—The Gospel of Luke, chapter 14:1–14

There’s a true story about a famous football quarterback who was dining in a restaurant. He noticed a little boy eagerly coming to his table. The star football player quickly reached for the menu, signed his autograph on it, and handed it to the child, presuming that was what the boy wanted. Puzzled, the child looked at the famous quarterback as he was thrusting the menu at him and said: “No thanks, mister. I just want to borrow your ketchup.”

The star quarterback was dealt an unexpected lesson on humility. By a child, no less.

Humility, it has been said, is the truth. It is the truth concerning ourselves, about our strengths and weaknesses, about the pull of selfishness and egoism that lies buried within the best of us. It is the truth about our need for God to raise us up, to shield us from evil, and to lead us in His way of Holiness.

The parable of the invited guests in chapter fourteen of St. Luke’s Gospel, describes a group of people who were trampling humility underfoot as they jockeyed for the best seats in the house. No wonder Jesus was upset by their antics which were a far cry from the words of Sirach in the old testament: “my son, conduct your affairs with humility, and you will be loved more than a giver of gifts” (Sirach 3:17).

No wonder also, that Jesus realized that the only thing to do was to put these people in their place. To know one’s place and to act accordingly are attributes of a humble person. The people in today’s Gospel – the Pharisees, especially, thought they knew the law and the place of everyone within it. Yet, they were breaking the spirit of the law by scrambling over one another, looking for recognition. They did not know their proper place. If they knew their place, they would, as Jesus pointed out, take the “lowest place” and wait until the host decided if they should “move up to a higher position.”

In this parable, Jesus sets a new standard in human relationships and challenges people, whenever they give a “lunch or a dinner” to invite every kind of person to the reception no matter what their class or social distinction. What could be more forthright and challenging than the following statement of Jesus: “Whenever you have a reception, invite beggars and the crippled, the lame and the blind. You should be pleased that they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid in the resurrection of the just” (Luke 14:13–14).

This parable of the invited guests helps us to know our place and to conduct ourselves accordingly. The lesson of this parable is that we must always act with humility, no matter our position or accomplishments in life. This is why Jesus says : ” everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Only then will we be able to use responsibly the gifts Almighty God has given us to share.

—Fr. Hugh Duffy