22nd Ordinary Sunday – 28th September 2022 — Gospel: Lk 14,1.7-14
Exhibit Eschatological Characters
The meal with the Pharisees provides Jesus an opportunity to continue his teaching about God’s kingdom. He explains two things here: about with what spirit those invited must receive the invitation (14,7-11) and with what spirit they must invite the others (14,12-14). When Jesus notices the guests seeking the places of honour in the dining room, he teaches about the genuine humility required for participating in the kingdom banquet. In the form of a parable, he shows that those who take the lowest place are those who know their unworthiness and look to God’s grace to move up higher, while those who exalt themselves and assume the highest places for themselves will be humiliated. Honour or shame comes from God himself at the celestial banquet, not rendered by human beings. The theme of divine reversal anticipates traditional wisdom of Judaism (Prov 3,34; 29,23; Sir 3,17-20; Ezek 21,26; Job 22,29). It is a wisdom from life experience, in which the proud are humiliated and the humble are exalted (Lk 18,14; Mt 18,4; 23,12; 1 Pet 5,6). Jesus also takes the occasion to teach about the hospitality and generosity in God’s kingdom. Hospitality and generosity are genuine when no motive exists besides giving. It is giving to those people who cannot repay their hosts. The newness brought by Jesus requires a new relationship: Love that does not calculate, but which takes away the inequalities and discriminations among men. Again we see that humility and openness to all people are the eschatological character taught by Jesus to those seeking to follow him.
