Saturday of the Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time
Today’s gospel brings us to the table with Jesus, but not just any table. The table of one of the leading Pharisees. The translation we are given to read says those invited were “observing him carefully.” But I think we can imagine them judging him quietly or waiting for a mistake as the Pharisees and their stringent followers were known to do. However, at this table, Jesus teaches us all a very important lesson about our true place among one another.
As much as Jesus was being gawked at, He was also paying very close attention to everyone else. The shuffling, the whispering, the bartering for different places among the who’s who. This whole occasion sounds a little like our average workplace environment or large social event. I know I can be guilty of being envious at certain people’s position of higher class or work heirarchy. Don’t lie! We’ve all been there, even with the best of intentions. It’s very easy to put our value against the comparison to others.
[Joe’s sidebar: While reading this passage, I received a certain sense of peace that no matter the chatter in our heads or amongst one another, Christ is calmly taking it all in and thinking about us, wanting to direct our attention to a higher way. Maybe the next time I get caught up in a moment like this, I can imagine Jesus across the room with a presence of peace, knowing where my true place is with Him.]
Knowing this group needed some guidance (and I believe out of place of mercy), Jesus breaks out one of his parables. Oh, Jesus and his parables! Sometimes these short stories can be hard to relate to in today’s world but this time it comes across quite clear on the surface: Why go to the greatest spot when you can be sent down and instead go to the least spot where you can be sent up. However, oversimplifying this parable can deliver us to the perils of false humility (I invite you to look at Thomas Merton, Catholic monk and spiritual writer, and his work on humility and finding out true self). This is the type of humility which debases ourselves and calls ourselves unworthy of just about everything other than the air we breathe.
This is not the message of Christ.
What I think this parable invites us to reflect on is not what humility say about “who” we are (yes, we are pretty insignificant, but also loved into existence by Love), but “where” we are called to be. And where we are called is to be closer to Christ. If we get too in our heads about getting ahead of others, we miss out on the invitation Christ has especially for us. We skip the line and think we deserve this oh so special position. Actually, worse than that, we are at risk of demotion to a lesser place of honor. Here’s the smell test - if you really got aggravated about being losing a place of honor, humility might be something to continue to work on (and we all are at varying levels).
But Jesus would never just demote us like that. Jesus was speaking in a way that could get across to this group of very socially motivated people. I think if we look beneath the words of “those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted” we see an invitation to disengage with the self-indulgent game of public image and instead focus on our true place, being closer to Christ - the inward journey. Once our true place is discovered, we can be led by our faith and not by our fears at winning or losing. We can be shepherded by the Good Shepherd instead of down a path of empty promises when all we are looking for is something to make us whole.
My daily life has been so consumed by the former that I sometimes think there is no way to break free. But then I remember past experiences on retreats, masses, and service events, where I felt that closeness to Jesus and to my fellow human. It’s important to feel that closeness every once in a while, although we should not be ruled by feeling alone. The sacraments are a prime example of this. Next time we meet at the Eucharistic table (yeah, I’m going full circle with this reflection), try to feel that closeness to Christ, even as it is in present tension with the more selfish desires we have grown to gravitate towards (status, security, wealth, advancement). “Closer” can be a giant leap or one tiny shuffle over. Are you on this inward journey? Are you willing to break from the chatter around the table and simple be close to Jesus?
Extra, extra! Here is a quote from Thomas Merton to add to today’s reflecting on humility:
In humility is the greatest freedom. As long as you have to defend the imaginary self that you think is important, you lose your piece of heart. As soon as you compare that shadow with the shadows of other people, you lose all joy, because you have begun to trade in unrealities and there is no joy in things that do not exist.
— Thomas Merton, New Seeds of Contemplation
-Joe Oliveri