Are You Hungry?மாதிரி

Who was the last person you showed hospitality to? There are all kinds of ways to be hospitable that don’t involve getting out the good dishes or preparing an Instagram-worthy spread. We can sit with someone who is grieving or lonely; we can hear someone’s story without looking for a space to interrupt; we can be advocates and encouragers. Hospitality can look like inviting someone over for a meal, but it is also an act of looking at our calendar, heart, prayer list, and wallet, asking— how can I make space here for others?

In today’s story in Luke, we see that Jesus took the opportunity at a religious leader’s house to teach that the kingdom of God is about hospitality and community. It’s about the hospitality God offers us and the community He welcomes us into. Jesus challenges those in attendance to consider the comfort, honour, and inclusion of others to be more important than their own. He also confronted those who called themselves religious because the invite list at His dinner party didn’t look like the invite list of someone who thought they knew God’s heart.

Instead of defining our community by those who think, look, and behave like us, Jesus teaches us that community means something else. Instead of being defined by walls around us, Jesus teaches that we are defined by the table where we gather. In the kingdom of God, our neighbour is not just the one who we align with so we gain the most, but rather, the one who is in need.

Jesus has invited us to His banquet, which makes everyone sitting around it our sisters and brothers, beloved of God.

In our world, we often find ourselves sitting at a table with people exactly like us. But hospitality in Jesus’ day meant to show care and make space for the stranger.

Today, we also can reach not just across the table but across the world and break our bread. We have the ability to share with someone in need or simply make space for them to exist well on this planet we share. This can look like buying food that supports fair wages for producers, being careful with resource-intensive foods like meat, and making choices that have less environmental or social impact. Simply providing a meal for the hungry is an act of hospitality. It says, “You are worthy to sit at this table too–I don’t know your name, but I will break my bread for you.”

Will you make the choice to live with kingdom values and invite those whom God loves with the welcome you have received? Around the table, God makes room for us. He pulls up another chair and says, “I’ve set a place just for you. I want you to share in all I’ve prepared. Are you willing to do the same for others?”

Reflect:

• Who do you show hospitality to in your life? How?
• What makes a group a community in your eyes? How does Jesus define who belongs to His kingdom and who doesn’t?
• What has the welcome of God meant in your life?