22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time 2025
Ecclesiastes 3:17-20, 28-29 Hebrews 12:18-19 Luke 14:1, 7-14
Saint Luke’s Gospel is addressing the ordinary person on the street. He tells of the everyday events in the life of Jesus in such a way that all of us can identify with them and understand their significance in the life of disciples. Luke loves to recall times of celebration and sharing and so often sets these events at tables and with food. In fact, in every chapter of St Luke’s gospel there is mention of food or meals. That is something that all of us know about! We remember some meals because of how relaxed and convivial they were and others because of the formal setting or the event that they marked. We can imagine either the formal or informal setting of today’s gospel story. It is the Sabbath – a day of rest, a day of relaxation, a day to give time to each other. But it is also set at the table of one of the leading Pharisees. It is an opportunity for Jesus to speak about some important things to his disciples. But also, his words are meant for those who ‘watched him closely’.
There are two important lessons in the Scripture readings of today’s liturgy. One of them is on a subject difficult to find experts on - Humility, and the other might cause us a little unease – Hospitality. Humility could be described in terms of how we present ourselves to others and Hospitality as how we give and receive and share the gifts and talents we hold in common with all God’s children.
When Jesus speaks about humility, He is not trying to run us down or suggest that we have nothing to boast about. His teaching is aimed at those who were putting themselves forwards as experts in the law, suggesting that they were paragons of virtue and expecting to be treated with the deference due to those who had rightly earned it.
For sure, humility is not pride, neither is it pretence. It is not a case of pretending to be worse than we are and it should not prevent us from taking legitimate pride in our achievements. If we do something well we are entitled to be pleased about it. The word ‘humility’ comes from the Latin word ‘humus’ meaning ground or earth. So, the humble person is down to earth, realistic, has no airs or graces, has things in proper perspective. It is more about ‘having your feet on the ground’ than ‘having your nose in the air’! Jesus, himself is our perfect model of humility. He it was who identified himself with us, mere mortals, and allowed himself to be treated as one like us. But He also proclaimed that everything that he had, had been given to Him by the Father.
“Learn from me”, He says, “for I am gentle and humble in heart” (Mt 11:29). Yes, humility is truth and it is truth that brings peace and calm to our world, it is truth that sets us free. The great truth is that all we have, has been given to us by God. That is something we can be rightly proud of. Our call by God, the life and gifts that we have, the graces by which we respond to God, our families and friends and, above all, the Faith which sustains us are all things to be proud of and they are all given to us by God.
So, with Saint Paul “Let us boast only in the Lord”.