Luke 14:10

The Lowest Room

Go and sit down in the lowest place. Luke 14:10.

Jesus had been invited to a feast at the house of a leading Pharisee and He noticed that when the guests were taking their places at table they jostled and pushed each other to get the best positions. The seat of honor was that next the host, and the Pharisees thought a great deal more about getting that place than we should, because the person who managed to secure it was the most honored guest and was very important for the time being.

Now Jesus had been watching the ugly scramble, and He pointed out how foolish and selfish it was, but He did this in a very nice way. If He had tried to interfere with the guests directly, He would have been rude to His host and would probably have made the guests angry too. Jesus was always courteous. He never hurt people's feelings unnecessarily. There was nothing rough or clumsy in His touch. He was not like some well-meaning people who do only harm when they try to do good, because they are so awkward about it.

On this occasion He drew a little word picture. He gave them some advice about how to behave at a wedding-feast. The feast in the Pharisee's house was not a wedding-feast, so they could not think He was making personal remarks. He said, “If you are asked to a wedding-feast, don't go and sit down in the best place, because somebody more important than you may arrive after you and the host may ask you to give up your seat. All the places next in order will have been taken and you will feel very small when you take the least honorable place of all. The best plan is to take the lowest place. You can't be put any lower, and when the host comes in he will probably ask you to go up higher, and all your friends will honor you.”

Now what did Jesus mean by that parable? I think He meant that to win the best things we must be humble, and that we should never be ashamed to take the humble place.

“Go and sit down in the lowest place.” I wonder what these words say to us.

1. Well, I think first of all they say to us that if we want to learn anything worth knowing we have to begin at the very bottom of the ladder. We have to learn simple tasks before difficult ones, easy lessons before hard ones. That means that often we have to go through a great deal of dreary drudgery.

One day a mother was talking to her children about giving up things for the sake of others and of how much good it did people, and then she began to ask the children what they thought they would give up.

The first girl said she thought she would give up sugar. Then the mother turned to the second one. “And what will you give up, Mary?” she asked. “I think,” said Mary slowly, “I think I will give up lessons!”

Sometimes we feel like that, don't we? We feel as if we should like to make a bonfire of our school books. But remember we can never be wise or great unless we persist through the uninteresting first steps, and second steps, and third steps. And when we have mastered those we shall feel we have really done something worth doing, we shall find that these interesting things lead on to greater and more interesting things.

2. Again, I think these words tell us that we should be unselfish and courteous. Other people have as much right to the higher room as we have. We should consider their claims; we should not push and grasp. One of the ugliest sights one can see is a crowd of people all pushing to try to get the best point of view or the best seat.

And we should never be ashamed of the little lowly services, the little courtesies which sweeten life so much for other people. A missionary in Formosa tells of how one day he walked along a road behind a native Christian who was carrying a heavy load. Suddenly the man stopped and removed a piece of prickly bamboo from the path. It was a small act, but it showed that the man was thinking of, and caring for, others.

Do you ever take the trouble to think for others in that way? Do you ever pick up your mother's ball of wool when it falls, or clear orange and banana skins off the pavement, or give your seat to an old lady while waiting at a restaurant, a train, or subway? These are the things that cost so little and that mean so much.

3. Another thing our text tells us is that we should not think too highly of ourselves. The man in the parable who took the highest place was snubbed. People who try to push themselves forward and be important lay themselves open to snubs. The truly noble people are ready and glad to own that others are more worthy than they.

Long ago in the town of Sparta in Greece there was a certain election day. Three hundred men were to be chosen to rule over the town, but there were more than three hundred candidates, so it was evident they could not all be elected. Among the candidates was a good and worthy man called Psedaretus. When the results came out Psedaretus' name was not among the list of those chosen. One of his friends began to sympathize with him and to lament that the Spartans had not been wiser in their choice, but Psedaretus answered, “I am glad that in Sparta there are three hundred men better than I.” I wonder how many of us could say that and really mean it.

4. But I think the greatest of all the lessons these words teach us is that if we want to belong to Jesus we must put away all our pride. There is a verse which says

Humble we must be if to heaven we go;

High is the roof there, but the door is low.

And that just means that there is room for everybody in Heaven, but the only way to get in is by stooping, by being humble. Jesus wants everybody to come to Him; it does not matter how weak, or how foolish, or how bad we are. But if we come we must lay down our pride and self-sufficiency at His feet and just trust Him for everything.