Today's Reflections
Invite the Poor
Lk 14:12-14
[On a sabbath Jesus went to dine at the home of one of the leading Pharisees.] 12He
said to the host who invited him, “When you hold a lunch or a dinner,
do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or your
wealthy neighbors, in case they may invite you back and you have
repayment. 13Rather, when you hold a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind; 14blessed
indeed will you be because of their inability to repay you. For you
will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”
THEIR INABILITY TO REPAY. If
we delve into the motivations behind our actions, we will find that the
human mind is more complicated than a complex computer. Before we do
something, we make a rapid calculation of its possible consequences,
favorable or unfavorable to us. As we carry out the action, we may at
the same time be already modifying it to obtain the desired result or to
prepare an alternative.
It
is natural to expect yields on our investments of time, talent, and
treasure (after all, it is in giving that we receive). It is easy to be
kind to people who will eventually help us. Jesus, however, recommends
that we invest in people who have no means of repaying us. He suggests
that we take up the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind in the
circle of those we serve for nothing, without expecting anything in
return except, perhaps sometimes, their gratitude.
In
proclaiming the beatitudes, Jesus calls the poor blessed. God’s kingdom
belongs to the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind—they are the
first recipients of Jesus’ good news and the beneficiaries of his public
ministry. As disciples of Jesus, caring for these people, we resemble
the Father who pours out his love on us without expecting anything in
return.
More than rendering random acts of kindness,
we are challenged to do something for nothing
because the person we help cannot repay us.
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