Father Rick Bolte's Homily

C: Twenty Second Sunday of Ordinary Time              2007-09-02

You may find this hard to believe, but I was not always as angelic as I am now (Ha!)  In grade school I had an unfortunate tendency to get into fights even to the point the principal would keep me in her office during recess.  Looking back, I remember that there were certain boys that we didn’t fight with, those who were much bigger and those we learnt were good at fighting.  Those of us who did get into fights (bullies and otherwise) were the ones who felt a need to prove we were tough enough.

That is part of the story in today’s Gospel.  The Pharisees have invited Jesus to dinner.  One the one hand, this is a great honor as they would appear to be accepting Jesus as an equal which would be a rise in his carpenter status.  But they are watching him presumably with hostile intent.  There were many customs and traditions that people attending meals needed to follow and they were looking to catch Jesus in a mistake.  But Jesus turns things upside-down.  Jesus notices how they, like boys proving themselves on the playground, are trying to prove themselves by seeking places of honor.  As adults, they are sophisticated and don’t make their intentions too obvious.  In fact Jesus’ advice at first seems to fit right into what they would do.  Using false humility, they would seek a lower place so that the host could call them up closer.

But Jesus’ reference is to the wedding banquet, a clear allusion to the eternal banquet.  Jesus is not calling for a false humility but a true humility.  When we come to the eternal banquet we need the humility of realizing we are undeserving but are there to accept the gift God is offering us.  Jesus goes on to commit further social improprieties by telling the host whom he should invite.  Not only is Jesus insulting the host by telling him how to be a host in front of all the others, but he is also instructing him to commit social suicide by inviting those who can’t repay him with an invitation.  This would take the host out of the social fabric that defines him by whom he invites and is invited by.  Jesus’ call is again about the eternal banquet.  To invite those seemingly unworthy and who can’t repay is to choose those who are like we are before God.  We are unworthy and unable to repay God.  To accept God’s invitation, we need to seek that love which is God’s.  To embrace the offer God extends to us, we have to bring it into ourselves by seeking to imitate it in our lives.

When we’re unsure of God’s love for us and the dignity that brings, we are reduced to seeking the approval of others by what we do or have.  Our energy is mostly consumed in this effort.  When we know we are loved by God, we don’t need to prove ourselves to anyone.  We then know we have a gift that we embrace by imitation.