Gospel: Luke 14:1.7-11

 

In the face of the danger of being reduced to silence from the Pharisees, it might have been suggested to Jesus that He flee the lunch. Instead, He accepts the invitation to lunch. 

 

The attitude of Jesus makes one understand that He does not fear the attempts of aggression against His person. Inviting Him is “one of the heads of the Pharisees”, a person who has authority. The invitation takes place on a Saturday, an ideal day for a festive lunch which was usually taken around noon after all had participated in the liturgy in the Synagogue. 

 

During lunch, the Pharisees were observing him: an act of supervision and control that refers to the suspicion regarding His behavior. In other words, they observe Him, expecting that He will do some inappropriate action regarding their law. 

 

Finally, they corner Him, not to safeguard the observance of the law, but rather to catch Him in some gesture of His. In the meantime, on Saturday, having cured the one suffering from dropsy before the Pharisees and the Doctors of the Law, He expresses two reflections on how it is necessary to accept an invitation to table and in the spirit in which the invitation is to be given. 

 

The first one Luke calls a “parable”, that is to say, an example, a model or a teaching to be followed. Above all, it is necessary to invite with gratuity and with freedom of spirit. Frequently, men go ahead and ask to be invited instead of waiting to receive an invitation. 

For Luke, the point of view of God is the contrary. It is that of humility: “He has pulled down princes from their thrones and raised high the lowly”. The call to participate in the “great supper” of the Kingdom has, as a result, an improvement in the level of life for the one who is capable to accept the invitation of salvation with gratitude.

 

It is true that to cede or give up one’s own place to others is not gratifying. It could be humiliating and is a limitation of one’s pride. It is even more humiliating and a reason to feel embarrassed when one has to move to the last place because it is a dishonour in the eyes of all. Luke thinks of all those humiliating and painful situations of shame in which the believer can find himself, in the place reserved for one who lives these events before the eyes of God and His Kingdom. 

 

The proud, those who seek to have first places, and the important gratify themselves because of their social position. On the contrary, when Jesus came to live among us, “there was no place for him” (2, 7) and He decided to remain, choosing a place among the poor and humble people. This is why God raised Him and exalted Him. From here comes the precious suggestion to choose His attitude, considering the last place as a privilege. 

 

We may remain disturbed by these words of Jesus that undermine the utilitarian and egoistic sense of life, but in the long run His teaching reveals itself to be necessary to ascend on high and the way of humility that leads to sanctity.