Invite the Poor and the Lame. Give without Expecting Recompense

7. He also said to the one who had invited him, “Whenever you give a dinner or a supper, do not invite your friends, your brothers, your relatives or your wealthy neighbors,  so that they will invite you in their turn and thus repay what they received from you. But whenever you give a banquet, invite the poor, the lame, the maimed and the blind, and you will be happy because they have no means of repaying you, for you will be rewarded at the resurrection of the righteous.”

Having  heard these words, one of those who were at the table said to him, “Happy is he who eats bread in the kingdom  of God!” (Lk. 14:12-15)

8. Whenever you give a banquet, says Jesus, do not invite your friends but the poor and lame instead. These words are absurd if taken literally but are sublime if one searches for the spirit in them. Jesus could not have meant to say that, instead of friends, one must bring to his or her table beggars off the street. His language was nearly always figurative, and for people incapable of grasping the delicate nuances of thought, he used forceful imagery, producing the effect of blaring colors. The foundation of his thought is revealed in these words, “You will be blessed because they have no means of repaying you,” which means that one should not do good with recompense in mind, but for the sole pleasure of doing it. In order to provide a lively comparison,  he said to invite the poor to your banquets because you know that they can do nothing to repay you. By banquets one must understand not a repast per se, but rather participation in the abundance that one enjoys.

These words may also be applied in a more literal sense, however. How many persons invite to their tables only those who can “do them the honor” – as they say – or who can invite them in their turn! Others, on the other hand, find satisfaction in inviting less fortunate relatives or friends. Well, who does not have such persons in his or her own family? It is at times a way to render them a great service without showing it. Without going out to bring in the blind and the lame, they practice Jesus’ maxim if they do it out of benevolence and without ostentation, and if they know how to disguise the benefit with sincere cordiality.