LENT: Apr 7 - Luke 14:13-14

Jesus says,

“When you give a banquet,

invite the poor, the crippled,

the lame, and the blind.

And you will be blessed,

because they cannot repay you.”

Luke 14:13-14

 

Why does Jesus focus so much on the poor?

 

Because the world doesn’t.

 

Economies favor the rich. Governments – in spite of much bluster and rhetoric – inevitably favor the rich too. When we throw banquets, we always sit the more favored at places of honor. Furthermore, since most jobs require a measure of health, the crippled, blind, and lame tend continue to fall further behind.

 

And you and I are guilty of some of the subtle oppression.

 

I know … I know … it’s rarely mean-spirited! It’s usually accidental. We just tend to be self-focused.

 

Just the other night, I heard a self-focused story from an American doing mission work in Africa. The first order of business each day for the residents of the village he was staying in was to go get water. It was an hour’s trek down a dry and dusty path in hundred degree temperatures. At the bottom of the hill was a tiny spring. Scores of people literally fought their way for a spot at the spring to fill their buckets.

 

“Why don’t they just form a peaceable line and take turns?” complained the self-focused American as he reached into his back pack and pulled out a bottle of Aquafina water. The irony suddenly struck him. Each morning he flushes more water than these people have to survive on all day.

 

God cares equally for the rich and the poor and every unique individual. But Jesus focuses passionately on the poor precisely because the world doesn’t. They are victims of circumstance, corruption, and blind self-interest.

 

And I’d like to think that Jesus’ interest was like the American in this story came to be … Standing at that watering hole, the man noticed a tiny little boy. He was sitting there without water. Asking about him, the villagers responded, “The water source is so crowded, the boy will have nothing unless someone fights for him.”

 

The American grabbed a bucket and fought for a place in the chaotic line to get water for this boy.

 

I think that’s what Jesus does for the poor. He fights for them.

 

And sometimes he fights for the powerful in a totally different way. He allows them to be humbled. Why? Because the rich and powerful tend to depend on what they seemingly create for themselves. They can’t depend on God until they quit being self-sufficient.

 

God loves us all equally, but he ministers to each of us according to our real needs – our deepest spiritual needs. He “binds up the brokenhearted” and humbles “the proud in the imaginations of their hearts” (Isaiah 61:1, Luke  1:15).

 

In Christ’s Love,

a guy who’s rich and poor