Taking the Lowest Place

Do not grasp status; let honour be given.

Jesus tells a dinner parable that forms humility and generosity: choose the lower seat, and invite those who cannot repay.

Scripture

Luke 14:7-14
Luke 14:7-14

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 marriage 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."

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