22^nd  Sunday in Ordinary Time-C

I Reading: Ecclesiasticus 3: 17-20.28-29: Behave humbly, and then you will find favour with the Lord.

II Reading: Hebrews 12:18-19.22-24: You have to come to Mount Zion and the city of the living God.

Gospel: Luke 14:1.7-14: Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the man who humbled will be exalted.

The Importance of Humility, Lk 14:7-14

Our community prayer or Sunday gathering or any celebration should be a gathering and celebration of joy and not of fear (Exodus 20:19-The Israelites pleaded Moses when God was speaking at the thunder, lightning, trumpet blasting and the mount smoking) “Speak to us yourself and we shall listen; but do not let God speak to us, or we shall die.”

Our Sunday service is a banquet which Jesus Christ, personally prepares for us with love for the Christian community, and Luke wanted his Christians to realise the following:

We are the poor whom Jesus invites. We are poor both materially and spiritually.

We are the lame and the cripple, incapable of walking along the way to heaven; Jesus comes on Sunday gathering to give us a helping hand to reach there.

We are the blind people, whose spiritual eyesight Jesus restored at Baptism and he helps us to see God and makes us to understand the plan of God.

Who will accept such a great invitation of Jesus Christ?

Only the truly humble accept Jesus Christ’s invitation to the banquet of God’s kingdom. The Sunday service should help us to grow in humility, by helping us realise our own weakness, sinfulness and total unworthiness of being admitted into God’s kingdom. The proud person thinks only of what he/she thinks him/herself to be. In a way he/she becomes his/her own idol and worships him/herself. The proud person does not serve God and he forgets his neighbour; no one really counts, except himself (Si 3:28). There is no person as wise, as powerful and as holy as Jesus (you alone are the Lord in Gloria we sing, Rev. 19:16-“The king of kings and the Lord of lords.” Yet Jesus Christ is so humble even unto death (Phil 2:6-8). Jesus spent his life at the service of his Father and of humankind.

We must attend Sunday service with humility. This is what Jesus taught his disciples at the Last Supper; “I have given you an example so that you may copy what I have done to you” (Jn 13:15) vs. 1Cor 11:17-18.

Finally our Sunday service must lead us to put ourselves at the service of our brothers and sisters in the community especially the poor in the society.

Jesus taught the importance of humility in this passage.

1. Jesus attended a banquet (v.7)

a. He noticed some choosing the best seats

b. He shared a parable

2. The parable: The ambitious guest (v.8-10)

a. The first man: Seeks the place of honour

          1) Is displaced

          2) Finds all other seats already taken

          3) Has to take the lowest seat

          4) Is embarrassed

b. The second man: Takes the lowest place of honour

          1) Is acknowledged

          2) Is rewarded with a higher position

          3) Is honoured by all

3.The parable’s point (v.11)

a. Self-exaltation humbles

b. Humility exalts

4. The demonstration of humility (v.12-14)

a. Humility is not serving those who can repay

b. Humility is serving those who are needy and cannot repay

c. Humility shall be rewarded

Thought: Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up (James 4:10). Humility is a problem to most people. Why? Because the world looks upon humility as a sign of weakness and cowardice.

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