Luke 14: 1, 7-14
On one occasion when Jesus was going to the house of a leader of the Pharisees to eat a meal on the sabbath, they were watching him closely.
When he noticed how the guests chose the places of honor, he told them a parable. “When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not sit down at the place of honor, in case someone more distinguished than you has been invited by your host; and the host who invited both of you may come and say to you, ‘Give this person your place,’ and then in disgrace you would start to take the lowest place. But when you are invited, go and sit down at the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher’; then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at the table with you. For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
He said also to the one who had invited him, “When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”
New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989, by the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. USCCB approved.
Embracing Our Place
When I was in college, I really enjoyed staying with my aunts, uncles, and cousins in California (I’m from Honolulu), during the holidays. I remember times when I was among the other cousins, and my uncle or aunt would call for me to sit with them at the meal. Of course, I feigned humility and resistance, and took my place, which pushed aside the various cousins. (I am STILL teased by my cousins, who STILL call me “the brat” for getting special treatment). Yes, it did feel good to be called up from somewhere across the room and to sit next to their parents, my aunt and uncle.
Another way that may be spiritually helpful to consider this reading is that of freedom and peace. If one has taken a special place on his own, he can only experience “downward mobility.” This is sometimes called grasping, taking a gift that was intended for someone else, needing to protect and defend it. The only direction from a pedestal is to be pushed off.
On the other hand, if one humbly embraces a “lower” place, she can be at peace with the freedom to enjoy with whom she has chosen to be with. She will enjoy with whom she is with because all will be gift – to be where she chose or to be invited to a different place.
Jesus shows us that the way of the Cross, the way of humility, is the way that leads to peace. The first thing he said to his disciples after his resurrection was, “peace be with you.”
—Fr. Glen Chun, SJ, a priest of the Midwest Province, is community minister of Bellarmine House of Studies in St. Louis.
Prayer
Blessed are you, God of all creation,
who formed the universe out of chaos,
who created us all out of love and for love,
who’s first words to us are “peace be with you”,
and who live and breathes within us through the Holy Spirit,
that our hearts may go pitter-patter to the beat of your Sacred Heart.
Good and gracious God, may we grow in wisdom and freedom to follow your way of humility that draws us closer to you, closer to your free gift of faith, hope, and love.
—Fr. Glen Chun, SJ
Pray with the Pope
Pray with the monthly prayer intentions of the pope.