Gives Me Pause

Luke 14

12 Then he turned to his host. “When you put on a luncheon or a banquet,” he said, “don’t invite your friends, brothers, relatives, and rich neighbors. For they will invite you back, and that will be your only reward. 13 Instead, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. 14 Then at the resurrection of the righteous, God will reward you for inviting those who could not repay you.”

In this passage where Jesus is teaching on humility, we often hear the section just before today’s text, where Jesus talks about not choosing a seat of honor. However, I am not sure that I have ever spent much time at all with verses 12-14, when Jesus turns to the host and talks about who should be invited to a luncheon or banquet. Jesus makes it quite plain here that as followers of His, we should be watching out for the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind...people who cannot repay us for our kindness. THOSE are the people we should have in our homes, eating meals around our tables. Gives me great pause this morning. Our table has always been open for students, for friends of our kids, etc. Many of them have no means by which to “repay us,” nor would we ever consider expecting such repayment. But, have we truly taken it the next step as Jesus is commanding here? Like I say, gives me pause, this morning.