178. Seat Yourself With Humility!

Proverbs 25:6-7, Luke 14:1-14

Key Verse: "Do not exalt yourself in the king's presence, and do not claim a place among great men; it is better for him to say to you, "come up here," than for him to humiliate you before a nobleman.

Proverbs 25:6-7

There is a lot going on at this Sabbath's banquet. Since we have already dealt with the issues that were addressed in the healing of the crippled woman, (Luke 13:10-17,) I won't bother to revisit them here. I will simply point out that since Jesus was on the move, chances are that the group of religious leaders who witnessed this healing and were forced to answer similar questions from Jesus, were probably not the same group who were present for the healing of the crippled woman, in the earlier reading. This was probably a new audience for Jesus. However, they were probably familiar with Jesus and His teachings.

So, now, Jesus turns to the subject of humility. When we think of banquets today, we probably imagine a room full of nicely decorated tables, with one table, front and center, known as the, "head table," for the most honored guests or speakers to be seated. The other tables may have name cards, indicating where people are to sit, but the people at those tables are usually considered to be fairly equal in status.

In Jesus’ day, people did not sit at table. In fact, the table itself was a short structure, perhaps a foot or so off the ground. People reclined at the table, with their head toward the table, usually resting on the left elbow. The feet were pointing away from the table. This would have made Jesus' feet very accessible during the foot washing in Luke 7. More than likely, there was only one table and people were seated according to rank of importance with the most important, probably the host, at the head. It would be the host’s responsibility to assign the seating, such as it was.

Jesus' advice is thus very practical here. Something interesting about it is that the same idea is already recorded in Proverbs! I wonder why Jesus didn't just quote the wisdom of Solomon, or remind them of what they had already learned there? Perhaps, since they were not living by that ancient wisdom, Jesus acted as if they didn't remember it, or had never read it, and taught it as if it was his own idea. It is also possible that as he told the parable, he knew they would be reminded of the Proverbs, to their shame!

At any rate, the lesson is simple. Don't think too much of yourself. It would be better to be assigned a place of importance rather than assume that you are important and then be humiliated by being asked to move. Since Jesus Himself, creator of all, came as the "humble servant," who should have been placed at the head, lived out what He was teaching by sitting in a lower position, He advises that we, His followers, do the same.

We too easily forget who we are. We use silly little man things like positions or possessions to determine who is important. We have no clue how God's ranking will be. It could be that the faithful prisoner in some third world hell hole will be placed far above you and me at the great banquet in heaven. God sees according to the heart.

"Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others." (Phil. 2:3-4) With this, attitude, you imitate Christ, your Savior and He is well pleased.

Hymn: "Come and Dine"