Luke 14:12-14

Call the poor

The Church’s duty to the poor

A recent advertisement on our city walls struck me as singularly suggestive; it contained the words, “God and the poor.

” Such a conjunction of words is most remarkable: the highest and the lowest, He who owns all things, and they who own nothing: it is a conjunction of extremes, and though it looked very extraordinary on a placard, yet if you examine the Old and New Testaments the idea will be discovered almost more frequently than any other.

I. THE RELATION OF GOD TO THE POOR. There is a strange mingling of terror and tenderness in God’s language in relation to the poor; terror towards their oppressors tenderness towards themselves. Take the former Proverbs 17:5; Isaiah 10:2; Jeremiah 22:13; Amos 5:11; etc.). Such are some of the sentences of fire in which God speaks of the oppressor of the poor. We now turn from terror to tenderness. We shall hear how God speaks of the poor themselves. The lips that spoke in fire now quiver with messages set to music (Isaiah 58:6). There is an extract which I must give from God’s ancient legislation, and as I read you will be able to say whether ever Act of Parliament was so beautiful Deuteronomy 24:19). And why this beneficial arrangement? A memorial act; to keep the doers in grateful remembrance of God’s mighty interposition on their behalf. When men draw their gratitude from their memory, their hand will be opened in perpetual benefaction.

II. THE RELATION OF THE POOR TO THE CHURCH. “The poor ye have always with you.” For what purpose? As a perpetual appeal to our deepest sympathy; as an abiding memorial of our Saviour’s own condition while upon earth; as an excitement to our most practical gratitude. The poor are given into the charge of the Church, with the most loving commendation Of Christ their companion and Saviour.

1. The poor require physical blessing. Christ helped man’s bodily nature. The Church devotes itself more to the spirit than to the flesh. This is right: yet we are in danger of forgetting that Christianity has a mission to the body as well as to the soul. The body is the entrance to the soul And is there no reward? Will the Lord who remembers the poor forget the poet’s benefactor? Truly not! (Psalms 41:1).

2. The poor require physical blessing; but still more do they require spiritual blessing. The harvest is great, the labourers are few. Do you inquire as to recompense? It is infinite! “They cannot recompense thee, but thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just.” And yet they can recompense thee! Every look of the gleaming eye is a recompense! Every tone of thankfulness is a repayment. God is not unrighteous to forget our work of faith. If we do good unto “one of the least of His brethren,” Christ will receive the good as though offered to Himself. Terrible is the recompense of the wicked! “Whoso stoppeth his ears at the cry of the poor, he also shall cry himself, but shall not be heard.” Much is being said about Charity. They have carved her image in marble; they have enclosed her in gorgeously coloured glass; they have placed on her lofty brow the wreath of immortal amaranth; poesy has turned her name into rhythm, and music has chanted her praise. All this is well. All this is beautiful. It is all next to the best thing; but still the best thing is to incorporate charity in the daily life, to breathe it as our native air, and to express it in all the actions of our hand. “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.” “If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven.” You will then be one with God! “Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which He hath promised to them that love Him?” Then do not contemn the poor. “He that giveth, let him do it with simplicity.” (J. Parker, D. D.)

Christian beneficence

I. THE DUTY OF A CHRISTIAN TO DO GOOD; to lay himself out to do good to every one within his reach.

1. This arises from the very nature of the Christian character. Gratitude to Christ leads him to copy the Saviour, “who went about doing good.”

2. The duty of laying ourselves out to do good arises from our Christian calling. When the Holy Spirit of God makes a difference between sinners who are living in ungodliness and walking after the vanity of their minds, why does He make that difference? God calls forth His people to be witnesses for Him, in such a manner that those who are blind to His glory in creation, and who neglect His glory in revelation, cannot refuse to acknowledge it when it is evidenced and reflected from the people that He has called by His grace. When God’s people go forth doing good, when they manifest self-denial, when they are willing to “spend and be spent,” in order to contribute to the temporal necessities or to the spiritual welfare of their fellow-creatures, there is something in these actions which tells upon the heart that is closed to all other means of receiving the knowledge of God’s glory and salvation.

II. THE OBJECT OF CHRISTIAN BENEFICENCE. When a Christian does good, or tries to abound in any good work, it must not be from

(1) personal vanity,

(2) a desire of human applause,

(3) for worldly recompense.

His sole inducement must be the love of Christ; his one object the glory of God; his whole desire to advance the temporal and spiritual good of mankind.

III. THE CHRISTIAN’S ENCOURAGEMENT to lay himself out to do good unto all men, without looking for anything again. “They cannot recompense thee; but,” etc. (W. Cadman, M. A.)

Christian feasting

Much Of the impressiveness of our Lord as a preacher arose from the miracles He performed in confirmation of the divinity of His mission, and the truth of His doctrine; much also from His adapting Himself to the state and conditions of His hearers; and much also from His deriving His instructions and encouragements from present objects and occurrences, for this always gives a freshness to our discourse, and a superiority to the artificialness of study. He sees a sower going forth to sow, and for the instruction of the people is led to deliver a parable on the good seed of the kingdom.

I. THE OCCASION OF THE ADDRESS. “Then said He also to him that bade Him.” Concerning this invitation let us make four inquiries.

1. Who was it that bade Him? It was one of the chief Pharisees, a man of some substance and respectability, probably a ruler of the synagogue, or one of the Sanhedrim. We never read of any of the Sadducees inviting our Lord, nor do we ever read of the Herodians inviting Him. Though the Pharisees were the bitterest enemies of Christ, they had frequent interviews with Him.

2. For what was He bidden? Some suppose that this was a common meal, but the narrative requires us to view it as an entertainment, or some kind of festivity.

3. When was He bidden? We are told that it was on the Sabbath day.

4. Why was He bidden? He was invited by Martha from a principle of duty and benevolence, and she and Mary hoped to derive some spiritual advantage from Him. I wish I could think that this Pharisee invited our Lord under the influence of similar motives. But from whatever motive they were impelled tie went not to eat and drink only. No, He went about His Father’s business, this He constantly kept in view. He knew what His work required. He knew that the Good Shepherd must seek after the lost sheep until He find it. My brethren, you must here learn to distinguish between Him and yourselves. He had nothing inflammable in Him. The enemy came and found nothing in Him. But you have much remaining depravity, and are in danger from external circumstances; you therefore, must watch and pray lest you enter into temptation; you are safe when in the path of duty, there God has engaged to keep you. Let us learn from the Saviour’s conduct to exercise good behaviour, that others may not have occasion to speak evil of us on account of our religion. Consider--

II. WHAT OUR SAVIOUR FORBIDS. He said, “When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy brethren, neither thy kinsmen, nor thy rich neighbours; lest they also bid thee again, and a recompense be made thee.” This “supper or dinner” supposes something costly, for you observe that in the following verse it is called “a feast.” Observe, it is not absolutely wrong to invite our friends, or our brethren, or our rich kinsmen, or our rich neighbours; but our Saviour looks at the motive here, “lest a recompense be made thee”; as much as to say, there is no friendship or charity in all this. And the apostle says, “Let all things be done with charity.” You are to show more hospitality than vanity, and more charity than ostentation, and to be more concerned for those who want your relief. This brings us to consider--

III. WHAT HE ENJOINS. “But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, and the blind.” Here we see what a variety of evils and miseries are incident to the human race. Here are “the poor,” without the necessaries of life; “the maimed,” whose hands are unable to perform their office; “the halt,” who are indebted to a crutch to enable them to walk at all; “the blind.” Here we learn, also, the proper objects of your compassion, and the fittest subjects of your charity. It is not necessary that you should always have “the poor, the maimed, the halt, and the blind” at your table. You may fulfil the Saviour’s design without this, and do as Nehemiah did, “send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared.”

IV. WHAT OUR SAVIOUR INSURES. “And thou shalt be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee: for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just.”

1. The blessedness: “Thou shalt be blessed.” Blessed even in the act itself. Oh, the pleasures of benevolence! How blessed is it even in the review! for this blessedness can be continued and improved on reflection. How superior in the performance to sordid entertainments! “Thou shalt be blessed”--blessed by the receiver. Think of Job. He says, “When the ear heard me, then it blessed me, and when the eye saw me, it gave witness to me. Because I delivered the poor that cried, and the fatherless, and him that had none to help him. The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me; and I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy.” What do we see yonder when we enter Joppa with Peter? “When he was come they brought him into an upper chamber: and all the widows stood by him weeping, and showing the coats and garments which Dorcas made while she was with them.” “And thou shalt be blessed”--blessed by the observers. Who does not observe? And who observes and does not bless on such occasions? Few, perhaps none of us, knew personally a Reynolds, a Thornton, or a Howard, of whom we have read; but in reading their history, when we come to their names we cannot help blessing them, and thus the words of the Scripture are fulfilled, “The memory of the just is blessed.” “And thou shalt be blessed.” Above all, blessed by God Himself, upon whom everything depends, “whose favour is life, and whose loving-kindness is better than life.” He blesses personally and relatively. He grants you spiritual and temporal blessings. David says, “Let them curse, but bless Thou.”

2. The certainty of this blessedness--“For they cannot recompense thee.” This seems a strange reason, and would tend to check rather than encourage a worldly man. The foundation of this reason is this, that charity must be recompensed. If the poor cannot do this themselves, some one else must undertake it for them, and therefore God Himself must become answerable; and it is much better to have God to recompense us than to rely upon a poor dying creature. Paul therefore, says, to those who had made a collection to relieve him, and had sent it by the hands of Epaphroditus, “My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” If, therefore, the thought ever occurs to your mind, “I know not those persons who have relieved me; I shall never be able to repay them,” so much the better, for then God must, and if there be any truth in His word, if there be any love in His heart, He will.

3. The time of this bestowment--“For thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just.” Not that this will be done then exclusively, for, as we have already shown, there are advantages attending charity now. But it will be principally then, publicly then. The apostle says to the Corinthians, “Judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the heart; and then shall every man have praise of God.” Then will it be done perfectly. It is not wrong to look for advantage in religion. But you should be upon your guard not to entertain a notion of meritoriousness in any of your doings. No, the reward is of grace, not of debt. (W. Jay.)

Christ’s counsel to his host

Our Lord does not here enjoin neglecting and refraining from one’s friends, kinsfolk, and neighbours, to entertain only the poor, maimed, halt, and blind. What He says is, when you make a dinner or supper--that is, as He immediately explains, a feast--let it be, not for those with whom you are accustomed to associate, but rather for the destitute and forlorn outside your circle. It is a question, you see, not at all of social fellowship, but of expenditure, and of the objects to which our great expenditures should be devoted. When you would lavish trouble and money, says Christ, let the lavishing be, not for your own personal gratification, not with the view of securing some enjoyment or obtaining some benefit for yourself, but for the blessing of others. The point on which the whole admonition turns, and to which it refers, is largeness of outlay. This is obvious. Our Lord is thinking and speaking, not of, an ordinary meal such as might be spread any day, but of a feast, like the “great supper” of the parable that follows: and remember the occasion of His words, the circumstances under which they were uttered. He was dining on the Sabbath, in the house of one of the chief Pharisees, who had Him to eat Bread with him; and everything indicates that it was no common dinner at which He was present, but an entertainment on a large scale, got up probably with much pains, and regardless of cost. Christ noticed, we are told, how those who were bidden chose out the chief rooms; nay, such were the unseemly contests among the guests for precedence, and the rude struggling for the best places, which He witnessed, that when at last the tumult had subsided, and all were arranged, He could not forbear remarking on it in tones of rebuke. Evidently the meal was a grand affair, a banquet numerously attended and by many notable and distinguished persons. Contemplating, as He sat there, the profusion, the sumptuousness; picturing what it had cost--the amount of money, labour, and worry, and perhaps sacrifice, that had been expended on it--and penetrating that it was all mainly for selfish ends, with the idea and in the hope of some advantage through it; Christ turns His great mournful eyes upon the many with the words: “When you would make such another feast as this, my friend, at so much trouble and cost, instead of calling to it your rich friends, who are likely to recompense you for it, you should call to it the destitute and afflicted, who are unable to recompense you, and thus be blessed at the resurrection of the just.” The inner point and spirit of which form of words was this: “Ah! my friend, it is a mistake to make your great outlays of strength and treasure with a view to your own gratification and aggrandisement, for it is poor recompense at the best, after all. These great outlays should be reserved rather to meet the needs and ameliorate the unfortunate condition of others; for the blessing of that, though more ethereal and less palpable, is infinitely more worth. You should not burden yourself to win ought of present enjoyment or acquisition for yourself. If you burden yourself at all, it should be to supply some want or serve some interest of the necessitous around you.” And the lesson remains for us. Let your extensive expenditures, your toils and worries, and hardships and sacrifices, be for those outside who require ministry, rather than for yourself. When it is a question of your own personal amusement or pleasure, of your own worldly comfort or gain, be content to spend but little; don’t make a fuss, or lie awake anxiously, or go out of your way for that. If you do so at all, do it when the welfare of others is concerned, when there are others to be succoured or saved by it; reserve for such ends the incurring of heavy cost, the taking on of heavy burdens of thought and care. (S. A. Tipple)

Christian entertainments

Jesus Christ did not intend that the rich should never have communion with one another, or hold intercourse with one another; that would be as absurd as it would be impracticable. The idea is that, having had your own fellowships and enjoyments, having eaten the fat and drunk the sweet, you are to send out a portion to him that hath none, and a blessing to him who sits in loneliness and sadness of heart. I had a wonderful dream some time ago--a singular dream. It was about the Mansion House and the Lord Mayor. I saw the great banquet ing hall filled, and I looked and wondered at the people, for they had such a peculiar expression upon their countenances. They seemed to be closing their eyes, and so they were. Alas! they were all blind people, and all over fifty years of age. It was the great Lord Mayor of London himself who had invited all the blind people over that age in London to meet one another, and have one happy night, so far as he could make it, in the ancient banqueting hall. No loving cup was passed round, lest accidents should occur; but many a loving word was spoken, many a sigh full of meaning was heaved--not the sigh of misery, but the sigh of thankfulness. And then a strange silence fell upon all the guests, and I heard a voice from above saying in the English tongue quite distinctly, “They cannot recompense thee, but thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just.” Then the banqueting hall seemed to be filled with spectators--glad witnesses--as if, at last there were upon the earth some fine touch of Christian feeling, some recognition of the mystery of charity and the boundlessness and condescension of Christian love. (J. Parker, D. D.)

True Christian festivity

I. It should be UNSELFISH. Not extended merely to those from whom we expect a similar return.

II. It should be MERCIFUL. Extended to those who are generally neglected.

III. THIS FESTIVITY WILL BE REWARDED. With the blessing of the poor now, and the commendation of the Judge hereafter. (Anon.)

Christian hospitality

Our Lord really means that hospitality is first to be exercised towards those who need it, because of their narrow means, and to whom kindness of this sort is more pleasant, because they receive such little notice from the world. These are to be first recipients of our hospitality, and after them our friends, relatives, and neighbours, who may be supposed to be able to ask us again. This, of course, is directly contrary to the practice of the world. Now I do not think that we obey this injunction of the Lord by following its spirit (as the saying is) rather than its letter. It has been said that “the essence of the beatitude, as distinct from its form, remains for all who give freely, to those who can give them no recompense in return, who have nothing to offer but their thanks and prayers,” and that “relief, given privately, thoughtfully, discriminately, may be better both for the giver, as less ostentatious, and for the receiver, as tending to the formation of a higher character than the open feast of the Eastern form of benevolence.” But it is to be noticed that the Lord is not speaking of relief, i.e., of almsgiving, but of hospitality. It is one thing to send relief in a basket to some poor person from your house, and quite another yourself to proffer to the same person food upon your own table of which you and he jointly partake. By relief or alms you almost of necessity constitute yourself his superior; by hospitality you assume that he is far more on the same level with yourself. Partaking of food in common has, by the absolutely universal consent of mankind, been esteemed a very different thing from the mere gift of food. If it be said that such hospitality as the Lord here recommends is contrary to the usages of even Christian society amongst us, we answer, “Of course it is”; but, notwithstanding this, it is quite possible that the Christianity of our Christian society, of which we have so high an opinion, may be very imperfect indeed, and require reformation, if not regeneration, and that “the open feast of the Eastern form of benevolence” may be worthy of more imitation amongst ourselves. Look at the extravagant cost of some entertainments--viands set before the guests simply because they are costly and out of season--and consider that the difference between a fair and creditable entertainment and this extravagance would enable the giver to act ten times more frequently on the principle which the Lord inculcates, and for which he would be rewarded; consider this, and the folly of such waste, not to say its wickedness, is manifest. (M. F. Sadler.)

A model feast

I cannot think there is no connection with Divine things in the counsels Christ gave to His host about making a feast. I think He meant more than to alter a custom, or change social habits. What He advised went deeper, and had a profounder intention than that. He was reaching down to the foundation of things; showing how God deals with men, and what are the principles, or what is the measure and scope of His kingdom. He pourtrays a model feast. And if I mistake not, the portraiture is a pattern of things in the heavens. A place at the feast, I think He means to say, does not depend upon social grade, position, or attainments, but upon the needs of those who are called. Necessity, misery, helplessness, were to be the qualifications--poor, maimed, halt, blind. Friends and rich neighbours were not to be left out; they might come and share the joy and blessing--the joy of ministering and doing good to others; but the sore and the stricken were to be the guests; the invitations were to be sent specially to them. The ado, the preparation, the plentifulness, and the freeness of the feast, must be all for them, to bless them, and make them glad. That is God’s feast. That is how God does. He prepares a feast for man roman the sinner, man the miserable, man the outcast, the hungry, the starved, the diseased, the dying; and He throws it open, and bids them all come, and sends to fetch them in. And when they gather, He lets His rich friends, the angels, rejoice with Him; for “there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.” (W. Hubbard.)

The poor invited to a feast

When I was quite a little boy, there lived in my father’s house a man whom, as I look back, I, in common with most who knew him, cannot help regarding as, perhaps, the holiest man we were acquainted with. He lived a life of singular devotion and self-denial, and seemed to walk constantly in the presence of God. Some little time ago, when m Liverpool, I accidentally came across the person in whose house be had lodged in the days when he had first devoted himself to God, when he was quite a young man, before his connection with my own beloved father was as close as it afterwards became. This good man, who kept the house in which this gentleman lodged, told me a few anecdotes about him, and, amongst others, I remember the following: “Ah, Mr. Aitken!” said the man, “I shall never forget Mr. C’s Christmas dinner.” I said, “I wish you would tell me about it;” and he replied, “I will.” “Christmas Day came near, and Mr. C called up my wife, and said to her, ‘Now, I want you to make the very best dinner you possibly can; I am going to give a dinner-party.’ ‘Well, Mr. C,’ she said, ‘you have been a long time in my house, and I never heard you talk of giving a dinner-party yet; but I will see to it that it is a right good dinner, and there shall be no mistake about it.’ ‘Do your best,’ he said; ‘I am going to invite my friends, and I want everything to be done properly.’ My wife set to work and got a very good dinner indeed. Christmas Day came. Towards evening we were expecting the gentlemen to turn up who had been invited by our lodger; we did not know who they were, but we made sure they would be people worthy of the occasion. After a time, there came a knock at the door. I opened the door, and there stood before me a man clothed in rags. He had evidently washed his face, and got himself up a little for the occasion; at the same time he was a beggar, pure and simple. He said, ‘Does Mr. C live here?’ ‘Yes,’ I replied; ‘he lodges here, but you cannot see him; he is just going to sit down to dinner.’ ‘But,’ said the man, ‘I was invited to come here to dinner this evening.’ You may imagine my horror and astonishment; I could scarcely contain myself. ‘What!’ I said; ‘you invited to come here this evening, a man like you?’ I had scarcely got the words out of my mouth before I saw another poor, miserable specimen of humanity crawling round the corner; he was another of Mr. C ‘s guests. By-and-by, there was a round dozen of them, or something like a score; and in they came, the most haggard, miserable, woe-begone objects you could possibly conceive. They went into my wife’s nice, smart-looking dining-room, with that grand white cloth, and all the good things which had been so carefully prepared. It almost took one’s breath away to see them. But when we saw the good man himself, setting to work, like the Master of old (who girded Himself to serve His disciples)--setting to work to make these men happy, and help them to spend a pleasant evening, without stiffness or formality, we thought, ‘After all, he is right. This is the best sort of dinner-party;’ and we did not grudge the labour we had bestowed.” Now, I have told that little anecdote in order to illustrate the fact that our Lord’s teaching on such subjects is eminently practical, and that when He gives a suggestion, you may be sure that it is a very sensible and sound one. (W. H. Aitken, M. A.)

Call the poor

Pococke informs us, that an Arab prince will often dine before his door, and call to all that pass, even to beggars, in the name of God, and they come and sit down to table, and when they have done retire with the usual form of returning thanks. It is always customary among the Orientals to provide more meats and drinks than are necessary for the feast! and then, the poor who pass by, or whom the rumour of the feast brings to the neighbourhood, are called in to consume what remains. This they often do in an outer room, to which the dishes are removed from the apartment in which the invited guests have feasted; or otherwise, every invited guest, when he has done, withdraws from the table, and his place is taken by another person of inferior rank, and so on, till the poorest come and consume the whole. The former of these modes is, however, the most common. (Biblical things not generally known.)

Feeding the hungry

It was the custom of St. Gregory, when he became pope, to entertain every evening at his own table twelve poor men, in remembrance of the number of our Lord’s apostles. One night, as he sat at supper with his guests, be saw, to his surprise, not twelve but thirteen, seated at his table; and he called to his steward, and said to him, “Did not I command thee to invite twelve? and, behold! there are thirteen.” And the steward told them over, and replied, “Holy father, there are surely twelve only.” And Gregory held his peace; and, after the meal, he called forth the unbidden guest, and asked him, “Who art thou?” And he replied, “I am the poor man whom thou didst formerly relieve;” but my name is ‘The Wonderful’ and through Me thou shalt obtain whatever thou shalt ask of God. Then Gregory knew that he bad entertained an angel; or, according to another version of the story, our Lord Himself.”

Christ-like hospitality

It is said of Lord Chief Justice Hale that he frequently invited his poor neighbours to dinner, and made them sit at table with himself, if any of them were sick, so that they could not come, he would send provisions to them from his own table. He did not confine his bounties to the poor of his own parish, but diffused supplies to the neighbouring parishes as occasion required. He always treated the old, the needy, and the sick with the tenderness and familiarity that became one who considered they were of the same nature with himself, and were reduced to no other necessities but such as he himself might be brought to. Common beggars he considered in another view. If any of these met him in his walks, or came to his door, he would ask such as were capable of working why they went about so idly. If they answered it was because they could not get employment, he would send them to some field to gather all the stones in it, and lay them in a heap, and then pay them liberally for their trouble. This being done, he used to send his carts, and caused the stones to be carried to such places of the highway as needed repair.