The Road Devotional | Lent 2024

When he noticed how the guests picked the places of honor at the table, he told them this parable: “When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for a person more distinguished than you may have been invited. If so, the host who invited both of you will come and say to you, ‘Give this person your seat.’ Then, humiliated, you will have to take the least important place. But when you are invited, take the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he will say to you, ‘Friend, move up to a better place.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all the other guests. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

Then Jesus said to his host, “When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

Jesus sounds like Mrs. Manners or Martha Stewart by letting us know where one should sit at a party and whom one should invite. It can’t be that simple, can it? Is it ever with Jesus? Instead, Jesus is talking about more than a party: he’s talking about how to set up our own dinner tables so that they can be representatives of the joyful kingdom of God.

Q. Who could you invite to sit at your table that would please God? Who do you exclude from the table by either your actions or by your silence?

It’s tempting to invite the same group of people, to hang out with others who think and act just like us. It’s much harder to be intentional about spending time with the stranger or the other. Jesus is reminding us that our intentionality matters when it comes to how we make the choice to invite others. We can get comfortable using relationships to gain something, rather than having a relationship that exists purely because we enjoy that person

Q. Who have you used recently to gain something personal?

God, help me to be mindful of who I am inviting to sit around me, those who I seek to build a relationship with, and how I might be using others. When it comes to Your table, remind me that all are welcomed when I struggle with accepting someone.

Amen.