The Twenty Second Sunday in Ordinary Time
I recently was at the wedding of a child of a very good friend of mine. I was honored to have received the invite to his wedding and excited to be a part of this event.
The wedding was at a beautiful venue on the east end of Long Island and as at many weddings when you enter the doors of the reception there is some type of seating arrangement and or a card or other way of telling you your table number. In other words, you don’t choose your seat, it is chosen for you.
In the Gospel today we see that Jesus is invited to eat at the home of a Pharisee, and he notices that there are no “set” seating arrangements and people are choosing the places of honor at the table. That would be like choosing to sit at the table with the bride and groom at the wedding that I was just at, thinking well this is where I belong, with those being celebrated, I want to be noticed and recognized, I belong here, I am important!
Jesus goes on to explain why that is the exact opposite of what we should be doing. All of these guests are seeking earthly honor, they want to be noticed, they want recognition. He goes on to explain that the host may approach these guests and ask them to move as there is someone more important than them who is to have that particular seat, how embarrassing. He says that we should take the lowest seat and wait for our host to invite us to take the “more important seat”.
Jesus is speaking to us of humility, calling us all to see and understand that we are all asked to be humble. Humility is not about seeing ourselves as less, (which the world tries to tell us) but rather as completely depending on God. It is about being selfless and caring about others. Our world today is greatly in need of more humble people. People who seek to serve others and seek God first and who don’t always need to be recognized for who they are and what they have done. It is not easy, but it is necessary.
Jesus tells us that all who exalt themselves will be humbled and all who humble themselves will be exalted. It is God who will exalt us. In other words, He will be the one to lift us up and put us in a place of honor. What blessings we will receive and what closeness we will feel with our Father when we are open to this. When we allow this, when we seek to live with humility, we truly come to know what it is to be at the “true place of honor.” That is with God in our everyday life. That exaltation from the Lord is greater than any recognition or the “best seat in the house.”
So today let us walk with our eyes looking up and humble ourselves to serve others and never count ourselves greater than anyone. Jesus gave His life for all, not some. Let us all pray to be an experience of God’s love today for all we meet and encounter.