Gospel: Luke 14:1, 7-14 All are invited to the banquet
In Luke’s Gospel, a key part of Jesus’ ministry is table fellowship. More than in any of the other Gospels, Luke shows Jesus eating and drinking at table. Today he is at the house of a Pharisee for the Sabbath meal, while the other guests watch him closely. Jesus, noticing how the quests are vying with each other for the seats of honour, tells a parable. At first glance, this story might seem to be suggesting that we deceive others with a false humility, but remember parables always encourages us to think more deeply. They are designed to stay with us for rumination. And so, it is good to pay attention to the questions that arise.
Jesus frequently used the image of a great banquet to explain God’s vision for our world. The feast that is described here emphasises hospitality to strangers. Jesus speaks of a preferential option for the poor, the crippled, the lame and the blind. They are outsiders, because of their circumstances, and also because they are considered to be ritually unclean. This parable urges us to be open to real people and their very real situations, breaking down societal barriers to embrace real relationships. This is where one encounters the energy of the Kingdom on earth.
Jesus made it clear that his mission was to release people from whatever is was that made them feel estranged from God (Lk 4:18-21). We are called to partake in this mission, welcoming those considered to be on the outside without hope of reward for ourselves. The feast in today’s Gospel is a great celebration of inclusivity and unity. It emphasises once more the reversal Jesus talks about, where the ‘highest’ take the low seats and the world in turned upside down for the better. There is no shortage of situations in our world which are in need of this type of shake-up. Our task is to help bring it about.
© Triona Doherty & Jane Mellet, 2021. The Deep End: A Journey with the Sunday Gospels in the Year of Luke. (Dublin: Messenger Publications 2021.
“Another world is not only possible; she is on her way . . . On a quiet day, if I listen very carefully, I can hear her breathing. Arundhati Roy