Thursday 24th Week in Ordinary Time

Gospel – Luke 7:36-50

Hospitality 101

Home!

 In the process of unpacking and moving, Ginger and I have been very meticulous and careful in setting up our new home.  We brought very little of our Chicago furniture.  So a lot of time and thought and measuring has gone into picking out each and every chair, table and sofa, even to the point of buying one item at a time and seeing how it fits/looks before adding another piece to the room.  We want to make sure everything fits comfortably and is arranged just so. But more importantly we want our home to be a warm and inviting place for guests!  We want it to be hospitable!  Open door!  Open arms!  Open heart!  Visitors are now welcome!

Quite the opposite of what we read in today’s Gospel.  A Pharisee has invited Jesus to his home for dinner.  But hospitality is sadly lacking, even non-existent.  He doesn’t greet Jesus with a kiss.  He doesn’t wash His feet to wipe away the dust of the street. Hospitality in your home was a given for the Jews at the time of Jesus. Otherwise you could be sure that people would not be hospitable to you in return. And yet this Pharisee shows none of it.  It’s as if all he is interested in is himself.  Maybe all he wanted was to tell his fellow Pharisess – guess who’s coming to dinner!  Or maybe all he is doing is trying to get Jesus to perform a miracle, a trick for his friends.  Either way, hospitality is far from his mind.

The sinful woman, however, shows all the elements of hospitality that the Pharisee lacks.  In fact, her hospitality extends not from welcoming Jesus into her home.  She is welcoming Him into her heart.  And that is our question for today.

Are we welcoming Jesus into our home?  Into our heart?  What are we doing to prepare our home, ourselves, to welcome Him into our lives?  We spend a lot of time and energy prepping our home for a dinner party, for a birthday – cleaning, cooking, best clothes, etc.  How much effort do we expend to welcome Jesus into our soul?  Is there downsizing that we need to do in our lives?  Do we need to simplify our lifestyle?  Do we need to stop thinking so much about ourselves and more about our relationship with Jesus?  How welcoming are we really?  How hospitable are we? 

 

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