(Luke 14:12-14)
Prayer: O Jesus, let me help those who cannot repay me.
Imagination: (Picture Jesus at table with the Pharisees.)
Context:
Jesus asks for a great holiness. His disciples must bless others with no hope of any return. Their reward will come at the resurrection.
Gospel Text: (Read slowly, possibly aloud)
Jesus said to the leading Pharisee who had invited him to dinner, “When you have a dinner or a supper, do not invite your friends and your brothers or your relatives and wealthy neighbors. They might invite you in return and repay you. Instead, when you have a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame and the blind. You will be blessed because they cannot repay you, and you will be repaid in the resurrection of the just.”
Thoughts: (Read all. Ponder the ones that attract you.)
- The Pharisee’s table guests are friends and wealthy neighbors. This is the human approach to a banquet.
- The Pharisee’s purpose is to ingratiate himself so his guests will bless him.
- Jesus expects his disciples to act quite differently.
- The disadvantaged and outcasts are usually not invited because they cannot repay the favor.
- To invite the poor is to act like God. We can never repay his kindness.
- The disciple’s reward will be from heaven. God pours out his rewards on those who help the poor.
Affections: (When one touches your heart, use your own words.)
- O Jesus, lift my heart above earthly goods.
- O Lord, remove my self-serving motives that do not flow from true charity.
- O Jesus, you expect more from me.
- Open my eyes! Let me see the blessings in serving the poor.
- I will act like you, Jesus, blessing those who can never repay.
- Touch my heart, Jesus. Make it like yours.
Resolutions: (Possibly you might want to make your own).
- I will examine my motives. Am I charitable to all, even those with nothing to repay me?
- I will ask Jesus for his heart so I can love the outcast.
Thought for the day: (To recall your meditation)
You will be repaid in the resurrection of the just.