Places Of Honor

Places Of Honor

When he noticed how the guests picked the places of honor at the table, he told them this parable: “When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for a person more distinguished than you may have been invited.”

Luke 14:7–8

How can sitting in a place of honor be right and not right? It’s not prohibited to sit in a place of honor. In fact, Christ himself says, “When your host comes, he will say to you, ‘Friend, move up to a better place.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all your fellow guests” (Luke 14:10). Why does he tell us not to sit in a place of honor but also say that it’s appropriate to be seated in an honorable place? The answer is found by noting the word picked in the verse: “When he noticed how the guests picked the places of honor . . .”

Some people must sit in higher places and some in lower places. For we cannot set aside a special place, time, or chapel for every person in the congregation. Accordingly, we cannot all be princes, counts, preachers, noblemen, townspeople, men, women, masters, or servants. Each of us has enough to do in our own position. So we should not and cannot all sit at a higher place and at a lower place at the same time. But God has arranged matters so that the person in a higher position should rightly sit higher than the others. A count shouldn’t set himself above the prince or a servant set himself over the master. So there must also be distinctions between other positions in life.

It’s important that you correctly understand what Christ is saying here. If you are in a higher position or above others in some way, realize that God has given it to you. Don’t make the mistake of bragging about it and lording it over others as if you were better than them in God’s sight. Rather, God has commanded that you should humble yourself and use your position to serve your neighbor.