What is in it for me?

On a sabbath Jesus went to dine at the home of one of the leading Pharisees. He said to the host who invited him, “When you hold a lunch or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or sisters or your relatives or your wealthy neighbors, in case they may invite you back and you have repayment. Rather, when you hold a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind; blessed indeed will you be because of their inability to repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.” - Luke 14:12-14

Give freely not expecting anything in return! This is the message of the Gospel today. We often use as criteria for our decisions, "What is in it for me!" The Lord challenges us to think differently. We respond in faith because God first loved us! We are called to do what is right and just. We are called to act with charity and mercy. We cannot limits our actions to the belief, "What is in it for me!"

We do not earn God's love nor do we earn salvation by our works. In recognizing and accepting God's gift of love and grace, we make the conscious decision each day to live out our faith through our words and actions. Don't be a believer in name only. Don't simply give the Gospel lip service. If you really have faith and you are conscious of God's love, then with that same love, do the works of Christ.

Faith calls us to respond in works. 'I was hungry and you gave me food' (Matthew 25:35). In faith, we place our hope in the promise of the King, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world' (Matthew 25:34).

Don't be caught asking who, what, when, where, why, how! You might just hear the King say to you, ‘Amen, I say to you, what you did not do for one of these least ones, you did not do for me.’ And these will go off to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life (Matthew 25:46).