C: 22nd Sun of OrdTime (1 Sept 2019) - AVOIDING SPIRITUAL OBESITY (Lk 7:1,7-14)

Our gospel situates us in the context of a Sabbath meal inside a leading Pharisee’s house (Lk 7:1). Jesus reprimanded the guests for seeking places of honor in the banquet hall, instructing them instead to choose the lowest place (v. 10). He capped his teaching saying, “For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted” (v. 11).

The Greek phrase for “places of honor” is prōtoklisias (pro+ klinō). The verb klinō literally means “to cause something to incline or bend, incline, bow,” from the noun klinē which simply means “bed, couch,” or a “dining couch” as seen in Mk 7:4 (cf. BDAG). Thus, basing from these derivatives, we can understand prōtoklisias as not restricted only to the translation “places of honor,” but also as a possible reference to any “location of comfort and relaxation”. Accordingly, the guests in the gospel story may be choosing the most comfortable seats in the house. Yet, Jesus would prefer the less cozy ones over them.

This teaching actually continues last Sunday’s gospel (21stSunday of Ordinary Time) which underlined the value of entering through the narrow door (Lk 13:24) for those who do so would be saved (v. 23). In contrast, those who choose the wide door would be destined to perdition (v. 27). Similarly, those who prefer the simple seats are like the former who know how to accept the pains, distresses and sufferings of life via the narrow path. Meanwhile, those who select the revered places are like the latter who desire only security, comfort and revelry in their lives through the easily accessible wide road.

To illustrate, if we are to draw the physical features of a professional journeyer (such as a marathoner or a mountain-hiker), we will all agree that he/she should be someone who is light and lean, albeit very agile and healthy, to be able to move quicker and more efficiently. In a similar vein, somebody who travels on this world, in the spiritual sense, should be spiritually light and lean, i.e., not filled with pride, ambition, and self-righteousness. In other words, he/she should not be spiritually obese, otherwise, he/she would encounter difficulties in carrying the daily cross. We recall here the passage when Jesus said that “it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God” (Mt. 19:24).

Spiritual obesity or pride, hence, is something that we should avoid. Interestingly, one of the Hebrew words used in describing a proud man in the Old Testament is rahab, the same word that is employed to convey the idea of wideness (cf. HALOT) that we encountered last Sunday, wherein the wide road is allegorically the track that leads, not to heaven, but to hell. Indeed, proud persons handpick this wide road, the easy ways and the comfortable facets of existence.

In order to trim down our proverbial ego-weight, we need to reduce from indulging into unhealthy passions, to refrain from savoring sweet praises, and to perform active sweating out of ungodly toxins. And to drastically achieve a desirable spiritual weight, we ought to strive to mortify ourselves from seeking too much comfort by always staying humble. The First Reading specifically unfolds what lies ahead to the humble: “The greater you are, the more you should behave humbly, and then you will find favor with the Lord; for great though the power of the Lord is, he accepts the homage of the humble” (Ecclesiasticus 3:18, 20).

Let us then take special efforts to be humble at all times, for the door to heaven will be surely wide open to those who deliberately do so.

- Rex Fortes, CM