St Luke tells us of three occasions when Jesus was invited to dine at the house of a Pharisee.
In the first Simon the Pharisee’s reception of Jesus is so lacking in generosity and warmth that he does not even give Jesus water to wash his feet, greet him with a kiss or anoint him with oil - in contrast to the “gate crasher”, that St Therese of Lisieux loved so much, the sinful woman who showers Jesus’ feet with tears and kisses. She loves much because she has been forgiven much.
On the second occasion Jesus dines with an unnamed Pharisee who is shocked that Jesus fails to wash himself before the meal according to custom. Jesus uses this as springboard to rebuke the Pharisees and scribes about their hypocrisy – how they are concerned with outward observance but inside they are full of extortion and wickedness.
In today’s Gospel, we come to the third occasion and it is with a desire to catch Jesus out, that a leading Pharisee invites Jesus to dine – to convey this Luke simply tells us that they “were watching him”. But Jesus is also watching them. He sees how the guests chose the places of honour at the meal, the guests of honour would have been to the right and left of the host. As the host was a leading Pharisee we can suppose that the other guests were also prominent – his friends, brothers, relations and rich neighbours. Given the attitude of the Pharisees towards Jesus, how Jesus himself observes the guests trying to take the places of honour and then proceeding to teach them to take the lowest place, we can suppose that it is indeed the lowest place Jesus himself is occupying. Who is more humble than Jesus? Was he asked to move a little higher? It seems unlikely. Jesus remains in the lowest place and so from there begins his teaching on humility. He does not move higher, because he is not asked to.
Well, soon, after uttering the words of a Roman centurion – Lord I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof but only say the word and my soul shall be healed – we will, if we are able and so blessed, receive Jesus in the Eucharist. Jesus comes under our roof, into us, as our guest.
When he enters what will He do? Where will He go? He will do what he did all those years ago at the house of the Pharisee - he will take the lowest place and wait. What does this mean? It means that, under our roof, in our hearts there are other “guests” apart from Jesus; other guests that claim our attention, guests that recline closest to us.
Who are these guests?
Isn’t it often that the “guests” that claim the attention of our hearts are not even those we love, but our cares, worries and anxieties?; the kind that choke the Word of God like the seed falling into the thorns and briers in the parable of the sower; the kind that Jesus rebuked Martha for while Mary her sister sat at His feet. “Martha, Martha you worry and fret about so many things..”. We allow our worry to be our guest of honour, whispering to us constantly, robbing us of our joy and even perhaps, like the Pharisees, tempting us to be distrustful of Jesus. Yet Jesus still enters and waits, watching as all our worries vie for the highest place in our hearts.
We are the host to Jesus. What must we do?
We must say to Jesus – “Jesus, my friend, my brother, my Lord, my God - move up higher. Move closer to my heart, let your thoughts and desires be mine.” We can even introduce our other guests to Him, all our worries and anxieties; or in the words of St Peter: “…cast all our anxieties onto Him”.
Then what will Jesus do?
He will put our worries, real though they be, in their proper place – that is to say the lowest. The gift of peace is His to grant – we should ask for it. Jesus will enlighten our conscience and enkindle in us a desire for greater virtue and holiness – not like the mere appearance of holiness of the Pharisees - but the real holiness from having Jesus within as our Divine guest – “He is our virtue and our holiness” St Paul tells us. There is always the danger we can be content with the external appearance of holiness, think secretly we are actually quite good and, like Simon the Pharisee, greet Jesus lukewarmly. But no - with full knowledge of our sinfulness and with full confidence in his love and mercy we must greet Jesus like the sinful woman who, forgiven much, loved much.
“Show mercy” St Augustine tells us “begin with yourself”. Receive mercy and forgiveness from Jesus in order to show this same mercy to others. We can go to Jesus in confession – he awaits us there too.
So today we ask Jesus to move up higher in our hearts, to enkindle in us the desire for sanctity and for unbridled confidence in His mercy and love, to whisper to us that we are beloved of God; we cast our worries and anxieties on to him for He is taking care of us. Jesus we ask you, move a little higher in our hearts today and remain with us.