Luke 14:12-14 Then said he also to him that bade him, When you make a dinner or a supper, call not your friends, nor your brothers… When I was quite a little boy, there lived in my father's house a man whom, as I look back, I, in common with most who knew him, cannot help regarding as, perhaps, the holiest man we were acquainted with. He lived a life of singular devotion and self-denial, and seemed to walk constantly in the presence of God. Some little time ago, when m Liverpool, I accidentally came across the person in whose house be had lodged in the days when he had first devoted himself to God, when he was quite a young man, before his connection with my own beloved father was as close as it afterwards became. This good man, who kept the house in which this gentleman lodged, told me a few anecdotes about him, and, amongst others, I remember the following: "Ah, Mr. Aitken!" said the man, "I shall never forget Mr. C's Christmas dinner." I said, "I wish you would tell me about it;" and he replied, "I will." "Christmas Day came near, and Mr. C called up my wife, and said to her, 'Now, I want you to make the very best dinner you possibly can; I am going to give a dinner-party.' 'Well, Mr. C,' she said, 'you have been a long time in my house, and I never heard you talk of giving a dinner-party yet; but I will see to it that it is a right good dinner, and there shall be no mistake about it.' 'Do your best,' he said; 'I am going to invite my friends, and I want everything to be done properly.' My wife set to work and got a very good dinner indeed. Christmas Day came. Towards evening we were expecting the gentlemen to turn up who had been invited by our lodger; we did not know who they were, but we made sure they would be people worthy of the occasion. After a time, there came a knock at the door. I opened the door, and there stood before me a man clothed in rags. He had evidently washed his face, and got himself up a little for the occasion; at the same time he was a beggar, pure and simple. He said, 'Does Mr. C live here?' 'Yes,' I replied; 'he lodges here, but you cannot see him; he is just going to sit down to dinner.' 'But,' said the man, 'I was invited to come here to dinner this evening.' You may imagine my horror and astonishment; I could scarcely contain myself. 'What!' I said; 'you invited to come here this evening, a man like you?' I had scarcely got the words out of my mouth before I saw another poor, miserable specimen of humanity crawling round the corner; he was another of Mr. C 's guests. By-and-by, there was a round dozen of them, or something like a score; and in they came, the most haggard, miserable, woe-begone objects you could possibly conceive. They went into my wife's nice, smart-looking dining-room, with that grand white cloth, and all the good things which had been so carefully prepared. It almost took one's breath away to see them. But when we saw the good man himself, setting to work, like the Master of old (who girded Himself to serve His disciples) — setting to work to make these men happy, and help them to spend a pleasant evening, without stiffness or formality, we thought, 'After all, he is right. This is the best sort of dinner-party;' and we did not grudge the labour we had bestowed." Now, I have told that little anecdote in order to illustrate the fact that our Lord's teaching on such subjects is eminently practical, and that when He gives a suggestion, you may be sure that it is a very sensible and sound one. (W. H. Aitken, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: Then said he also to him that bade him, When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy brethren, neither thy kinsmen, nor thy rich neighbours; lest they also bid thee again, and a recompence be made thee. |
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