A Homily for the 17th Sunday after Trinity

Let the Words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be always acceptable in thy sight O Lord, my strength and my redeemer.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

Beloved, in Christ, today’s Scriptures bring before us a simple but demanding truth: the Christian life is one of grace, humility, and unity. The Collect, the Epistle, and the Gospel all point in the same direction — that we are utterly dependent upon God’s grace, and that our response must be to walk humbly and in love, with one another.

We began mass with the collect that reads, “Lord, we pray thee that thy grace may always prevent and follow us, and make us continually to be given to all good works.” Notice the movement: grace prevents — that is, it goes before us — and grace follows — it carries us to the end.

This means that the Christian life is not simply a matter of trying harder. It is not that we do our best and God fills in the gaps. No — it is that every good thing in us begins with God, and every good thing we accomplish is completed by God. Grace is the air we breathe. Without it, we cannot even take the first step toward holiness.

So from the very beginning, we are reminded: there is no room for pride, no room for boasting. Our good works are not our achievement, but God’s gift.

This leads directly into the Epistle lesson from Ephesians. St. Paul, writing as a “prisoner of the Lord,” exhorts us to “walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called.” What does this worthy walk look like?

• It looks like lowliness — humility, not grasping for recognition.

• It looks like meekness — gentleness with others, even when wronged.

• It looks like long-suffering — patience, bearing with the faults of others.

• It looks like forbearance in love — choosing to love even when it costs us something.

St. Paul tells us this is the way we “keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” And why is unity so important? Because there is only one body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, once baptism, one God and Father of all.

The Church is not, and should not, be a collection of competing egos, but one family, joined in Christ. When we forget humility, gentleness, and patience, unity breaks down. But when we live in love, the unity of the Spirit is preserved.

The Gospel then puts flesh on this teaching. Jesus enters the house of a Pharisee on the Sabbath, and there is a man with dropsy — a painful illness that left the body swollen and weak. The Pharisees are watching to see if Jesus will break the Sabbath law.

And what does Jesus do? He heals the man, and then asks: “Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath day?” The Pharisees cannot answer. They are trapped in their pride, more concerned with rules than with mercy.

Jesus exposes their hypocrisy with a simple question: “Which of you, if your ox falls into a pit, would not immediately pull it out, even on the Sabbath?” Mercy is always lawful. Compassion is never against God’s will.

Here again is the call to humility: to see that love and mercy matter more than our own status, our own place, our own correctness.

Jesus then turns to those seated at the table and tells a parable. He notices how the guests scramble for the best seats, the places of honor. And He warns: don’t seek the highest place. Take the lowest seat, so that when the host comes, he may say, “Friend, go up higher.”

Then Jesus delivers the heart of the lesson: “Whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.”

This is not just a bit of social etiquette. It is the pattern of the Kingdom of God. The way up is down. The path to exaltation is humility. The Cross comes before the Resurrection.

My friends, this is a word we desperately need in our world today. We live in a culture that tells us to promote ourselves, to seek recognition, to demand our rights, to prove our worth. But Christ calls us to take the lowest seat, to live in humility, to put others first.

In the Church, too, we face temptations to pride — to division, to rivalry, to self-importance. But St. Paul reminds us: there is one Lord, one faith, one baptism. We belong to one another, and we are called to bear with one another in love.

And in our daily lives, how often do we, like the Pharisees, cling to rules, appearances, or status, instead of showing mercy? Jesus shows us the better way: love comes before law, compassion before correctness.

So let us pray that God’s grace may indeed go before and after us — that we may walk humbly, gently, patiently, and in love. Let us take the lowest seat, not exalting ourselves, but leaving room for God to lift us up.

And in doing so, we will truly “walk worthy of the vocation wherewith we are called,” bringing glory to Christ, who humbled Himself for us, even unto death, and is now exalted at the right hand of the Father.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

~ Fr. Sergio Gomez, F.O.D.C.