He told a parable to those who had been invited, noticing how they were choosing the places of honor at the table. 8 “When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not recline at table in the place of honor. A more distinguished guest than you may have been invited by him, 9 and the host who invited both of you may approach you and say, ‘Give your place to this man,’ and then you would proceed with embarrassment to take the lowest place. 10 Rather, when you are invited, go and take the lowest place so that when the host comes to you he may say, ‘My friend, move up to a higher position.’ Then you will enjoy the esteem of your companions at the table. 11 For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” 12 Then he said to the host who invited him, “When you hold a lunch or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or your wealthy neighbors, in case they may invite you back and you have repayment. 13 Rather, when you hold a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind; 14 blessed indeed will you be because of their inability to repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”
In this parable, ‘those who had been invited (v. 7)’ were the elect. After Jesus called Levi to follow him, Levi gave a banquet for Jesus (Lk. 5:27-29). At the banquet, Jesus referred to himself as a bridegroom; “Can you make the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come, and when the bridegroom is taken away from them, then they will fast in those days (Lk. 5:34-35).” It was a Jewish tradition to refer to the coming of the Messianic age as a wedding banquet where the Messiah was the groom and Israel was the bride (Is. 25:6-9). Other Jewish sources such as the Talmud also used similar imagery to refer to the Messianic age. In Rabbinic Judaism, the Talmud is a compilation of Jewish laws, traditions, interpretations, discussions, and stories that emerged after the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem in 70 CE.
Jesus was not trying to give the guests tips on etiquette but was addressing the hypocrisy of the Pharisees for seeking status and honor when they should be practicing humility and charity. The Kingdom of God is at hand (Mk. 1:15) and Jesus was introducing a new way of thinking and acting, “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled; but whoever humbles himself will be exalted (Mt. 23:12).” They should not take positions of honor in this present age but repent and humble themselves before God.
Jesus told the dinner guests that they should invite those who could not reciprocate to their dinner parties. This was counter to the culture of that time. Jesus promised an eternal reward for humility and charity to the disadvantaged and said, “Whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me (Mt. 25:40)." He warned that eternal damnation was the reward for those, who did not take care of the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, “What you did not do for one of these least ones, you did not do for me.’ And these will go off to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life (Mt. 25:45-46).”
Almighty God, grant us the grace to humbly seek what is beneficial for your Kingdom and the wisdom to discern your will and act on it. This we pray through Christ our Lord. Amen!
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References
Chiu, José Enrique Aguilar, et al. The Paulist Biblical Commentary. Paulist Press, 2018.
Brown, Raymond Edward, et al. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. Upper Saddle River, NJ, United States, Prentice Hall, 1990.
Chiu, José Enrique Aguilar, et al. The Paulist Biblical Commentary. Paulist Press, 2018.
Brown, Raymond Edward, et al. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. Upper Saddle River, NJ, United States, Prentice Hall, 1990.
Orchard, Bernard, et al. A Catholic Commentary on Holy Scripture. Feb. 1953.
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