The Humble King and the Great Banquet: Why God Wants You at His Table

Phil 2:5-11, Psalm: 21, Lk 14:15-24

My dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

There is a feast being prepared. The table is set. The invitations have been sent. And there are empty seats. Today, Saint Paul shows us the heart of the King who invites us, and Jesus shows us how urgently the invitation is being extended—to everyone, everywhere, without exception.

In his Letter to the Philippians, Saint Paul gives us the most beautiful hymn in all of Scripture. “Have this mind among yourselves, which was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God something to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” Paul is not describing a distant doctrine. He is describing the King who is inviting us to His feast. The King who emptied Himself. The King who became a servant. The King who died on a cross. And because of this, “God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, 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.”

Then Jesus tells a parable. A man prepares a great banquet. He sends his servant to invite the guests. But one by one, they make excuses. “I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it.” “I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to examine them.” “I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.” The master is angry. He sends his servant into the streets and alleys of the town to bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame. And still there is room. So he sends the servant out to the highways and hedges, to compel people to come in, “that my house may be filled.”

The connection is this: The King who emptied Himself is the Host of the banquet. The one who humbled Himself to the point of death is the one who invites us to the table. And the invitation is not for the proud, the self-sufficient, the important. It is for the humble. It is for the poor. It is for those who know they have nothing to offer. The feast is not a reward for the worthy. It is a gift for the needy.

Pope Francis has said, “The table of the Lord is open to everyone. The invitation is not for the perfect, but for the hungry.” Saint John Paul II, in his encyclical Ecclesia de Eucharistia, wrote, “The Eucharist is the sacrament of the Church’s unity and the source of her mission.” And Saint Augustine, contemplating the humility of Christ, said, “The way to the feast is the way of humility. He who humbles himself will be exalted.”

What does this mean for us? We are invited. Right now. To the greatest feast imaginable: the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, where the King who emptied Himself gives us His Body and Blood. And we are called to extend that invitation to others. The poor. The lonely. The forgotten. The ones who think they are not worthy.

Today, let us examine our hearts. Are we making excuses? Are we too busy to come to the feast? And are we inviting others? For the house must be filled. And the humble King is waiting. Amen. May God bless you all!