Bible Study series: Luke 14:7-14. “For everyone who exalts himself shall be humbled, and the one who humbles himself shall be exalted.”
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In the next link to the original chapter, I comment more and offer the Greek text. At the bottom you will find a “Summary and Conclusion” section geared toward discipleship. Check it out!
In this post, links are provided for further study.
Let’s begin.
Scripture: Luke 14:7-14
7 He proceeded to tell a parable to those who had been invited, when he observed how they were choosing the first seats, saying to them: 8 “When you are invited by someone to a wedding, don’t sit down in the first seat, in case someone more honored than you has been invited by him, 9 and the one who invited you and him comes and will say to you, ‘Give the seat to this one’; and then in shame you begin to take the last seat. 10 Instead, when you are invited, go and take the last seat, so that when the one who invited you comes, he will tell you, ‘Friend, come up here to the first seat.’ Then there will be honor for you in front of all those seated with you. 11 For everyone who exalts himself shall be humbled, and the one who humbles himself shall be exalted.”
12 And he also proceeded to say to the one who had invited him, “Whenever you set out a midday meal or evening supper, do not call your friends nor your siblings nor your relatives nor your rich neighbors, so that they themselves don’t invite you in return, and that is your reward. 13 But whenever you set out a reception, invite the poor, crippled, lame, and blind. 14 You will be blessed because they do not have anything to repay you; for it will be repaid to you at the resurrection of the righteous.” (Luke 14:7-14)
Comments:
We are still at the dinner provided by the Pharisee and his friends—other religious leaders.
7:
“parable”: literally, the word parable (parabolē in Greek) combines para– (pronounced pah-rah and means “alongside”) and bolē (pronounced boh-lay and means “put” or even “throw”). Therefore, a parable puts two or more images or ideas alongside each other to produce a clear truth. It is a story or narrative or short comparison that reveals the kingdom of God and the right way to live in it and the Father’s ways of dealing with humanity and his divine plan expressed in his kingdom and life generally. The Shorter Lexicon says that the Greek word parabolē can sometimes be translated as “symbol,” “type,” “figure,” and “illustration,” the latter term being virtually synonymous with parable.
Jesus observed things going on around him, another sign that he was very bright. He was socially aware. Many people just put one foot in front of another and don’t notice the finer things of life and people’s behavior. He did, however.
8-9:
As noted under v. 6, first-century Israel was an honor-and-shame culture. If you become shamed, then the social stigma was powerful.
“give the seat to this one”: This one is the more honored guest than the lowlier man who was seeking to horn in on the prominent seats.
“you begin”: it was added in order to prolong the humbling as you walk to the far end of the table.
“Honor and shame were matters of life and death, and saving one’s face was more important than garnering wealth. Jesus wishes to wake up his audience to life and death issues that are truly life and death with eternal ramifications. If self-admiration and exaltation can lead to disastrous consequences in human social settings, it will lead to even more disastrous consequences in the final judgment” (Garland on 14:8-9).
10:
The opposite scenario is presented with a strong contrast: “instead.” You are supposed to take the lowlier seat. The host will recognize your importance and call you up to the front or first seats. I can add that he may leave you there, and if that happens, then at least you are not humbled in front of the others. But Jesus’s illustration shows you being honored. “honor” could be translated as “glory.” But it’s best, culturally speaking, to keep it as “honor.” You get the social honor as you walk towards the chief seats in front of all the guests.
“There will be honor for you”: this is another divine passive. Stein is right: “In the parable the honor came from the host who publicly acknowledged the humble guest. In the reality part of the parable the honor came from God, for the passive ‘will be honored’ is a divine passive” (comment on v. 10). Recall that a divine passive is an understated way of saying that God, working behind the scenes, is the one giving you honor. God is the one who promotes you.
Morris quotes Rabbi Akiva (Akiba), who lived later than Jesus, who is reported to have said, in order to advise guests to take the lower seats: “Better that people say to you ‘come up, come up,’ and not to say to you, ‘go down, go down’ (Leviticus Rabbah I.5)” (comment on v. 10).
11:
Here is the payoff or punchline. This is another verse spelling out the Great Reversal. In Luke 1:51-53 Mary sang that Jesus and his kingdom would exalt the poor and humble, while the rich and powerful will be demoted. In Luke 2:34 Simeon prophesied that Jesus was appointed to be the “falling and rising of many.” Now it is expressed in self-exaltation leading to humiliation, while self-humbling leading to exaltation.
So we have more instances of divine passives. The kingdom of the real and true and living God is about humility and then allowing God to promote you.
12:
Now Jesus shifts gears and directs his attention at the hosts, in revealing what the kingdom of God is really like. Everyone invites those groups of people. This is socially acceptable and even normal. However, these groups will invite you in return, and then your reward will be earthbound and minimal. Jesus calls his kingdom citizens to rise above the earthbound, in the next verse.
13:
These undesirable people were excluded from full participation of worship at the temple (Lev. 21:16-23; 2 Sam. 5:8).
16 The Lord said to Moses, 17 “Say to Aaron: ‘For the generations to come none of your descendants who has a defect may come near to offer the food of his God. 18 No man who has any defect may come near: no man who is blind or lame, disfigured or deformed; 19 no man with a crippled foot or hand, 20 or who is a hunchback or a dwarf, or who has any eye defect, or who has festering or running sores or damaged testicles. 21 No descendant of Aaron the priest who has any defect is to come near to present the food offerings to the Lord. He has a defect; he must not come near to offer the food of his God. 22 He may eat the most holy food of his God, as well as the holy food; 23 yet because of his defect, he must not go near the curtain or approach the altar, and so desecrate my sanctuary. I am the Lord, who makes them holy.’” (Lev. 21:16-23, NIV)
This reversal is unexpected. We are called to invite the least, the last, and the lost. They can’t pay you back, but God can. Here again is the Great Reversal (Luke 1:51-52; 2:34). Jesus would cause the fall of the mighty and the rise of the needy, and the rich would be lowered, and the poor raised up. It is the down elevator and up elevator. Those at the top will take the down elevator, and those at the bottom will take the up elevator.
Parallel Jewish teaching reflects a different spirit. In m. ‘Abot 1.5, the needy can enter a household which has doors wide open, but they are probably there to serve, as 1.3 suggests (Bock, p. 1266).
14:
“The cultural conventions governing giving and receiving meant that when one person outgave another, that person gained more status as the superior in the relationship while the other moved down a rung on the status ladder” (Garland, comment on 14:14). This teaching guts out the standard cultural convention because the poor, crippled, lame and blind were already outcasts. Now the host will be repaid at the resurrection.
I admit this to you that according to the Way, which they call a faction, I worship in the way of God of the fathers, believing in everything which is according to our law and written in the prophets, 15 having hope in God, which they themselves accept, for the resurrection to come, of the righteous and unrighteous. (Acts 24:14-15, my tentative translation)
Luke believed in the final resurrection of the unrighteous and righteous.
However, here in v. 14 of the Gospel of Luke, Jesus omitted the resurrection of the unjust because he is not fully teaching on the resurrection but on repayment and rewards for the generous people. This is the opposite of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-30). The ungenerous rich man was getting no rewards—but punishment.
“blessed”: it is the adjective makarios (pronounced mah-kah-ree-oss and is used 50 times). It has an extensive meaning: “happy” or “fortunate” or “privileged” (Mounce, pp. 67-71).
Do I Really Know God? He Is Blessed
And so in this verse, illustrated by the feast, God’s kingdom welcomes the socially unacceptable and dishonored and shamed. They are the expendables, and God loves them too.
Note, finally, that the invitation went out. The people did not strut into the kingdom on their own and by their own willpower. God invited them, just as he invited you, whether you realize it or not. He was wooing your heart.
“anything”: it is inserted in English, for the Greek is silent, but the word is implied. Other words could have been inserted: “ability” or “capacity.”
“You will be blessed … it will be repaid”: These are divine passives again. God will be the one blessing and repaying you at the final resurrection.
A quick and final word about the resurrection. Everyone’s body is in the ground or dissolved in the ocean or disintegrated in some other way. Yet God is so powerful and omniscient (all-knowing) that he can reconstitute everyone’s body when the trumpet of God sounds, and Jesus himself calls our bodies out of our decayed condition and raises us up with a new, glorified, transformed body. The righteous will go to their judgment, and the wicked will go to theirs. Jesus is following Jewish belief that says the righteous and the wicked will be separated (see Gen. 18:25 and then Matt. 25:31-45). But they will be resurrected together (John 5:28-29; Acts 24:15)..
Make no mistake. God takes human behavior very seriously. Those who behave wickedly will get a negative judgment; those who behave righteously will get a positive judgment. They will get some rewards, on some level, and of some kind (or at least a lenient sentence)—the details are not revealed to us in Scripture.
Everyone Shall Be Judged by Their Works and Words
Bible Basics about the Final Judgment
GrowApp for Luke 14:7-14
1. Study 1 Peter 5:6. Why is it important to humble yourself before God?
2. Why is it important to reach out to the outcasts? What does this say about the Father’s heart?
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11. Eyewitness Testimony in Luke’s Gospel
3. Church Fathers and Luke’s Gospel
2. Archaeology and the Synoptic Gospels
1. The Historical Reliability of the Gospels: Introduction to Series
BIBLIOGRAPHY AND MORE
To see the bibliography, please click on this link and scroll down to the bottom. You will also find a “Summary and Conclusion” for discipleship.
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