The conduct of invited guests and hosts
It is the 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time and today’s gospel reading is a bit unique in the sense that our Lord Jesus Christ is giving a parable on dining etiquette as he teaches us on how to conduct ourselves when we are invited guests in a party or how to be a good and gracious host. Of course, he is teaching us a lesson on humility, something that most of us have to learn to embrace as an important human trait. The problem is, some people think that humility is a weakness rather than strength. On the contrary, it takes rare courage for a man to be humble, as it really doesn’t take much to be boastful. You can read it in your Bibles in Luke 14:1, 7-14.
“1 On a Sabbath he went to dine at the home of one of the leading Pharisees, and the people there were observing him carefully. 7 He told a parable to those who had been invited, noticing how they were choosing the places of honor at the table. 8 “When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not recline at table in the place of honor. A more distinguished guest than you may have been invited by him, 9 and the host who invited both of you may approach you and say, ‘Give your place to this man,’ and then you would proceed with embarrassment to take the lowest place.
10 Rather, when you are invited, 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. 11 For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
12 Then he said to the host who invited him, “When you hold a lunch or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or your wealthy neighbors, in case they may invite you back and you have repayment. 13 Rather, when you hold a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind; 14 blessed indeed will you because of their inability to repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.
*** Today’s gospel lesson was handed down by our Lord Jesus Christ over 2,000 years ago and if there is anything that we are sure about, it is that man hasn’t changed a bit in those 2,000 years. While the ways that parties and banquets are being held may have changed through the years, the attitude and demeanor of men haven’t. For instance, in the Jewish tradition, a wedding feast like the one that our Lord Jesus Christ attended where they ran out of wine, would last for a week (which is why they often ran out of wine). Today, a wedding feast would only last a day.
But when we get invited to a wedding or birthday party, chances are, we would like to sit in the place nearest the person who invited us. After all if we were friends of the person who invited us, then he too would want to stay close to us. But then more often than not, the inevitable happens. This place of honor beside the celebrant is reserved for a person of higher esteem, like the boss of the celebrants or the bishop or priest.
This is especially true to the towns in the province when a fiesta is being held and most of the townsfolk have an open house. There, when dinner comes, the place of honor is always reserved for the priest or bishop or the mayor or the chief of police. So even if you are close to the celebrant or the host, the suggestion of our Lord comes in handy — that you are better off taking a seat away from the seat of honor because your host may be forced to ask you to move to a seat of lower place. This is common sense, which often most people do not have.
But one cannot simply embrace humility, as it is not an easy trait to acquire. Man by nature often boasts of his accomplishments or skills to his friends, especially in this rat race where survival of the fittest is the name of the game. When all is said and done, a successful person loses that humility and becomes boastful, which is the exact opposite of humility. Of course there are people who say, “When you have something to show, then show it to the world! When will you become boastful — when you have nothing to boast about?” This is especially true to our political leaders today who boast that they won their elections even if they used the PCOS machines to cheat their way into getting their elective positions.
So today’s gospel lesson is a phrase which everyone ought to learn by heart. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” One must pray and ask God for humility; after all, this is what God wants us to have. Even people, especially priests and bishops who already obtain a high stature in society, they too must learn how to cloak themselves in the virtue of being humble because in the order of things in heaven, there are those who are first who shall be the last and those who are last shall be the first. This is what God wants of us.