Am I including those who are often excluded?

Jesus calls us to be generous to those who cannot be generous to us.

Luke 14:12-14 (NRSV)

[Jesus] said also to the one who had invited him, “When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. And you will be blessed because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

Jesus calls us to be generous to those who cannot be generous to us. We’re to invite into our lives those on the edges, those whom we can serve without the promise of an earthly reward. In serving others, we are blessed, not by their ability to reciprocate, but by God’s delight in our self-giving actions.

I began reflecting on Luke 14:12-14, a passage in which Jesus tells us not to invite people to a meal because they are able to return the invitation. Rather, Jesus says, we should “invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind” (14:13), namely, those who are unable to reciprocate. Whether we’re inviting people to dinner, mentoring them, or doing business with them, we should not be dominated by self-interest. Rather, we should seek to serve others, to be generous in the way of God’s kingdom.

Today I’d like to share another thought with you in response to Luke 14:12-14. It has to do with whom we should invite to our dinner parties and the like. “When you give a banquet,” Jesus said, “invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind” (14:13). In Jesus' day, these folk was on the outer margins of society. They lacked power and privilege. They were, in particular, not able to reciprocate when others were generous to them. Jesus’s exhortation challenges me to look at my own life, both my personal life and my professional life. Am I including those who are often excluded? Am I serving those who are unable to serve me in return? Am I stretching the boundaries of my life and work so as to reach out to folk who are on the margins of my cultural life? Am I willing to be generous with those who cannot respond with equal generosity?

I know I have much to learn here, much room for growth. I know that, at least in some ways, I have tried to follow the directive of Jesus.

I get to talk with a lot of church leaders these days. It’s one of the perks of my job. A couple of months ago, a pastor shared his desire to reach out more effectively to older adults in his church. So far, so good. Yet, as he explained why he wanted to do this, everything he said related to the benefit for the church and its future. Jesus promises that we who favor those who cannot return the favor will, in fact, “be blessed” (Luke 14:14). Our blessing will come, not in the form of reciprocal payback from those we serve, but rather in the form of God’s blessing “at the resurrection of the righteous” (14:14). Among other things, we will get to hear God’s delight in us and our efforts as God says, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”