Prefer to watch this on you tube?  Here’s the link: https://youtu.be/Rod0r4GfwQg

Luke 14:7-14 There’s nothing worth talking about if we don’t read it.  Here’s a link to the passage: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%2014%3A7-14&version=NLT

At first glance, these verses seem like something out of an etiquette column.  Is that even a thing anymore? Jesus gives some good advice for avoiding embarrassment at a party.  He follows it up by suggesting we should be more benevolent when we make our guest lists.  This seems like a pretty random thing for Luke to record.  I had all but decided to skip through and attach it to the next section when I got thinking.  Jesus is always preparing us for the kingdom of God.  He doesn’t waste words. So why is this here?  

Here’s my best guess.  Jesus is taking the opportunity to highlight some things that are priorities in the kingdom of God.  The culture in which Jesus lived, much like our own, esteemed power, privilege and honour.  The people seated around the table with Jesus wanted to be invited to all the right parties, and they wanted to be seen with all the right people.  What I think Jesus was trying to show them is that their focus was themselves.  And that’s not how the kingdom works.  In God’s kingdom we are there for one another.  We want to see others grow and thrive.  Most of all we want to see Jesus lifted up and worshipped on the throne of heaven.  When we serve one another in humility and without concern for ourselves, when our deepest joy is found in Jesus being honoured for who he is, that is when we most freely and purely experience the kingdom of heaven.  Jesus wants us to experience glimpses of his kingdom right now. He explains.  Let others be given greater honour.  Bless those who can’t repay you.  You are a citizen of the kingdom of heaven. What greater honour could anyone seek?

I see a little peak into the heart of the father as well.  What kind of behaviour elevates a person in God’s eyes?  For what does God reward the members of his kingdom?  For respecting and blessing the poor, the disadvantaged and the disabled.  When you give genuine love to those who can’t reward you, you make God smile.