31ST MONDAY HOMILY IN ORDINARY TIME — YEAR B

31ST MONDAY HOMILY IN ORDINARY TIME — YEAR B

HOMILY THEME: “For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

BY: Fr. Mike Lagrimas

Philippians 2:1-4, Ps. 131, Luke 14:12-14

On a Sabbath, Jesus went to dine at the home of one of the leading Pharisees. He said to the host who invited him, “When you hold a lunch or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or your wealthy neighbors, in case they may invite you back and you have repayment. Rather, when you hold a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind; blessed indeed will you be because of their inability to repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

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While having dinner at the house of a Pharisee, Jesus took the opportunity to teach His listeners, not only about good table manners, but more importantly about the virtues of humility and true hospitality. In yesterday’s Gospel, noticing how the guests “were choosing the places of honor at table,” Jesus taught them about the virtue of humility.

In today’s Gospel, the Lord turns to His host, the Pharisee, and taught him the virtue of true hospitality and generosity. He conveyed this lesson by giving the advice on what to do when he holds a dinner, taking particular attention on who to invite.

It is clear that, in the mind of the Lord, hosting a dinner should not be an occasion for bragging or flaunting one’s wealth and extravagance. Rather, it is an opportunity to reach out to the less fortunate neighbors who rarely have the capacity to eat delicious and nutritious food. The host should, therefore, invite beggars, the crippled, the lame, the blind and be glad of their inability to return the favor. It is the Lord, “at the resurrection of the righteous”, who will reward him abundantly.

In the first place, this is a clear proof of true generosity. Giving something to a person who has no capacity to repay is a genuine act of generosity. On the other hand, giving something but expecting something in return, and worse, expecting to get more in return, is no generosity at all. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus notes that “even pagans do that.” There is nothing praiseworthy in that act.

Most likely, Jesus must have in His mind this social event when, later on, He taught the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus (Lk 16:19-31). While the rich man feasted every day with his friends, he totally ignored Lazarus languishing in pain and hunger at his gate. He was very generous with his rich friends, but did not care a bit with the poor. This led him to his eternal damnation.

We can all resonate from the lesson of the Gospel today. There are too many people who are suffering from hunger and deprivation, not because there is not enough resources in the world. Rather, it is all because of too much selfishness and greed of those who enjoy abundant material blessings. Not only are they unwilling to share, but even worse, they use their resources to further exploit the poor. We see this in our modern society.

We may agree that the bane in modern society is bad politics. Corrupt politicians profess to be champions for the poor, especially during the campaign period. They are generous in handing out free goods and services, and even money, to the poor communities. But the first question is, where do the funds come from? Definitely, they cannot be that generous if it is their personal hard-earned money. And second, why are they so generous only during the campaign period? Definitely, these “acts of generosity” are thinly-veiled vote-buying tactics. Obviously, they are doing these, not for the poor but for their own advantage. Ultimately, it is still the people, especially the poor and marginalized in society, that are victims of the exploitation of these greedy and power-hungry politicians.

As followers of Christ, we are called upon to be the leaven of society. By our good works infused with the Gospel values, we can be instruments for the transformation of the world we live in. By all means, let us help those in need. Let us be generous in sharing our gifts and resources with them. But let us be sure that we do this out of love, without taint of selfishness and desire to exploit the needy. The words of the Lord in the Gospel today should be our inspiration and sole motivation: “For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

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