“When thou are bidden of any man to a wedding, sit not down in the highest room; lest a more honourable man than thou be bidden of him;”
With these words, Jesus began his parable that outlined appropriate humility and echoed the Proverbs motif of humbleness and lack of pride. In this parable, the reason for not assuming you were the most important person invited to the wedding was because the possibility existed that the one who invited you might have invited someone whose rank and importance was higher than yours.
Instead of being kicked out of your self-claimed seat of honor when one of a higher rank appeared, you would avoid that shame by claiming first the lowest room. By claiming the lowest position, the one who invited you would be able to call you up and you would be exalted in the presence of everyone who was there.
“For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.”
Imagine yourself in the position of the man in this parable and live through the utter shame and embarrassment of being removed from a self-claimed seat of importance. Equally, imagine yourself having elected to seat yourself in a less-important seat and the jubilation and honor that would accompany being called up to a higher level.
There is nothing to be lost by being humble, but there is much to be lost in being humbled.
Following the story of the wedding, Jesus gave instructions as to what kind of feasts to give. Not feasts for relatives or friends, but feasts for the homeless, the poor, the crippled, the blind. Why? Because there exists a very real possibility that your relatives and friends, after being feasted by you, would return the favor by inviting you to their own feasts. A homeless or poor or crippled person can never return this favor to you. They will not be able to repay your kindness and there is no hope of reward for you in giving them a feast.
But this is how Jesus said we are to view others… and it comes with it’s own reward.
“And thou shalt be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee: for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just.”
