Luke 14:6-11: a reflection

6They couldn’t answer him regarding these things. 7He 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, 9and 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. 10But 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. 11For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”

Watching guests jockey for the best places at a feast, Jesus tells a parable about honor. Do not sit in the place of honor, he says, lest someone more distinguished arrive and you be asked, with shame, to move down to the lowest place. Instead, take the lowest place, so that your host may say, Friend, move up higher, and you be honored before all. And he draws the principle: everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.

Notice the reversal Jesus describes. The one who grasps for honor, who takes the high place and pushes himself forward, ends up humbled, exposed, asked to step down. But the one who takes the low place, who does not grasp for recognition, is the one lifted up. The way up, in Jesus' kingdom, is down; the path to true honor runs through humility, not through self-promotion.

That cuts against a deep instinct to promote ourselves, to seek the recognition we feel we deserve, to take the high place. Jesus counsels the opposite: take the low place, do not grasp for honor, and let any exaltation come from another, in its time. This is not a technique for getting honored, but a whole posture of humility that refuses to grasp. When you are tempted to push yourself forward, to seek the seat of honor, to promote yourself, remember Jesus' words: take the lower place. The one who humbles himself will be exalted; let your lifting up come from God, not from your own grasping.

Lord Jesus, you taught that the one who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted, and you counseled taking the lowest place rather than grasping for honor. Cut against my instinct to promote myself, to seek recognition, to take the high seat. Give me instead the posture of humility that does not grasp, that is content with the low place and lets any lifting up come from you, in your time. Keep me from self-promotion, and teach me that the way up in your kingdom is down. Let my honor come from you, not from my own grasping.