I love to eat. I even enjoying cooking, when I’m in the mood to do so. My favorite part about a meal is who I am eating it with. The meal itself doesn’t mater much, I want it to be good, but the meal is not what is most important. As I was reading through Luke Chapter 14, I realized that Jesus loves a meal too. Throughout Jesus’s ministry, the scripture often talks about a teaching of Christ that happens at the table. So, I began thinking about my own table. Some may think it’s old fashion, but I get great joy from having my family sit to the table, after I have prepared a meal, and serving them. Not only do I get this joy from serving my family but also when I am serving guest in my home.

I have never really learned how to cook small meal portions. Even though I only have a family of four I always cook a lot of food. I love being able to call others and say, “Hey, you hungry.” I never really paid attention to why I enjoyed this. Then I read verses 13-14, When you put on a luncheon or a banquet,” he said, “don’t invite your friends, brothers, relatives, and rich neighbors. For they will invite you back, and that will be your only reward.  13 Instead, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind.  14. Then at the resurrection of the righteous, God will reward you for inviting those who could not repay you.”

I learned that I love the provision, the healing, and the growth that that happens at the table. We can easily get distracted by status and invite the wrong people to our tables. Many use hosting dinners as a way to elevate one’s status in the community. The host will invite friends of equal status and a few who are higher. These honored guest will then be expected to reciprocate, raising the first host’s social position and reputation. Jesus turns this hierarchy upside down by instructing us to invite those who have no social status and can not reciprocate.

God invites sinful human beings to dine at his table of salvation. Who do you invite to your table? Why?