must make an effort, to the best of our ability, to grasp the true, simple meaning of the text and to rest our heart and conscience on it. Anyone who wants to do battle with the devil must not waver to and fro or totter, but must be sure of his ground, armed with clear and certain Scripture. Otherwise, when the devil gets him on to his fork by means of an unsure understanding, he will toss him to and fro like the wind tosses a dry leaf.

In this Gospel we must also obtain a sure understanding so that we may stand our ground. It has nothing at all to do with the Lord’s Supper, as has sometimes been claimed with the assistance of some really hair-splitting exegesis.

The sum and substance of this Gospel is that the Gospel has been preached and proclaimed in all the world, but only few accept it. It is called a “banquet” or a supper because the Gospel will be the last, final word and doctrine which will bring this world to a close.

This supper, then, is nothing else but a rich, precious meal, which God has made ready by means of the Gospel, through Christ, in which He sets before us great blessings and rich treasures.

SL 11:1210 (1-3)

PRAYER: Lord, You have set before us great blessings and rich treasures in the banquet prepared for us through Your Son and offered to us in Your Gospel. May we never lose sight of these blessings and treasures but ever regard them as our highest good, in and through our Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

Editor’s note: No American Edition (AE) equivalent for today’s sermon excerpt exists at the time of this publication. For an alternate English translation of this sermon, see Lenker, Church Postil—Gospels, 4:33-38.

LESSON: HEBREWS 3:7-15

Abraham said, “They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them … If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.” Luke 16:29, 31

In this Gospel you see how Abraham refuses to send someone from the dead to teach the living at the request of the rich man. He reminds the rich man that the living have Moses and the prophets to whom they should give heed.

In these words, we are also reminded of God’s prohibition against any kind of consultation of the dead on the part of the living (cf. Deuteronomy 18:10-12). It is certainly a devilish apparition when spirits make themselves known to men in response to various invocations, and request men to offer up masses for the dead, to undertake pilgrimages for them and to perform other works. There have also been claims that they have given assurances of success to those who have heeded their instructions.

In this way, the devil has misled men into putting their trust in works and drawn them away from faith. He has created the illusion among men that works can perform great wonders. What St. Paul foretold is being fulfilled, that God sends upon those who perish and refuse to love the truth and be saved “a strong delusion, to make them believe what is false” (2 Thessalonians 2:10-11).

Therefore, be well advised and learn that God refuses to make known how the dead fare after this life. Here the only thing that can help us is faith through God’s Word, faith which believes that after this life God receives believers into blessedness and condemns unbelievers. This is made abundantly clear in the Gospel of the rich man and poor Lazarus.

SL 11:1207 (31-32)
AE 78:65

PRAYER: Dear Lord Jesus, You are with us throughout our life; abide with us also at our death. Grant us not to die eternally but to rise to life everlasting with You and in You, who live and reign in the glory of the eternal Trinity, one God, forevermore. Amen.

LESSON: LUKE 12:16-21

Abraham said, “Son, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner evil things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish.” Luke 16:25

The inability of Lazarus to render bodily service to his neighbor has been more than recompensed by the rich spiritual service he has been enabled to render to others. For now, after his death, he serves the whole world with his sores, hunger, and distress. His bodily hunger feeds our spiritual hunger; his bodily nakedness clothes our spiritual nakedness; his bodily sores heal our spiritual sores.

He teaches and comforts us by his example, reminding us that God can still be pleased with us even if things do not go well with us here on earth, provided that we have faith. He warns us that God’s wrath can come upon us even if things go well for us in unbelief, even as God was pleased with him in his wretchedness and displeased with the rich man.

What king, with all his wealth, could render the whole world a service comparable with the service rendered us by Lazarus with his sores, hunger, and poverty? How wonderful are God’s works and judgements! In what a masterly manner He puts to shame the clever fool, with his reason and worldly wisdom, who prefers to see the beautiful purple of the rich man rather than the sores of poor Lazarus, who would rather look at a healthy man like the rich man than at an ugly naked body like that of Lazarus.

Christian faith brings about a complete change in our whole set of values.

SL 11:1200 (16-17)
AE 78:59

PRAYER: Enlighten us with Your Holy Spirit, heavenly Father, that we may always get and keep our values straight as Your children by faith in Jesus Christ, our Savior and Redeemer. Amen.

LESSON: PHILIPPIANS 3:7-11

Without faith it is impossible to please him [God]. Hebrews 11:6

We should not form an estimate of Lazarus with his sores, poverty, and troubles only from external factors. For there are many people who suffer want and trouble without ever deriving any benefit from it. King Herod had to endure terrible sufferings, as we are reminded in the Acts of the Apostles (12:23). But his status before God did not improve thereby.

Poverty and suffering in themselves do not make men acceptable to God. But the poverty and suffering of one who is already acceptable to God is something precious in God’s sight, as the psalmist declares, “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints” (Psalm 116:15).

We must look into the heart of Lazarus and search there for the treasure which made his sores so precious. This, without a doubt, was his faith and love, for without faith nothing can please God, as the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews reminds us (11:6). The heart of Lazarus must have been so constituted that, even in the midst of his poverty and wretchedness, he looked to God for all good and found his only consolation in reliance on God.

Moreover, he experienced such rich satisfaction and pleasure in God’s goodness and grace that he would have readily endured more suffering had that been the will of his gracious God. It was a real, living faith which, through the realization of God’s goodness, softened his heart so that nothing was too onerous or difficult for him to endure or do. Faith makes the heart experienced when it experiences God’s grace.

SL 11:1199 (12-14)
AE 78:59

PRAYER: Give us such faith in You and Your sure purposes, heavenly Father, that we do not measure our lives simply by what we have done or failed to do, but by our obedience to Your will, through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit forever and ever. Amen.

LESSON: MATTHEW 25:31-46

Through love be servants of one another. Galatians 5:13

One sin follows another. The rich man clothed in purple and faring sumptuously every day forgot his love towards his neighbor. He let poor Lazarus lie at his door and gave him no help. Even if he was disinclined to give Lazarus some help personally, he could still have ordered his servants to make a shed available to him where they could have done something for him.

This came about because he had no real understanding of God and had never experienced God’s goodness. He who has experienced God’s goodness also has some feeling for his neighbor’s misfortune. But he who has never experienced God’s goodness, also has no feeling for his neighbor’s misfortune. Even as he finds no pleasure in God, so also his neighbor’s plight never touches his heart.

Faith is so constituted that it looks to God for all that is good and relies on God alone. Out of such faith man learns to know God, how good and gracious He is. From this knowledge of God, man’s heart is also softened and inclined to mercy, so that he readily does for everyone what he feels God has done for him.

The result of all this is love, by which a man begins to serve his neighbor with his whole heart, with body and life, with property and honor, with soul and spirit. He is ready to bestow everything on his neighbor, as God has done this for him. He does not look for healthy, high, strong, rich, noble, and holy people, who have no need of him, but for the sick, the weak, the poor, the despised people who are sinners, to whom he can be useful. On these he can exercise his mercy and serve them as God has served him.

SL 11:1197 (7-8)
AE 78:57

PRAYER: Teach us, O Lord, that it is always better to give than to receive, better to serve than to be served, after Your own example, that we may always help our needy neighbor, for Your mercy and truth’s sake. Amen.

LESSON: 1 TIMOTHY 6:6-10

If riches increase, set not your heart on them. Psalm 62:10

Where there is true Christian faith, rich attire and sumptuous food will never be major considerations. Christian faith does not look for earthly good, honor, pleasure, power, or anything outside of God Himself. It seeks, desires, and clings to nothing but God, who alone is the highest good.

Whether there is costly fare or little to eat, whether there is splendid attire or nothing but very simple clothing, makes very little difference to Christian faith. Even if Christians must wear costly attire and wield great power in a position of honor, they think little of it. It may be that they have been forced into this by circumstances or that they must adopt such procedures in the interests of their neighbor. Queen Esther declared that she wore her royal crown reluctantly but was compelled to do so for the sake of the king. David would have preferred to remain a common man. He was compelled to become king for God’s sake and the sake of the people.

This is the way all believers regard their elevated roles in this world. They are compelled to accept power, honor, and glory, but they never allow their roles in life to ensnare their hearts. Basically, they continue to serve God and their neighbor however they may find themselves situated in this life.

SL 11:1196 (5)
AE 78:56-57

PRAYER: O God, our Father, Your Word is better than gold, and Your counsels are more precious than anything else in life. Grant us wisdom to seek the true riches, to know and possess You, and to be known and possessed by You, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

LESSON: 2 CORINTHIANS 8:8-15

“There was a rich man … who feasted sumptuously every day.” Luke 16:19

When we measure this rich man by the fruits of faith, we shall find a heart and a tree of unbelief. The Gospel reproaches him for feasting sumptuously daily and for decking himself out in costly apparel. Reason does not regard such matters as especially great sins. It could even be that a man imbued with the idea of work-righteousness would regard all this as perfectly in order, imagining that he had deserved all this by his holy life, without any real conception of committing sin by such conduct because of his unbelief.

This rich man is not really reproached for his costly food and his splendid attire. Many holy men and women, king and queens in times past, have worn costly attired like Solomon, Esther, David, Daniel, and many others.

The rich man in this Gospel is reproached for setting his heart on these things—seeking, choosing, and clinging to them; finding all his joy, pleasure, and relish in them; and making idols of these things.

This is what Christ indicates with the expression “every day.” He lived in this glorious manner “every day.” He sought and chose this way of life deliberately. He was not forced to accept it by circumstance or because of his office. This way of life could not redound in any way to the welfare of his neighbor. He was simply concerned about fulfilling his own pleasure. He lived for himself and served no one but himself.

Herein we see the secret sin of his heart, his unbelief and lack of true faith manifesting itself in selfish, sinful, and wicked fruits.

SL 11:1196 (4)
AE 78:56

PRAYER: Open our eyes and hearts to the needs of our neighbor, heavenly Father, that our lives do not simply become a continuous exercise in self-interest and routines which promote nothing but ourselves, but keep our hearts open to receive Your love for service to our neighbor, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

LESSON: LUKE 16:19-31

“There was a rich man, who was clothed in purple and fine linen.” Luke 16:19

We must not simply form an opinion on this rich man from his external conduct. He is dressed in sheep’s clothing, and his life outwardly glitters and seems beautiful, covering the wolf to perfection.

The Gospel does not accuse him of adultery, murder, robbery, or violation of law. It brings no charge against him with which the world or reason could find fault. He was just as honorable in his life as the Pharisee who fasted twice in the week and did not do what other men did, and of whom Luke also writes in his Gospel (18:11-12). Had he committed any gross crime, the Gospel would undoubtedly have mentioned it. It describes this man in such detail that it even mentions his “purple” clothing and what kind of table he kept.

These are external matters, and God does not necessarily judge any man according to them. In all probability, this rich man led a fine, holy life outwardly and according to his own thinking and that of other men, keeping the whole law of Moses. He cannot be judged simply by external appearances. One must look into his heart and judge him according to his spirit.

The Gospel has very sharp eyes; it looks into the depth of the heart. The Gospel can fault works of which reason may approve. Nor is the Gospel fooled by the sheep’s clothing. It knows how to regard the fruit of a tree, whether it is good or bad, as the Lord also says in Matthew’s Gospel, “Every sound tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears evil fruit” (Matthew 7:17).

SL 11:1195 (2-3)
AE 78:55-56

PRAYER: You can read our hearts, O God, and know what we really are. You are never deceived by sheep’s clothing. May we always act in love and truth towards all our fellowmen and thereby demonstrate by fruits of faith that we are Your true children by faith in Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.