31 August 2025 - 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time C
Sir 3:17-29; Heb 12:18-24a; Luke 14:1-7, 14
Homily
The entire chapter 14 of Luke is made of what could be called Jesus' ‘table talks’. These ‘table talks,’ even though Luke is the only evangelist to report them, were a popular literary genre commonly used at the time.Jesus is invited to a banquet; and, like all the other guests, He speaks when His turn comes, offering some reflections and teachings.
In the text we have just heard, He addresses two issues concerning the banquet: the choice of seats and the choice of guests. The teaching on the choice of seats is addressed to all the guests present, and the teaching on the choice of guests is addressed to His host. When we read this text, we must consider ourselves both as the host and as His guests.
Both teachings are therefore addressed to us: the first is a call to humility, the second is a call to welcome others generously and without attachment.
Humility was already the theme of the first reading, taken from the Book of Sirach (Ecclesiasticus):
‘My son, do everything with humility, and you will be loved more than a benefactor... The greater you are, the more you must humble yourself... The condition of the proud is beyond remedy, for the root of evil is within him'.
What does humility consist of?
It certainly does not consist in spending one's time apologising and constantly saying that one was wrong and made a mistake. All this may be a sign of humility, but it is certainly not what humility consists of. Jesus never apologised and obviously never admitted that He was wrong; yet He tells us: ‘Learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart.’What does this humility of Jesus consist of? It consists in the fact that He humbled Himself, that He became one of us, that He put Himself at the service of all. That is true humility. It does not consist in theatrical and symbolic gestures. It consists in the simple fact of putting oneself at the service of others in the most ordinary things of everyday life. And the opposite of humility is precisely to want to be served by others. To take the last place is to put oneself at the service of others; to take the first place is to want to be served.
Jesus' second lesson, the one given to His host, is equally important. The people we want to invite to our table, whom we want to help and serve, should not only be interesting and pleasant people, who are good to be with, or those who can help us in difficult times, facilitate our access to a job or a good contract, help us avoid paying a fine or get us a quick appointment with a specialist. No! We must first help and serve the most needy, the poor, the wounded – of all kinds of wounds – the blind, etc. It is these people who will welcome us into the Kingdom of Heaven.
Saint Benedict, who wrote a Rule of Life for monks in the sixth century—a Rule that remains to this day the foundation of all monastic life in the West—understood this Gospel very well.
At the beginning of his Rule, in the section on spiritual values, even before entering into a detailed description of community life, he offers us a very long chapter on the twelve degrees of humility. The only greatness is that which is freely given by God to the person with a humble and pure heart, and not that which a person can attain through his own efforts and personal ambition.
Further on, in the chapter on hospitality, Benedict recommends receiving the poor and needy, as well as the rich and powerful, like Christ Himself, without partiality.
Let us ask God for this wisdom, which may seem foolish in the eyes of men, but which is the very wisdom of God.