I was teaching Luke 14 in Sunday school this past week where Jesus says: "... when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous” (Luke 14:13-14). It is a striking statement and challenges my sometimes overly privatised and siloed approach to life. I want to think more about how the idea of welcoming the stranger pervades the scriptures and challenges us to rethink how we do life: whether at home, at work or at church. After all, according to Jesus, welcoming people on the margins, people who may be nothing like us, is a source of rich blessing, for in doing so we welcome Jesus himself (Matthew 25:40).
So in this first blog, just one thought: welcome is the way that God shaped the world. From the very beginning, God made the world, created a beautiful garden, then welcomed Adam and Eve into it. Welcome is a pattern written into the very story of the beginning of the world! I find this so striking because it's not just that we see examples of welcome throughout the bible (which we do), or that we are told to welcome (which we are). But more fundamentally, it is the very nature of God to welcome. This means that to be image bearers who rightly reflect what God is like, is to welcome others in.
For reflection:
What spaces do you regularly find yourself in (at work, at home, at church)?
What would it look like to actively seek to welcome others into that space?
Comments