Come to the table.

On one occasion when Jesus was going to the house of a leader of the Pharisees to eat a meal on the sabbath, they were watching him closely.
Luke 14:1 NRSV

https://bible.com/bible/2016/luk.14.1.NRSV

Well to begin with Jesus healed a man on the Sabbath. Something from last week he was want to do. But this time Jesus then focuses on the guests’ lack of humility taking the best seats and chastises them,

For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
Luke 14:11 NRSV

https://bible.com/bible/2016/luk.14.11.NRSV

And further he employs hyperbole to hammer home that the Sabbath is a time for the people of God to practice radical hospitality,

He said also to the one who had invited him, “When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind.
Luke 14:12‭-‬13 NRSV

https://bible.com/bible/2016/luk.14.12-13.NRSV

I wonder if he was invited back!

Jeremiah writes of the people of Israel who had forgotten their history, their need, their salvation; whose heritage was the Sabbath,

I brought you into a plentiful land to eat its fruits and its good things. But when you entered you defiled my land, and made my heritage an abomination.
Jeremiah 2:7 NRSV https://bible.com/bible/2016/jer.2.7.NRSV

And the writer of the Hebrews writes,

Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.
Hebrews 13:16 NRSV

https://bible.com/bible/2016/heb.13.16.NRSV

As I read it we are called to radically share our abundance, be humble and as I have written accept those on the margins to the table; a recurrent theme.

By the way there are lots of ways to do good…

The Cadaver volunteers practicing with their dogs at the balance pools in Takeley. Nice bright red shirts emblazoned with Cadaver! Sunday morning?

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About M Emlyn Humphries

It's me.
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