Mary is a model of true Christian humility. The Sunday Gospel
On a sabbath day Jesus was invited for a meal to the house of a leading Pharisee (Luke 14:1). No table was considered blessed unless a scholar sat at it. The body will savour the delights of victual and vine all the more if the meal is salted with lively table-talk. In Luke’s Gospel, Jesus is never far from a table. There are ten tables, each one being the scene of important teaching.
I imagine that the host and his friends were curious about this Galilean preacher who had acquired a reputation.
They were watching him, but he was keeping an eye on them too, noticing the importance they attached to the places of honour. Remember, the setting here was a meal with guests, so we must expect table-talk which is different to sermon-talk. We should not only read this story but hear it. It may be of help to read it aloud. You have to hear the tone of voice, light-hearted and humorous but having a little dig also.
Jesus took up his favoured way of instructing: he told a parable. Parable sounds very like parallel, and rightly so. The story runs parallel to my life until the two lines meet and I recognise that the story is really about me. As today’s first reading says, the heart of a sensible person will reflect on parables.
Parable
Every good parable should begin with the word, “Imagine”. Imagine a wedding feast and this fellow is asked to leave a place of honour and find a lower seat. What an embarrassment!
Then Jesus speaks to the host who invited him. “When you give a lunch or a dinner, do not ask your friends, brothers, relations or rich neighbours, for fear they repay your courtesy by inviting you in return.” Doesn’t it sound rather ungracious to address your host like that? No, this is where you must hear the tone of voice. I imagine Jesus was giggling as he spoke. Picture the perplexed person writing a list of invitations, tearing his hair out to make sure there would not be anyone on the list who would return the favour.
Then comes the great message in a more serious voice. “No, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind; that they cannot pay you back means that you are fortunate, because repayment will be made to you when the virtuous rise again.” It’s those who are impoverished or deprived in this life who will check your ticket at the gate of heaven. “Whatsoever you do to the least of my family, that you do unto me.”
Contrast
The whole episode shows us the contrast between pride and humility. “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the man who humbles himself will be exalted.” Today’s Old Testament reading was chosen for its connection with the Gospel. The greater you are, the more you should behave humbly and God accepts the homage of the humble. In contrast, we read that there is no cure for the proud man’s malady, since an evil growth has taken root in him. The ancient catalogue of the seven deadly sins listed pride as the first poisonous root of evil. That wisdom is verified in the temptation of Adam and Eve. The tempter, the father of lies, suggests that if they eat the forbidden fruit they will be like gods with the knowledge of good and evil. In other words, they can walk proudly as their own god. Conspiracy lies began in the Garden of Eden!
Humility
The proud person struts with head in the air while the humble person keeps his feet on the ground. The word humility actually comes from the Latin word humus, meaning the earth. True humility is based on down to earth honesty. It recognises one’s success and talents, not with pride but with a sense of gratitude and a willingness to use them. The best model is the humble honesty of Mary, the mother of the Lord. “The Almighty has done great things for me, holy is his name”.
Humility is certainly not the most popular ideal nowadays when the emphasis is on get to the top, win at all costs, weakest to the wall. What is off-putting is bogus humility where one denies one’s gifts, or shelters with bowed head to evade volunteering for any task or responsibility. True humility is not a weakness but a strength.
Sanctity
Many years ago, as novices imbued with youthful zeal for instant sanctity, we had many discussions on humility and the business of taking the lowest seat. But we foresaw a problem. Could you eventually be proud of your humility? We read about the heroes of the desert and the obscure saints who virtually lusted for occasions of self-abasement. And we were guided by a manual of exterior conduct on how to be self-effacing in conversation or how to yield right of way at table or passing in the corridor. There was even an instruction regarding which side to direct a spit! Fortunately for our survival, once a week on the hurling field, sanity prevailed over sanctity as honest endeavour and the will to win surfaced once more.
Some of the proudest and most stubborn people I know have reserved seats at the lowest table … or back seat in the church. But dare you try to budge them from the lowest seat. It’s okay when they profess their own unworthiness but they will be extremely annoyed if somebody else says it for them!
Humility is not paralysed by the crippling fear of failure because the humble person is not overly concerned with personal success. God is not demanding that we succeed, only that we try our best. Humility refrains from passing derogatory judgement on others from a position of moral superiority because there go I but for the grace of God. The inspirational ideal of the prophet Micah is to act justly, to love tenderly and to walk humbly with your God.
Fr Silvester O’Flynn’s book Gospel Reflections and Prayers is available to purchase at Columba Books.