Friday: Set Another Place

Reflection: Levi could have followed Jesus privately, but instead he prepared a banquet. His table was filled with tax collectors and others who were far outside respectable religious circles. The Pharisees noticed them too, but their response was very different. They wondered why Jesus would eat with people like that. Jesus answered, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.” The people others questioned were exactly the people Jesus had come to seek. Churches can become so comfortable with the people already around the table that we stop noticing who is missing. The same can happen in our personal lives. Our schedules and friendships become full, leaving little room for anyone new. Setting another place does not mean treating someone as a project. It means knowing, loving, listening, welcoming, and becoming available. Someone once made room for many of us. Now Jesus invites us to do the same.

Application Question: If you pictured one empty chair at your table today, whose name would you put on it—and what is one concrete step you could take this week to make room for that person?