It happened that a Saturday Jesus went to the house of one of the leaders of the Pharisees to have lunch and they were watching him.
He told the guests a parable, noting how they chose the first places: “When you are invited to the wedding by someone, do not put yourself in the first place, so that there is not another guest more worthy than you, and the one who invited you and him comes to tell you: “Give him his place!”. Then you will have to shamefully take the last place. Instead, when you are invited, go and put yourself in the last place, so that when the one who invited you comes, he will say to you: “Friend, come farther!”. Then you will have honor in front of all the diners. Because whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted ».
Then he said to the one who had invited him: “When you offer a lunch or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, because they in turn will not invite you too and you have the exchange. On the contrary, when you offer a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind; and you will be blessed because they have nothing to repay you. In fact, you will receive your reward at the resurrection of the just ». (Lk 14: 1.7-14)
Today, August 28, the Church reaches the XXII Sunday of Ordinary Time (Year C, liturgical color green). To comment on the Gospel of the Holy Mass is Monsignor Nazzareno Marconibishop of the Diocese of Macerata – Tolentino – Recanati – Cingoli – Treia.
Love, life, values, spirituality are contained in his reflection for “Splinters of Light, thoughts on the festive Gospels”, a column that wants to be a tender caress for all souls in this valley of exile. Thoughts and words to ignite the reasons for the hope that is in us.
Ben Sirach’s book, which ancient tradition called the Ecclesiastical, offers us a centuries-old distillation of human meditations carried out by the people of God on the experience that leads to faith. The author expresses in very concrete terms the condemnation of every proud claim.
True greatness is revealed in the humility with which the believer knows how to open himself to wisdom, which is the great divine gift and this comes through careful meditation on the Word of God. “Whoever is truly wise meditates on the parables”, says Sirach and this it should warn us to listen to today’s Gospel. Apparently, in fact, Jesus gives two pieces of simple good education on the modesty to have when you are invited and on the generosity to live when you are a guest. They are advice also tinged with a subtle irony, as was typical for the advice of the sages of the Eastern world. If, in fact, the guest sits where he is not supposed to, most likely, when he is finally forced to get up to give up his place, everyone will be seated and he will have only the last chair left. «Be modest» says Jesus, because, among other things, modesty is more convenient than pride.
Likewise, the advice of the second parable is tinged with irony. How many have done favors, hoping to receive the return and then have been bitterly disappointed! All in all it pays to be generous, we will not be disappointed and the good we will do will appear in all its value.
These teachings of Jesus have their value even if read simply like this, as if they were the wise advice of an old uncle, a lover of good manners. We will never announce enough, in a world that exalts reach, oppression, action out of pure interest, the value of humility, generosity and gratuitousness.
But precisely because we are faced with parables, it is necessary to reread this Gospel text a second time, with renewed attention to what it communicates to us. In the oriental world in which Jesus lived, the banquet was not a simple festive banquet in which one worried about eating and, at most, remembering some event from the past. In the banquet friendship and peace were sanctioned, a rite of praise to God was celebrated in some way and in fact, during the banquets, blessings and songs of praise were frequent.
Therefore, we can easily read these parables, referring to the relationship with God. Jesus teaches us that towards God, humility is a must. But humility means above all “truth”. The man who has too high an opinion of himself often believes that he does not need anything in his existence of him, that he knows how to find the answers and solutions by himself. Proceeding on this path, on the path of pride, he ends up believing that he can also do without God. In the eyes of the proud it is rather God who should adapt to our plans and our visions.
The man who values himself with truth, on the other hand, recognizes his own needs and praises God who supports him. This is the root of true wisdom: the clear awareness of one’s limitations and the indispensable help of God that everyone needs. The man who wisely reads these two Gospel parables has the ability to understand how immensely disproportionate is the relationship between the gift that God gives us by inviting us to his table, to communion of life with him, and how much we can give him in return.
God is truly that landlord who freely invites the lame, the blind, the lame… knowing full well that they have nothing to give him in return. God has offered us participation in the Kingdom feast completely free of charge. The only right answer we can offer him is, with humility, to acknowledge our littleness and therefore be deeply grateful to him.
Splinters of Light: thoughts on the festive Gospels of Monsignor Nazzareno Marconi