Invite the ones who can't repay
The banquet for the overlooked
At a dinner, Jesus tells the host to rethink his guest list. When you give a banquet, don't invite your friends, your family, or your rich neighbors — who will only invite you back. Invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. The kingdom guest list runs exactly opposite to the networking instinct.
Leaders naturally gather the useful and the impressive — the people who can advance the cause, repay the favor, reflect well on them. Jesus commends the opposite: making room for those who bring no advantage, who cannot repay, who are usually overlooked. It is a searching test of motive. The people you welcome into the work reveal whether you are building a kingdom or a network. Welcoming the overlooked and the least — those who can do nothing for you — is the mark of leadership that has stopped quietly keeping score.
“Didn't God choose those who are poor in this world to be rich in faith, and heirs of the Kingdom?”
— James, on God's choice of the poor — James 2:5 (WEB)
Whom you welcome into the work reveals whether you are building a kingdom or a network. The mark of kingdom leadership is making room for those who can do nothing for you.
“But when you make a feast, ask the poor, the maimed, the lame, or the blind.”
Jesus reversed the networking instinct toward those who cannot repay. A leader formed here examines whether he gathers only the useful or also the overlooked. The inner work is welcoming people for their worth, not their usefulness.
Deliberately include the overlooked and the least, not just the impressive and useful. Build a team and a table that has room for those who bring no advantage. Let your guest list, not just your words, show what you are really building.
Leaders gather the useful and call it strategy, quietly excluding those who cannot repay. The blind spot is mistaking a network for a kingdom because the score is always being kept.
Notice whom you keep including for their usefulness. This week, welcome someone overlooked who can do nothing for you, into the work or the room.
Leaders naturally gather the useful and impressive — those who can repay, advance the cause, reflect well on them. Jesus commends welcoming exactly those who can do none of that.
Whom are you welcoming into the work — the useful, or also the overlooked who can do nothing for you?