Humility and Honor

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 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 proceed to occupy the last place. 10 “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. 11 “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

12 And He also went on to say to the one who had invited Him, “When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, otherwise they may also invite you in return and that will be your repayment. 13 “But when you give a reception , invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, 14 and you will be blessed, since they do not have the means to repay you; for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.” — Luke 14:7-14

It must have been a strange dinner. Instead of focusing on enjoying the food and time together, the Pharisees watched Jesus (Luke 14:1), and Jesus watched them. He saw what they wanted and knew what was in their hearts, that the Pharisees“… love the place of honor at banquets and the chief seats in the synagogues” (Matthew 23:6).

When Jesus said “do not take the place of honor” (Luke 14:8), He was not providing a new teaching. Proverbs 25:6-7 says “Do not claim honor in the presence of the king, And do not stand in the place of great men; For it is better that it be said to you, “Come up here,” Than for you to be placed lower in the presence of the prince, Whom your eyes have seen.”

All societies have concepts of respect and honor, and these concepts are not necessarily bad. There is nothing wrong with honouring respected leaders, older people and teachers, and there is nothing wrong with accepting such honor. Also, Middle Eastern cultures had a strong idea that honor should be returned, so they would often only invite people capable of returning the honor. To invite a poor person to a rich man’s dinner would put that person to shame because he would be incapable of providing a similar meal in return.

Respect is not a problem, but pride is. John Stott wrote that at every stage in Christian life, “pride is our greatest enemy and humility is our greatest friend” (Pride, Humility & God). It is not in human nature to be humble, and yet we must seek, pray for and work towards true humility. There is much to gain from humility and much to lose from pride because, as Peter writes “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (1 Peter 5:6).

Prayer:
• It is a difficult prayer to pray, but pray that God will break your pride and lead you to
true humility.