22^nd Sunday in Ordinary time:

Sirach 3:17-29 Ps 68 Heb 12:18-24 Luke 14:7-14

A father was teaching his four year son to cycle. “No, daddy, No I can do it by myself. You do not have to show me.” So off he goes! He crashes. He falls. He cried for his daddy.



The book of Sirach advises us to be humble. The word humble comes from the Latin “Humus” which means earth. Being humble involves being close to the earth. When one falls it is not as painful as when one falls off a pedestal. The teacher, Ben Sirach tells us to be humble, to empty ourselves of limited human intelligence so that we can be filled with the intelligence of God. The intelligence we get from God is a well-rounded knowledge. However, like the 4-year old we often say, “No, no, I can do it. You do not have to show me. I do not need your help Lord.”  You know the result – as in the case of the child, so in our case, we fall.

Our responsorial psalm picks up on the theme of being humble. The psalm links humility with the poor and the needy. We know that you can be rich and still be humble. We also know that humility is not automatically connected with being poor and needy. But usually there is a relationship between humility and the poor.

Often the poor, the widow and the orphan are humble people. They usually do not have the intellectual opportunities, or the skills and talents that go with the rich and the famous. They have the common sense and the humble attitude to say: “help”. They can do that because in an unsophisticated way they know their situation. They may have the ambition and desire to better themselves. But until that opportunity arrives, they are quite comfortable as they are. They do not have to put on airs. There is not pressure to live up to their status, because they have none. Their pride cannot be hurt. They do not have egos to protect and hence they are not oversensitive.

Jesus paints a stark contrast between the proud and the humble. An arrogant and haughty attitude goes with wealth and fame. Once again, as we have done on the last 8 Sundays, we see how riches, abundance of material things and possessions

shape us,

shape our lives,

shape our destinies.

The Proud will not have the outcast or the marginalized of society at their tables. You will not find the blind, the lame or the crippled at their table – unless of course, these are Stevie Wonder or Stephen Hawkings. The lame and the crippled serve as a prop or background for public relations photo ops. We see this happening daily in our newspapers and TV newscasts.

Jesus speaks about the Banquet table at which

all are welcome,

all are equal,

all are accepted as they are.

The Banquet is symbolic of heaven. In our second reading from Hebrews, we have Mount Zion, which is also the symbol of the heavenly Jerusalem.

The way we sit at our own dinner table is the way we will sit at the Divine Table in heaven. Jesus is asking us to step out of our comfort zone as we take our places and allot places at our own table.

Our prelude to our places at this Divine Table is the Eucharist we celebrate each Sunday, and which some celebrate each day. Here we have no difficulty in accepting others as brothers and sisters before God. And yet ….

-we sit in the right aisle to avoid meeting Mr. X or Mrs. Y who sit on the left.

-we wonder whether “she” should come dressed to church in that manner

-we know that they are living common law

-we know that he was drunk last night

We make all sorts of judgments, even if we do not say that aloud. We judge these people as sick and in need of healing. But then Jesus says that he came not for those who were well, but those who were sick and needed his curing touch. Jesus also told us the parable of the King’s banquet, where those who were invited were not found worthy. The servants were told to go to the highways, and byways and invite all to the banquet.

St. Paul would say that as Christians we should make no distinction between rich and the poor, between free and the slaves, between male and females. We try to observe that in the church, at the Eucharistic table where all are equal, all are welcome, all are accepted without distinction. This Eucharistic Table is given to us not only of what is to come in heaven, but as a model to live out each day.

However, we know that this not often the case. When we go home, the idea of inviting the beggar, the homeless teenager, the street person who lines up for left-overs at the soup kitchen does not even enter into consideration. Some of us will out of kindness take soup and sandwiches to the needy. But we will take this in brown paper bags and disposable Styrofoam containers. We do not want these back even if we can get them.

We have a long way to get out of our comfort zone, but a realisation that challenge of being humble is not an easy or smooth road, is a good place to begin.