The Heavenly Banquet
Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C (28/08/2022)
Sirach 3: 17-20.28-29; Psalm 68: 4-5ac.6-7an.10-11 (R. 11b); Hebrews 12:18-19.22-24a; Luke 14:1.7-14
By Fr. Samuel Odeh
"For every one who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted." The setting of today's Gospel reading is a banquet on a sabbath day in the house of a leading Pharisee at which Jesus is present. Banquets are very important in the Bible. In the time of Jesus food and ideas were shared at mealtimes. The places one ate, such as the home of a tax collector or the home of a Pharisee, were important. Equally important were the people one ate with: were they Jewish, were they gentiles, were they sinners or righteous persons? What cleansing rituals, such as the washing of hands and feet or the washing of cups and plates were associated with eating? In today's Gospel Jesus is concerned with the place one sits at a "wedding banquet." Should one sit at the high table before they have been instructed to do so by the host? Jesus is using the picture of an earthly banquet to teach Gospel wisdom about the choices that bring the happiness of the heavenly banquet to all who were present, both guests and host. Our second reading from the letter to the Hebrews tells us that in living our earthly lives we are at a heavenly celebration as Christians: "But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem..."
Jesus warns the guests to wait to take their place at table in case a more important person arrives and they are asked to give up their place for them. This is more than a lesson in etiquette. It is Jesus's way of telling us to find our true place in the kingdom of God by being humble. As we read in our first reading from the Book of Sirach, "The greater you are, the more you must humble yourself; so you will find favour with God." A Christian finds favour with God at the heavenly banquet by being humble.
The man who invited Jesus to the banquet today represents not only those of us who host parties and dinners and banquets but also any Christian in a position to be generous to others. Jesus said to the man who had invited him, "When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your brothers or your kinsmen or rich neighbours, lest they also invite you in return, and you be repaid. But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. You will be repaid at the resurrection of the just." A Christian must engage in generous works for the poor and helpless and also believe that God will repay such deeds at the heavenly banquet, at the resurrection on the last day.
This Sunday we can pray to God for the demands of today's Gospel reading. Are we humble? Are we generous to the poor and the helpless in our society? Do we believe God will reward us at the resurrection for our generosity? Lord Jesus teach us to be humble like yourself. Give us a generous spirit and make us worthy of your heavenly gifts. Amen.
