An Exclusively Inclusive Host

And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. Luke 14:23.

I think about all of the times I've hosted something at my home and I invited as many people as I could handle. My husband always gets on me about inviting so many people over. I love inviting people over to me the more the merrier. It reminds me of a time when I was homeless and I had no one and no where to go and people showed me kindness and invited me in to dinner. I recall the joy at being a part of the fellowship. It also reminds me that there are those who are regularly left out and purposefully not invited. I've seen this happening on my job recently. An event will be planned and then the whispering and the game of keep away begins because there is a group that doesn't like someone so they don't want to alert that person about the event. I'm always hurt and perplexed by this kind of behavior. No one wants to be excluded so why do people enjoy excluding others?

I'm reminded of this scripture because the Lord of this house went through great pains to set up an event and to invite those for whom the event was prepared for only to learn that none of those individuals were able to attend. As a host when you prepare dinner you want to be able to share it. It brings joy to the heart to share and care.

This host thought about all of the work and dedication that he put into his dinner. He thought about how his regular guests simply flaked out on him and he thought to himself that there were some people who would appreciate all the trouble he'd gone through. He decided to invite total strangers who may have been poor or disabled. The may have been homeless and alone. Whatever the case he invited as many as he could handle so thT they could enjoy the bounty that he had prepared.

Commentaries reveal that this passage of scripture is a parable about how the Jews rejected Christ and how Christ then extended the good news and the opportunity of salvation to the Gentiles. But more practically to me it's just about making sure as Christians that we remember to extend the invitation of Christ to everyone. There is no one in my life that I wouldn't want to tell about the goodness of Jesus and to share the fact that He saves to the utmost. I want everyone to know. As we go into this holiday season repeating that Jesus is the reason I hope we are not playing keep away with the gospel. I hope we are not excluding people because we don't "like" them. I hope we we
are open to share and to experience the joy of sharing Christ.

I'm so glad Jesus compelled me. Have you compelled someone today?