Luke 14:8

“When you are invited by any man to a marriage feast, do not sit down in the chief seat, lest it chance that a more honourable man than you be invited by him,”

Jesus instances a marriage feast. This is because a marriage feast would be more formal and the placing of guests tightly controlled. But it was also so that they might recognise in it a reference to the coming ‘Messianic feast'. The Rabbis regularly taught by telling stories which at first appeared to have a single simple meaning, but which on further examination actually contained hidden references. Thus they would always be looking for deeper meanings in stories.

Jesus' warning was against being overly self-important. When they went to such a feast, and especially when they thought of the possibility of the great final feast with God, they should not think in terms of the chief seats. This would only make them arrogant. And the consequence might well be that they found that others who were considered to be more important came along, and it would be discovered that they had taken their seats. There is a great danger for us all that we consider ourselves more important than we are.