XXII- Ordinary Sunday.

XXII Ordinary Sunday : SIR. 3:17-18, 20, 28-29, HEB. 12:18-19, 22-24a Gospel: LK 14:1, 7-14

During the American Revolution, a man in civilian clothes rode past a group of soldiers who were busy pulling out a horse carriage stuck in deep mud. Their officer was shouting instructions to them while making no attempt to help. The stranger who witnessed the scene asked the officer why he wasn't helping. With great dignity, the officer replied, "Sir, I am a Corporal!" The stranger dismounted from his horse and proceeded to help the exhausted soldiers himself. When the job was completed, he turned to the corporal and said, "Mr. Corporal, next time you have a job like this, and don’t have enough men to do it, inform your commander-in-chief and I will come and help you again." Too late, the proud Corporal recognized General Washington. Today’s readings challenge us to be truly humble.

The readings warn us against all forms of pride and self-glorification. The first reading, from the book of Sirach, reminds us that if we are humble, we will find favor with God, and others will love us. In today’s gospel Jesus explains the practical benefits of humility, connecting it with the common wisdom about dining etiquette ( Prov. 25:6-7; Sir. 3:17-20).
At a formal meal, seating arrangements are important. Usually the most distinguished guests sit at the top of the table. To avoid the embarrassing situation described in today's Gospel a wise host will decide the order of precedence beforehand.

Here Jesus makes fun of those pretentious people who scrambled for the most prestigious places, only to be demoted lower on the arrival of someone of greater importance. Jesus wasn't interested in table etiquette, nor in helping us to avoid public humiliation! Still less is he urging a false humility in the hope that people, recognizing our true worth, will give us a more prestigious place. Such a person would simply be a crafty status seeker -- far worse than someone who simply grabbed the best seat.

This meal, like all the others in the Gospels, anticipated the heavenly banquet. Here Jesus is telling us that we are not the ones to decide which position we deserve. Our very presence at the heavenly banquet is God's gift. None of us deserves this. He will overturn our sense of priorities and will give the highest places to those whom the worldly consider to be the least important.
Jesus himself came to serve, not to be served. While Adam fell through his pride leading him to strive to become equal to Almighty God, the Son of God emptied himself of the glory which was his by right. Jesus became humble and obedient, even to death on the cross. The God of glory became despised and rejected. And yet it was precisely in his lowliness that Jesus revealed his true greatness. The crucified Christ shows us where our true greatness lies. Not in the honor or status we may bestow on ourselves, but in following Jesus along the way of the cross. Like him, we are called to serve, rather than be served, to give of ourselves, rather than grab for ourselves. Sometimes that will be costly, painful and humiliating. But, with the grace of God, this will bring out the very best in us. And God will give us a place of honor at his heavenly banquet.

We Christians could easily make the mistake of thinking that this parable was directed at the Pharisees alone. If so, we should remember that the disciples were forever bickering among themselves as to which of them was the greatest. The sons of Zebedee even sought privileged positions in the Kingdom.
When Jesus taught us that to enter his Kingdom we have to become like children, this was one of the characteristics he had in mind.
Children tend to remember more easily that they are not God. They know that they are dependent on their parents for food, shelter, and everything else, so it's natural for them to accept being dependent on God as well. But it's not a sad, pessimistic dependence. True humility is joyful, because it opens the door to a real relationship with God, something arrogant self-sufficiency doesn't allow.

A couple years ago at a Catholic summer Bible camp, one of the seven-year-olds won the silver medal in the mini-soccer competition. He was so happy that he wore it around his neck all the time. On the last day of the camp this boy left one of the counselors a note. It mentioned that he had left his medal in the chapel. The counselor went to the chapel but couldn't find it. When the campers had gone home and the counselors were taking one last look around to gather up any left over items, the same counselor went back into the chapel and found the medal somewhere he would never have thought to look: it was on the crucifix. The boy had stacked up three chairs so that he could reach high enough and put it around Christ’s neck.

To grow in humility we need to fight our pride. Because pride is the opposite of humility. After the construction of the Titanic, a reporter asked the man who had built it how safe the ship would be. "Not even God can sink it," he answered. Well, God didn't have to sink it; an iceberg was sufficient.

A school principal once asked his teachers to write down their new year decisions on a paper. And later he put all the papers on the bulletin board. One lady teacher looked at the board and did not find her paper on the board. She got so agitated and was beside herself for not putting her paper on the bulletin board. The principal felt very bad about his oversight and went to look for her paper from the bulk of other papers on his desk. Later he found it and put it on the bulletin board. It read: This year I will try to be more humble and not let myself be upset by little things. How apart was her new year resolution and her practical life.
Humility does not mean the beautiful woman pretending that she is ugly, or the clever man pretending he is stupid. Humility means recognizing talents and even achievements for what they are, namely things given to us by God out of sheer goodness; things for which we can take little credit or none but which impose upon us a responsibility.

Humility means recognizing that even our greatest achievements are insignificant and an inadequate return for all that God has given us. Humility is the state of being empty before God. Only when we are empty before God can God fill in us His joy, His love and His peace.
Humility means the proper understanding of our own worth. It requires us neither to overestimate nor to underestimate our worth. The humility that the gospel urges upon us has nothing to do with a self-deprecation that leaves a person without proper self-esteem. We must simply admit the truth about ourselves: we do not know everything, we do not do everything correctly, we are all imperfect and sinners. Nevertheless, we also recognize that we are made in the image and likeness of God, and that we are called to help build the kingdom of God with our God-given gifts. We are of value, not because of those gifts, but because we are loved by God as His children, redeemed by the precious blood of His son Jesus.

The quality of humility that Jesus is talking about has a sociological dimension too. For Jesus is inviting us to associate with the so-called "lower classes" of society -- even the outcasts. Jesus invites us to change our social patterns in such a way that we connect with the homeless, the handicapped, the elderly, and the impoverished -- the "street people" of the world. True humility is not bothering where we sit; not insisting on being seen only with the right people; being willing to be overlooked, to associate with those who can do nothing for us.
Let’s come to God in that spirit of humility and we will be overwhelmed and overjoyed at God's generosity like Mary who said: The almighty has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant. He has scattered the proud hearted and lifted up the lowly. Let’s examine who are the People I associate with ? DO I hesitate to associate with people of lower status ? DO I boast and speak highly of myself before others ?