Blessed are the poor in spirit...

I watched Master Chef this week. The contestants cooked for well revered chefs and guests of high status. They pointed out what a privilege it was to get to cook for such important people - people who knew all about the finest foods, people who were ranked highly in the World's eyes, including royalty. They cooked foods and dishes that i've never even heard of. I've got nothing against Master Chef, i enjoyed watching it, but here's the thing......

I couldn't help but think how different their banquets were to the banquet we will have with Jesus one day..... When we will eat with the God who delights to dwell with those who are contrite and lowly.... With the God who says blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.... When instead of men who are highly revered in the World's eyes, we will eat with those who are poor, meek, persecuted and rejected by the World.... In the parable that Jesus gives in Luke 14 He refers to such a banquet, and how those who were originally invited didn't come, because they were too caught up in Worldly concerns, so instead he sends someone out into the streets and brings in "the poor and crippled and blind and lame." And these are the ones who get to enjoy the great feast, a feast which will undoubtedly be far better than any Master Chef endeavour... though i imagine the food will be of little importance when you are in the company of Jesus and are satisfied entirely in Him.

And the message that Jesus teaches us too, is that it's an honour to serve those who are the poorest of the poor... those who have no social standing, those who can't ever repay you, those who don't even really acknowledge your efforts, or praise you for them. In the upside-down way that the gospel works, it's actually a greater honour to give your bread to a hungry boy who barely has a name, let alone a home, than it is to cook for a King. Though it's a message that we probably avoid far too much, because the truth is we often like to receive recognition for our efforts, it actually says in Luke 14: "When you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you.".... And what's most beautiful about this, is that Jesus also says "Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me"... So nothing anyone does is lost, or meaningless, even if no-one on Earth ever sees or knows, if it's done out of love for Jesus, and done as though the person being served is Jesus Himself.