CRITICAL NOTES
Luke 14:7. Put forth a parable.—The miracle was wrought, evidently, before the feast began. From the emulation among the guests, and from the allusion in Luke 14:12 to friends and rich neighbours, this seems to have been a formal and luxurious entertainment. The word “parable” is used in a wide sense; the words are to be taken literally, but suggest a great moral lesson (Luke 14:11). Chief rooms.—Rather, “chief seats” (R.V.); the middle places on the triclinium were counted the most honourable.
Luke 14:8. A wedding.—Rather, “a marriage feast” (R.V.); perhaps to avoid making the rebuke on this occasion too pointed. At a marriage, too, rules of procedure might be more carefully insisted upon. Sit not down.—It need scarcely be said that the pride that apes humility violates the spirit of this teaching. There should be genuine self-abasement.
Luke 14:9. He that bade.—The person who has authority to decide such matters. Begin.—This vividly suggests the reluctance and lingering with which a presumptuous guest leaves the higher and goes down to the lower place. Lowest room.—The other good places having been taken possession of in the meantime.
Luke 14:10. That when he, etc.—A consequence that may follow, though not designed and led up to by the guest. Worship.—Rather, “glory” (R.V.), as distinguished from “shame” (Luke 14:9).
Luke 14:11. Abased.—Rather, “humbled” (R.V.). For an example of such humiliation see Isaiah 14:13-15, and of such exaltation Philippians 2:5-11. These words (Luke 14:7-11) had been addressed to the guests. Christ now addresses the host.
Luke 14:12. Call not thy friends, etc.—I.e., hospitality is not to be confined to such feasts; ostentatious and interested motives are also discouraged. Returns are made by friends and rich neighbours, so that real hospitality is not manifested by such feasts. Over and above the intercourse and civilities of social life are the claims of charity; the former are presupposed as ordinarily taking place, and common-sense forbids us to suppose that Christ here condemns them. He Himself, by being present on this and similar occasions, sanctioned them.
Luke 14:13. Call the poor.—As a different and somewhat unusual phrase for “call” is given in Luke 14:13, some have supposed that the one implies an ostentatious invitation and the other a more unobtrusive one. But this seems rather too far-fetched. The poor: cf. Nehemiah 8:10; Matthew 25:35.
Luke 14:14. Resurrection of the just.—If the phrase “of the just” is to be taken as having a distinct meaning (which we can scarcely doubt it has), Christ here refers to the twofold resurrection. See 1 Corinthians 15:23; 1 Thessalonians 4:16; Revelation 20:4-5.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— Luke 14:7-14
Lessons to Guests and Hosts.—The lawyers and the Pharisees at this feast scrutinised eagerly the conduct of Jesus, in order to bring home to Him the charge of Sabbath-breaking. And He, on His part, took notice of their procedure, and in due time spoke words of kindly counsel to them. We read that “they watched Him,” and also that “He marked how they chose out the chief seats” at the table. Yet there was a vast difference between their spirit and His. Their action was something like treacherous espionage, while His was like that of a father who gently reproves his children’s faults.
I. A lesson to guests: a lesson of humility (Luke 14:7-11).—We should rob these words of all their value if we took them as merely a counsel of worldly prudence: for in that case they would enforce an artificial rather than a real humility, and even make an affected humility the cloak for selfish ambition. We should rather take the words as enjoining a genuine and unaffected humility, as teaching that the only distinction that deserves a thought is that which is freely bestowed on men of a lowly and a kindly spirit. We may take the parable as setting forth a truth which experience abundantly confirms—viz., that even the most worldly and selfish of men have a sincere respect for the unworldly; that the only men whom they can bear to see preferred before themselves are those who are of a spirit so gentle, and sweet, and unselfish, as not to grasp at any such preference or distinction. Even the world meets us in very much the same spirit that we take to it. If we push men out of our way, they push back; if we plot and strive against them, they plot and strive against us: whereas if we show ourselves friendly, they are not unwilling to be our friends; if we are unaffectedly meek and pure, they honour us for virtues which they may not themselves possess. Those who are most ambitious of rule and of occupying places of distinction are often, if not generally, devoid of the qualifications needed for the post they covet, and men are glad when they see such persons authoritatively commanded to take a lower seat. While those of meek and quiet spirit are unaffectedly surprised when they are summoned to take a more honourable or conspicuous post. Yet these are precisely the men whom we all delight to honour and to see honoured—the men of whose spirit and usefulness we are most assured, and of whose capacity for any work they can be induced to take we are confident. We cheerfully give them the “worship” or glory they do not seek. Because they abase themselves we rejoice in their exaltation.
II. A lesson to hosts: a lesson of benevolence to the poor (Luke 14:12-14).—As the guests are warned against a pride which might lead to shame, so the host is counselled not to waste his wealth in exercising an ostentatious and interested hospitality. Again the words of Christ bear the appearance of worldly wisdom. Friends and kinsfolk and rich neighbours return the hospitality they receive: the poor cannot repay kindness shown to them, but recompense will be made at the resurrection of the just. Appeal seems to be made to a mercenary motive—that of expecting a reward in heaven for good deeds done upon earth; but in actual life it will be found that no one will busy himself with kindly deeds merely for the sake of a future reward. Consideration for others will awaken and strengthen all the better feelings of the heart, and banish the mercenary spirit. The mention of reward emphasises the fact that acts of benevolence have a high spiritual value in the sight of God, and will draw down upon him who does them the Divine favour and blessing. These words of Christ teach the same lesson as that contained in the parable of the Unjust Steward, who diligently made use of present opportunities for providing for himself shelter and comfort in the day of need.
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON Luke 14:7-14
Luke 14:7-14. Jesus at the Feast.
I. What He said about men’s feasts.—
1. A word to the guests.
2. A word to the host.
II. What He said about God’s feasts.—
1. It is different as regards those invited.
2. It is different as regards Him who invites.—Stock.
The Exhortation to Humility.
I. Guests ought to humble themselves, by selecting the lowest place.
II. Hosts should humble themselves, by inviting the poorest to their tables.
Luke 14:7-11. The Lowest Seats at Feasts.—This parable deserves a passing notice, if it were only to give occasion for pointing out the prominent place which the great truth that the kingdom of God is for the humble occupied in the thoughts of Jesus, as evinced by the fact of His uttering two parables to enforce it. That he who humbleth himself shall be exalted, and he who exalteth himself shall be abased is, in the view of Christ, one of the great laws in the kingdom of God. On the surface this portion of our Lord’s table-talk at the Sabbath feast wears the aspect of a moral advice, rather than of a parable. But through the medium of a counsel of prudence relating to ordinary social life, the Teacher of the doctrine of the kingdom communicates a lesson of true wisdom concerning the higher sphere of religion. The evangelist perceived this, and therefore he called this piece of advice a parable—most legitimately, inasmuch as a parable has for its aim to show, by an example of human action in natural life, how men should act in the sphere of spiritual life. Christ had no serious intention to give a lesson in social deportment, and the parabolic element in His words is confined to this, that instruction valid only for the religious sphere is couched in terms which seem to imply a reference to ordinary social life. Jesus reminds His fellow guests that there is a society in which humility is held in honour, and pride gets a downsetting. That He is thinking of this sacred society is apparent from His manner of expressing Himself.—Bruce.
The Ambitious Guest.
I. These verses obviously enforce an important social principle applicable to our daily life.
II. They bear also on religious duties—our life in relation to God.
III. The more directly spiritual application.—In spiritual things the highest place is the most excellent and most desirable.
1. We are commanded to aim at perfection.
2. We are not to be satisfied with our present condition.
3. Christ’s love alone can give us a title to even the lowest room in the heavenly world.—Brameld.
This Parable Teaches—
I. That the law of Christ justifieth none in any rudeness or incivility.
II. That the disciples of Christ ought to have a regard to their reputation, to do nothing they may be ashamed of.
III. That it is according to the will of God that honour should be given to those to whom honour belongeth; that the more honourable persons should sit in the more honourable places.—Pole.
A Higher Place.—
1. Every man ought to desire a higher place.
2. There is a wrong way of getting place.
3. There is a right way of getting place.
4. As a general rule, high character will be called into the higher place.
Luke 14:7. “A parable.”—The use of this word, as well as the general principle laid down in Luke 14:11, prepares us to find more than a maxim of worldly prudence in this saying of our Lord. Christ here teaches humility in the deepest sense of the word. Let each take the lowest place before God, or, as St. Paul says, “esteem others as better than himself” (Philippians 2:3). It is God who fixes the true place of each, and His judgment is independent of ours. If we sincerely think ourselves deserving of a low place, we shall not thereby lose our true place.
Secret Dispositions Discovered.—The dignity of these words appears in this, that without any appearance of profoundness or severity, they lay bare the secret disposition at the foundation of the external behaviour they condemn.—Schleiermacher.
Luke 14:8-10. “Sit not down in the highest room.”—Cf. Proverbs 25:6-7: “Put not forth thyself in the presence of the King, and stand not in the place of great men; for better it is that it be said unto thee, Come up hither, than that thou shouldest be put lower in the presence of the Prince whom thine eyes have seen.”
Luke 14:9-10. Sense of Shame and Lawful Pride.—It is noticeable that He who created man such as he is, here, and in Luke 14:29, appeals to man’s sense of shame (Luke 14:9), and to his sense of pride (Luke 14:10).
Luke 14:9. “Begin with shame.”—No shame attaches to him who takes a low place, but shame is felt by him who is sent down from a higher place.
Luke 14:10. “Friend.”—No such gracious appellation is addressed to him who had been asked to give up his place to a more honourable guest (Luke 14:9).
This Teaching Exemplified by Christ.—Now, what Christ commanded others He Himself did; for when He came into this world He reclined in the manger, and He died reclining on a cross. Neither at His birth nor at His death could He find any more lowly place.—Bellarmine.
False Humility Excluded.—All that false humility, by which men put themselves lowest and dispraise themselves of set purpose to be placed higher, is by the very nature of our Lord’s parable, excluded; for that is not bonâ fide to abase oneself. The exaltation at the hands of the host is not to be a subjective end to the guests, but will follow true humility.—Alford.
Luke 14:11. Spiritual Counsels.—The counsels which Christ had given—“Be not proud, lest thou be put to shame; be lowly, so shalt thou be exalted”—are here deepened and spiritualised. They are not mere prudential maxims, therefore, but condemn the Pharisaical pride of the Jews in relation to the kingdom of God.
Luke 14:12-14. The Highest Kind of Hospitality.—Jesus, as it were, does not interfere with the hospitality we may show to relatives and friends—He leaves it in its own place; but He commands us to manifest a kindness of a higher and more spiritual type in caring for the poor and unfortunate.
Luke 14:12. “Call not.”—I.e., “prefer to show mercy to the poor.” The paramount importance of one duty is here stated by comparing it with another, and by preferring it to the lesser, as in Matthew 9:13.
Repayment by God.—The recommendation Christ here gives is rendered all the more gracious in its form by its being represented as more for our interest to show a kindness which will draw down a recompense from God than a hospitality which men will repay.
Friends, Relations, Rich Neighbours.—There is a gradation in the order of persons named whom we are likely to invite to our table.
1. Our friends—from a delight in their society.
2. Our brethren and relations—from a sense of duty.
3. Our rich neighbours—from the honour they confer on us by coming, and the hope of receiving an invitation from them in return.
“Lest they also.”—A fear which the world does not know.—Bengel.
Disinterested Kindness.—Jesus certainly did not mean us to dispense with the duties of ordinary fellowship. But since there was no exercise of principle involved in it, save of reciprocity, and selfishness itself would suffice to prompt it, His object was to inculcate, over and above everything of this kind, such attentions to the helpless, and provision for them, as, from their inability to make any return, would manifest their own disinterestedness, and, like every other exercise of high religious principle, meet with a corresponding gracious recompense.—Brown.
Luke 14:13-14. “Thou shalt be recompensed.”
I. We may reasonably expect a recompense from heaven for such good works as we do, for which we are not recompensed on earth.
II. That God’s recompense of us, for doing our duty in obedience to His commands, is often deferred until the resurrection of the just; but then it will not fail obedient souls.
Luke 14:13. “Call the poor.”—What the Saviour here commends to others He has Himself fulfilled in the most illustrious manner. To the feast in the kingdom of God He has principally invited not such as were related to Him after the flesh, or those from whom He might hope for recompense again, but the poor, the blind, etc., in the spiritual sense of the words. But for that reason also He has now joy to the full in the kingdom of the Father, and a name that is above every name.—Van Oosterzee.
Luke 14:14. “The Resurrection of the Just.”—Jesus speaks, in John 5:28-29, of the general resurrection. Here He distinguishes between a first and a second resurrection (cf. chap. Luke 20:34-36), and His teaching is further developed in the later apostolic writings (1 Thessalonians 4:16; 1 Corinthians 15:23; Revelation 20:5-6).
Earthly and Heavenly Rewards.—Let us, therefore, not be disappointed and troubled at not receiving a recompense from men on earth; rather let us be troubled when we receive it, lest we learn to look only for reward on earth, and so lose our reward in heaven.—Chrysostom.