August 28, 2022, Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C)
Today’s readings are a lesson in humility. Perhaps one of the most difficult human traits to emulate. It has been one of the fallible characteristics of humanity since the beginning of time; since the time of Adam and Eve.
Placed in a beautiful garden with all of the necessities of life, Adam and Eve had only one restriction, that is not to eat from the tree of life. But they were weak and easily drawn into temptation by the serpent to disobey the one commandment they had been given by the Lord. Their pride prompted the perception that they were missing out on something which they deserved, so they gave into their egotism and incited the concept of original sin; the tendency toward conceit and selfishness and away from meekness and humility.
Their son Cain perpetuated this sin because of his resentment over his brother’s sacrifice and committed the first murder out of jealous pride. But banishment from the Garden of Eden wasn’t enough to cease this human weakness toward pride. Thus, after this, God was compelled to awash the earth with a great flood in order to start anew. However, mankind continued to succumb to sin, building a great Tower of Babel in an attempt to reach to the heights of the Lord, causing God to confuse their language and spread them around the vastness of earth in order to disrupt their proclivity once again toward arrogance and sin.
Yet sin continued to run rampant, so this was when God offered the invitation to one small nation, beginning with Abraham, to become the chosen people to bring salvation to the world. But the patriarchs, Abraham’s successor, had issues of their own which ultimately led to their enslavement in Egypt.
Once again God reached out, this time to release them from the misery and humiliation of slavery. God helped them make their way to the land that had been promised to Abraham so that they might become “a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, and God’s special possession” (1Peter 2:9). But the kings and their subjects perpetuated false pride, haughtily worshiping false idols and treating the poor and underprivileged with disdain. One can read story after story of their insolence in the many books of the Hebrew Bible.
However, there were certain Jews during the biblical era who were wise in the matters of God and from these we find the wisdom writings of the Old Testament. We read one of these today from the wisdom book known as Sirach. Otherwise known as The Wisdom of Ben Sira, this book gets its title from the author, “Yeshua [Jesus], son of Eleazar, son of Sira,” or the Greek form translated as Sirach.
Sirach was a wise sage living in Jerusalem during the second century BC who wrote a number of sayings dealing with matters such as the family, friendship, education, poverty and wealth, laws, religious worship, and many other matters that reflect the religious and social customs of the time.
The First Reading (Sir 3:17-18, 20, 28-29) is an example of one of Sirach’s writings on humility. He states that someone who conducts their affairs with humility, “will be loved more than a giver of gifts” (Sir. 3:17). And that those who humble themselves “will find favor with God” (Sir. 3:18). His last premise in this passage suggests that the proud suffer while those who listen to wisdom rejoice in the glorification of God.
This passage from Sirach is an ideal precursor for today’s parable found in the Gospel of Luke (Lk 14:1, 7-14). The story begins with the verse “Jesus went to dine at the home of one of the leading Pharisees, and the people there were observing him carefully” (Lk. 14:1). This should alert us immediately to the fact that a confrontation is about to occur, and this does happen with two different lessons.
The first is a parable about guests invited to a wedding who Jesus says should assume a lower place to sit so that a more distinguished guest does not humiliate them by asking them to move from a place of honor. Rather, they should choose a less important seat so that the host might honor them by inviting them to a more prestigious place setting. Jesus then remarks, “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted” (Lk. 14:11).
The message for the hearer becomes apparent when one considers that the Lord is the host of the heavenly banquet in the kingdom of God. And that God is the one doing either the humbling or the exalting. It means whoever is humble in heart will be glorified in heaven by God with honor and mercy while whoever has pride and arrogance will be humiliated and condemned with a fall from grace.
Jesus addresses the second parable to the Pharisee, the host of the banquet. He tells him that when he holds a luncheon or dinner, he should not invite his friends, relatives, or wealthy neighbors who will reciprocate by inviting him back as a form of repayment. Rather, when he holds a banquet, he should invite the underprivileged – the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind – and he will be repaid by God because of the guests’ inability to repay him. Rather he “will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.” (Lk.14:14).
This second parable may seem to be a bit discouraging when we try to apply it to ourselves. For those of us who hold banquets they usually are for a special occasion such as a birthday or a wedding. We can’t imagine excluding our family and friends from the guest list. Yet, once again, we have to look at the story from the perspective of God. Jesus uses this parable metaphorically and suggests that we should not invite guests to a celebration just so we can be repaid at a later time. Rather, we should take the opportunity to aid the poor and downtrodden whenever we get the chance. Jesus is teaching the importance of humility and simplicity as a part of our Christian lives, so that, once again, we might stand humbly rewarded in the kingdom of heaven before the presence of the Lord.
