First Reading: Sirach 3:17-18, 20, 28-29 Responsorial: Psalm 68:4-5, 6-7, 10-11 Second Reading: Hebrews 12:18-19, 22-24a Gospel Passage: Luke 14:1, 7-14
Wile E. Coyote by Msgr. Richard Henning
Do you remember The Road Runner? In this popular and perennial cartoon, Wile E. Coyote devises elaborate schemes in order to catch the Road Runner. Wiley is always convinced of his cleverness and ever surprised as the plan goes awry. Wile E. is too clever- so clever that he is foolish. Our culture often depicts sincere christian faith as naïve and failing in worldly cleverness. On the contrary, the scriptures reveal that worldly cleverness is as useless and foolish as the efforts of our friend Wiley. True cleverness requires clear sight and honest appraisal of reality.
The Book of Sirach, among the later books of the Old Testament, offers worldly and spiritual counsel to the person of faith. In this passage, the author counsels the humility that will gain favor with others and with God. In part, such humility consists in the honest appraisal of one’s own capacities.
This brief passage provides both a background and a foil to our gospel passage, taken from Luke. In the house of a leading Pharisee, Jesus has encountered a sick man and asks the scholars of the law whether it is lawful to cure on the Sabbath. Despite their cleverness in the details of the law, they remain silent as Jesus both bests them in logic and heals the man. Next, Jesus addresses the gathering guests with the parables we hear today.
In the first part, Jesus offers practical wisdom like that of Sirach. By seating themselves with humility, they will gain favor with their hosts and among the guests. This very practical advice is linked to a second and more unusual teaching by the observation: “For every one who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted" (14:11). The next advice must have sounded shocking in its original context. Jesus counsels his host to invite the sick and the poor to the table rather than relatives or people of influence. Such advice contrasts with the practical and obvious benefits of the humility found in Sirach and Jesus’ earlier words.
The key to understanding lies in the saying at the center of the passage. In the Gospel of Luke, there is a decided emphasis on the poor and the rejected. While human society might ignore or mistreat them, we learn that they enjoy a high status in the eyes of God. We also learn of the importance of concern for them among Jesus’ followers. When Jesus speaks here of the one who humbles himself and is then exalted, He describes in miniature the story of His own life. He is the exalted Son of God Who humbles Himself for the sake of sinners and finds exaltation anew in death and resurrection, making such exaltation possible for others. Here, Jesus teaches His followers to follow His example and live with a clear perspective about their own status and the importance of serving those in need.
This is not the surface cleverness that curries favor or seeks advantage from generosity. This is seeing the world with the compassionate and far seeing eyes of God. It is a more profound cleverness that offers promise beyond imagining. It is the cleverness of the kingdom of God.
In our second reading from Hebrews, the author contrasts the former relationship between God and the people and the new relationship made possible by Christ. The believer now enjoys a direct means of communications with God under the new covenant. God is no longer untouchable and beyond our understanding. In Jesus, and through His blood, believers already enjoy the beginnings of a new relationship that will find fulfillment in heaven.
Here again, we see a summons to look at life with a new perspective. The culture around us might consider the christian vision naïve, but the larger picture proves the contrary. All the clever human plans in the world cannot catch the speedy runner that is life eternal. For that, we need a different kind of wisdom, a new cleverness. It is not enough to exercise humility that gains us advantage. It is not enough to remain in stubborn pharisaical silence in the face of suffering. We know better. We have been given example by the Lord of Life Who summons us to a humility that serves others; a humility that is part of the one and only unfailing plan of God for our salvation.
