Read Luke 14:1, 7-14 with your family.

Jesus had dinner with all sorts of people, and in today’s story he was having dinner with a pharisee, that means someone who spent their time studying the Hebrew Scriptures, and often taught other people what God expected of them.

Jesus taught two lessons. The first was basic social behaviour when you are a guest: Make sure you take a further seat from the head of the table and if the host wants you to sit somewhere else, let the host make that decision. You don’t want to be embarrassed by the host coming to you and telling you to move to a seat further away from the head of the table because he wants to give the closer seat to someone else.

The second lesson was the lesson about God: When you are the host, invite people who are usually forgotten by most people. Invite the poor, the sick, the disabled, the people who can’t host a dinner party in return. They are the ones God wants us to pay special attention too. This is how God treats us. At God’s banquet everyone is invited and none of us have the ability to show God the same level of gift giving that God shows us.