How have we been giving or whom do we invite to our parties? If we want God to bless us, then guests at our parties should be mainly the poor, the needy, and the incapacitated, and our acts of righteousness should be done in secret. Jesus has shown us giving that attracts God’s blessings on earth and repayment at the resurrection of the just. It is giving to the poor and needy in secret. Any offering to those who can reciprocate is rewarded by men only.
“But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind. And you will be blessed because they cannot repay you; for you shall be repaid at the resurrection of the just.” (Lk14:13-14). Jesus taught that any act of righteousness practised before other people to be seen by them will have no reward from God. He mentioned giving to the needy, praying and fasting, done before others to see as meriting no compensation from the Lord. As a demonstration of practising righteousness, He often healed and performed miracles on people and asked them to tell no one. He sought to receive glory from God, but people often sought to receive credit from one another.
Indeed, most human actions are driven by a desire for the glory of others. Maybe if practising righteousness were their typical nature, people would do so without any conscious effort to attract others’ attention. However, because they are naturally sinful and selfish, their acts of righteousness are few and far between; and situated by the desire to receive glory from others. It requires life in Christ to be able to practise piety in secret, naturally.
In the text under consideration, the Lord had been invited to a dinner in the house of a ruler of Pharisees. There might have been a lot of prominent people there as they jockeyed for places of honour. People of low standing had not been invited. Therefore, Jesus advised His host that when he threw a party, he should ask the poor and the needy who could not pay him back, and God would bless him and repay him at the resurrection of the just. He further said that to invite friends, neighbours, brothers, and relatives is to await an invitation from them in return and be repaid, thus requiring no repayment from God.
