One sabbath when he went to dine at the house of a ruler who belonged to the Pharisees, they were watching him.

Now he told a parable to those who were invited, when he marked how they chose the places of honor, saying to them, "When you are invited by any one to a marriage feast, do not sit down in a place of honor, lest a more eminent man than you be invited by him; and he who invited you both will come and say to you, 'Give place to this man,' and then you will begin with shame to take the lowest place. But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when your host comes he may say to you, 'Friend, go up higher'; then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at table with you. For every one who exalts himself will be humbled; and he who humbles himself will be exalted."

He said also to the man who had invited him, "When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your kinsmen or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return, and you be repaid. But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed; the lame, the blind; and you will be blessed; because they cannot repay you. You will be repaid at the resurrection of the just."

Yola Tin had watched with fear as the famine had come to dry and rot the fruit of her land. Many people had warned her and others who lived in this province of Cambodia that the short rain seasons would eventually spell disaster. There would be no food for their tables. Now the predictions had come true. People who were once employed in the fields were jobless, and people who had once had food for their tables were hungry. Famine had come like a great pall to cover her part of Asia.

Her life had been further complicated when her husband left her. He did not leave her because of a lack of love, but because he could not stand being unable to provide for her and the children. Before leaving her, he used to spend the entire day out looking for food and all night tossing and turning on his bed. The mental anxiety that he suffered turned his bed into a pile of rocks. Yola had tried to comfort him and to explain that he had no control over what was happening to their family.

She had asked him not to leave her, but more than once he had told her that he could not stand to watch his wife and children starve to death. His leaving seemed inevitable. Then it happened. She went out one day to visit her sister, and when she returned her husband was gone. There was a note in which he put in writing what he had often told her. He could not stand by and watch creeping death claim his family.

Yola did everything she could do to feed her children. Her brother was a servant in the home of one of the government officials, and he would help her find some bits and pieces of food in the trash cans, but this was not enough. She begged in the streets for a few morsels of bread, but this was not enough. The hollow faces of her children just stared at her when she came home and divided among them what she had garnered from the people and the trash cans.

She grew more and more tired. Her fatigue was brought on not only by her own lack of nourishment but also by the mental strain of knowing that sooner or later the sickle of death would get them all. She was waging a great battle but she knew she would lose. There was no food. There was no work. The only sure thing was starvation.

Then there was a flash of light in her dark world. One of the public nurses told her to come to the nursing station the next day, and they would have food for her children. Yola could not believe her ears and thought this to be another idle rumor. Such rumors were always being circulated. She hoped against hope.

The next day she was there at the appointed time and there was food. There was milk for her children and flour for her table. It was being doled out in very small allotments, but it was real. She was told that this was going to be available every third day, and she could come hack that frequently to get the food. She was happy beyond belief. At long last, there was food for her table. She did not know from whom it had come or how long it would last, but she knew it brought joy to her children. There was a renewed hope for health and survival for her family. After several weeks Yola could notice a difference in the energy level of her children and she was sleeping at night She was grateful beyond belief.

Aba Abin

Aba Abin was a strong man who had been an athlete in his school days. Because of his strong body and his desire to be in the great out-of-doors, he never advanced his education beyond secondary school although he was very intelligent. He loved to work in the fields. In lifting heavy loads, he found a rhythm to life. Working close to the soil, he found a nearness to his God. Days spent in the hot African sun were good days for him. It was his choice, and he loved it,

He was born late in the lives of his parents and because of their failing health, he never married. As an only child, he felt a great responsibility to take care of them. He had always lived at home where there was food for the table, comfort for the tired body and most of all fellowship and love.

One day Aba’s mother noticed that her son was growing more and more somber. She also noticed that he did not eat as much in the evening. Furthermore, he was rising earlier in the morning and she took that as an indication that he was not sleeping well. On several occasions, she and her husband asked Aba if something was bothering him, but he always made light of such questions.

One day his father caught him off guard, and Aba confessed that he was worried because of the rumors of political strife in their country. There was a growing rumor that they would be invaded by a larger, neighboring country. He was worried. So far, he admitted that it was only a rumor, but he had seen rumors come true in the past.

This rumor did come true. Within several months there was great political strife which resulted in the vegetables and fruits of the fields not being harvested. It all had to do with economics, pressure and politics. Naturally, the food in the market places soon became extinct. It was just not available. Men and women were shot and killed if they went into the fields to harvest for themselves. It was incredible. There was very, very little work and almost no food.

This young African worker looked into the faces of his aging and sick parents with an intensity he had never felt before. Time passed and all three members of this family began to feel the pain and to show the signs of hunger and starvation. Aba thought of killing his parents and himself. At times he thought this would be the most merciful way to cope with approaching starvation.

He hung on. Every day he went out into the village where he had been reared and where he had many, many friends, and, with their help and his ingenuity, he was able to bring home little bits and pieces of food. It was not nearly enough for health, but it was enough for survival. It would keep them alive a little longer.

One day Aba Abin went to the center of the village, and he could not believe his eyes. There was a large truck, and there were people dispensing food. It was not a hallucination. It was not a trick. It was not a sick joke. It was real. There was food! He ran home for a container and went back to the large truck. He was given food and promised more in the days to come.

The promise was fulfilled. Three times a week Aba Abin and other people from his village were able to go to the truck and get food for their families. At long last there was hope. Joy returned to this young man’s life as he watched his parents strengthened and nurtured once again. He offered up his prayers of thanksgiving.

Vijah

Vijah could not believe his ears. It had all happened so quickly. The day had been quite normal, but now tragedy had struck. While he was away with his girlfriend for the afternoon his mother and father had been accidently killed. It was a boating accident and Vijah did not understand any of the details. He was not able to hear any of the specifics. All he knew was that his parents were dead, and he was the oldest of four children. What would they do? How would they survive?

Life was never easy in this South American Indian tribe, but everyone somehow managed to eke out a living. That’s how it had been in his family. There was seldom too much but always enough. His mother had taken care of the domestic responsibilities, and his father had had a trade and was a skilled fisherman. But now their lives had been snuffed out, and the responsibility for the family and survival fell directly on fourteen-year-old Vijah.

His parents were memorialized in the customary ways, and things began to settle back to normal. Vijah was scared. He was not able to care for this family, and yet he had no one else to whom he could turn. The neighbors and friends were good to him, but there was a limit to how much they could help.

One day Vijah had a visitor come to his door and ask for an opportunjly to talk. Vijah had never seen the man, who introduced himself as William, but he looked friendly enough and Vijah invited him into his home. William explained that he was headquartered in a neighboring tribe and that he was there to offer food and clothing to Vijah and his siblings. Also, he offered to help train Vijah in a skill that would enable him to support his "family."

Vijah was cautious, very cautious. That was his training. No one was trusted who was not a member of the tribe. But Vijah was in trouble and needed help and William spoke his language so well that Vijah grew more and more trusting of him. Soon they were friends, and Vijah was receiving the help that William had promised. It was too good to be true. There was food for their table and clothes for their backs and training for Vijah. Things began to go together very, very well for this South American family. They grew in stability and became friends with William. Vijah missed his parents, but he never ceased to give thanks for William and his friends who gave them food, clothing, and training and enabled them to continue to lead normal lives.

Mark Steele

Mark Steele was a happy-go-lucky, single man with an MBA from Vanderbilt University. He had gone to work for the Exxon Corporation and found himself living and working in Houston, Texas. Life for him was easy. He made a big salary. He had plenty of money for food, fellowship, entertainment and travel.

Mark had been reared in the Christian church, but he had slipped away a little in these young-adult, post-college years. He went to worship several times a year, but most of the time there were other priorities in his life. Sundays were lazy days for Mark. He got up rather late, watched the ball games and scanned the Sunday paper.

That’s when it happened. He was watching the Dallas Cowboys’ football game and reading the Sunday paper during the commercials when suddenly an advertisement in the paper caught his eye. It was a simple ad which showed a hungry child. The hollow face of the child caught the attention of Mark. The caption was simple, "I am hungry." Then under the caption there was a plea for help. Somehow, he could not get his eyes off that child. He stared at the picture for several seconds.

The game was back on the television and Mark put the paper aside, but the child was still on his mind. That picture would not go away. Finally, he lifted the paper and looked again at the picture. With paper in hand, he went to the kitchen for another beverage. He thought he would really like to help someone like this child. He would love to give food to a hungry person. He did a lot of entertaining, but they were always his friends. He would have them over for a cook-out, and they would have him over for a cook-out. He would take them to lunch, and they would take him to lunch. That’s the way it was.

He opened the paper and looked again at the picture of the child. He knew he had to do something, but he did not want to just sit down and send money. He thought of his church and his pastor. Early in the week he called the church office and made an appointment with his pastor, and they talked together about the church’s programs of feeding the hungry people of the world. Mark was more excited than ever. That day he made a commitment to give the same amount of money to feed the hungry people of the world that he spent on himself for entertainment. When he first left the pastor’s office he thought that perhaps he had promised too much, but in the weeks ahead it was not too much. It was alright. He felt good about it.

Why shouldn’t he have felt good about it? That’s how people like Yola Tin, Aba Abin and Vijah have survived. Besides, Jesus said: "When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your kinsmen or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in returns and you be repaid. But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the the maimed, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. You will be repaid at the resurrection of the just." (Luke 14:12-14)