14:7-11 What is this parable called and what does it illustrate?
14:7-11 What is this parable called and what does it illustrate?
This is called the parable of the lowest seat at the feast. It is also known as the parable of the ambitious guest, and is only recorded by Luke. Jesus told this parable when He saw how the guests at the house He was visiting picked the places of high honour to sit in without waiting for their host to assign them the places.
The point the parable illustrates is found in V11: those who exalt themselves in the earthly kingdom of heaven will be put to shame in the eternal kingdom. This is essentially the same point the parable of the labourers in the vineyard makes in Mt 20 "…so the last shall be first, and the first last" (cp Mt 20:1-16).
Both the parables of the lowest seat at the feast and the labourers in the vineyard are lessons on humility which abound in scripture (cp Pr 25:6-7; 29:23; Mt 18:3-4; 19:27-30; 23:11-12; Lu 9:46-48; Jn 13:3-17; Ro 12:3,16; Php 2:5-9; Jas 4:6,10; 1Pe 5:5-6).
The spiritual reality that Christ teaches in the parable of the lowest seat at the feast is that true honour is not the honour that one claims for oneself, but rather it is the honour conferred on one by God (cp Job 22:29; Psa 18:27; Lk 1:52; 13:29-30; 18:9-14; Jn 5:44; 2Cor 10:18).
Honour cannot be secured by self-assertiveness - it comes only through humility and servanthood (see also comments on Mt 19:30 and 20:16).