God’s Generous Hospitality

Text: Luke 14:12-24

Reflection and Question: To illustrate God’s awesome generosity, Jesus tells this story in which the host sends his servants out into the hedgerows and byways (King James version) to find guests to fill the banquet hall. I love the banquet image for heaven, but there is a sobering downside in Luke. Friends, relatives and rich neighbors are left out, as are those too preoccupied with their own affairs to accept the invitation. When I was a child, I identified with the blind and the lame. Now I identify with the rich, the busy and the well connected. To whom does God’s generous abundance extend?

Prayer: Come sinners, to the gospel feast; let every soul be Jesus’ guest.
Ye need not one be left behind, for God hath bid all humankind.
Sent by my Lord, on you I call; the invitation is to all.
Come, all the world! Come, sinner, thou!
All things in Christ are ready now. Amen. (Charles Wesley)

This meditation is based on the Daily Lectionary Year 1 from the Book of Common Worship for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) (1993).