Luke 14:7-9

Rachel Workman: ⁷ When Jesus noticed that all who had come to the dinner were trying to sit in the seats of honor near the head of the table, he gave them this advice: ⁸ “When you are invited to a wedding feast, don’t sit in the seat of honor. What if someone who is more distinguished than you has also been invited? ⁹ The host will come and say, ‘Give this person your seat.’ Then you will be embarrassed, and you will have to take whatever seat is left at the foot of the table!

One day be well be sitting in the seat of honor. Until then, while on this earth we need to remain humble.

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John Burnett:  14 It happened that when He went into the house of one of the ^[a]leaders of the Pharisees on the Sabbath to eat bread, they were watching Him closely. ² And ^[b]there in front of Him was a man suffering from dropsy. ³ And Jesus answered and spoke to the ^[c]lawyers and Pharisees, saying, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?” ⁴ But they kept silent. And He took hold of him and healed him, and sent him away. ⁵ And He said to them, “^[d]Which one of you will have a son or an ox fall into a well, and will not immediately pull him out on a Sabbath day?” ⁶ And they could make no reply to this.  Jesus confronted the Pharisees on a regular basis and, here, used common sense to show them how silly their position was when it pertained to working on the Sabbath day.  God gave us the Sabbath as a day to worship Him and we should be faithful to do so, just as He is faithful to us in forgiving us of our sins.  Doing a little work, like saving an ox, is ok as long as we are faithful in worshiping Him on the day He set aside for worship.   

Parable of the Guests

⁷ And He began speaking a parable to the invited guests when He noticed how they had been picking out the places of honor at the table, saying to them, ⁸ “When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not ^[e]take the place of honor, for someone more distinguished than you may have been invited by him, ⁹ and he who invited you both will come and say to you, ‘Give your place to this man,’ and then in disgrace you ^[f]proceed to o

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Mike Grimm:  ⁷ When he noticed how the guests picked the places of honor at the table, he told them this parable: ⁸ “When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for a person more distinguished than you may have been invited. ⁹ If so, the host who invited both of you will come and say to you, ‘Give this person your seat.’ Then, humiliated, you will have to take the least important place.

Jesus is teaching a lesson here. He spoke to the guests telling them not to seek places of honor. Service is more important in God’s kingdom than status.

People today are hell-bent to raise their social status, whether by hanging around the right people, dressing to impress, or driving the right car. Whom are they trying to impress? Rather than aiming for prestige, we need to be looking for a place where we can serve God. God will tell us if He wants us to take a higher place.

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Tomorrow’s reading for Luke 14:10-11

¹⁰ “Instead, take the lowest place at the foot of the table. Then when your host sees you, he will come and say, ‘Friend, we have a better place for you!’ Then you will be honored in front of all the other guests. ¹¹ For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”