Frank Balgeman

Luke 14: 7 - 11.

Grace, mercy, and peace be yours from God, our Father, and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Our text for this morning is from Luke 14: 7 - 11.

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, "When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast do not take the place of honor, lest someone more distinguished than you may have been invited by him, and he who invited you both shall come and say to you, "Give place to this man", and then in disgrace you proceed to occupy the last place. But when you are invited, go and recline at the last place, so that when the one who has invited you comes, he may say to you, "Friend, move up higher"; then you will have honor in the sight of all who are at table with you. For everyone who exalts himself shall be humbled, and he who humbles himself shall be exalted." So far the text.

In Christ Jesus dearly beloved:

The parable which Jesus tells is first and foremost about Jesus himself, about the humbling and exalting of Jesus Christ, and then, secondarily, it is about all those who are in Christ, all of us who share in his humiliation and in his exaltation.

It is Saturday afternoon at the home of one of the leaders of the Pharisees, and Jesus, along with many others, has been invited to eat the big meal of the day at the home of this Pharisee. There was a scrambling for seats as the invited guests found places for themselves. Normally, when one is invited to a meal, the host has arrangements in mind for those invited, and he chooses where each person will sit, but that is not what happened today. Jesus took note of the behavior of the invited guests as he stood and waited to be seated.

Not one single guest knew his position relative to the other invited guests. No one could say for certain that he was the closest companion of the host, and therefore, could with certainty, seat himself at the place of highest honor. Yet everyone scrambled around seeking the highest possible spot, as if they knew exactly what the mind of the host was. There was no waiting for seat assignments, no waiting for the host to bestow honor. There was a ridiculous free-for-all as the invited guests sought to determine their own status at the feast. Honor is not taken. It must be given, but today, the opposite occurred.

Everyone is seated, and from whatever seat Jesus is now occupying, he begins to speak. "When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast do not take the place of honor, lest someone more distinguished than you may have been invited by him."

How do you know what your place is? Only one person knows the entire guest list. It may include many people who deserve more prestigious seats. How do you know where to sit? How do you know that a more distinguished guest is not here? The answer is, you don’t. You have no idea where you fit in. You don’t even know if the second to the last seat is yours or not. The only appropriate thing to do is to wait and act as if you are unworthy of an invitation, and then, see what happens. That is what "occupying the last place" means. Act as if you don’t deserve to be there, and act as if you have no intention of sitting down, because, as Jesus continues, if you have to give up your seat, nobody else is going to give up theirs for you, and then, you are out. That’s the rules of this game. If you have assumed incorrectly about your place in the host’s mind, then you are out. You are given the last place; namely, you are shown the door. Humble yourself. Recline at the last place by not considering yourself worthy of an invitation. Wait for the host to decide where you are to sit. But nobody did this. Not one single person, save Jesus.

Jesus waited to be seated, and from that seat he is now teaching. He is teaching about proper behavior at a feast in which guests are invited. Not one invited guest behaved properly except Jesus. He continues to speak. "But when you are invited, go and recline at the last place, so that when the one who has invited you comes, he may say to you, "Friend, move up higher"; then you will have honor in the sight of all who are at the table with you."

Jesus knows that everybody is interested in honor. Everybody wants to be noticed and treated as important, and everybody would like to have the host make a public display of that importance and validate their social status. But Jesus is not giving advice on how to achieve honor in a cleverly disguised manner. Jesus is not telling the guests to put on a false humility for the real purpose of getting a place of honor. No. What he is saying is this. The only person who is going to get exalted in this situation is the person who is not worthy of being here. If you occupy the last place, that is, if you act as if you do not belong, then, you will be exalted in the sight of all.

This parable is primarily about Jesus and his relationship to the one throwing the feast. Jesus is the invited guest who is more distinguished than any other guest at the meal. He is the only guest who knows the mind of the host and knows the entire guest list. He knows that nobody is supposed to seat themselves. If he wanted to, Jesus could walk in and take the seat of highest honor for himself and proclaim, "I am the host’s favorite son. I am the only obedient son, and the rest of you can proceed to occupy the last place. You clamored in ahead of me and left me no place to sit. Get out of my Father’s house."

But Jesus did not do this. He came to the feast and acted as if he was not worthy. He acted as if he did not belong. He occupied the lowest place. He emptied himself and considered his true position, his place as God’s equal, something not to be put on display, not to be grasped. He stood there and let everybody else scramble for places of honor which they did not earn or deserve, behavior, which has no place in this host’s house. He allowed himself to be excluded. He occupied the last place. He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. The cross was his exclusion, his great humiliation.

This parable is about Jesus. He is talking about himself and the cross he is about to suffer. These are the rules of his Father’s house. The one who humbles himself on the cross will be given the place of highest honor in the feast. For just as the host said, "Friend, move up higher", God the Father will soon say, "I have highly exalted him, and bestowed on him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Friend, move up to the highest place."

"Father, the hour has come; glorify Thy Son, that the Son may glorify Thee." Jesus spoke these words the night before he was crucified. In the language of our parable we could paraphrase, "Host, the hour has come for you to throw me out of the meal and leave me without a seat and subject me to the greatest public humility, for in doing so, you will be giving me the greatest honor, and I in turn will be honoring you because, as your son, I understand the rules of your house."

This parable is about Jesus. He humbled himself and was obedient to the point of death on the cross. He was "moved up" to the place where the host, God the Father, is seated.

Now the parable may be made to apply to us by way of extension.

We are not deserving of an invitation to any meal that God is serving. No seat is too low for us. We must wait and not dare sit anywhere. A gospel invitation has, indeed, been extended to all of us. We are invited guests, but only a foolish guest comes to the banquet and acts as if he deserves to be there, picking out his place of honor at the feast. For as the Old Testament lesson said today, "Do not claim honor in the presence of the king, and do not stand in the place of great men." Honor must be given. It cannot be taken. Honor was given to Christ. It was given to him because of his great humiliation on the cross. His humiliation is his great exaltation. Honor is given to us in the same way. It is given to us by our connection to Christ. We are connected to Christ in a most humiliating fashion. We have been crucified and buried with him. We are connected to his humiliation. Our humiliation is our exaltation.

We have been crucified with Christ. We have been put to death with him and buried with him in our baptism. When we are invited by the gospel to His banquet, we do, indeed, come, but our lips are not boasting, "Where do I sit?" but rather, "Wretched man that I am, who sent me an invitation, and who will deliver me and provide a place for me?" That kind of humility is our great glory. We humble ourselves by occupying the last place, by considering ourselves unworthy of an invitation to God’s feast.

We are given a place in God’s banquet. We are moved up into His presence and called His friends. Our great host exalts us when we are humbled by our sins and find exaltation in our Savior. In Jesus’ name. Amen.