Year C

22ND SUNDAY
IN ORDINARY TIME

► Text of Sunday Reflection

“Our call is to watch Him closely”
by Sr Mary Bridget Dunlea FMA

Once again this Sunday, we continue our reflection on the demands of discipleship. As Jesus journeys towards Jerusalem, He seems to reveal gradually the more and more demanding aspects of discipleship.

Each time His teaching is counter – cultural. Jesus reverses the deep – seated human and societal tendency to climb the human and economic ladder, and makes humility and service of others the hallmarks of discipleship.

The Gospel passage deals with two images – places at table and whom to invite to a banquet. Two stories, two parables – being a good guest and being a good host. They are not unrelated.

The first parable is not telling us how to get ourselves promoted. Not too many of us would sprint for the first place or for the top table. But, we might be very aware of who is there and wonder why we have been displaced.

The second parable develops an important Biblical theme found also in the First Reading from Sirach and in the Responsorial Psalm. Jesus advises the well – to – do Pharisee to use his resources well – to give, not to the well – off who can repay generosity shown them, but, rather, to share with those in need who cannot repay. Our society tends to refer the needs of the mentally, physically or economically challenged to agencies. Today’s Scripture passages seem to make it a personal responsibility for each of us.

The opening sentence of today’s Gospel passage has the words, “the Pharisees watched Him closely.” Jesus calls on us to model what we see God doing. No matter how we try to avoid it, we will each have to accept the truth expressed in the Responsorial Psalm – God is good to each of us in our areas of need. We have what we have because of His goodness to us and we can never repay that generosity.

Our call is to “watch Him closely” as Jesus continues to teach us, so that we may discover His presence in our lives and learn the truth expressed in the Letter to the Hebrews – in God’s kingdom each of us is “a first – born and a citizen of heaven.” There we will all sit at the same table.

► Readings, Reflections & Prayers

Scripture readings: Association for Catholic Priests
– www.associationofcatholicpriests.ie
Reflections and Prayers by Fr Jack Finnegan SDB

1st Reading – Sirach 3:17-20, 28-29

My child, perform your tasks with humility; then you will be loved by those whom God accepts. The greater you are, the more you must humble yourself; so you will find favor in the sight of the Lord. For great is the might of the Lord; but by the humble he is glorified.

When calamity befalls the proud, there is no healing, for an evil plant has taken root in him. The mind of the intelligent appreciates proverbs, and an attentive ear is the desire of the wise.

2nd Reading: Hebrews 12:18-19, 22-24

You have not come to something that can be touched, a blazing fire, and darkness, and gloom, and a tempest, and the sound of a trumpet, and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that not another word be spoken to them. (For they could not endure the order that was given, “If even an animal touches the mountain, it shall be stoned to death.” Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I tremble with fear.”)

You have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

Gospel Reading: 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 neighbours, 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.”

► Lectio Divina

by Fr Juan José Bartolomé SDB

Introduction to Lectio Divine

Always on the move to meet the people, without a house of his own where he could rest, Jesus was used to going wherever he was invited. He was often the guest of influential people and also of sinners. He was ready to meet everyone and to share the word of God with them. Today’s gospel passage records one of these occasions. One Sabbath, an important Pharisee invited Jesus to dine with him. His presence in the house of a leading Pharisee caused a certain amount of surprise among the people present, and they kept watching him. After a little while, Jesus noticed how the invited guests were looking for the better places. They all thought they were deserving of special distinction. Their inconsiderate behaviour prompted Jesus to give them a lesson. In reality, Jesus did not intend to give a lesson in good manners. That was not his job. What he wanted to show them was the inappropriateness of a mode of behaviour that seeks honour for oneself before the glory of God and respect for one’s neighbour. And he added a warning: people should not grant favours in the secret hope of being repaid.

Read: understand what the text is saying, focussing on how it says it

This is the fifth time Luke introduces Jesus as the guest of a family. The first was his visit to Levi the publican (Lk 5, 29), then to the home of a Pharisee (Lk 7,36), to Martha and Mary (Lk 10,38), to yet another Pharisee (Lk  11, 37), and this time to a very well known Pharisee. A meal in a family home was his favourite setting for teaching people, whether they were worthy or not. It is worth noting that he allowed himself to be invited by Pharisees more often than by his friends or disciples. In this particular scene, the evangelist gives the reason why, even though the Pharisee invited Jesus for a meal, his real intention was to trap him.  Jesus was not among friends but he was not afraid and he did not try to avoid the situation. He let himself be seen by them for who he was – the master of life.

Jesus observed a simple detail (Lk 14, 7), that probably went unnoticed to others because they were so accustomed to it. He used it as the starting point for a somewhat unexpected lesson he wanted to teach, two lessons in fact. Jesus uses an everyday incident to correct a way of behaviour that was all too common. Luke presents the words of Jesus in the form of a parable, but in fact what Jesus gave was a teaching of the kind found in the wisdom literature. The first part is addressed to all who were invited (Lk 14, 7), the second part only to the one who had invited them.

He told the guests how to behave when choosing their place at table (Lk 14, 8-11). He told the host how he should choose the people to be invited (Lk 14, 12-14). In both cases, his teaching was the opposite of what was regarded as normal and reasonable. The first teaching might seem just a lesson in courtesy, with an element of cunning calculation. However, the conclusion raises the lesson to a principle of life: if you seek your own glory, you will not find it (cf Ezechiel 21, 31: the lowly will be high and the high brought low). The lesson Jesus taught the host is more unusual and more demanding: it is an incredible and unreasonable call to be generous and to forget one’s own interests. When you are inviting guests, you should invite the poor, those of lower rank, those who cannot pay back. When you do good, you should not expect anything in return. If you give without hope of reward in this life, you can hope for your reward on the last day.

Meditate: apply what the text says to life

Jesus was always teaching. Most of the time he chose his listeners, but at other times they went in search of him to hear what he had to say, and, as we see in today’s Gospel passage, not always with the best of intentions. Jesus preached the gospel even when he was not well received, or not taken seriously. Disciples who carry God’s Gospel in their hearts, miss no opportunity to speak about their treasure. They do not need to be among other disciples where they are well regarded, in order to be what they were sent to be and to do what they were sent to do. Is there not need today of evangelizers like Jesus who will speak about God where nobody else speaks about him? God deserves to be proclaimed even in places where his representative is not well regarded.

To find ways of talking about God to people who are not well disposed, it is not necessary to know the situation or to analyse it. It is enough to observe how they act. From the listeners’ way of acting, an astute evangelizer will know how to proclaim the message of salvation. When God is missing from people’s lives, there is an emptiness and a loneliness that can be seen.  Maybe we do not look closely enough at our world. We do not observe it enough for us to love it, and that is why we cannot find a reason to speak to the world about God. Our negligence and personal lack of interest are hindering others from contemplating God and feeling loved by him.

When Jesus was invited to a meal, he observed the guests’ way of acting and used it as the starting point for his teaching. He does not intend to give a lesson in etiquette, but he uses their way of acting to teach the norms that should be the basis of relations between people. Something simple that happens frequently, like the desire to have the best places at the banquet table, was enough to give Jesus an opportunity to evangelize. He did not need any other reason. If people want to evangelize, they will always find an opportunity.

The guests do not have to be deemed worthy before being invited. Neither should they seek out places that have not been assigned to them, since they did not deserve the invitation in the first place. The invitation is an unmerited gift, and does not have to be paid for. The host should not worry about whether or not the invitation will one day be repaid by the guests.  An invitation is a free gift, not a long term investment. If we invite someone who cannot return the compliment, God will take it on himself to repay us. God invites us all, even though none of us deserves it, and God does not expect to be repaid. God’s way of acting is the reason behind what Jesus recommended in both cases – to the guests and to the host. Jesus teaches that, in the ordinary things of life, we should imitate God’s way of acting.

We have to admire the importance Jesus attaches to teaching even those who did not ask to be taught. The circumstances were not the most favourable, surrounded as he was by people who never stopped watching him, but Jesus remained confident and sure of himself. He showed them the foolishness of people who think only of bringing honour to themselves, at the expense of their neighbour. If we had been invited, we would probably have pretended not to notice, or tried to justify their behaviour, or maybe even fallen into the same way of acting ourselves. Jesus did not let the incident pass because he saw in it something more serious than simply seeking honour and privilege at any cost. The warning Jesus gave them went far beyond what he had observed: people who think they are more worthy run the risk of losing God. Doing good to those who will repay us is not good business. In fact, it can lead to the loss of a place at the heavenly banquet.

Although the parable seems to refer to what Jesus was experiencing in the home of the Pharisee, in reality Jesus is speaking about the believer’s relationship with God. It might appear that Jesus is giving some good advice to hosts and their guests, but in fact, he is speaking about God and God’s will. God invites all without their meriting it, and he invites without hope of ever being repaid. This is the reason for the way of acting proposed by Jesus. In their daily lives, people should imitate God’s way of acting. As a son imitates his father, so the believer ought to imitate the choices made by God. What Jesus saw that day served as an excuse to correct the temptation we have to think we are better and more deserving, just because there are others who are worse and less honoured. In the eyes of God, people are not deemed good because they seek a higher place than the one they have been given. The fact of being invited is honour enough. Having God as our host is reason enough for us to be satisfied. The fact that God thinks of each one of us and gives us a place at his table ought to be enough to satisfy our desire for glory and honour. God does not decide our goodness depending on the place we occupy, but on the good we do. It is God who makes us good by inviting us to enjoy his company and sit at his table. If we wish for anything else, it means we do not appreciate the gift God has given us. Looking for a higher place is a sign that we do not value the place God has given us.

Since we do not deserve the hospitality God shows us, we have no right to go looking for places that have not been assigned to us. The invitation is an unmerited gift, not a reward we have earned. When we receive a gift and think we are entitled to it, we lose the chance to show gratitude.  Looking for a higher place in life is a sign that we are not grateful for being invited. Sharing with others demands humility, accepting others as they are and accepting one’s own position, and leaving the rest to others. The Church and society today need Christians who are satisfied with what is given to them, without seeking what is intended for others. Without humility it is impossible to accept what is given gratuitously and to share with others. Being humble means accepting gratefully what God decides to give us in life. Desiring something else will leave us unhappy today and humiliated in the future.

If we are not satisfied with what God plans for us, it is worse than an affront to God. The guest who keeps trying to better his position, leaves someone else with a lower place than the one intended by the host. That is how we treat God when we are dissatisfied with what he gives us, and keep on seeking privileges that we think are more honourable than those God has given us. People who think they are good run the risk of thinking that God has not dealt fairly with them, and that they deserved better. They will finish up, as Jesus warned, being humiliated and losing what they had sought and obtained. Whatever the believer receives from God is good and is sufficient. Striving for higher honours or a better place is an offence against God and the people with whom we live and with whom we share God’s gifts.

When we know we are loved by God, we are free from envy and vainglory. When we know that God values us, we don’t need to triumph over others or gain recognition. We know that God loves us and appreciates us without our having to merit it. We do not need to look for honours at the expense of others, and we will not feel bad when others are honoured more than we are. As believers we do not seek honour or privilege. It is enough for us to know that God loves us. Our dissatisfaction with life and the tension we feel when others get more than we do, or are more successful, are most probably due to our lack of awareness of how much God loves us. If we had more faith in God, we would gladly do without anything that is not of God or does not lead to God.

In the Pharisee’s house, Jesus did not limit his teaching to his fellow guests who were not very interested. Without recourse to parable, so that his position would be very clear, he warns the master of the house about the danger of inviting people who will repay the compliment. Contrary to reason, and against all normal practice, Jesus believes that the invitation should be a free gift and not a long term investment. If we invite someone who cannot repay us, God himself will see to it that we are rewarded. It does not seem to make sense to give something to someone who does not deserve it and will not be able to repay it. Doing good to someone who will not be able to help you in return, seems a senseless waste. But this is not the way Jesus thinks. Total gratitude must be the rule of relationships for people who are waiting for the kingdom of God. The certainty of what is to come frees us from the desire to seek recognition. Doing good, knowing that we will receive nothing in return, and without seeking our own interests, is good for us and for the people we do good to. Jesus promises that wherever good we do, will one day receive its reward when the just will rise again. God is good and cannot forget those who do good, freely and gratuitously.

Jesus’ reasoning could not be clearer, but the demands that follow from it are quite unusual. It is normal for someone who has been invited to think that they should invite in return. We all do it. Not to do so would be considered bad manners if not downright ingratitude. It never enters our heads to invite people we do not know, and certainly not the poor, the sick and the maimed. This is precisely what Jesus wants his listeners to understand. If we invite only people who will pay us back from their own pocket, then the debt of gratitude will not last long. Our generosity will have had its reward. It is only when the debt is not repaid that we build up a reward for ourselves in heaven. Jesus wants people who do good to know who it is they are helping – the poor, those who have nothing, people who have nothing to give in return. They are to be preferred to family members and friends who might be expected to treat us with equal generosity.

This way of acting, if followed strictly, would endanger our social life and family relationships, and that is not something that Jesus would want to do. It is not his intention that we should fill our homes with needy strangers. But this does not mean that his words can be ignored as a rule for Christian living. What Jesus wanted to see in his fellow guests, and what he wants to see in his disciples, is disinterested generosity and altruism. Doing good cannot become a short term investment. Goodness in not a way of obtaining benefits. Looking for reward or recompense for the good we do would mean that we will never discover God’s goodness to us.  If we do good to gain recognition, or in the hope of being repaid, we will lose out on the reward that God has prepared for those who do good.

Jesus wants his disciples to do good, without making other people indebted to us. Christians do not calculate the good they do in terms of what they expect in return. To ensure that we do not fall into the temptation to seek recompense, however small, we should be ready to do good to people who cannot pay us back, not because they are bad, but because they have not got the means. Goodness that is not given freely, and goods that are not shared, are not in keeping with Jesus’ way of thinking, and should not be ours either. Only good that is done without seeking reward will bring us one day to God and his gifts for ever. Jesus is not satisfied with asking us to be happy with what we have, but he demands that we give without expecting recognition. Who ever said that following Jesus would be easy?