My country in the Middle East is known as one of the most hospitable and friendly in the region. The local people are known to welcome foreigners into their home and invite them to participate in their culture.
A common way to do this here is to invite someone into your home, but specifically the front living room known in Arabic as the majlis. In a typical majlis, there are cushions on the floor that line the walls of the room. There might be a small table or ottoman in the middle for serving food. Guests take their shoes off before entering the majlis and make themselves comfortable amongst the cushions. The host might bring out coffee and sweets for guests to nibble on throughout the visit. The majlis is a special place for hosting.
My first experience in a majlis here was during Eid. A few friends and I were invited out to a village to connect with a friend and we spent the entirety of our visit in their majlis. We chatted away with the ladies, ate Arabian sweets, and drank lots of coffee. I felt very welcome and honored in their space.
A few days after this Eid visit, I listened to a song that got me thinking about God’s majlis. In the song “Touch Your Robe” by Gable Price & Friends, the bridge says “'Cause when You made Your heart my home / You didn't make me take my shoes off / You didn't care what I stepped in / 'Cause when You say I'm clean, I'm clean.” I could not imagine walking in someone’s majlis with my shoes on. That would be very rude! Yet these lyrics stirred an image in my mind of Jesus sitting on the floor of the majlis of my heart, reclined in the cushions with a spread of coffee and dates on the table in the middle of the room. He is inviting me into his majlis as the guest of honor, just as I am. I don’t need to clean myself up for Him by taking my shoes off or putting on my fanciest dress. I just need to come in because He wants to spend time with me.
In Luke 14:7-11, Jesus gives his listeners some advice. When you are invited into someone’s home, which in his day would have been someone’s majlis, take the seat of the lowest honor. This seat would have been close to the door, away from the host. In this culture, the guest closest to the host is the most honored or esteemed guest. If you sit in the seat furthest away from the door, the host can ask you to come closer to him and you will be honored in front of all the guests.
In God’s majlis, we are the guests of honor. No matter how many times I try to sit by the door, Jesus comes and invites me to sit with him. He is the host, and I am the honored guest. Jesus went to great lengths to have the right to host us in His Father’s majlis. Jesus set aside his nature as God to stoop down to our human level, live with us, and ultimately take our penalty of sin for us. The Father exalted the Son to the highest place and gave Him authority over sin and death. Jesus has made a way for us to be in God’s majlis again. Jesus is the host inviting us into God’s majlis of grace and eternal life! And he says we can come in without taking our shoes off!
As I continue to grow in this culture, I am hoping to invited into more majils’s. I want to be invited into physical spaces in people’s homes to invest in their lives. My prayer is that as I am invited into people’s lives, I am able to invite them into God’s majlis through Jesus. His majlis is open to all who believe!