“One Sabbath, when he went to dine at the house of a ruler of the Pharisees, they were watching him carefully. . . . Now he told a parable to those who were invited, when he noticed how they chose the places of honor, saying to them, ‘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, 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. 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. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.’

He said also to the man who had invited him, ‘When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid. But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.’”

Jesus has now made a stop on his journey to Jerusalem because it’s the Sabbath, and he’s eating at a prominent Pharisee’s home. While there he’s being watched carefully, but Jesus is also making his own observations, and in that passage we just read he speaks to two different people or groups: the invited guests, and the man who had invited him. And here what we learn from Jesus is that even though our worldly position does not matter in the kingdom of God, your self-perception does.

First, Jesus calls the invited guests to humility. He looks around and sees people choosing the best places. Like, I’m picturing a musical chairs type mad dash for the seats of honor. I’m sure it wasn’t that bad, but even if that wasn’t how they were acting outwardly, it’s what was in their hearts. The places of honor would be seats where the attendees would be highly visible and near the host or other distinguished guests. It would be like going to a wedding nowadays as a normal, invited guest, and then going to sit at the head table with the wedding party at the reception. And so, when Jesus sees the people seeking this worldly honor and status, he decides to say something. This wouldn’t have been strange. It was customary for well known teachers to lecture at banquets. But I’m sure this is not the lecture they were expecting.

He first tells the people what NOT to do in verses 8-9: “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, 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.” Honor is not something that can be taken; it has to be given. By taking the seats of honor without being asked to sit there, the people showed their sense of self-importance, their high opinion of themselves. It was prideful. And rather than honor, it would result in shame.

In contrast, Jesus tells the people in verses 10-11 what TO do. “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. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” It’s when we’re content where we are, with our station, with our circumstances, with the people in our lives, that we are then in a place where we can be taken higher. We all want honor and to avoid shame. That’s a human desire that goes all the way back to the garden. We are an attention seeking people. We desire recognition. But when we work as for the Lord, we can allow God to raise us up.

Jesus is our perfect example in this. When Jesus came into this house, where do you think he chose to sit? In this case, it would have been up to the Pharisee to reassign seats, and really everyone should have given up their seat for Jesus. But I get the feeling that didn’t happen. But Jesus didn’t start flipping tables and demanding a better seat. He embodied Philippians 2:3-11: “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore GOD has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” It is God’s task to exalt, not ours. And no matter what happens here, we know this will ultimately be fulfilled in eternity.

Honor and shame were super important in this culture, but Jesus wanted them to see there was something even more important, something that would affect their eternity. And so, he continues speaking, now to the Pharisee who has invited him, calling him to humility as well.

He first tells the Pharisee who NOT to invite to his feasts. His guest list only included people like friends, brothers, relatives, and rich neighbors. This too showed pride and a lack of love, because he was excluding those he didn’t deem “worthy.”

Instead, Jesus tells the Pharisee who he SHOULD invite: the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. The social outcasts. These were the people that were usually assumed to be sinful, that they had done something to cause their poverty or physical ailment. Inviting them would have been radical. But this is who Jesus came to minister to. And so, it should also be who all of us minister to. And in doing so we honor Jesus’ teaching to love our neighbors in a way that gives no thought to our own self-interest. We show a love for God by loving the least.

These people would have no way to repay the Pharisee for their invitation. They would not be able to reciprocate and invite him to a similar feast in their own homes. And that is the point. Jesus invites us to his table, and we could never reciprocate that invitation because the cost was his own perfect life. And so we show hospitality and care and generosity also without hope of reciprocation. Because if you’re modeling God’s generosity, there’s no losing. Jesus says you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just, which is the end, the time of judgement. And I don’t know what kind of dinner parties you’ve got going on at your house, but I would give up all of them to be at that wedding feast with Jesus. That’s the only invitation we should be concerned about receiving.

And as I was thinking about this I was reminded of the very first person who got to be there with Jesus. You want to talk about the least? The very first place in paradise, the “best seat,” if you will, was given to a criminal, hanging on a cross, next to Jesus. Can it get any more “least of these”?

Jesus spent his life here exalting the humble while modeling his own humility. So, as we remember how Christ lived, we also live for that “audience of one.” We bring our self-perception in line with what God thinks of us. We recognize that is what matters most. And we display that radical generosity, knowing that He’s got us! We humble ourselves, and if He exalts us here on earth, great, and if not, also great, because we know something even greater is coming.