Luke 14: How to Throw a Real Party

In Luke 14:12-14, we read: "Then Jesus said to his host, 'When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. ¹³ But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, ¹⁴ and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.'"  In this passage, we find the true definition of hospitality. 

Hospitality was (and still is) a carefully proscribed ritual in the Middle East.  Generosity was almost always extended in the expectation of reciprocity.  If you invited your neighbor to a lavish dinner, the expectation was that they would they would in turn invite you to a lavish dinner.  With hospitality, the rule was: "Do unto others that they might do unto you." 

In our world, hospitality is less defined by expectation of reciprocation.  Still, when we have dinners or parties, we often invite people who are like us.  We invite people of the same class, of the same culture, even of the same faith.  While we don't expect a corresponding return on our beneficence, we like being with people who share our interests and can provide some return in terms of our comfort level.  Our hospitality, when practiced at all, rarely ranges far afield from a carefully circumscribed group of family, friends, and colleagues.

Jesus casts a wider net for hospitality in these verses.  He says that rather inviting people like us or inviting people from whom we might expect similar invitations, we should invite the downtrodden.  We should invite those whom society has looked down or those whom society has pushed to the margins.  Blessing is not found in welcoming those the world welcomes.  It is found in welcoming those whom the world rejects.  It is found in casting God's love and value upon those whom the world has deemed unlovable and worthless.

What might this look like today?  Perhaps it is a church having a party for a group home for adults with special challenges.  Perhaps it is a Christian inviting their immigrant neighbor who barely speaks English to a meal.  Perhaps it is reaching out to a poor neighborhood with a Thanksgiving feast.  Perhaps it is a celebration for people who have been forgotten by their families in a retirement home.  The expression of the act can vary, but as Christians we must act.  I would be curious for your thoughts.  How can we as a church live out Jesus' radical vision of hospitality?