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Humility and Hospitality
Luke 14.1 and 7-14
Good News Translation (GNT)
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1 One Sabbath Jesus went to eat a meal at the
home of one of the leading Pharisees; and
people were watching Jesus closely.
Humility and Hospitality
7 Jesus noticed how some of the guests were
choosing the best places, so he told this
parable to all of them:
8 "When someone invites you to a wedding
feast, do not sit down in the best place.
It could happen that someone more important
than you has been invited,
9 and your host, who invited both of you, would
have to come and say to you, 'Let him have
this place.' Then you would be embarrassed
and have to sit in the lowest place.
10 Instead, when you are invited, go and sit in
the lowest place, so that your host will come to
you and say, 'Come on up, my friend, to a
better place.' This will bring you honour in the
presence of all the other guests.
11 For those who make themselves great will be
humbled, and those who humble themselves
will be made great."
12 Then Jesus said to his host, "When you give a
lunch or a dinner, do not invite your friends or
your brothers or your relatives or your
rich neighbours - for they will invite you back,
and in this way you will be paid for what
you did.
13 When you give a feast, invite the poor,
the crippled, the lame, and the blind;
14 and you will be blessed, because they are not
able to pay you back. God will repay you on
the day the good people rise from death."
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Commentary taken from
'The Applied New Testament Commentary'
(Kingsway)
Humility and Hospitality
Luke 14.1 and 7-14
Wherever Jesus went, He was carefully watched. His enemies among the Pharisees
were hoping He would do something for which they could condemn Him to death.
To heal a person on the Sabbath was considered by the Jews to be a violation of the
Jewish law
Teaching on Humility
While Jesus was at the Pharisee's house, other guests arrived. As they came in, they
chose the best seats to sit on. Seeing their pride and desire to be exalted before men,
Jesus told them a parable.
The parable is about being invited to a wedding feast. At wedding feasts, some seats
are reserved for important people; other seats are for less important people.
Usually, the most important guest arrives last.
If an unimportant guest were to sit down in an important guest's seat, the host of the
feast would have to ask that person to move to a less honoured seat. What an embarrassment!
It is better to take a lower seat first
Jesus does not mean we should show false humility.
Some people deliberately choose a lower seat, knowing that they will be asked to move
to a higher seat.
They pretend to be humble, but they really seek to be honoured. Such people put on the
appearance of humility, but really, they are proud.
The parable also has a spiritual meaning.
God has prepared a "wedding feast" and given each guest an assigned seat.
When we come before Him, let us not claim a good seat. He knows our hearts.
He knows which seat we are worthy to sit in.
Let us humble ourselves before Him and take the lowest seat.
Because God will humble those who try to exalt themselves.
Jesus saw that the host had invited only his rich friends and relatives.
It was costly to feed all those guests, but the host would suffer no loss in the end, because
all those guests would later on invite him to their homes, and he would be repaid.
Jesus said to the Pharisee,
"... do not invite your friends, your brothers or relatives, or your rich neighbours."
Jesus' meaning was this:
Do not invite only such guests; invite also those who cannot pay you back.
Jesus knew that the Pharisee had invited only those guests who could pay him back
in some way. His purpose in inviting people was to gain some favour or advantage.
But Jesus said to him,
"If you want to receive the blessing of God, invite those who cannot repay you.
If you do, God Himself will repay you at the resurrection of the righteous, that is,
in heaven."
Jesus' meaning is this: If we do things only to be paid back or rewarded in this life,
we will have received our reward; we shall receive no reward from God in heaven.
It is much better to receive a reward from God than from man.
The rewards of this earth end, but the rewards from God last forever.
Every good work we do is recorded in heaven. We shall be rewarded for it.
When we invite those who are poor, crippled, lame and blind, we are inviting
Jesus himself.
And He will not leave us unrewarded.
It is necessary to mention two further things.
First, it is not wrong to invite rich friends and neighbours. The rich also need
salvation; they need love. But we must invite them because of our love for them,
not for what we can gain from them.
Second, we must not invite poor people only because we hope to get a reward
in heaven.
That is selfish. We must invite them because we love them.
We must remember how Jesus invited us, called us, forgave us, loved us;
and we must do likewise to the least of these His brothers.
Dear friends, since God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.
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