“But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.” Luke 14:13-14
Luke, the doctor and missionary that traveled with Paul on his journeys, saw human need from a different perspective. Much of his gospel dealt with Jesus’ miracles of healing the sick and His ministry to the marginalized.
It was the sabbath and Jesus was sharing a meal at the home of a prominent pharisee who had many guests of honor this day. Jesus watched as men maneuvered themselves to boast their social status while they silently cast judgement on His miracles of love bestowed upon the weak and weary. They had no qualms about feasting together on the Sabbath, but Jesus had just healed a man with a crippling inflammation and they were offended that He should labor. They were so proud of themselves, their ‘Holy’ intellect and achievements. Jesus longed for them to know the true gift of generosity, grace and mercy.
Only those things given without expectation of return are true gifts of love. We think of love as the opposite of hate, but it is not, it is the cure, as generosity is the cure for poverty.
In Christ,
Gretchen