Aug. 28, 2022: 22nd Sunday C
Aug. 28, 2022: 22nd Sunday C
Jesus was addressing this very topic in the parable of the wedding feast and the parable of a great banquet while eating dinner at a Pharisee’s home. Noticing how guests at the Pharisee’s home were jockeying themselves for places of honor at the table, Jesus taught not to seek out a place of honor for yourself; instead seek a humble position. Regard others as greater than yourself. “For every one who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted,"he said. And if you host a meal, invite those who cannot repay–the poor, crippled, lame, and blind. “Blessed indeed will you be because of their inability to repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous."
Who confers on us human dignity and honor? Is it my peers or my neighbors who judge me exteriorly for what I possess, wear, drive, or where I vacation? While we may answer that it is God who confers our worth, if we are honest with ourselves, we want to be accepted and adulated by others while we fear demotion, dejection, or associated with lower class. So we strive materially or socially to establish a high place in others’ minds and hearts. Ambition is often the cause of deep dissatisfaction in the person who suffers from it. All of us have a natural desire for honor and glory; however, ambition is a disordered tendency to look for honor, to exercise authority, or to have a position that is in some way superior, or at least in appearance.
A conversion of heart is required for us to regain balance on our natural desire for honor. Humility is not opposed to legitimate desire for personal advancement in social life, desire to enjoy professional prestige, and desire for honor. However, a person striving for humility does not show off. His or her aim is not to shine; the aim is to carry out a mission for God and for others. In order to grow in humility we need to appreciate our place before God–that is, our nothingness. We also need to appreciate all the gifts and talents that God has given us. Each of us is an instrument, each defective in someway yet are bearers of inestimable value. One teenager discovered such wisdom through an unusual young man.
At a middle school classroom, a teenage girl was told by her teacher that the whole school was assembling in the gym to hear a special speaker. The young girl surmised that she was going to hear another boring, morality speech. Once in the gym, she looked over to the stage, and she thought her eyes were playing a trick on her. On the stage was a young man standing on top of a table, but he did not have arms or legs. It dawned on her; it was not a mirage. He didn’t have arms or legs! Her curiosity was piqued.
The young man said, “My parents are devout Christians, but after I was born with neither arms nor legs, they wondered what God had in mind in creating me. At first they assumed that there was no hope and no future for someone like me, that I would never live a normal or productive life. As I entered difficult adolescent years when we all wonder where we fit in, I despaired over my circumstances. I was depressed, overwhelmed with negative thoughts, and didn’t see any point in my life. I felt alone even when I was surrounded by family and friends. I worried that I would always be a burden to those I loved. At age fifteen I heard the story of the man born blind in the Gospel of John. The disciples guessed that the reason for his blindness was because either his parents or he sinned. Jesus replied, ‘He wasn’t born blind because his parents sinned. He was born blind so that God’s power could be shown by what’s going to happen.’ You can imagine how this parable resonated with me as a teenager, so aware of being different, of being disabled. Suddenly I saw a new possibility. I was not a burden. I was not deficient. I was not being punished. I was custom-made for God’s works to be made manifest in me! Often people ask how I manage to be happy despite having no arms and no legs. The quick answer is that I have a choice. I can be angry about not having limbs, or I can be thankful that I have a purpose. I chose gratitude. I want to let each of you know that you are beautiful, just the way you are.”
As she listened to the talk, tears began to flow down from the teenager’s face. She raised her hand and asked the speaker if she could approach him. Once on stage, she hugged him tight and whispered in his ears, “Nobody has ever told me that I’m beautiful the way that I am. No one has ever said that they love me. You’ve changed my life, and you are a beautiful person too.”
While an ambitious person can impress the opinions of others, only the humble person can change hearts. Humble persons know who they are before God, that is, powerless; yet humble persons have the confidence or trust in the power of God for whom there is no obstacle. If we have the eyes of faith, we will recognize that this gathering in the Church resembles the parable of the Great Banquet. Jesus has invited the spiritually poor, spiritually crippled, and spiritually blind who cannot repay the Host for His Goodness. None of us was invited here because of what we have accomplished; each of us was chosen out of sheer goodness, generosity, and mercy of God. Just look at the crucifix, we see a man who emptied and humbled himself. We see a man who is for others. May we imitate his humility so that we can trust God fully in his goodness.
