November 6th, 2018

Tuesday of the Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time

LECTIONARY
486

FIRST READING
PHIL 2:5-11

Brothers and sisters:
Have among yourselves the same attitude
that is also yours in Christ Jesus,

Who, though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God
something to be grasped.
Rather, he emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave,
coming in human likeness;
and, found human in appearance,
he humbled himself,
becoming obedient to death,
even death on a cross.
Because of this, God greatly exalted him
and bestowed on him the name
that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bend,
of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.

PSALM
PS 22:26B-27, 28-30AB, 30E, 31-32

Response: I will praise you, Lord, in the assembly of your people.

I will fulfill my vows before those who fear him.
The lowly shall eat their fill;
they who seek the LORD shall praise him:
"May your hearts be ever merry!"

All the ends of the earth
shall remember and turn to the LORD;
All the families of the nations
shall bow down before him.

For dominion is the LORD's,
and he rules the nations.
To him alone shall bow down
all who sleep in the earth.

To him my soul shall live;
my descendants shall serve him.
Let the coming generation be told of the LORD
that they may proclaim to a people yet to be born
the justice he has shown.

GOSPEL
LK 14:15-24

One of those at table with Jesus said to him,
"Blessed is the one who will dine in the Kingdom of God."
He replied to him,
"A man gave a great dinner to which he invited many.
When the time for the dinner came,
he dispatched his servant to say to those invited,
'Come, everything is now ready.'
But one by one, they all began to excuse themselves.
The first said to him,
'I have purchased a field and must go to examine it;
I ask you, consider me excused.'
And another said, 'I have purchased five yoke of oxen
and am on my way to evaluate them;
I ask you, consider me excused.'
And another said, 'I have just married a woman,
and therefore I cannot come.'
The servant went and reported this to his master.
Then the master of the house in a rage commanded his servant,
'Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town
and bring in here the poor and the crippled, the blind and the lame.'
The servant reported, 'Sir, your orders have been carried out
and still there is room.'
The master then ordered the servant,
'Go out to the highways and hedgerows
and make people come in that my home may be filled.
For, I tell you, none of those men who were invited will taste my dinner.'"

Daily Reflection

The man who looks forward to dining in the kingdom of God perhaps thinks that only Jews will be part of that kingdom. To teach him and others like him, Jesus tells the story of a man who plans a great banquet and invites the wealthy, influential, important people like religious leaders, scholars of the law, and those in whose lives blessing is most apparent. These lamely excuse themselves, giving priority to other things, and so miss the great opportunity of receiving God’s blessing. The invited guests signify the Jewish nation for whom the banquet (kingdom) is prepared. They have no valid reason to reject Jesus but every reason to accept Him as their promised Messiah. Those who have chosen to reject Christ will never taste the joy of heaven. In a great reversal, those who are open to obtain God’s blessings are the poor, outcasts and sinners–the very ones the Pharisees consider unclean.

THE HUMBLE SHALL BE EXALTED

Humility, true humility, isn’t putting yourself down. It’s recognising that you owe everything to God. It’s stepping into your destiny based not on who you are or what you can do, but on who God is and what He can do through you – Steven Furtick, How God uses broken people to do big things.