Aug 31, 2019

22nd Sunday: "Kingdom behavior"




"Invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind." 

Luke 14: 1, 7-14


This Gospel passage should be a favorite of most Catholics.  Why?  I can say to all those very humble people who always sit in the back of Church, “Come up higher my friends to all these empty pews in the front.” It teaches us a very valuable lesson on the spirit of discipleship in the kingdom of God.  That humility is valued as a way to seek honor.

Our readings this weekend teach us about seeking honor. Honor given not by our higher ups but honor bestowed upon us by God.  How does God honor us and ask us to behave? - To do all things with a true humble spirit. Our story in the Gospel this Sunday (Lk 14: 1, 7-14) uses once again a familiar image of Jesus, that of a community meal, a wedding feast.

The first reading from Sirach states: “My child, conduct your affairs with humility and you will be loved more than a giver of gifts. Humble yourself the more, the greater you are, and you will find favor with God.” (Sir 3: 17-18). That seems crystal clear yet how best to achieve that without drawing attention to ourselves, going through the motions with no real inner conviction, or to put aside our natural desire to seek affirmation or honor is not always easy.

We may feel that humility includes some level of self-loathing or walking around with our head bowed and to speak in a soft and quiet voice.  Yet, humility is to know who we are in relationship to God and to carry out our mission as Christian men and women in selfless charity.  But, it isn’t just about table fellowship – it goes to the core of who are and how we live in this world.  This is the way that citizens of the kingdom of God of which Jesus speaks so often, behave towards one another. That being said the banquet Jesus describes in our Gospel is clear.  

Luke uses Jesus’ wedding banquet image to reveal an important moral lesson about table behavior which symbolizes our place before God.  In this case it is a lesson about pride and humility in place of viewing oneself as somehow entitled or privileged to sit “in a place of honor.” Who has a place at our “table” – our lives?

I love the commentary about how these Pharisees, who seemed to feel Jesus was worthy of their invitation, meaning that he was their equal in honor, did not just invite Jesus to the meal out of friendliness.  The passage states: “. . . they were observing him carefully.” That comment implies a hostile observation in order to catch him in something.  Imagine sitting at table with the Downton Abbey family and finding yourself inadvertently breaking some rule of table etiquette!  “O my,” they may say to you.  “One does not do that here.”  Well, all stuffiness aside, the intention of the Pharisees was anything but hospitable but another attempt at trapping Jesus and you can be sure he was not naive about that.

As places of honor at such table gatherings were coveted positions. It was expected in ancient times that if you were invited to a dinner, it was only right for you to invite your host to your dinner.  Favors were based on reciprocity:  you do me a favor then I do you a favor, back and forth. But, if our whole life is focused on honor, attention, surrounding ourselves only with others who can pay us back, “keeping up with the Jones’s, “or if our parish life is focused on only one class of parishioners or those who keep us comfortable, then we have a misguided sense of who belongs at our table. Yet, in the parable he tells, Jesus turns the priority elsewhere and teaches about kingdom behavior.

We hear our Lord advising:    “. . . do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or your wealthy neighbors . . . invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind . . . for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”  We can just hear, “The poor and crippled at my table? I think not!” Why them?  They can’t repay.

However, in Jesus’ view, “think yes.”  So it begins with the invitation to not just those in your own societal class but this invitation to the “wedding feast” is a feast for all, in particular to those on the margins.  They too are welcome and they too may enter the kingdom unexpectedly before those who assumed privilege due to status or even to their good behavior. In the end we know that humility should be a part of every disciple’s life. Pay back is not at all the issue but to offer charity to those who truly need it.  To not forget that they too have a very special place at God’s “wedding banquet.”

Further, Jesus advises, what can we say except that we must check our own pride; our own desire for recognition and attention; our own ego basically not to become simply a dish rag but to become Christ-like in our humility and selfless service to others.  Like the attraction of St. Teresa of Kolkota’s (Mother Teresa) humility so too will God honor anyone who practices the same. If we want to seek favor from anyone, it should at best be from God.  This, once again, is a further reminder of how we must be in this world of ours – how I choose to be Christian and show Christ Jesus to others around me.

In his Apostolic Exhortation The Joy of the Gospel Pope Francis writes:

God’s heart has a special place for the poor, so much so that he himself became poor (2Cor 8:9).  Each individual Christian and every community is called to be an instrument of God for the liberation and promotion of the poor, and for enabling them to be fully a part of society. (EG187). The entire history of our redemption is marked by the presence of the poor. Salvation came to us from the ‘yes’ uttered by a lowly maiden from a small town on the fringes of a great empire. (EG 197).

Our Eucharist gatherings can only be authentic as Jesus intended when we always scoot over and admit there is still room for more, for any who would like to join with us. To do otherwise, in our attitude or perception, is to be contrary to a Christian spirit.   

Renewed by the bread from the heavenly table,
we beseech you, Lord, 
that, being the food of charity,
it may confirm our hearts
and stir us to serve you in our neighbor.
Through Christ our Lord.

(Prayer after Communion)



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