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Then He also said to him who invited Him, "When you give a dinner or supper, do not ask your friends, your brothers, your relatives, nor rich neighbors, lest they also invite you back, and you be repaid. But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you; for you shall be repaid at the resurrection of the just."
Now when one of those who sat at the table with Him heard these things, he said to Him, "Blessed is he who shall eat bread in the kingdom of God!" Then He said to him, "A certain man gave a great supper and invited many, and sent his servant at supper time to say to those who were invited, 'Come, for all things are now ready.' But they all with one accord began to make excuses. The first said to him, 'I have bought a piece of ground, and I must go and see it. I ask you to have me excused.' And another said, 'I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to test them. I ask you to have me excused.' Still another said, 'I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.' So that servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant, 'Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in here the poor and the maimed and the lame and the blind.' And the servant said, 'Master, it is done as you commanded, and still there is room.' Then the master said to the servant, 'Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. For I say to you that none of those men who were invited shall taste my supper.'"
- Luke 14:12-24
In yesterday's reading, we read that as Jesus went into the house of one of the rulers of the Pharisees to eat bread on the Sabbath, that they watched Him closely. And behold, there was a certain man before Him who had dropsy. And Jesus, answering, spoke to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?" But they kept silent. And He took him and healed him, and let him go. Then He answered them, saying, "Which of you, having a donkey or an ox that has fallen into a pit, will not immediately pull him out on the Sabbath day?" And they could not answer Him regarding these things. So He told a parable to those who were invited, when He noted how they chose the best places, saying to them: "When you are invited by anyone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in the best place, lest one more honorable than you be invited by him; and he who invited you and him come and say to you, 'Give place to this man,' and then you begin with shame to take the lowest place. But when you are invited, go and sit down in the lowest place, so that when he who invited you comes he may say to you, 'Friend, go up higher.' Then you will have glory in the presence of those who sit at the table with you. For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."
Then He also sad to him who invited Him, "When you give a dinner or supper, do not ask your friends, your brothers, your relatives, nor rich neighbors, lest they also invite you back, and you be repaid. But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you; for you shall be repaid at the resurrection of the just." My study bible tells us that this "story of God's compassion toward the poor appears only in Luke. To share hospitality with the needy is to imitate God's love which welcomes the lowly into the banquet of His Kingdom." But elsewhere we read of a similar idea of exchange: in Matthew's Gospel, Jesus says to someone has has already followed all the commandments of the Law, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasures in heaven." Elsewhere, He teaches, "When you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, that your charitable deed may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly." There is a kind of exchange that occurs in His way of thinking, and at all times this exchange is at work, so that we who keep in mind this Kingdom of heaven, are always at work somehow within it and within its sphere and influence. In this kind of exchange, the things we do for others -- particularly for those who are left outside, who cannot do for themselves -- are loved by God.
Now when one of those who sat at the table with Him heard these things, he said to Him, "Blessed is he who shall eat bread in the kingdom of God!" My study bible tells us, "This is an inspirational, although little-known, beatitude. The purpose of life is to join in the sharing of bread in the kingdom of God, a partaking of the eternal love of God." The theme continues of the power and the immediacy of this kingdom, the promise of the eternal life that intersects worldly lives through faith.
Then He said to him, "A certain man gave a great supper and invited many, and sent his servant at supper time to say to those who were invited, 'Come, for all things are now ready.' But they all with one accord began to make excuses. The first said to him, 'I have bought a piece of ground, and I must go and see it. I ask you to have me excused.'" My study bible says of this parable that it "exemplifies God's Kingdom, imaged in the ministry of Christ and later in the Church. The Kingdom is filled with outcasts and Gentiles, while the unresponsive privileged guests shut themselves out with their excuses." In this first example, we note the busyness of the world, the things with which we are occupied, what we put first. If it "blots out" the urgencies of the kingdom, the things which we are to keep in mind through all things in our lives, then we err in our own judgments and priorities.
"And another said, 'I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to test them. I ask you to have me excused.'" Again, it is business that takes priority over what we put first, here. It reminds us of Jesus' comparison regarding healing on the Sabbath, and the value put on the farm animals over human beings, in yesterday's reading, and also the reading from Tuesday. We consider our values, what we place value on, and how we prioritize.
"Still another said, 'I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.'" This example is also about worldly affairs, but those of the social sphere, worldly relations and institutions -- even that of family does not come first. It doesn't mean that we don't do all these things, that we aren't concerned with them: but it means that the priority of the Kingdom in fact gives us a higher consideration, one that places all else in relationship to it.
"So that servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant, 'Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in here the poor and the maimed and the lame and the blind.' And the servant said, 'Master, it is done as you commanded, and still there is room.' Then the master said to the servant, 'Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. For I say to you that none of those men who were invited shall taste my supper.'" Here, as my study bible put it, is the denouement of this parable: "The Kingdom is filled with outcasts and Gentiles, while the unresponsive privileged guests shut themselves out with their excuses." The message is very clear: what we think we have, what worldly position would tell us, is in fact something that can get in the way of our ultimate good, a true understanding of life in all its facets -- including its most important ones. The "poor and the maimed and the lame and the blind" are those who haven't put all the worldly things first, who haven't got the concerns and obligations of those with more possessions and worldly affairs; they are all those who are in some way "without" in a worldly sense.
Again, we see the "exchange" of the Kingdom. Those who haven't got worldly affairs and obligations that get in the way of the things of God are rewarded in a much greater way through this exchange. But I feel that we cannot take these passages out of context; we must view them in the context of the Gospel, and especially that which comes before it. So let us take a look at Jesus' continual pleas in this Gospel: repeatedly we have heard Him ask what is lawful on the Sabbath: "To do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy?" He compares the value put on farm animals, those things which generate wealth, to the apparent lack of value, in practice, put on the healing (and unbinding) of human beings. So we have to take these parables into the context of the Lord's doing, the things of God: and healing takes on more cosmic proportions. We heal ourselves, and our society, through putting this Kingdom first. The worth God sees in the poor and the maimed, the lame and the blind -- those who in His immediate time and place of the Incarnation, and also in most of the world today, cannot generate wealth and worldly possessions on an equal basis to those who are not in some way doing without -- is repeatedly emphasized by Jesus. This is God's vision. It's not about what we have, it's not about what the world prioritizes, but to see with God's sight is to put a proper value on all things and on our fellow human beings, and what this community should be in God's sight. The message is that if we have our priorities straight, we will come to view life in a light that teaches us different things than a worldly outlook would dictate; the bottom line is what we value and the skewed priorities that a material outlook create. Who has what, and what calamities or misfortune may befall others, are all misleading ways to see and to judge in a total sense. The healing comes from our priorities in God's Kingdom, what comes first. It's a plea for the true value of human beings, and the capabilities inherent in faith, that would teach us right-relatedness in all things.
