Luke 14:7 ¶ Now he told a parable to those who were invited, when he noticed how they chose the places of honor, saying to them, 8 “When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in a place of honor, lest someone more distinguished than you be invited by him, 9 and he who invited you both will come and say to you, ‘Give your place to this person,’ and then you will begin with shame to take the lowest place. 10 But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when your host comes he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at table with you. 11 For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
Jesus was watching the others in the room and observes something that opens a door to teach. Life is filled with teachable moments for anyone humble enough to be taught.
Jesus used this parable to teach two important things that should never be ignored:
1) By grace know your place and enjoy it
2) Humility leads to honor, high mindedness leads to disgrace.
The art of knowing ones place is based on an attitude of humility. Nothing teaches us our place in life better than grace. It is God who calls us and gives us our place in the body of Christ. It is by grace we have been saved through faith, it is not of ourselves it is a gift. We did not earn the right to be His because we possess some amazing ability to choose better than others. That would mean we were smarter and with that attitude we are likely to look down on those not as wise as ourselves in their choosing.
In this parable a lot of assuming was going on. A Pharisee was hosting a feast and obviously invited his religious elite friends to it. Self righteous people can tend to be oblivious to the truth concerning their place and these folks were of that sort. They were coming into the feast and choosing the choicest seats without any thought that the seat they were choosing may be meant for someone the host has preferred to give it to. They just assume the host would consider them of such great importance that they should take the choice seat. People who think too much of themselves and their abilities end up in humiliating situations over and over again from not knowing their place by grace.
Jesus portrays the one who invited people as the only one with the authority to determine which seats belonged to whom and what measure of honor they should be given. We do not get to determine the level of honor we are due. That is up to God and those He has placed in authority in our lives.
About The Author
- Tim Atchley
- Knoxville, Tennessee, United States
- I currently serve as Senior Pastor of Harvest Church in Knoxville, Tn. I was sent out from Trinity Chapel of Knoxville in 1993 accompanied by my wife Sheila our four children Sarah, Hannah, Josiah & Isaac and a handful of bold, brave and committed believers determined to plant our first church. Pioneering is hard work but well worth the journey. That is why we desire to make disciples of Christ who will, like us, also embrace the call to plant churches.
