Luke 14:1, 7-14 Your Place

Luke 14:1, 7-14 (Evangelical Heritage Version)

One Sabbath day, when Jesus went into the house of a leader of the Pharisees to eat bread, they were watching him closely.

7When he noticed how they were selecting the places of honor, he told the invited guests a parable. 8“When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not recline in the place of honor, or perhaps someone more distinguished than you may have been invited by him. 9The one who invited both of you may come and tell you, ‘Give this man your place.’ Then you will begin, with shame, to take the lowest place.

10“But when you are invited, go and recline in the lowest place, so that when the one who invited you comes, he will tell you, ‘Friend, move up to a higher place.’ Then you will have honor in the presence of all who are reclining at the table with you.

11“Yes, everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”

12He also said to the one who had invited him, “When you make a dinner or a supper, do not invite your friends, or your brothers, or your relatives, or rich neighbors, so that perhaps they may also return the favor and pay you back.

13“But when you make a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, 14and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. Certainly, you will be repaid in the resurrection of the righteous.”

Your Place

I.

Not everyone hosts a party just to enjoy the company of family and friends. Sometimes there are ulterior motives. If one invites the “right kind” of people, you could move up the social ladder a rung or two. At the very least, having prestigious guests at your event might elevate your own status. Rather than upgrading your social status, maybe you invite certain people to your soiree simply to pump them for information, or to influence them in some future decision that might be made in your favor.

Have you ever received an invitation only to wonder whether there is an ulterior motive?

“One Sabbath day, when Jesus went into the house of a leader of the Pharisees to eat bread, they were watching him closely” (Luke 14:1, EHV).

Every time Jesus spoke, the Pharisees hung on his every word. It wasn’t to carefully absorb the information he referenced, but to see if there was any way to legitimately challenge what he said. If anything he said was off in the slightest bit, they could discredit him. They also found fault with everything he did. If he performed a miracle, he did it on the wrong day, or for the wrong people.

This wasn’t the first time Jesus had been invited to a Pharisee’s house, either. That time, when they questioned his standards, Jesus launched into a diatribe of warnings. Several times he repeated the phrase: “Woe to you Pharisees” (Luke 11:42, EHV).

For their part, the Pharisees remembered Jesus’ series of woes. He didn’t pull any punches when he spoke against them. He called them “Full of greed and wickedness” (Luke 11:39, EHV). He said they “Neglect justice and the love of God” (Luke 11:42, EHV). He said they “Love the best seat in the synagogues and the greetings in the marketplaces” (Luke 11:43, EHV), which enhanced their sense of prestige.

There was no love lost between the Pharisees and Jesus. Jesus was the upstart; they were the established religious community. They were the important ones.

As far as the Pharisees were concerned, somehow this Jesus had managed to get to a place that was farther up the social ladder than he deserved. Their ulterior motive was to trap him—to humiliate him—in some way, any way. They didn’t care how trivial; they just wanted something they could accuse him of. They wanted to put him in his rightful place. They wanted him completely discredited in the eyes of his followers. So it was that they were watching him closely.

The Pharisees remind me of Thurston Howell III from Gilligan’s Island. He and “Lovey” were so much superior to the “little people.” Picture him speaking with the superior tone that came from a clenched-jaw as he looked down his nose at those who surrounded him.

There the group of Pharisees was, waiting for the doors to open to the dinner party of the one who was hosting. One Pharisee looked sideways at all the rest, evaluating them. Where did he rank among his group of peers? Could any of them, really, be considered superior to himself? No way!

The problem was, each was trying to determine his place, and each thought he was superior to the rest. The whole purpose of this party was to get some dirt on Jesus, but they couldn’t help but revert to form. When the doors opened, they all rushed in, jockeying for position to get the best place in the house.

II.

“When he noticed how they were selecting the places of honor, he told the invited guests a parable” (Luke 14:7, EHV). Webster’s dictionary calls a parable a story that “illustrates a moral attitude or a religious principle.” For Sunday School students we usually call a parable: “an earthly story with a heavenly meaning.” Since Jesus intends a heavenly meaning, the parable isn’t just about having good manners or decorum.

“When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not recline in the place of honor, or perhaps someone more distinguished than you may have been invited by him” (Luke 14:8, EHV). A wedding banquet is a good source for an illustration, isn’t it? Only a few might have the social status to be invited to a party for heads of state. Perhaps none of us are likely to be invited to hob-nob with the ultra-rich and famous—with CEOs or owners of Fortune 500 companies, or celebrities. Almost all of us have been invited to a wedding reception, though.

When you have been invited to a wedding reception, you want to find your place. Sometimes there’s a diagram of the hall, with all the tables listed and seats assigned to each guest. There might even be placards at each table setting, so you can be sure of your place.

How embarrassing if you took the wrong place! You can almost picture some mere acquaintance, or some 3rd cousin twice removed who pompously chooses a seat at the head table.

“The one who invited both of you may come and tell you, ‘Give this man your place.’ Then you will begin, with shame, to take the lowest place” (Luke 14:9, EHV). If it were some pre-planned stunt to get attention, the 3rd cousin twice removed might be smug. Any normal guest would blush with embarrassment if it was necessary to be escorted to a lower table.

That’s our culture, perhaps. But in other cultures, like the one Jesus was in, to be removed from your seat and moved to a lower place would be more than embarrassing—it would bring great shame and humiliation. Such presumption could scar your reputation for a long time to come.

“But when you are invited, go and recline in the lowest place, so that when the one who invited you comes, he will tell you, ‘Friend, move up to a higher place.’ Then you will have honor in the presence of all who are reclining at the table with you” (Luke 14:10, EHV). There’s a good way to save yourself from embarrassment, or even shame: don’t presume to rank yourself highly. Choose a place in the general admission section. You might even be elevated by the host.

III.

“When you make a dinner or a supper, do not invite your friends, or your brothers, or your relatives, or rich neighbors, so that perhaps they may also return the favor and pay you back. 13“But when you make a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, 14and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you” (Luke 14:12-14, EHV).

There were always ulterior movies when a Pharisee hosted some event. Either they would gain prestige in some way by hosting, or they could expect the favor to be returned by the guests at a later date. Instead of inviting those who could reciprocate, invite from those you can expect nothing in return.

Jesus is the One who hosted a banquet for those who can’t possibly reciprocate.

He said: “Yes, everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted” (Luke 14:11, EHV). To sit down at any place in the banquet hall of heaven would be presumptuous. You don’t deserve to stand outside the door waiting to enter, let alone to go through door and look for your place. Neither do I.

No matter how good you are; no matter how proud of your accomplishments; no matter how high your station in life or the place you have made for yourself, those things mean nothing. The Apostle Paul pulls together a couple of David’s Psalms and Solomon’s words from Ecclesiastes and says: “There is no one who is righteous, not even one... 12There is no one who does what is good; there is not even one.” (Romans 3:10, 12, EHV). Paul concludes: “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23, EHV).

But it isn’t just that each of us has sinned. Isaiah says you can’t point to even one thing that gives you a starting point to bargain with God about your place. “All our righteous acts are like a filthy cloth” (Isaiah 64:6, EHV). There isn’t a thing you have done that could ever hope to count to earn your place.

Paul continued as he talked about it: “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God 24and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:23-24, EHV).

All kinds of things should exclude you from God’s banquet hall: false humility, attempts to brush off the seriousness of sin, lack of love for others. But Jesus took all these sins and more on himself when he went to the cross. All these were part of his agony. Jesus purchased your entrance for you—he purchased your place.

The Lord Jesus invited you to his banquet because he loves you. There is no way to repay the host, but he expects nothing in return. He has even given you the wedding clothes of his righteousness that allow you to be admitted into the hall. There’s no need to anxiously look for the best place; there is room enough in his heart and in his heavenly hall for all.

As we wait for the eternal feast with Jesus in heaven, he has given us the privilege of attending—and even hosting—mini feasts. Here we are, gathered to be nourished with his message of salvation once again. We come, knowing that we don’t have to fight for a spot with our fellow banquet-goers. We come, welcoming the opportunity and privilege of sharing the message of this feast with others.

How humbling it is to realize that Jesus loved you so much from eternity that he planned and put into action the feast to which he will one day gather you. What an honor it is to be assured of your place at his eternal banquet. Amen.