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Author: Stephen Weller
716 words, 4 minutes read time

The Parable of the Wedding Feast

Scripture: Luke 14:7-11

With the last lesson we covered a very short section in which Jesus healed a man with dropsy on the Sabbath. With this lesson we will start another short section of one lesson on the parable of the wedding feast and who you should invite to a feast.

L^{k 14:7} “Now he told a parable to those who were invited, when he noticed how they chose the places of honor, saying to them, ⁸ “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, ⁹ 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.’”’

In Luke 14:1, Jesus was invited to dine at the house of a ruler of the Pharisees as a wedding guest. Jesus watched the guest arrive and “noticed how they chose the places of honor.” Seeing this, Jesus decided to teach a lesson on humility to those in attendance using a parable. He begins by pointing out what not to do to avoid possible shame: ⁸ “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, ⁹ 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.”

The desire of the flesh is to be as close to the person of honor as possible because in so doing it may cause you to feel more important in the eyes of others. What if you chose a seat that was too close to the front and a person of greater honor than you came in and had to take a seat of lower position and the host of the event noticed this, what might be the outcome?

^{Lk 14:10} “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. ¹¹ For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

This wise instruction is found in Proverbs 25:6 – 7 ESV: ⁶ “Do not put yourself forward in the king’s presence or stand in the place of the great, ⁷ for it is better to be told, “Come up here,” than to be put lower in the presence of a noble.”

Another example of humility is found in Luke 18:10 – 14 and is about two men who went up to the temple to pray. One was proud and pointed out his worth to God while the other was humble and confessed his sin saying, “‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ ¹⁴ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

This parable points out things that may happen in this life, but it will take place most fully at the final judgment. Consider James 4:6, 10 ESV: ⁶ “But he gives more grace. Therefore, it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” ¹⁰ Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.”

We find a similar instruction in 1 Peter 5:5 – 6 ESV: ⁵ “Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” ⁶ Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you.”

Conclusion

It is a natural tendency of the flesh to be proud, but that results in making God our enemy. To seek to be humble allows God to extend grace to us and to be exalted at the proper time.