Homily For The 22nd Sunday In Ordinary Time, Year C.

 

Sirach 3:17-20. 28-29; Psalm 68:4-7.10-11; Hebrews 12:18-19. 22-24; Luke 14:1. 7-14. 

“HUMILITY: A DIVINE GIFT!” 

By: Rev. Fr. Charles Onyeka Ezejide.

·        In a human society where there are so many competitions and people are constantly trying to outdo one another. It is the survival of the fittest. Those who cannot compete or are defeated are left to lick their wounds with expressions like “pride goes before a fall”, “humility is the mother of all virtues”, “God exalts the humble and humbles the proud”, “God opposes the proud but give grace to the humble” (James 4:6), and some even go as far as quoting our today’s gospel “everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the man who humbles himself will be exalted” (Lk. 14:11).

·        Today, the church wants us to reflect on the virtue of humility as a divine gift. One may ask: Are we adopting a defeatist perspective, or are we advocating a general standard? Humility should be a general norm for all Christians because without humility no one can please God and “humility goes before honour” (Prov. 18:21).

·        The first reading (Sirach 3:17-20, 28-29) is emphatic on the fact that humility is the mother of all virtues. This comes as advice to all of us: “My child, be humble in carrying out your undertakings, and you will be better loved and appreciated than a lavish giver. The greater you are, the more you should behave humbly, and then you will find favour with the Lord” (Sir. 3:17-20). This is the classic summary of today’s reflection!

·        The gospel reading (Luke 14:1, 7-14), on the other hand, is both a warning and at the same time advice to save us from embarrassment at a public function. Do not imagine that you are the greatest, because you might never know someone of a higher rank who may just be sitting in the corner.

·        Do not forget that Jesus and the scribes and Pharisees never agreed on many issues, but because Jesus had not come to seek the righteous but the unrighteous, he constantly tried to convert them. The Pharisees who had invited Jesus were not doing that out of reverence or belief in the message Jesus was spreading.

·        He invited Jesus to his home to boost his social status and to brag among his friends that “that man who claims to be the son of God just left his house and they dined and wined together”. He could have told his friends that Jesus was his “boy” and was at his beck and call, and any time he wanted him around, he could have him. To prove this arrogant point, he invited all his friends, colleagues and allies, business partners, and contemporaries. While the host had his arrogant and proud plan, Jesus had his divine plan, which was to teach the divine lesson of humility to the crowd of guests; hence, he told them a parable.

·        Humility must not be mistaken for stupidity. There is a new trend that may have been inspired by this parable, where people of “honour” now deliberately sit at the back so that when they are called to the “high table” they can walk a distance and be greeted rousingly by all. When you do that, you are not different from those who are proud and arrogant. There is a thin line between humility and pride, and if one is not careful, in the bid to practice humility, one falls into pride and self-righteousness.

·        While we were seminarians, because of the new policy of the archdiocese of Abuja, a good number of my classmates got ordained before us. When we came back home preparing for ordination, I remember us always sharing this joke that since we have finished the seminary, therefore at any gathering of seminarians we must take the place of honour because any seminarian we meet there should either be our mate (those in the same predicament with us) or our juniors. We may have gotten away with ours, but you may not with yours because that is pride and arrogance combined!

·        It takes the grace of God to be humble in the face of obvious success. Because all of us have a residue or abundance or over-exaggerated self-worth that ultimately leads to pride. A typical example will be when we were students after exams, when we saw our results, and you did well, and you are asked what your scores were, you will hear expressions like “I got 95%”, “I cleared the papers”, “I finished them”, “I gave them the marking scheme”, etc. But when we perform badly in the same exam, we hear expressions like “the teacher gave me 40%”, “the teacher hates me”, “that was not my real score”, etc.

·        Amidst all these expressions, we see that it is really difficult to be successful and yet remain humble. It takes the grace of God and constant consciousness that all we have and are but God’s gift to us, which we must render an account of.

·        Dearly beloved in Christ, why boast when all you have was given to you? If you imagine that it is your intelligence that has made you who you are today, remember that you were not the most intelligent person in your school or your class and they are probably still struggling to make it,  if you think it is your hard work that has brought where you are today hence you must boast and be arrogant, remember that there are millions of people working harder than you and are yet to or may not make it, if you think it is your beauty, handsomeness or connection that have brought you where you are, you may not have won miss world or Mr universe, meaning that there are thousands of people who are better than you. Then why boast? Why be arrogant? Everything we are today and will be tomorrow is the grace of God.

·        Dear friends in Christ, humility attracts the attention of the Heavenly host, while pride establishes a direct link to the demonic kingdom. Being humble is not a choice; it is a necessity if we must please God and serve him well.

·        Our human experience also shows that we all detest people who are proud and arrogant, how much more God created us and made us who we are. Today we are enjoined to imbibe the virtue of humility because humility covers a multitude of sins. According to Saint Augustine, “pride changed angels into devils; humility makes men into angels”.

·        Today, Jesus does not prescribe the impossible to us; he leads by example. Scripture tells us that “though he was in the form of God, Jesus did not count equality with God, but he humbled himself, taking the form of a slave, becoming as human beings are; and being in every way like a human being, he was humbler yet, even to accepting death, death on a cross. And for this God raised him high, and gave him the name above all names” (Phil. 2:6-9).

·        We may ask, is it really necessary to be humble after all, life goes on? Yes! It is very necessary to be humble because humility makes us give all glory and honour to God for whatever we are and whatever we may achieve. It also makes us realise that without God we can do nothing (Jn. 15:5).

·        The first test of a truly great Christian is humility, and the first test of a really stupid person is pride. May God give us the grace to remain in the face of visible intimidation and arrogance in our world through Christ our Lord, Amen!

·        Happy Sunday!!!