Liturgy: “The Reached Who Reached Out”
If we can at least be mindful of Luke 14:12-14 when we encounter another human, asking not what they can do for us but asking what we can do for them, then we will be able to reflect God’s image in this world. If we can remember that what God gives us is not to better our own kingdoms but his, then we will please our heavenly Father and honor our fellow human.
What is the King’s Liturgy? King’s Liturgy defines our experience together as a Christian community. It outlines the rhythms we celebrate with the Church at large: Scripture readings, Sabbath habits, and celebration of Holy Days and historical events.
This Week’s Lectionary Readings
Jeremiah 2:4–13
Psalm 81:1, 10–16
Hebrews 13:1–8, 15–16
Luke 14:1, 7–14
This week’s liturgy is contributed by Dominic Zappia, Instructor of Biblical Studies:
In college, a group of friends and I devoted part of our Fridays to visiting two homeless individuals—Robert and Evelyn. Each week, we spent a few hours with them under a bridge or in an abandoned house. We would pass the time laughing and talking about life. Robert and Evelyn were homeless for typical reasons. Robert suffered from mental health issues, and his life was turned upside down by a failed marriage. Evelyn was an addict. She never told us directly, but the signs were there. They were wonderful but broken people.
As happens in life, the couple that started the group had fallen in love and decided to get married. Without reservation, they invited Robert and Evelyn to their wedding. They bought each of them formal wear and “hired” a chauffeur (me). In the most literal way, they lived out Jesus’s command in Luke 14:12-14.
The beauty of Jesus’s teaching in this passage is that its message cuts both ways. As Christians, we are commanded to use what resources God has blessed us with to care for the least among us instead of winning favor with those who are able to bless us back. However, we ought to do this because we have been invited to Christ’s wedding feast. We are the poor, crippled, lame, and blind that have been welcomed with open arms into the heavenly banquet hall. We can never repay God for the mercy that he has poured out into our lives, and yet he has brought us in under his roof, put a wedding garment upon our shoulders, and given us a seat of honor in his home. Why would we, then, not look to those that the rest of society ignores and reach out to them in the same way that God has reached out to us? In truth, they deserve our love not out of pity or guilt, but because we have been loved in the same way. We ought to care for their needs because God has taken care of ours.
Our familiarity with this passage dulls its sting. What Jesus asks is no small task. The world is teeming with broken people. You cannot walk through this city without seeing suffering. If I am honest with myself and with you, it is overwhelming. Nevertheless, if we can at least be mindful of Luke 14:12-14 when we encounter another human, asking not what they can do for us but asking what we can do for them, then we will be able to reflect God’s image in this world. If we can remember that what God gives us is not to better our own kingdoms but his, then we will please our heavenly Father and honor our fellow human.