Luke 14: 1, 7-14
........Once on the Sabbath, Jesus was invited to a dinner at the home of one of the leading members of the Pharisee party. Throughout the evening, he was being closely watched by everyone there.
........Noticing how most of the guests were angling for seats at the top of the table, Jesus spoke up with a word of advice:
“When you are invited as a guest to a formal dinner — a wedding banquet or the like — don’t rush to park yourself in the number one seat. There may be some more prominent celebrities on the guest list, and when one of them turns up, your host will come and ask you to vacate your seat for them. You’ll have egg all over your face in front of everyone, and there may be nothing but the scummy seats left for you. If you are wanting to look good in public, it would be a much better strategy to park yourself down in the back corner somewhere. Then when you are seen down there, your host will come and say, ‘Come on, my friend, we can find you a better seat than this.’ You’ll get a much better write-up in the social pages for that! The fact is that those who big-note themselves will be knocked off their perches, but those who avoid the limelight will end up as everyone’s hero.”Then Jesus turned to the one who had invited him and said:
“When you are throwing a party, don’t just invite your friends, family and well-heeled neighbours. They will all return the favour sometime and so, rather than being a gift, your party will become something you are repaid for. Instead, invite people who are always being left out — the down-and-outs, the misfits, the refugees, the disabled. You’ll find that it’s far more richly rewarding, and although they can never repay you, when God’s people are all raised from the dead, you’ll be more than repaid.”
©2001 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net
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