Word to the Wise
Sunday, September 2, 2007 - Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time
[Sirach 3:17-18, 20, 28-29; Hebrews 12:18-19, 22-24A; Luke 14:1, 7-14]For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled; but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.
When I entered religious life, there was a thing called "order of religion." (It still exists but not as prominently. It could be a tie-breaker in an election, however!) This "order" determined where you sat in the dining hall or in choir (those banked seats facing each other). If one attended a provincial or general chapter, it determined where one sat or the order in which one voted! Talk about protocol! It was as rigid as those airport diplomatic ceremonies! As a novice I knew someone had left the program if we were told to change our seat! And woe betide you if you were in the wrong place. These social protocols are ancient and they were certainly in existence in Jesus' day, as cultural historians and anthropologists tell us. Where someone sat at table was very important as an expression of one's social status. In Middle Eastern society, "honor" has an extremely high value. Since, as the Gospel of Matthew notes, the Pharisees were often greedy for social status, it would not have been unusual to see what Jesus saw at a banquet given by a prominent Pharisee - maneuvering for a "higher place". Jesus turns the occasion into a "teachable" moment and makes two points that all of us need to hear. The first point is that all true "honor" comes from God. Where we sit at table or how much money we make (the biggest social determinant in the USA, with "power - real or perceived in second place) is of no value in determining or reflecting "honor." The second point is based on a further Middle Eastern custom (which I have observed in our Anglo-Saxon culture!) that requires a return invitation of an equal value. When the invitee realizes that a return invitation is beyond his/her means, they find an "honorable" excuse. ("I have married a wife! I pray you, hold me excused!") And one certainly did not invite someone of a lesser "class" to a banquet. Jesus tells the prominent Pharisee that real honor is not expressed by having one's equals or betters come to an event. Real honor comes from extending an invitation to those who cannot repay! The next time you go to a formal occasion and find yourself looking at the place card names, ask yourself how much that matters? (Do you feel tempted to switch them?) Does the ability to "invite you back" enter into an invitation list you are making out? Social etiquette has its uses, but when it creates "false honor" it is a public lie, no matter how much it "smooths" things over. If we find ourselves somewhat abashed by this little examination of conscience, what do we plan to do about it? As Jesus points out, "self-exaltation" can carry a heavy price. AMEN