A New Way of Being Hospitable!

Monday, November 6, 2023

Rom 11:29-36; Lk 14:12-14

In today’s Gospel, Jesus teaches a new way of being hospitable. 

By proposing that we should invite only those who cannot repay us, Jesus transcends conventional markers of hospitality that rely on familiarity, relationship, or friendship as a criterion for extending the invitation. 

Though the traditional criteria for invitation presuppose some form of affinity and acquaintance, such practice heavily relies on an ‘exchange.’ When people lack the capacity for this exchange, they are kept outside the circle of our hospitality. 

Needless to mention, one’s social status also determines if s/he deserves our invitation. 

Jesus revolutionizes hospitality by annihilating the element of exchange as the criterion. By ruling out mutual honor, Jesus teaches a new way of being hospitable. 

Jesus practiced such ‘scandalous’ commensality that Jon Sobrino once said, ‘Jesus was killed for his eating habits.’ 

What is my vision of hospitality? Does it operate like a conventional ‘barter system,’ in which a favor received is returned? 

How am I going to widen my circle of invitees to include those who cannot repay?

Let us pray for God’s grace to imitate Jesus’ hospitality! 

Fr. Dhinakaran Savariyar