The Twenty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time (2025)
Every culture has its own proverbs—figures of speech or special sayings that offer points of reference for how to best live life. This Sunday, the Readings from Sirach and the Gospel of Luke pass on proverbial wisdom about the virtue of humility… and it’s an earthy wisdom.
Our word “humility” comes from the Latin-root humus, which literally means “earth.” So, when we are advised to humble ourselves, it is an invitation to be “grounded”—to be attentive to our connectedness to the Earth. This means being aware of our interconnectedness with all people and all the Earth’s creatures and, ultimately, with God the Creator. As Ben Sira, who authored the book of Sirach, reflects, when we humble ourselves we find favor with God. This is why Sirach advises us: “Humble yourself the more, the greater you are, and you will find favor with God. What is too sublime for you, seek not, into things beyond your strength, search not” (3:18, 20).
Humility is that virtue that allows us to understand who and what we are as God’s children: gifted and broken, struggling and blessed, all equal in the eyes of God.
In the gospel proclaimed this Sunday, Jesus gives concrete examples of how we can continue to grow in humility.
As we heard, he is at a dinner hosted by a leading Pharisee, and the invited guests are watching him closely. As the story progresses, we see the growing hostility between Jesus and the Pharisees.
Now, one of the ways that Jesus models humility for us is by not cutting off those whose theology or pastoral approaches differ from his own. In Jesus’ time, likes at with likes. Easting together was a way to signify shared values. By dining with those who opposed him, he signaled that their shared humanity—their common “earthiness”—forged a connection that transcended their differences.
Beyond this, Jesus also addresses the invited guests about choosing places at the table. There would have been protocols and those who higher social standing or preference would have been granted certain power or prestige. Banquets were occasions for people to enhance their social standing and Jesus calls out the guests for competing for places of honor. The way they can attain the most honor, he says, is by taking the lowest place. Choosing to sit with those who status would not enhance their own personal honor could lead to a growth of humility by providing an opportunity to interact with those who are earthy and to create relationships with them.
At the end of the day, however, we have to recognize that what Jesus is talking about in the Gospel isn’t really a dinner party. Instead, he is offering us both a lesson in discipleship and a powerful insight into the banquet that is the Kingdom of God.
Because humility is the virtue that grounds us and helps us to be open and honest about our own earthiness, it also frees us to own that each of us, in our own way, is one of the “poor, unfortunate, and afflicted.” How could we presume to claim a higher place at the table in the banquet hall of heaven—the heavenly banquet at which God is the host, invites the guests whom he wants, and assigns the places? Admitting our poverty and our suffering opens us up to receive the gifts and sense of wholeness that God wants to give us. It is this same humility that also enables us to discover the foundations of peace and justice that are the hallmarks of God’s Kingdom, present here and now.
This is why the Letter to the Hebrews can remind us that all the things for which we hope are attainable. Although humility demands that we each recognize that we are all in some way “poor, unfortunate, and afflicted,” humility also invites us to recognize our giftedness: God has endowed each of us with unique gifts and abilities and calls us to work together and use our gifts for the good of others.
All of this speaks of God’s boundless and extravagant generosity. And God offers and infinite supply of blessings.
In the end, if our hearts are open, Jesus wants us to understand where we disciples can find true power and honor: in humility and in our willingness to set aside our own status and agendas to place the needs of others before our own and to open our hearts to receive those gifts that God so wants to give us.
God of might, giver of every good gift,
put into our hearts the love of your name,
so that, by deepening our sense of reverence,
you may nurture in us what is good
and, by your watchful care,
keep safe what you have nurtured.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever. Amen.
-Collect for the Twenty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time
Homily prepared for Our Lady of Divine Providence Church and Old St. Mary’s Church, Milwaukee, WI
