After giving the scribes and Pharisees advice on how (not) to choose a place at a banquet, Jesus goes on to teach his host what to do when he holds a dinner. He should not invite family members, relatives, friends and the influential rich from whom he can expect to get similar invitations in return. Rather he should go out of his way to invite beggars, the crippled, the lame, the blind and be happy that these people can do nothing by way of repayment. This will be a proof of the genuineness of his generosity.

Sharing meals with friends is a lovely thing (and Jesus is not condemning it) but the point that Jesus is making that our mutual entertainment should never be at the expense of those who do not have enough to live on. In our prosperous societies, this is happening all the time. While a child dies in the poor world every three seconds, there are people in our world who are rushing out to the next sale to buy something they absolutely have no need of.

What we do should be a real act of love and not be a form of self-seeking and self-aggrandisement or mutual back scratching in a never-ending entertainment circus. It reminds us of what Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount about loving those who love us."Even the pagans do that." There is no real virtue there. In fact, it can be a way of using people - even our friends - to our own advantage.