<p>14:13 <i>But when you make a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind</i>- There is a connection between Lk. 14:13 and 21. This is exactly what the parable of :21 teaches that God does: &ldquo;Bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind&rdquo;. The basis of God&rsquo;s calling of us must be the basis upon which we relate to others. We cannot recompense Him, yet He shows us His gracious invitation. So we too must share ourselves with those who cannot give us anything. In this sense, we like our Father, serve for nothing in the sense of no personal, concrete gain. We must <i>be</i> gracious by nature, and just <i>be</i> as He <i>is</i>.</p><p>The lame, blind etc. were not allowed to serve God under the law (Lev. 21:18), nor be offered as sacrifices (Dt. 15:21), nor come within the holy city (2 Sam. 5:6-8). The Lord purposefully healed multitudes of lame and blind (Mt. 15:30), and allowed them to come to Him in the temple (Mt. 21:14). His acted out message was clearly that those who were despised as unfit for God&rsquo;s service were now being welcomed by Him into that service. The lame and blind were despised because they couldn&rsquo;t work. They had to rely on the grace of others. Here again is a crucial teaching: those called are those who can&rsquo;t do the works, but depend upon grace. We need to appreciate too that in Palestine, to refuse an invitation to a feast was a major insult to the person who gave it. That the majority of people refused it would&rsquo;ve been so hurtful to the host. And in this we see a picture of the pain of God, that the majority refuse His invitation. Therefore He is so happy when anyone <i>does</i> respond, even if they&rsquo;re down and out. And we should hold in our heart the tragedy of God, the pain of God, that so many have refused Him; and therefore never judge anyone as unsuitable who may respond to the invitation. We&rsquo;re making the invitations for <i>His</i> sake, not our own. And on this basis we &lsquo;bring in&rsquo; those desperate types to the Lord&rsquo;s feast (:21). The same word is used about Barnabas &lsquo;bringing&rsquo; the unlikely convert Paul to the apostles (Acts 9:27), and later &lsquo;bringing&rsquo; or introducing him to the Antioch ecclesia (Acts 11:26), the &ldquo;other sheep&rdquo; being &lsquo;brought&rsquo; into the fold (Jn. 10:16), the blind man whom people thought was no good for Jesus being &lsquo;brought&rsquo; unto Him (Lk. 18:40), the Samaritan &lsquo;bringing&rsquo; the good-as-dead wounded man to the inn / the ecclesia (Lk. 10:34), all reflecting how the goodness of God leads / brings s.w. desperate sinners to repentance (Rom. 2:4). In our &lsquo;bringing in&rsquo; of desperate people to the Lord&rsquo;s feast, we are vehicles for that grace of God which &lsquo;brings in&rsquo; men and women to Him. Notice in passing that we invite people to the Kingdom feast without seeking a recompense from them- i.e. we should not expect anything from them, be it personal loyalty, money, respect etc. And if we don&rsquo;t get it from them, only then will we be rewarded / recompensed for our preaching at the last day. So it should&nbsp;be no surprise to us if as with Paul our converts turn against us and in no form &lsquo;recompense&rsquo; us for calling them. Actually we should take comfort from this, as it is an encouragement that we will have our recompense at the last day.</p>