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

 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 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 he 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 went into the house of one of the rulers of the Pharisees to eat bread on the Sabbath.  The others who were there 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 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 that this instruction is based on the manner in which God treats us, even though not one of us could possibly repay Him (see 6:30-36).  Regarding repayment, see the parable of the Good Samaritan, Luke 10:34-35.   This is a prescription for gracious living, a recipe for the command to mercy -- which once again amounts to inclusion, to true community, as in His earlier teaching (in yesterday's reading, above) to those who are guests rather than hosts.  Once again, the emphasis is on the time of the resurrection of the just, as in His teaching to those who would be humble guests was set at a wedding feast.

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 that this man is unwittingly declaring the ultimate beatitude.  The truth behind these words comes from the understanding that the bread in the Kingdom is eternal communion with 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.'"  Here is the illustration of the Kingdom in a parallel to Christ's Incarnation and His Second Coming.  The servant is Christ as Jesus who comes to invite all to this supper; the supper itself is evening, the end of the age.  The invited are first the Jews and then the whole world.

"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.'"  My study bible cites the Fathers of the Church as seeing the three excuses having both a literal meaning -- that many are too attached to worldly cares to accept the Kingdom of God -- and also spiritual meanings.  St. Ambrose, it says, sees the three excuses of I cannot come as representing the Gentile, the Jew, and the heretic.  The Gentile's devotion to earthly wealth is represented by the piece of ground, the Jew's enslavement to the five books of the Law by the five yoke of oxen, and the heretic's espousal of error by the man refusing on account of his wife.   Theophylact generally associates the excuses with people devoted to earthly matters, to things pertaining to the five senses, and to all pleasures of the flesh.  Clearly all three excuses are explicit preferences for concerns of the worldly over the affairs of the Kingdom.

"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 suggests that those in the streets and lanes are indicative of first, the Gentiles who accepted Christ after the faithless Jews had rejected Him, and secondly those who are outside the Church who will replace the faithless Christians within who have rejected their own baptism.  I think there is another reading of this text:  the poor and maimed and lame and blind are those excluded and afflicted who tend to follow Christ, the least of these -- especially those faithful who are the recipients of His healing and grace during His ministry.  Those in the highways and hedges are the ones in all the world who will gladly come to this supper in faith.

If we really think about it, what we see is that almost all of Christ teachings, and His miraculous healings, have behind them a sense of re-establishment of community.    The ultimate supper, the wedding feast, is the true feast -- the celebration -- of the Kingdom.  He does not talk about a reconciliation of all.   His picture is different.  The one way that we may be excluded is through our own preference, our own choice, to favor the "worldly" over the essential concerns of citizenship and participation in this Kingdom.  This ultimate "judge" is really our own choice, our free will, something that clearly God does not violate but leaves to us as truly belonging to us.  The maimed and the lame and the blind in the parable are perhaps those who well know their own limitations and lacking, and certainly those looked upon as "less than."  They are the ones who are seemingly not favored by God.  But they turn to God's help and grace and strength.  There is none so gifted as those who know they are in need of grace, who understand the treasure of mercy.  These are the ones who, on worldly terms, lack full inclusion in the community; they are the "least of these," the "littlest ones."  And then there are the ones on the highways and hedges, the ones far abroad and outside of the elect.  They, too, will be gathered in.  It is a story of those left out, the outsiders, who will be welcomed because they understand the great gift of this invitation.  They know what they lack, whereas those in the parable with land, with properties and goods, with the best the world has to give them, do not value this gift and forget the supper of the Kingdom as a priority when they are called.  This is where we start and where we are, what we must not forget, no matter what the worldly wealth and goods with which we may be graced.  Let us remember, the refusal is voluntary.  It is all ours, not God's, according to the parable.  This is where we are, here and now, every single bit as relevant as at the time Jesus told it -- especially to those of us among the privileged, the secure, the powerful of the world.  Let us remember the least of these and our own humility and gratitude and need of grace and mercy.