Reading: Luke 14:12-14

Verses 13-14: “When you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed.”

As we continue in Luke 14, Jesus turns from instructions on how the invited guests should act to who the invited guests should be. If the Pharisees or us modern readers struggled with the idea of practicing humility, then today’s words will be really tough. At the core of the red letter words today is the idea of loving without strings attached.

Jesus looks at the guest list for this dinner at a prominent Pharisee’s house and says – you’ve got it all wrong. Don’t invite those just like you. They’ll invite you to come over sometime too and that’ll be your reward. This scenario reminds me of many moves we’ve made. You invite 6-8 friends to help you move. The help is great. But you know you’ll get 6-8 invites to help them move one day.

Jesus offers this guest list suggestion: “When you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed.” Jesus offers a radical and generous vision of loving neighbor. This list is exactly who the Pharisees avoided. It is exactly who Jesus sought to have dinner with. Where does our guest list fall along this continuum?

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While you or I may not have the crippled, lame, blind, or poor in our circle of friends and acquaintances, they are in our communities. We need to be willing to expand our circles. Inviting and including those that society tends to ignore and exclude is exactly what Jesus is calling us to do. Then we will be “repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.” This will not be a part on the back and an “atta-boy” from Jesus. This will be the joy of seeing the lost who were found and we’re saved by Jesus.

Prayer: Lord God, make me brave enough to step outside my normal circles. Empower me to invite those outside into those circles. Widen them out so that all are welcome. Amen.