22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time - Cycle C

Luke 14:1, 7-14

“Rather, when you are invited, go and take the lowest place so that when the host comes to you he may say, 'My friend, move up to a higher position.'” (Luke 14:10)

Today, Jesus warns against choosing the seat of honor for ourselves, reminding us that such a choice reveals the pride and greed in our hearts. When we claim recognition, when we grasp at esteem or privilege, we place ourselves before others and before God. Honor cannot be taken. It can only be given.

Humility is not about denying our dignity or beating ourselves down, but realizing that all we have is a gift. To take the highest place is to act as though we are the source of our own worth. But to wait, to accept the lowest seat, is to acknowledge that our esteem comes from God alone. And if God chooses to lift us higher, then it is His doing, not our own.

Jesus also calls us to generosity in the way we extend invitations. He says: “When you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind; blessed indeed will you be because of their inability to repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.” The measure of our love is not found in how much we are repaid but in whether we give without expecting anything in return. God gives freely and abundantly, so we should do the same.

In our world which prizes status and reward, Jesus shows us the way of humility and of selfless love: To take the lowest place; to give without expecting repayment. 

“Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” May we let go of pride and to seek no honor but the one that comes from God.