Lovers of God

The parable of the guests

Lk 14:7-15 And He began speaking a parable to the invited guests when He noticed how they had been picking out the places of honor at the table, saying to them, 8 "When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for someone more distinguished than you may have been invited by him, 9 and he who invited you both will come and say to you, ‘Give your place to this man,’ and then in disgrace you proceed to occupy the last place. 10 "But when you are invited, go and recline at the last place, so that when the one who has invited you comes, he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher’; then you will have honor in the sight of all who are at the table with you. 11 "For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."

12 And He also went on to say to the one who had invited Him, "When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, otherwise they may also invite you in return and that will be your repayment. 13 "But when you give a reception, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, 14 and you will be blessed, since they do not have the means to repay you; for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous." 15 When one of those who were reclining at the table with Him heard this, he said to Him, "Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!"

In this parable, Jesus illustrates two points: one is that in a group the best approach is take the lowliest position; the other is that to get the best bang for the good that we do, we should do good to those who cannot repay us.

The underlying principle of the first point is that we should learn to not assume that others think too highly of us. We may think that others think highly of us, but we may be very surprised to learn that they do not, or perhaps they may not even be thinking of us at all!

The underlying principle of the second point is that we will be repaid for the good that we do, either in this life or the next, and that it is more advantageous to be repaid in the next, where the currency will be useful forever.