In our anonymous and dehumanized world, the simple practice of friendship is radically countercultural. Friendship is a Christian vocation that can bring reconciliation and healing to our broken world. Unlikely friendships are at the centre of an alternative paradigm for missions where people are not objectified as potential converts but encountered in a relationship of mutuality and reciprocity.
When we befriend those on the margins of society by practicing hospitality and welcome, we create communities where righteousness and justice can be lived out. There’s power in hospitality and a hospitable presence. People are transformed when someone is willing to listen to their stories, to share a meal with them, and to find their insights and concerns important or interesting. They are able to recover a measure of self-respect and a fuller sense of identity.
But hospitality works both ways, and people on the margins also gain self-respect and recognize their own gifts when someone is willing to receive their hospitality, making sure that each person has a place in the community and an opportunity to contribute is important for everyone.
The most powerful expression of mutuality in friendship is sharing a meal together. Meals are also at the heart of the Christian story. Jesus frequently ate with his followers, his adversaries, and the outcasts in his community. He was sometimes a guest, sometimes a host, but in either case, meals were important settings where he shared deep truths and insights about the Kingdom, discipleship, and God’s priorities.
In Luke 14, Jesus is a guest in the home of a religious leader. During the meal, Jesus teaches about the banquet of the Kingdom of God and how God will make room for people often considered unimportant or unworthy. Jesus tells the host of the Pharisees that when he gives a party, he, too, should invite those he would usually overlook. He should make room for the people who don’t seem to have much to offer. These folks, Jesus says, are the ones God wants to be included.
In this passage, Jesus invites us to think about the people with whom we share meals. He isn’t saying we should ignore our family and friends, but to make our circle larger. An important spiritual discipline around meals is to ask ourselves regularly, “With whom am I eating? Who was invited, and who was left out?” Our meals become Kingdom meals, especially when people who are usually overlooked find a place of welcome and value.
The Kingdom of God is big enough and gracious enough to have room for the most unlikely folks and to give them places of honour. In our shared meals, God is especially present. There’s often an abundance in an element of mystery. Meals are important times of healing and restoration and are central to most efforts of reconciliation.
~ Susan Brandt, OIM follower and Founder
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