Tuesday, September 10, 2013
Luke 14:8-11 "When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for a person more distinguished than you may have been invited. If so, the host who invited both of you will come and say to you, 'Give this man your seat.' Then, humiliated, you will have to take the least important place. But when you are invited, take the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he will say to you, 'Friend, move up to a better place.' Then you will be honored in the presence of all your fellow guests. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."
THE LOWEST PLACE, THE PLACE OF HONOR
Here we meet up with Jesus while He's visiting in the home of a prominent Pharisee. This highly respected man of the Jews had invited the Lord to come for a meal, along with a number of other friends. When Jesus entered the dining hall He noticed that many arriving guests were pushing forward with feelings of selfishness to get the best spots at the head table, where others would view them as "important." Jesus used the occasion to encourage in His fellow-guests the loving attitude the heavenly Father looks for in His dear children, the spirit of humility that marks them as great in *His* eyes. He taught the guests at the dinner to follow His own blessed example of love, to do nothing from selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility to consider others better than themselves, to look not only to their own interests but also to the interests of others, and to remember, as they did this, that He would exalt them to places of honor in His sight, for His mercy's sake.
May this be our aim, too, as redeemed children of the heavenly Father, people who've already been elevated in Christ to positions of high honor in His kingdom. May it be our prayer:
Give me a faithful heart, Likeness to Thee,
That each departing day Henceforth may see
Some work of love begun, Some deed of kindness done,
Some wanderer sought and won, Something for Thee.
(The Lutheran Hymnal, 403:3)
