Jesus then told the guests a parable, because he had noticed how they picked the places of honour…”For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted”…Then he said to his host: “When you give a lunch or a dinner, don’t ask your friends, brothers, relations or rich neighbours, for fear they repay your courtesy by inviting you in return. No, when you have a party, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame and the blind; that they cannot pay you back means that you are fortunate.” Luke 14: 1, 7-14
Today’s gospel-reading left me wondering why those who put together the Sunday readings omitted verses 2 to 6 of Luke chapter 14. The opening verse of the gospel-reading sets the context for what follows. We are told that Jesus had been invited to a meal at the house of a leading pharisee where he embarrassed the religious leaders for their rigidity and lack of compassion for ignoring a man stricken with dropsy: “‘Is it against the law to cure a man on the sabbath or not?’ But they remained silent, so he took the man and cured him and sent him away. Then he said to them: ‘Which of you here, if his son falls into a well, or his ox, will not pull him out on a sabbath day without hesitation? And to this they could find no answer.” (Luke 14: 2-6) Luke had earlier understatedly noted that the lawyers and Pharisees to whom Jesus had spoken “had watched him (Jesus) closely” (Luke 14: 1) In fact, Jesus was under intense scrutiny by officials bent on eliminating him.
Jesus then turned his attention to other invited guests whom he saw jockeying for prime positions at the meal table. With a mixture of tongue-in-cheek recommendations on how to be more successful and serious questions about how they developed healthy self esteem and lived with genuine humility, he raised important life questions for both them and us. Underneath his words was the clear suggestion that, in the long run, they and we before God might well be the real cripples and beggars most in need of outside help.
With tongue in cheek, Jesus was telling his fellow guests that, if they really wanted a prime position at the table, all they had to do would be to risk taking a place at the back and then the host would come along, see their importance and invite them to go higher. He then took a more serious approach asking them to stop and ask themselves just why they were competing with one another for places of prominence. Were they searching for notoriety or social status that was eluding them? Was their concept of social status different from the way in which God ranked people. After all, didn’t God regard all people as equal in status and dignity, irrespective of their success in business, acquisitions, physical ability or intellectual aptitude? God does not have favourites. God, however, does have compassion for those who are neglected, overlooked, disregarded and bereft of what they need for nourishment and survival.
Jesus’ message to both the guests and to the host who had invited them all was that their criteria for healthy self-esteem were false, based on social status and competition for such.
That, of course is an invitation to us to ponder just how we develop healthy self-esteem. When we pause to look at how we have grown emotionally, we begin to realise that we began to flourish when we were affirmed and encouraged by adults who were our parents, teachers, guides and mentors. We came to realise that what others thought and said about us were what we came to accept about ourselves. Eventually, we have to let go of being dependant on what we believe significant others think of us. Even though we continue to relate to the people we encounter in family, work, friendship and shared interest, we have to decide eventually who we are and what we stand for, irrespective of whether or not others agree with us. That is the realm of personal integrity.
Retirement from employment can be a challenging time for some of us because we become aware that the competencies we have developed are no longer sought by others, or that our ability to influence others has waned. However, the fact that we have been created in the image of the God who loved us into life has not evaporated. We have been made for love. Consequently, whatever the circumstances in which we find ourselves, our core identity remains unchanged. We are still invited to love others into life as God has love us into life. We still know that we are called to speak the truth in love, to honour our contracts and promises, to respect and treat with dignity everyone we encounter, to reach out to those who rely on us for help.
Our first reading from Sirach and our second reading from Hebrews, are reminders that all we are and have are gifts from a loving God. True humility is recognition that all we achieve, possess and are is God-given and entrusted to us for sharing for the benefit of others and the care of our common home.