A Higher Position

November 3, 2007

Saturday of the Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time

For the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable. Romans 11:29

Go and take the lowest place so that when the host comes to you he may say, ‘My friend, move up to a higher position.’ Then you will enjoy the esteem of your companions at the table. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted. Luke 14:10-11

Piety

Let us pray: Generous and merciful God, why won’t you ever let us off the hook? Your pithy biblical expressions sound so easy and plausible. Yet for our human minds and bodies, your commands are the polar opposite of the pursuits toward which our ego, our friends and our society pulls us. Yet no matter what we do, you never forget us. You never stop loving us. You never stop asking us to listen to you and obey your requests. So we turn to your generosity over and over again asking that you provide to us the singular focus of mind, heart and soul to concentrate our time, talents and treasures on a higher position and loftier goal: where you ask, rather than where we desire. We ask you this through Jesus Christ who humbled himself for our sake so that we might imitate him for your sake. Amen.

Study

http://www.usccb.org/nab/110307.shtml

When listening to a speaker and a message is repeated, especially when it is repeated multiple times, it must be important. When the speaker really wants us to listen to a particular message, he or she also might flag something about to be said as really important. I remember back in the 1970s when President Nixon stare into the TV cameras and would say, “Let me make this perfectly clear…” and then go on and make a major point about the Vietnam War, Watergate, or other issues of national importance back then.

Today, Jesus uses a similar rhetorical device. Just last Sunday, the Gospel reading about the Pharisee and the tax collector praying in the temple concluded with the same pronouncement that ends today’s reading about the place of honor at a banquet. Similar stories the value humility and caution against self importance abound in Matthew and Mark’s Gospels as well as throughout the Hebrew Bible in the books of Chronicles, Isaiah and Jeremiah. It is almost like the Bible is saying to us, “Let me make this perfectly clear, the exalted shall be humbled and the humbled shall be exalted.”

Get it? In our society that values individual initiative and accomplishment – not to mention worshipping the financial success of Warren Buffet, Bill Gates or Oprah Winfrey – the table turning message of this Gospel theme can not be missed or misled. Yet, no matter what demeanor best describes us, St. Paul reminds us that God will never forget his people even if we forget him and his message.

As much as we want to identify with the humble tax collector, let’s face facts: there is at least a little of the proud Pharisee inside most of us. We like to be recognized for our volunteerism. We enjoy being thanked for our charitable giving. Even though there is never a fight for the front pew in any Catholic Church where I have ever worshipped, people still expect to be exalted and treated with dignity.

People show up to have their Sunday “ticket” punched by the church-conductor so they can then take the train and head out to the ballgame, golf course, shopping mall, or elsewhere. Heaven help us if Mass takes longer than the magical one hour to complete causing a traffic jam in the parking lot from those leaving early and the folks arriving for the next Mass.

So despite the fact that we often find ourselves putting social events ahead of spiritual priorities, Jesus never puts anything else ahead of us. Psalm 94 reminds us: If the LORD were not my help, I would long have been silent in the grave. When I say, "My foot is slipping," your love, LORD, holds me up. When cares increase within me, your comfort gives me joy. Psalm 94:17-19

Action

If God won’t every reject you, what worldly pursuit can you reject in favor of God this week?

Perhaps you can give up one hour of television watching and do some sacred reading or volunteering. Perhaps you can give up one trip to a restaurant and give the money you might have spent there to a charity addressing child abuse, the fire victims, or helping provide healthcare in the developing world. Perhaps you can devote your talents to some charitable cause or person who really needs your help – everything from your talent for driving someone who is not mobile to your talent for listening to someone who is lonely.

Even if your talents become stagnant for lack of use, they will never be taken away from you. So, why not use them for to spread human goodness in the world?