Luke 14:7-11

2 d. Luke 14:7-11.

Here is the point at which the guests seat themselves at table. The recommendation contained in this passage is not, as has often been thought, a counsel of worldly prudence. Holtzmann ascribes this meaning, if not to the Lord, at least to Luke. But the very term parable (Luke 14:7) and the adage of Luke 14:11 protest against this supposition, and admit of our giving to the saying no other than a religious sense and a spiritual application; comp. Luke 18:14. In a winning and appropriate form Jesus gives the guests a lesson in humility, in the deepest sense of the word. Every one ought in heart to take, and ever take again, the last place before God, or as St. Paul says, Philippians 2:3, to regard others as better than himself. The judgment of God will perhaps be different; but in this way we run no other risk than that of being exalted. ᾿Επέχων, fixing His attention on that habitual way of acting among the Pharisees (Luke 20:46). Ewald and Holtzmann darken counsel about the word wedding (Luke 14:8), which does not suit a simple repast like this. But Jesus in this verse is not speaking of the present repast, but of a supposed feast.

The proper reading is ἀνάπεσε, not ἀνάπεσαι this verb has no middle or ἀνάπεσον, which has only a few authorities.

In the lowest place (Luke 14:10), because in the interval all the intermediate seats had been occupied. The expression, thou shalt have glory, would be puerile, if it did not open up a glimpse of a heavenly reality.