Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C 28th August 2022
Lectionary Readings: Proverbs 25 v6,7; Psalm 112; Hebrews 13 v1-8, 15,16; Luke 14 v1, 7-14.
Hospitality
Luke says, ‘One Sabbath, Jesus was having dinner in the home of an important Pharisee, and everyone was carefully watching Jesus’. (Luke 14 v1).
‘Jesus saw how the guests had tried to take the best seats’. (Luke 14 v7). Jesus lectured the guests on how to be a guest, echoing the wisdom of Solomon, ‘Don’t try to seem important in the court of a ruler. Its better for the ruler to give you a high position than for you to be embarrassed in front of royal officials’. (Proverbs 25 v6,7).
Jesus then goes on to advise his host by saying, ‘When you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame and the blind. They cannot pay you back. But God will bless you and reward you’. (Luke 14 v13,14a).
Jesus was using the opportunity to explain how God views the subject of hospitality. In God’s kingdom, merit is gained by inviting strangers, especially those less fortunate than yourself. As followers of Jesus, we are encouraged to adopt ‘Kingdom’ values and to recognise that all are equal at God’s table.
The writer of ‘Hebrews’ says, ‘Be sure to welcome strangers into your home. By doing this, some people have welcomed angels as guests without even knowing about it’. (Hebrews 13 v2) (Genesis 18). The writer later says ‘Don’t forget to help others and to share your possessions with them. This too is like offering a sacrifice that pleases God’. (Hebrews 13 v16).
The Psalmist says, ‘The Lord blesses everyone who worships him and gladly obeys his teachings’. (Psalm 112 v1b)
Hymn writer Jean Holloway invites us to seek God’s healing and to mend our ways.
Lord, we come to ask your healing, teach us to love;
all unspoken shame revealing, teach us to love.
Take our selfish thoughts and actions, petty feuds, divisive factions,
hear us now to you appealing, teach us to love.
Soothe away our pain and sorrow, hold us in love;
grace we cannot buy or borrow, hold us in love.
Though we see but dark and danger, though we spurn both friend and stranger,
though we often dread tomorrow, hold us in love.
When the bread is raised and broken, fill us with love;
words of consecration spoken, fill us with love.
As our grateful prayers continue, make the faith that we have in you
more than just an empty token, fill us with love.
Help us live for one another, bind us in love;
stranger, neighbour, father, mother; bind us in love.
All are equal at your table, through your spirit make us able
to embrace as sister, brother, bind us in love. (Singing the Faith 652).
Bible quotations are taken from the Contemporary English version.