22nd 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 understand the plan of God.
Who will accept such a great
invitation from 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. 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 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 for most people. Why? Because the world looks upon humility as a sign of
weakness and cowardice.
No comments:
Post a Comment