He told a parable to those who had been invited, noticing how they were choosing the places of honor at the table. 8 “When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not recline at table in the place of honor. A more distinguished guest than you may have been invited by him, 9 and the host who invited both of you may approach you and say, ‘Give your place to this man,’ and then you would proceed with embarrassment to take the lowest place. 10 Rather, when you are invited, go and take the lowest place so that when the host comes to you he may say, ‘My friend, move up to a higher position.’ Then you will enjoy the esteem of your companions at the table. 11 For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” 12 Then he said to the host who invited him, “When you hold a lunch or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or your wealthy neighbors, in case they may invite you back and you have repayment. 13 Rather, when you hold a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind; 14 blessed indeed will you be because of their inability to repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”
In this parable, ‘those who had been invited (v. 7)’ were the elect. Jesus had previously referred to himself as a bridegroom; “Can you make the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come, and when the bridegroom is taken away from them, then they will fast in those days (Lk. 5:34-35).” It was a Jewish tradition to refer to the coming of the Messianic age as a wedding banquet.
Since the Kingdom of God is as hand (Mk. 1:15) we should not take places of honor at table before the king arrives, but we should be humble and wait for Jesus to elevate us to the positions he deems appropriate for us based on our service to him. Let us not be humbled from the lofty position we placed ourselves but be elevated from the lowly position we took. If we are patient and humble, we will be open to our Lord’s guidance and understand better how to serve Him and glorify God. Humility and charity must go together. We should be kind to the disadvantaged who cannot reciprocate. If we take care of the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind we will be the righteous who will be repaid at the resurrection (v. 14). God will treat us as we treat each other; “What you did not do for one of these least ones, you did not do for me.’ And these will go off to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life (Mt. 25:45-46).”
Almighty God, grant us the grace to humbly seek what is beneficial for your Kingdom and the wisdom to discern your will and act on it. This we pray through Christ our Lord. Amen!
References
Chiu, José Enrique Aguilar, et al. The Paulist Biblical Commentary. Paulist Press, 2018.
Faculty of the University of Navarre. The Navarre Bible: New Testament Expanded Edition. Expanded Edition, Four Courts / Scepter, 2008.
Brown, Raymond Edward, et al. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. Upper Saddle River, NJ, United States, Prentice Hall, 1990.
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