no repayment

There’s a reason I struggle with discipleship and faithful living. It’s because kingdom thinking is so strikingly different from the ways of our culture. Being a Christian really does require us to be counter-cultural, when what we want so often is to just fit in.

Take this, for example, from Luke 14:12-14: “Then Jesus said to his host, ‘When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. But 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.’”

There are a couple of odd ideas here, if I can say that about a teaching of Jesus. The first is this idea of having a dinner and not inviting our friends. Dinners in our circles are social. They’re for relationship building and having fun. We have them to relax and unwind. We don’t typically throw them as a service to other people. When we want to do that, we do it as a church group and hold the meal at church.

But to Jesus there were no casual events. He was never off-duty; everything he did was calculated to get him another step closer to completion of his mission. Jesus didn’t have his work and his private life. Jesus’ work was his life. So to be a Christian is to buck our culture by seeing our purpose and the purpose of our skills and wealth differently.

The other odd idea is not only to expect no repayment, but in fact to ensure it. Jesus says to make sure we serve people who can’t possibly repay. He isn’t impressed by fee-for-service arrangements or quids pro quo. Jesus likes to see us pouring ourselves out for other people. He doesn’t intend that we will receive back from them, but that we will receive back from him.

In our what-have-you-done-for-me-lately society, that’s just weird. If we live like that, we’re not going to look like other people. We’re not going to fit in.

But that, I think is the point. Christians should stand out. If our faith doesn’t make us different, then it won’t be much good to us.