Twenty-second Sunday In Ordinary Time
LUKE 14:1. 7-14
It was a Sabbath. All work was forbidden. Jesus came to dine at the home of a leading Pharisee, very likely a member of the Supreme Council called the Sanhedrin. Jesus associated with all classes, from the popularly hated tax collectors to the top ranks of religious direction. Luke notes, “They were watching him.” It is odd that the reason they were watching him is omitted in our gospel reading. A man with edema was present. It appears that the host and some other guests were using this sick man to test Jesus on the matter of Sabbath work. Would he heal on the Sabbath? He challenged them, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath? No answer! He cured the man. To forestall criticism he reminded them that if a child or animal fell into a well, they could pull it out even if this occurred on the Sabbath. No reply! Now we know why they were watching Jesus.
This meal was not off to a good beginning. Jesus next has advice for those invited to the same dinner. His advice is in the form of a parable. He noticed that those invited were jostling for places of honor at the table. “When you are invited to a marriage feast, do not sit down in a place of honor, in case a more eminent person than you is among the guests. There you are sitting in the place of honor. The host tells you to move down, and you will be shamed before all the guests.” Jesus continues, “When you are invited, sit in the lowest place. When the host enters, he will say, ‘Go up higher,’ and you will be honored before all the guests at the table.” Jesus’ advice is not new. Proverbs 25:6-7 reads, “Do not put yourself forward in the king’s presence, or stand in the place of the great. It is better to be told, ‘Come up here,’ than to be put lower in the presence of the prince.”
Luke adds a familiar saying of Jesus to the parable, “Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” The theme of self-exaltation and humiliation and vice versa is found throughout the Bible. The most notable New Testament example is Philippians 2:8-9, “He (Jesus) humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him, and bestowed on him a name that is above every other name . . . .” Hebrews 12:2, “. . . he endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” These quotes refer to Jesus. More general passages from the Letter of James: “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble,” 4:6; and 4:10, “Humble yourselves before the Lord and he will exalt you.” Thus the advice of Jesus to his fellow guests.
Now he turns to his host, “When you give a dinner or banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives. They will invite you in return and you will be repaid. But you . . . invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed because they cannot repay you. You will be paid at the resurrection of the just.” This may well have been Jesus’ last invitation to this home. Since the written gospels are catechetical instruction, such details are meaningless. Luke uses this story to teach a major theme of his whole gospel — outreach to the poor and the handicapped. This theme too is not the invention of Jesus or Luke.
Long before the time of Jesus, the Book of Proverbs taught, “A blessing awaits the man who is kind, since he shares his bread with the poor.” In Tobit 2:2, the father tells Junior to go out and find a poor man and give him his share of the meal. The Sacred Torah itself, Deuteronomy 14:28-29 commanded Israelites to set at the doors of their homes a tenth of their harvest, so that “the Levite, the stranger, the orphan, and the widow may come and eat and have all they want. Then shall the Lord God bless you in all that you undertake.”
SIRACH 3:17-18, 20, 28-29
One theme of this reading is similar to a theme of today’s gospel — the practice of humility, “and you will be loved more than a giver of gifts.” Then a word for the great of the world or of the Church, “Humble yourself the more, the greater you are.” A promise is attached, “And you will find favor with God.” A hodgepodge of advice follows, “Do not seek what is too high for you, nor search for things beyond your strength.” Psalm 131:1 is clearer, “My eyes are not raised too high. I do not occupy myself with things too great . . . for me.” Sirach calls for an appreciation of proverbs and attention to the wise. Finally he exalts the practice of almsgiving because “alms atone for sins.”
HEBREWS 12:18-19. 22-24a
The author of this long letter/homily compares the giving of the covenant on Mt. Sinai with the giving of the new covenant. The old covenant was given amid fire, darkness, gloom, storm, trumpet blast, threats of death, and a voice so terrifying that the Israelites asked to receive no more such communication. The new covenant is initiated with “the sprinkled blood of Jesus, more eloquent than the blood of Abel,” which appealed to God for restitution. If the blood of Abel got the attention of God, how much more the blood of Jesus Christ appeals to his Father for whom that blood was poured out.
