Welcome to this gathering at Lugarno Peakhurst Uniting Church on Sunday 31 August 2025. Our reading today covers three aspects. The first involves Jesus being invited to a Pharisee’s house for a meal You would not normally expect Him to be having a meal with an enemy of His, but He was there nonetheless. There He encounters a man with disease called ‘dropsy.’ Even though it is the Sabbath day, Jesus heals him and sends him on his way. The second involves the invited guests seeking places of honour at the table, for which Jesus told a parable and the third involves the host and Jesus speaks critically to Him about, who he has invited, particularly relatives and friends, while ignoring the poor, the crippled, the lame and the blind. While this is directed primarily at the Pharisees, there is certainly a message for all of us in the Church of Jesus Christ.
