The way UP is DOWN – 22^nd Sunday in Ordinary time – year C – Luke 14, 1, 7-14

Most people want the front of the bus, the back of the Church and the centre of attraction and that’s an interesting way of looking at today’s Gospel except that the Gospel has much more for us to cud on.

As usual Jesus is at a dinner and as one commentator put it so well, Jesus ate his way through the Gospels! And so here he is, at the home of a Pharisee perhaps a prominent one too. Interesting I have reason to suspect the Pharisees motive for inviting Jesus.

The Pharisees, by and large, were no friends of Jesus and neither was he a member of their mutual admiration society. Jesus has attacked the Pharisees on numerous accounts because of their duplicity of life. Now a Pharisees invites him over ON THE SABBATH (see verse 1) and we are told they are watching Him.

Interestingly, the scripture of today’s Gospel skips out the part where at this meal a man with dropsy seems to be planted by the Pharisees in this home. A further reading of the Gospel tells us that the Pharisees were scrambling for the best seats which further strengthens my belief that this was no meal to honour Jesus but a ploy to trap him and see if he would heal the man; which He did after duly chastising the Pharisees.