#DailyDevotion You Have Been Invited To A Dinner Party Thrown By God

Luke 14: ¹²He said also to the man who had invited him, “When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid. ¹³But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, ¹⁴and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. You will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.”

Jesus is not the type of guest you want at a dinner party. He will show you where you are going wrong and say things that will upset all the rest of your guest. Take the above passage for example. Jesus had been invited by this guys to his house for a Sabbath meal. What does Jesus do? First he heals a guy on the Sabbath and in no uncertain terms calls a lot of the guests hypocrites because they would help their animals out on the Sabbath but would not help their fellow man. Then he calls out the guests for seeking the best seats in the house. Now he chides the owner of the house for not being charitable to the poor. Yes when you accept Jesus into your house or even into your heart he is going to upset the apple cart. He’s probably going to tear the whole thing down, especially the foundations, because he’s planning on building a who new house.

So in this last section Jesus tells his host the next time you have a party or dinner, don’t invite your friends, or relatives or rich people you know. If you do that they will invite you back one of their parties and you will be repaid. Instead, when you give a party invite everyone nobody else wants in their house, the poor, crippled, lame, blind and everyone else who cannot throw a party in return and repay you. But don’t worry about that because you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.

You see, that is what Jesus has done for us. We were all spiritually blind; we could see anything about God or know him. We were all spiritually poor; we had nothing we could offer God that was not already his. We were all spiritually crippled and lame; we could not walk in the path and light of God. Indeed, every single one of us was spiritually dead in trespasses and sins. Jesus has however invited us to his feast. We have been invited to the table of the Lord in this age in which he gives us his body and blood, the forgiveness of sins, salvation, eternal life, enriches us with the kingdom of heaven, gives us spiritual light and sight, and heals our crippled and lame spiritual condition. On top of that as his guests to his table in this age, we are invited to the marriage feast of the Lamb, of Jesus and his bride the Church at the resurrection of the just, to feast and dine with God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit for all eternity.

Since this is true, Jesus also invites us to participate in this invitation to those he told us to invite to our parties and dinners, i.e. the poor, lame, crippled and blind and well, whoever else is never invited to a party. Jesus is actually serious about this and wants us to do this. He gives us a promise we will be rewarded at the resurrection of the just. You see the dregs of this world have a special place in the heart of God. What we do for them we do for God himself. They all are made in his image and likeness and most especially represent him as he humbled himself upon the earth, even to the point of death on the cross. Let us keep our minds on the riches Christ promises us in the world to come and not so much on what we have today or don’t have today.

Heavenly Father, your son Jesus Christ humbled himself to the point of death even death on a cross and you have exalted him to your right hand so we may receive salvation. Grant us a similar spirit that we too may humble ourselves before our fellow man and serve them even as Jesus has served us that we may be exalted and reward on the day of the resurrection of the just. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.