Then Jesus said to his host, “When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.” Luke 14:12-14
I don’t think I would want to be at this dinner party. Not only do the Pharisees try to trap Jesus, the guests are clearly scrambling to define their social status by where they get to sit. In response, Jesus tells several pointed parables. It all sounds deeply uncomfortable.
In between parables – one on humility and one implying that not all who are invited to God’s kingdom banquet will accept – Jesus turns and gives an extra set of instructions to his Pharisee host.
“When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”
Don’t seek your own prominence based on who accepts your dinner invitation or what you receive in return. Give honor to those who would not normally be honored in this society. Pursue heavenly blessing, not earthly reward. Who knows if Jesus’ Pharisee host listened to his instruction, but we have the opportunity to.
This week, invite someone to join you for an activity or meal who it feels like a stretch for you to invite. Yes, we’ve suggested you extend invitations about every week of this series. But extending invitations is at the heart of hospitality and building a bigger table. Like a muscle that needs to be worked in order to strengthen, extending invitations is a skill that, for many of us, needs regular practice before it becomes second nature.
By Jessica Rust
