The Lowest Place
7 He spoke a parable to those who were invited, when he noticed how they chose the best seats, and said to them, 8 “When you are invited by anyone to a wedding feast, don’t sit in the best seat, since perhaps someone more honorable than you might be invited by him, 9 and he who invited both of you would come and tell you, ‘Make room for this person.’ Then you would begin, with shame, to take the lowest place. 10 But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when he who invited you comes, he may tell you, ‘Friend, move up higher.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at the table with you. 11 For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.” 12 He also said to the one who had invited him, “When you make a dinner or a supper, don’t call your friends, nor your brothers, nor your kinsmen, nor rich neighbors, or perhaps they might also return the favor, and pay you back. 13 But when you make a feast, ask the poor, the maimed, the lame, or the blind; 14 and you will be blessed, because they don’t have the resources to repay you. For you will be repaid in the resurrection of the righteous.”
He watches the guests choose their seats and tells them where to sit — then tells the host whom to invite.
He spoke a parable to those who were invited, when he noticed how they chose the best seats, and said to them,
He is at the dinner, watching people arrive and place themselves. Seating at such meals was graded, and everyone present understood the map of the room.
“When you are invited by anyone to a wedding feast, don’t sit in the best seat, since perhaps someone more honorable than you might be invited by him,
The advice begins as social prudence and says so frankly. The risk described is real and excruciating: being asked to move down in front of everyone, and then you would begin, with shame, to take the lowest place Luke 14:9 — the lowest, because by then it is the only one left.
But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when he who invited you comes, he may tell you, ‘Friend, move up higher.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at the table with you.
Read as tactics this is merely a safer strategy, and a shrewd guest could use it to be promoted in public. The last verse forecloses that.
For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”
The rule is stated in the passive throughout: will be humbled, will be exalted, by someone other than the guest. The seating chart is not in his hands at all, which is why maneuvering for the low seat is as futile as grabbing the high one. What is being described is the way the host arranges his table.
Then he turns to the man who invited him, which is a considerable thing to do at another person's dinner.
He also said to the one who had invited him, “When you make a dinner or a supper, don’t call your friends, nor your brothers, nor your kinsmen, nor rich neighbors, or perhaps they might also return the favor, and pay you back.
The four categories are not condemned. What is named is the mechanism: or perhaps they might also return the favor, and pay you back. Hospitality among equals was a currency, and a guest list of people able to reciprocate is an investment with a known yield.
13 But when you make a feast, ask the poor, the maimed, the lame, or the blind; 14 and you will be blessed, because they don’t have the resources to repay you. For you will be repaid in the resurrection of the righteous.”
The blessing is located precisely in the inability to repay. What makes the act generous is that the ledger cannot be closed — and the four groups named are the ones a careful household would have had reasons to keep away.
"For you will be repaid in the resurrection of the righteous." The repayment is not canceled, only postponed past any possibility of collecting it here. And the man who has just heard this answers with a pious remark about feasting in the kingdom, which is where the next parable comes from.
settled What this mark means