Homily for Proper 17 C - August 29, 2010

My brothers and sisters, humility is a much maligned but very genuine virtue.

In our reading from Sirach we heard that pride, or more precisely “arrogance,” is the root of all sin! Through excessive pride humanity proliferates every kind of evil. In essence the author is telling us that personal glory displayed through arrogance and pride is false and displeasing to God and other human beings. It is certainly true that most of us don’t like to be around individuals who are arrogant or egotistical. Spiritually speaking, this kind of excessive pride is the denial of the glory due to God, and therefore the source of all sin.

In our reading from Hebrews, the author is ending his letter with a list of encouragements for the reader. Showing hospitality to strangers, i.e., to other Christians from other churches. Inns did exist at the time, but because they were frequented by prostitutes and bandits, Christian travelers generally stayed with other Christians.

Further, we are to avoid marital irresponsibility (unfaithfulness to one’s spouse) and greed. These are seen as corrupting the life of the community. The author sums up all his admonitions with a reminder to remain focused on eternal life not earthly life.

Finally in Luke we see Jesus teaching against the sins of arrogance. Rather than looking for personal glories and lucrative relationships, we should be about the acts of compassion that build us a reputation in Heaven!

Jesus’ host is a prominent Pharisee. We can easily recognize that the “parable” is about membership in the Kingdom not simply good manners at a dinner party. This is even clearer in the Greek. The word rendered as “guests” has a meaning that is closer to chosen or recognizing oneself as chosen. The punch line is certainly about good manners, but Jesus is drawing a conclusion about the kingdom. Attendance at God banquet depends on God’s invitation and God will not be fooled by self-promotion!

Finally, Jewish and Greco-Roman societies both spurned the “poor” and the disabled. Jesus turns this view upside-down and instructs his host to share with the needy.

My sisters and brothers, it’s easy to reflect on our social reality as a nation and see the evils that come from egotistical pride. Our country’s prisons are loaded with thuggish individuals who believe they are entitled to do whatever they want. This underlies many “white collar” and political crimes as well.

In much smaller, but still important, ways it also affects our daily Christian lives. False pride, arrogance or an over blown sense of entitlement is behind many of our sins as well. Things like: the nasty (vengeful) remarks that we sometimes make to each other; or petty cheating at games; or the flat out unwillingness to admit we made a mistake.

Jesus’ recommends a medicine for this ailment; we should be honest with ourselves. Remembering that the “Golden Rule” applies to this part of our Christian life just as it applies to every other part. In God’s eyes, we should treat each individual with the same forgiveness, understanding and respect that you want for ourselves!