TWENTY-SECOND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

[cappie]

We find it easy to connect with Jesus as a healer, as our saviour, as a teacher and even as a prophet. But Jesus as someone who speaks against the way our society works is harder to stomach, especially when we realize that he is preaching against behaviour that we engage in regularly.

 We all have met people who have a sense of self-importance, who feel they deserve special treatment and consideration. There are sports and media celebrities who imagine they deserve the best tables in restaurants and the impossible-to-get tickets to shows. And there are the people with their shopping carts loaded with groceries standing in the express line because they think they deserve to get out quickly—it all sends a message about our worth and prestige, usually based on our economic power. We buy a rung on the ladder as often as we “earn” it.

These signals were conveyed in Jesus’ time by the seating at a meal. And the seating as arranged by the host was not just a signal but a tool. If you hosted a dinner and wanted an advantageous marriage match with a certain young man for your daughter, you could seat her father at a higher place at the table than he usually would have. If a competitor in business beat you in a deal, you could seat him lower at the table to communicate your displeasure. Seating at the table was the stage on which political and social relationships were played out. It was the public display of an individual’s or family’s place on the spectrum of honour and shame.

 One of the most interesting parts of this gospel is what Jesus does not say. He does not say, “This entire status-by-seating system is bogus and I want you to chuck the whole thing.” Jesus proceeds on the assumption that we will work and live within this system. Jesus says, “When you are invited, go and sit down at the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he may say to you, “My friend, move up higher.” In that way, everyone with you at the table will see you honoured. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the man who humbles himself will be exalted.’

So Jesus leaves the status system intact.  At least that’s how we would interpret it. But what if there’s another way to think about it?

Let’s think for a moment about the unspoken cues and subtle put-downs. The unfairness of who is rewarded and who is shoved down to a lower rung.   When we get caught up in these games we are disconnected from God and our true selves. And that drains us of life and vitality. Jesus says, “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled.”  He’s telling us that as long as we search for satisfaction in ways to put ourselves above others, we will find ourselves with many shiny things but with empty hearts. Exalting ourselves drives us to new lows of integrity and new poverty of happiness. So the exaltation Jesus promises is liberation from the whole status system.  Suddenly, that craving to be the best, to have the most, to win at everything, starts to ebb and die away. This is the exaltation Jesus promises the humble. And if we keep working at it, small choice by small choice, the seed of peace starts to flower.

“Those who humble themselves will be exalted.” When we are still trapped in the status system, we might assume that Jesus means that at the Great Dinner Table in the Sky, the humble will finally, finally get to have the choice seats at the head of the table, a never outdated smartphone, and an infinity sign where their Facebook like number used to be. But that would not be heaven. It would be the same prison we lived in on earth.

 We can’t free ourselves from the status system. Jesus points that out by assuming that there will always be a table and there will always be fighting for higher positions at the table. Where we have a choice is where we choose to sit. And if we ask Jesus to be with us and help us to take the lower seat, help us to quit playing the game, help us to abandon the quest for success and money and power, he will exalt us to freedom from the need for status at all. We won’t need to make a big show of it. We will know our true worth. We will know deep in our bones that our worth is not determined by where we sit, but by whom we are loved. In the celebration of the Eucharist, we have the assurance of God’s nearness to us. At Mass, our faith doesn’t make God present so much as it finds God present in scripture, in sacrament, and in one another. In the one Bread and one Cup of Christ, we have a foretaste of our eternal banquet feast of heaven. Yet we receive the Body and Blood of Christ neither as rewards for good behaviour nor as passive acceptance of bad behaviour. Rather, we receive the Lord’s presence only by virtue of God’s gracious mercy and our sincere efforts to locate God in the midst of our lives.   

We may not know our seating location at the eternal banquet feast, but we can still take heart. The host continues to invite us, and the doors to the hall remain unlocked.  And we are loved by Jesus. Amen.

[Guest]

Cappie, I wonder if you would comment on something that is a concern of mine:  If I humble myself on earth, I can expect a pretty good place in Heaven.  Isn't this still really seeking important status?  It is even having important status as my spiritual objective?  It is a mentality of status?

Isn't seeking status of any kind or nature either in Heaven or on earth still seeking status?  Rather where humility is concerned, should I not be humbled by the fact of who I am in relationship to whom God is, rather than to act humble in order to gain status from God somewhere or other.

Isn't true humility more about grasping closer to the truth of matters about self and about God and the relationship between as well, rather than an act or demeanour in order to gain something.  Isn't true relationship with God a love relationship without seeking anything else but to love Him and neighbour and for love of Him.  Simply because He has asked us to love our neighbour as an expression of love of Him.

I do understand that we are all journeying and we have to begin somewhere in all our many journeys in the overall.  Sometimes I can grasp concepts I think - realising that I am not there as yet, rather still working on it and in Hope with Grace as the wind in my sails.

Edited August 29, 2016 by BarbaraTherese

[cappie]

True humility isn’t thinking less of yourself. It’s not being outwardly humble, while harboring pride. And it’s not being weak. True humility is service to others, service to a cause greater than your own personal ambition.

“True humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less.” ― C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

I did say "When we are still trapped in the status system, we might assume that Jesus means that at the Great Dinner Table in the Sky, the humble will finally, finally get to have the choice seats at the head of the table, a never outdated smartphone, and an infinity sign where their Facebook like number used to be. But that would not be heaven. It would be the same prison we lived in on earth."

[Guest]

Thank you, cappie,.

 

Edited August 29, 2016 by BarbaraTherese

[<3 PopeFrancis]

16 hours ago, BarbaraTherese said:

If I humble myself on earth, I can expect a pretty good place in Heaven.

Jesus says you may be asked to a higher honor.

9 hours ago, cappie said:

It would be the same prison we lived in on earth.

Maybe eliminating our striving of status completely frees us of being higher or lower or wherever.  Just satisfaction in having Jesus and God in our heart at the Great Feast of the Holy Eucharist.

[Guest]

5 hours ago, <3 PopeFrancis said:

Maybe eliminating our striving of status completely frees us of being higher or lower or wherever.  Just satisfaction in having Jesus and God in our heart at the Great Feast of the Holy Eucharist.

 

I agree that it would free one of where exactly one is or will be on the status scale here on earth or in the hereafter..........nor concerned about all those matters that are related to position and status, even about where one is on the scale of things.  The Blessed Eucharist, source and summit of our Faith, becomes one's all in all.

I do think that even service too can be a seeking after status........dependant on motivation - and that both service and humility can wear many garments indeed.  I think that humility is a deeply interior disposition and how it expresses itself exteriorly is the many garments it can wear.

I think there is a balance (Grace and The Holy Spirit) between service and focus on others, and alone time and self reflection and reflecting on one's relationship with God as well as with one's neighbour - a time to be with Jesus.  All are needed in due proportion - they will inspire each other.

We are all on a journey and I think Ecclesiastes below explains our journeying poetically and beautifully:

Quote

 

Ecclesiastes Chapter 3

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:

²     a time to be born and a time to die,
    a time to plant and a time to uproot,
³     a time to kill and a time to heal,
    a time to tear down and a time to build,
⁴     a time to weep and a time to laugh,
    a time to mourn and a time to dance,
⁵     a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
    a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
⁶     a time to search and a time to give up,
    a time to keep and a time to throw away,
⁷     a time to tear and a time to mend,
    a time to be silent and a time to speak,
⁸     a time to love and a time to hate,
    a time for war and a time for peace.

 

On ‎28‎/‎08‎/‎2016 at 9:33 PM, cappie said:

So the exaltation Jesus promises is liberation from the whole status system.  Suddenly, that craving to be the best, to have the most, to win at everything, starts to ebb and die away. This is the exaltation Jesus promises the humble. And if we keep working at it, small choice by small choice, the seed of peace starts to flower.

6 hours ago, <3 PopeFrancis said:

Jesus says you may be asked to a higher honor.

As I understand things from what the nun who taught me said, in Heaven we each will be perfectly fulfilled - there will be no glancing at our neighbour as it were and musing that she has more ....... she has less.  All that type of thinking will be eliminated and we can begin the process with Grace here on earth by addressing the desire for status and position both in earthly and spiritual matters. One of the most beautiful passages in Scripture :
 

Quote

 

Philippians Chapter 2

For let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men, and in habit found as a man. He humbled himself, becoming obedient unto death, even to the death of the cross.

 

If the mind of Jesus is in some measure within me, then I will strive to "humble myself", to empty myself of self interest and selfishness - and to serve (which wears many garments)........ not for any desire for status or position at some point, but rather out of love for and a desire to walk in my life as Jesus would have walked in it, and in a manner, He will.  There is that beautiful prayer to The Holy Spirit "send forth Your Spirit and You will be created and You will renew the face of the earth".

[<3 PopeFrancis]

6 minutes ago, BarbaraTherese said:

As I understand things from what the nun who taught me said, in Heaven we each will be perfectly fulfilled - there will be no glancing at our neighbour as it were and musing that she has more ....... she has less. 

I agree.  Eliminating that status begins here on earth as @cappie says.

[Guest]

I also had mentally noted what cappie stated:

Quote

"Exalting ourselves drives us to new lows of integrity and new poverty of happiness. So the exaltation Jesus promises is liberation from the whole status system.  Suddenly, that craving to be the best, to have the most, to win at everything, starts to ebb and die away. This is the exaltation Jesus promises the humble. And if we keep working at it, small choice by small choice, the seed of peace starts to flower."

I thought too that the above was very much about journey.  It can be a real spiritual problem to kick myself because I am not as good as I think I should be - and that is a subtle type of status matter too, which can masquerade as a type of humility with an undertow of subtle spiritual pride because I think that I can be 'the best'.  But even masquerading as humility is at least a start somewhere on the journey.  I think that Peace flows in once one is content to be where one is, wherever it is. This is not of course to abandon the quest to overcome one's faults and failings and to grow in virtue - but it has abandoned the occupation with 'better and best' and walks the path Peacefully***1 and humbly, asking Mercy***2, and prepared to grant it because (for one) one does see oneself as one is and who is desperately in need of Mercy***3.

This is where spiritual direction is such a blessing.  A good spiritual director will identify the masquerade (or whatever) and facilitate the undoing and help along the way of starting the "ebb and die away" of status occupation and focus (for one) - with perseverance and content with "small choices""***4 ........ all as cappie has already stated.

We have a Gospel discussion going 

_____________________________

***

1 Psalm 34 "Turn away from evil and do good: seek after peace and pursue it"

2 Romans Chapter 3 "If you forgive others their transgressions, your heavenly Father will forgive you."

3 Matthew Chapter 5 - Beatitudes "Blessed are the merciful for they will obtain mercy"

4 St Therese and her Little Way : The Daily Life of St Therese (Part One): http://carmelnet.org/larkin/larkin043.pdf (4.75 A4 pages -  two   column)
The Daily Life of St Therese (Part Two): http://carmelnet.org/larkin/larkin044.pdf (3.5 A4 pages - two column)