THURSDAY 3.23.23:In God’s World, Everyone Is Invited – Luke 13:31-14:24
Jesus spoke four “laments” in Luke over Jerusalem (verses 33-35; cf. also 19:41-44, 21:20-24 and 23:27-31.) Jesus “spoiled” a Sabbath dinner by healing—again. Pharisees loved to imagine God’s end-time feast (verse 15, an image from Isaiah 25:6-10). Isaiah said it would be for “the whole earth;” the religious leaders limited it to their own people. But Jesus said since the chosen didn’t come, God invited street people!
Reflection
• Preacher Brennan Manning wrote, “After reading the entire Gospel of Luke for the first time, a post-Valley girl said: ‘Wow! Like Jesus has this totally intense thing for ragamuffins.’” 1 We are all spiritually “poor, crippled, blind and lame.” God’s grace gives us seats at the “banquet.” Can you see the ways that, before God, you are a “ragamuffin” who desperately, gratefully needs grace?
• Have you ever known (maybe even been) a person like the ones Jesus noticed who aggressively “sought out the best seats at the table”? In what ways can that attitude show itself in school, the workplace, family, even church? What’s the difference between healthy boldness to make your gifts available to bless others, and the kind of self-promotion Jesus warned against?
Prayer: Lord Jesus, yes! I want to be a guest at your great end-time feast. Give me a heart that will rejoice in being there even if some of the other guests might surprise me at first. Amen.
1Manning, Brennan. The Ragamuffin Gospel: Good News for the Bedraggled, Beat-Up, and Burnt Out (p.51) The Crown Publishing Group.