Thursday 24th Week in Ordinary Time

Gospel – Luke 7:36-50

Hospitality 101

Home Sweet Home

It’s now been just about a year since we moved into our new home; in fact, someone just remarked that it still has the new home smell!  And it reminded me of the hectic nature of our condensed time frame last summer when I would shuttle back and forth to Chicago in a frantic effort to sort through 40 years of ‘stuff’ and deciding what to toss, what to donate, and what to pack up for the move to Tennessee.  But it wasn’t just about closing up our Dakin home!  It was also about making our new home warm and comfortable, inviting and welcoming!  We put so much effort into picking out the right floor plan, the best arrangement of new furniture and decorations, everything to make our new home feel like home.  But not just for us!  There had to be room for visitors, for overnight guests, for family and friends!  It had to be open and relaxing, a peaceful oasis from the stresses of the world!  Open door, open arms, open heart!

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, perhaps 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 Pharisees – 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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