Problem: Excluding the Needy
Luke 14:1-6 One Sabbath day Jesus went to eat dinner in the home of a leader of the Pharisees, and the people were watching him closely. 2 There was a man there whose arms and legs were swollen. 3 Jesus asked the Pharisees and experts in religious law, “Is it permitted in the law to heal people on the Sabbath day, or not?” 4 When they refused to answer, Jesus touched the sick man and healed him and sent him away. 5 Then he turned to them and said, “Which of you doesn’t work on the Sabbath? If your son or your cow falls into a pit, don’t you rush to get him out?” 6 Again they could not answer.
During a Sabbath meal at a religious leader’s home, Jesus was watched closely. He healed a man with a swelling. Did they set a trap to see if he would heal on the Sabbath? Jesus pointed out the absurdity of rescuing animals on the Sabbath but not rescuing sick people.
The Sabbath was a day of rest. Yet, human traditions often made it a burden instead of a joy. Some traditions can become burdensome rules marginalizing people. Are church services a time of physical and spiritual healing? A weekly rest day pictures eternal rest for the poor and sick.
Who should be excluded or included in church? Should poverty or clothing or imperfections keep a person from being welcomed? Should we exclude certain conduct from leadership? If so, what? What about condoning certain lifestyles? Should the Christian community be fair in who it includes or excludes from community activities?
Cause: Self-Centeredness
Luke 14:7-11 When Jesus noticed that all who had come to the dinner were trying to sit in the seats of honor near the head of the table, he gave them this advice: 8 “When you are invited to a wedding feast, don’t sit in the seat of honor. What if someone who is more distinguished than you has also been invited? 9 The host will come and say, ‘Give this person your seat.’ Then you will be embarrassed, and you will have to take whatever seat is left at the foot of the table! 10 “Instead, take the lowest place at the foot of the table. Then when your host sees you, he will come and say, ‘Friend, we have a better place for you!’ Then you will be honored in front of all the other guests. 11 For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
Jesus observed the pushing and shoving for position at a Sabbath banquet. He shared a parable to teach humility. Proverbs 25:6-7 says something similar. Religious leaders had also arrogantly imposed their vain human traditions. Yet humility brings honor to a Christian leader (Proverbs 15:33; 16:18-19; 29:23).
Take the lesser seat. Arrogance is humbled; humility is exalted. Arrogance is living a lie. The last will be first and the first will be last. Humility is honestly facing reality; we are only dust, humus. Those who humble themselves in obedience to God will receive chief positions in eternity.
What can we do to overcome bigotry? How humble are we? Do we fight to take the chief seats and exclude others with silly rules? Is our participation in church and local community for self-aggrandizement or to help others? Do we monopolize the leadership and exclude others from an opportunity?
Solution: Include the Needy
Luke 14:12-14 Then he turned to his host. “When you put on a luncheon or a banquet,” he said, “don’t invite your friends, brothers, relatives, and rich neighbors. For they will invite you back, and that will be your only reward. 13 Instead, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. 14 Then at the resurrection of the righteous, God will reward you for inviting those who could not repay you.”
Jesus gave us all a list of people that we ought NOT to invite first: our friends, brothers, relatives, and rich neighbors. His A-list included the poor, the crippled, the lame and the blind. How many people who are on Jesus’ guest list of invitees do we even know personally?
Do we invite those on Jesus’ guest list? Are church leaders hospitable (1 Timothy 3:1-2; Titus 1:7-8)? When we invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind, we invite Jesus. The kingdom of heaven belongs to the poor and earth to the humble (Matthew 5:3-10)?
Ancient Christian communities were known for hospitality (Hebrews 13:2). Hospitals were places of hospital-ity for the needy and strangers. It was an ethical and moral requirement of ancient Jewish and Christian communities. How inhospitable have we become? Our hospitals and hospitality are big business, whereby people making extravagant incomes?
Our society excludes the marginalized, causing poverty, crime, suicide, and drug addiction. Jesus taught the solution: social inclusion. It begins with you and me. When we include the marginalized in our circle of friends, we begin to understand them and the popular lies that have perpetuated their exclusion from society.
When people are justly imprisoned, deported, deemed not qualified to lead a church, or quarantined, those are proper forms of exclusion, when handled righteously. Jesus taught us that excluding the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind, is often unrighteous. Let’s learn to include many of those marginalized by society.
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
