Memorial of Saint Charles Borromeo, Bishop

Lectionary: 485

Rather, when you hold a banquet,
invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind;
blessed indeed will you be because of their inability to repay you.
For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.

You know that the Gospel is getting a bit personal when the honored guest starts teaching about hospitality right there in someone's house. You expect pleasant conversation with perhaps a few points of minor disagreement to keep things interesting. But not direct, unmistakable criticism. 

Shouldn't those remarks be said in the church, or perhaps the street? And not to your face and in your own home and across your table? But, as we back away from the story, we might admit this is the right moment and the right place for saying what needs to be said. 

If the Lord's suggestion in Luke 14 is over the top, the idea is quite doable though unimaginable to most people. Jesus calls for a type of generosity he has already described and promised in Luke 6:38,

Give and gifts will be given to you; a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing, will be poured into your lap. For the measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you.”

His assurance evokes the memory of the Hebrew sojourn in the Sinai desert. They were completely dependent upon the God who had remembered his promise to their ancestor Abraham and had delivered them out of Egypt with a mighty hand and outstretched arm. There he cared for them out of his superabundant generosity.. 

He also challenges us to... 

Put me to the test, says the LORD of hosts,

And see if I do not open the floodgates of heaven for you,

and pour down upon you blessing without measure!

I will rebuke the locust for you

so that it will not destroy your crops,

And the vine in the field will not be barren,

says the LORD of hosts.

All the nations will call you blessed,

for you will be a delightful land,

says the LORD of hosts. (Malachi 3: 10-12)