"The First will be Last. The Last will be First"

Homily for the Saturday of the 30th Week in Ordinary Time, Daily TV Mass

“The Pharisees Question Jesus” by James Tissot, Wikimedia Commons

In today’s Gospel, we find Our Lord at the home of one of the leaders of the Pharisees, where He has been invited for dinner. And the host, together with the other guests, are watching Jesus rather closely. Here, St. Cyril of Alexandria comments that ‘they are waiting to see whether He would do something forbidden on the Sabbath Day.’

And although Jesus doesn’t criticize them directly, the Parable that He shares does convey a profound message that directly challenges their way of looking at things.

And I think that this message is a very relevant one for us today, as Jesus counsels against any kind of superficial public posturing that seeks worldly recognition and increased social status. Rather, Jesus invites the powerful elite of His time – along with us – to genuine humility in our dealings with others.

Here, St. Anthony the Great observes that:

Humility to virtues is like a root to a tree.  A tree cannot grow strong, bear fruit, or live a long life unless its roots are established deeply in the ground. And the branches of humility are: modesty, unpretentiousness and respect. Therefore humility, defined as being free from pride, is primary for all those who seek a strong enduring relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.

Our Lord’s teachings have social consequences as we are called not only to sit at different places at a banquet but to extend God’s own love and mercy to the poor and the outcasts - to those who in Jesus’ time were not thought worthy to enter any banquet attended by the rich and powerful, much less to occupy places of honor.

Jesus calls us to turn from a preoccupation with whatever is to our personal advantage: from “my will be done”; a mentality that gives only to receive, and to focus more intently upon God’s will, or

Thy will be done

as Jesus teaches us in the Lord’s Prayer.

I invite you to view the National Catholic Broadcasting Council’s Daily TV Mass below. The Homily begins at: 6:48.