Focus
Prepare yourself to discern what is and what is not of God today. Still yourself so you can hear how God is calling you.
Read
Luke 14:1, 7-14 (NRSV)
On one occasion when Jesus was going to the house of a leader of the Pharisees to eat a meal on the sabbath, they were watching him closely.…
When he noticed how the guests chose the places of honor, he told them a parable. “When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not sit down at the place of honor, in case someone more distinguished than you has been invited by your host; and the host who invited both of you may come and say to you, ‘Give this person your place,’ and then in disgrace you would start to take the lowest place. But when you are invited, go and sit down at the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher’; then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at the table with you. For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
He said also to the one who had invited him, “When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”
Reflect
Dinners in the first century Roman world were occasions for displaying and maintaining honor. Who was invited, who sat where, what was served, etc., all indicated the “honor rating” of host and guests, which was a primary concern of people in that culture.
Unless your name was Jesus of Nazareth. “When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors,” he insisted. Instead, invite those who cannot repay you, who cannot honor you in return, which means your invitations are motivated by grace, not gain. And Jesus practiced what he preached—the most common charge leveled against him was, “He eats with tax collectors and sinners.” He was guilty as charged, joyously so.
Jesus’ table practices should cause us to ask ourselves, “Who feels welcome at our tables?” I’m concerned less about what we say, for most churches declare that they welcome everyone. I’m wondering what we’d find if we noted honestly the experiences of people who don’t look like us or believe like us should they visit our churches. I’m wondering if the charge that was leveled against Jesus would be leveled today against those who claim to be his followers.
Pray
O God who created all of us and longs for us to sit at your table together in peace, grant us wisdom to see that Jesus’ radically inclusive table fellowship is a key component of living into your kingdom. When grace, not gain, motivates our invitations to others and our acceptance of others’ invitations, when we are more invested in hospitality than honor, when we are inclusive instead of exclusive, then we are truly following Jesus and his way of living in your world. May we take his teaching and his example deep into our hearts so that we are as guilty as he was of “eating with tax collectors and sinners.” Amen.
Go with God.
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