He said also to the one who had invited him, "When you give a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. And you will be blessed because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous." (Luke 14.12-14)
And so it was even before they heard these words that the people of St. Mark's did just that. All were invited and many came. So many that they ran out of food and volunteers scrambled in the kitchen and the pantries to find something that they could give to those who were waiting to eat. The volunteers and donors understand that the hurting, the struggling, and the vulnerable in every dimension of our lives, are never quite out of sight or out of mind. Jesus was always willing to share his table (and his life) with those who might be turned away by folks with more "conventional" values. Jesus challenges us to be more aware of those from whom we might be tempted to avert our eyes and to follow him rather than those who baptize common prejudices as virtues. By our baptism, we have been called to conform ourselves to Christ and his ways. To live into our baptism is to be ever mindful of those who are typically left out. Remember our baptismal covenant:
Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself? I will, with God’s help.
Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being? I will, with God’s help.
May God, who has begun this good work in you, bring it to fulfillment!
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