They Cannot Repay You
“Then Jesus said to his host, “When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.””
— Luke 14:12-14 (NIV)
Jesus was a guest that day, not the man in charge of the table. A leading Pharisee had him over for the Sabbath meal, and the room watched him closely. Minutes earlier he had seen the other men drift toward the best couches. Where a man reclined told everyone what his family was worth. Hospitality there ran on credit: feed an equal, and the debt came back as a favor or a good word in public. The four kinds of people named here could clear no debt at all. Old temple law kept a man with a damaged body away from the altar. One strict community of that era shut such men out of its gathering for the age to come. Some of them lived on coins dropped in the street, because no trade would hire them. Minutes later he described a feast where every important name sends an excuse, and the servants bring in exactly those four. God's own table fills with the people who can settle nothing.
Your time quietly follows the people who can do something for you. Nobody plans it that way, and almost nobody notices it. Maybe you answer one message at once and leave the other until tomorrow. Maybe you help where the help will come back to you. Or you keep putting off the person who needs nothing but your time. Or you decide you have too little yourself to give any of it away. Jesus says God counts exactly what nobody can pay back.
Something They Cannot Repay
- 1Pick one person who lives alone or has spoken to nobody today, and give them something they cannot repay. The simplest way: call and ask how their day went, then just listen. If they live near you, take them a plate or sit with them while they eat. Don't tell them you are doing it because they are on their own, and don't wait for thanks.
- 2If nobody comes to mind, call the oldest person in your family and ask them about something from years ago.
Lord Jesus, I give most easily where something comes back to me, and I hardly notice I am doing it. Show me today the one person who cannot pay me back. Help me give them what I actually have: food, time or attention. Stop me when I start counting what it costs. Amen.
Today I will give one person something they cannot repay.
What made this guest list so shocking at that table?
Hospitality there ran on credit. Feeding an equal created a debt that came back as a return meal, a favor or a good word in public, and a household's standing rose with the rank of the people it fed. The four kinds of people named here could clear nothing, so feeding them cost real money and lowered the name of the house.
Who were the people Jesus named, and how were they treated then?
They stood at the bottom of that society. Old temple law kept a man with a damaged body away from the altar, so such men already lived at the edge of worship. One strict community of that era shut them out of its gathering for the age to come. Most lived on coins dropped in the street, because no trade would hire them.
What if I can't host anyone, or can't get out today?
Give what you already have. A plate from what you are cooking, fifteen minutes on the phone, or the seat next to you at the table. It is not about spending money, it is about someone who cannot pay you back.