TWENTY-SECOND OF THE YEAR "C"

Cycle “C”: Luke 14, 1; 7 – 14.

Each year a king held a sumptuous banquet for all the servants in his castle, the foreign dignitaries and his private secretaries. All were invited, and all came, quite happily. The kitchen staff sat side by side with the diplomatic corps, and the gardeners helped themselves from the same dishes as the royal secretaries. It was an occasion when social distinctions and barriers crumbled. The king was especially fond of a particular gardener whose family had served the royal family for many generations. The gardener, a humble and uneducated rustic, was always invited to sit near the king. He was dressed up to the nines and felt a little conspicuous and uncomfortable among the distinguished diners. After the master of ceremonies announced the commencement of the meal, the gardener, quite overwhelmed, felt his throat going dry; so he made for the finger bowl, which he mistook for a cool drink. Grabbing the bowl in both hands he drank in great gulps. The guests who saw the “faux pas” were amused, and a ripple of disdain filled the room. The king, quick as a flash, realised what had happened. So he took his own finger bowl in both hands and drank from it, in great gulps. Those who mocked the poor gardener had their smirks wiped off their faces; they were forced to join the king in drinking from their finger bowls. The king had masterfully maintained the dignity of his gardener.

Pride and social climbing are unpleasant vices. They breed the kind of distinctions that elevate some and denigrate others. One can be upwardly mobile provided he is not downwardly disdainful. A notorious habit at banquets in Jesus’ day was for the more distinguished guests deliberately to arrive late so as to capitalise on the moment of being shown the most important places. Jesus noticed how his fellow guests were driven by the need to be noticed and given recognition and honour above others. They wanted to be given the best places at banquets for their very security and sense of well-being and self-worth depended on it. Jesus wanted to point out to them that they were looking in the wrong place for their security and worth. He wanted them to know that if they were to come to know God’s love of them, then they would no longer need to seek self-promotion or crave human approval and recognition.

Jesus himself had a diverse social calendar. He was comfortable dining with the rich and with the poor; eating with the righteous and the unrighteous. Today’s Gospel is given over to the “table talk” of Jesus. Observing the weakness of social climbing and the eagerness of vying for positions at table, Jesus put across a parable. Its punch line is the paradox that in seeking to be exalted we shall be humbled and in seeking to be humble we shall be exalted.

We also are self-promoting and self-seeking and need to find our own value and worth in God’s love towards us. “See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are” (1 John 3, 1). Until we do so, we will seek to meet our need for security in wrong ways. We will want to fill our sense of emptiness and lack of self-worth with marks and signs of human approval. But these will prove empty since we will need to seek them afresh everyday. Human approval is ephemeral, a passing show. Let us keep on believing that our security is founded on God’s love for us. Then we shall have self-assurance without the need to make ourselves important either in our own eyes on in the eyes of others.

Let me end by telling you something about that Scottish peer, Lord Erskine (17^th. century). Bloated with self-importance, he thought he’d write his autobiography. So he did, and sent the manuscript for printing. But the printers were taking their time. Lord Erskine complained about the delay, and he was told that the printers had run out of capital “I’s”.

PRAYER by Jane Austen (1775 – 1817   + 42 years, one of the greatest novelists in the world).

Incline us, O God, to think humbly of ourselves, to be saved only in the examination of our own conduct, to consider our fellow creatures with kindness, and to judge of all they say and do with the charity which we would desire from them ourselves; through Jesus Christ Our Lord.