Go To The Margins
- Deacon Dan DeLuca
- Nov 1, 2022
- 4 min read
Human beings have an incredible ability to become really comfortable with the people they associate with on a regular basis. They can quickly form tribes and tend to associate only with people in their tribe. People not in their tribe are outsiders, looked upon with suspicion and sometimes hostility. The message of the Gospel, especially this Gospel, challenges us to break free from that tribal mentality. It encourages us to go to the margins: to find those in need and invite them in. As we read this Gospel let us pray that our eye may be open so that we can see those at the margins.
Humility and Hospitality (continued)
He said also to the man who had invited him, “When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your kinsmen or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return, and you be repaid. But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. You will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.” Luke 14 : 12-14
Scriptural Analysis
Jesus has just finished instructing the guest how they should act at a banquet, now he turns his attention to the host, a Pharisee. Given his position, we should take the recommendation from Jesus as a correction of the Pharisee. Jesus has continually challenged the Pharisees for their failure to accurately hand on the faith.
The focus of Jesus’s teaching is the process one uses to determine who should be invited to a banquet. Jesus instructs the host that they should invite no one who may return the favor: extend an invite back to the host as a form of repayment for the invite they received. Rather, they should invite the poor, maimed, lame, blind. These are people who are not able to return the favor: to invite you to a banquet of their own.
Inviting such people is an extension of the mission of Jesus who proclaimed good news to these people. He pronounced the beatitudes toward this same group of margenlized people, the poor, the lame, the blind. These people are repaid by God at the resurrection of the righteous in the age to come.
Daily Application
When I have a party, I invite my friends. Most of my friends could not be classified as poor, maimed, lame, or blind. Also, when I invite them, I am not doing so with any intention of being invited to a party they host. I genuine just want to spend time with them, to enjoy their company. I would imagine the same holds true for most people. If that is the case, then how does this passage apply to us?
The key to understanding this particular teaching is to understand who it was addressed to, a Pharisee. The Pharisee’s had essentially locked many people out of the true message of salvation. They had become so focussed on the observation of the law and oral tradition that they no longer saw the person behind the law, they no longer saw their neighbor. When we review this Gospel from that perspective, we can begin to see how we are the Pharisee.
When we think about the margins, we often think about the poor and the destitute: those who are on the material margins of society. However, we need to consider those on the spiritual margins: those who don’t know Jesus Christ. Often times material poverty and spiritual poverty intersect but they don’t have to. I have encountered many poor people who have a deep love of Jesus Christ. Likewise, I have met very wealthy people who don’t have that same love. Regardless, these are the margins we need to seek out, the spiritual poor, the people yet to encounter Jesus.
How many times has a stranger come into our church and yet we failed to welcome them, to talk to them and hear their story? When we are dining in a restaurant and can see that our server is having a hard time, do we stop eating and offer to pray with them? If we see a homeless person and offer them money or something to eat, do we take time to feed their soul as well? These are the guests that Jesus places in our life everyday, the one he wants us to invite to the banquet. In each of these instances an opportunity exists to share the Good News, to bring the healing power of the Gospel to these people.
Each of us is hosting a banquet, a banquet where the main course is the love of Jesus Christ. Jesus will ensure that the guests cross our path, we just need to extend the invitation to them. Let us pray then for the grace needed to have our eyes and hearts open to the spiritual poor. Let us also ask for the courage to extend an invitation to them.
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