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Then He also said to him who invited Him, "When you give a dinner or a 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 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
On Saturday, we read that Jesus had been invited to dine on the Sabbath in the house of a ruler of the Pharisees. All there watched Him very closely. 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. o 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 said to him who invited Him, "When you give a dinner or a 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 says, "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." I find often that Jesus presents this kind of equation to us, that what we are willing to forgo in daily or worldly life in service to Him, the Father who sees in secret will repay us. Here, we are speaking of the justice in including those who cannot repay us in life at our table, our feast, and of course this can be a metaphor for so many things.
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 says, "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." And we note here that we are in the territory of blessings, of beatitudes: Jesus' first statement is that those who invite the outsiders to the banquet, those who cannot repay, are blessed for doing so. Here, the blessing is to eat bread in the kingdom! Of course, the resurrection of the just in the earlier verse alludes to the same blessing.
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 have me excused.' Still another said, 'I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.' " We see illustrated here the business of the world, all the affairs with which we are constantly busy in living our lives, building up what we value, and need, and what we think is necessary. But Jesus calls us into that question of just exactly what is truly necessary. There are all kinds of reasons to be excused; excuses for which to put off this work of the banquet.
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.' " My study bible notes, "This parable 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." As we note, there is a kind of exchange here; not only are those who make time and effort for those who cannot repay blessed by God in the Kingdom, but those invited to this banquet who fail to make time for the Kingdom in order to pursue blessings in another way will not be blessed in that Kingdom.
We deal with equations often in the Gospels, the kinds of equations Jesus uses. Often they have to do with a sort of exchange, like, for instance, the exchange of forgiveness -- we give up the "debts" of others to God, so that our justice and reward is in the hands of God. So, here, Jesus illustrates through parables another kind of exchange or equation of something worldly for something eternal and heavenly. Perhaps there is none (in terms of equations or exchanges) so vividly and specifically illustrated as the parables in which Jesus focuses on a kind of justice that acknowledges more than meets the eye, that intangible and unseen thing we sacrifice in order to be blessed by God: forgoing payback by someone who can reward us in this life, the social status we might have attained, the profit we hoped to gain. Jesus offers us in exchange the Kingdom, a working out of God's law in our lives. It's similar to the parables He's told about those who give a mere cup of water to one of His children, and it's the same effect as giving one to Him. In this cosmic/worldly exchange system we acknowledge one thing very powerfully, and that is God's economy. It's the one where the exchange is something more than currency on worldly terms; it's a currency that crosses boundaries and dimensions, classes, social circles, and even the laws of physics. It's the currency of the Kingdom that is distributed through the Holy Spirit, through Christ and the Father, and in ways we can't know or determine but we are quite tangibly promised! So how do you go about making this exchange in your life? Do you recognize its currency?
