With just a few months left to live, Jesus was on a journey from Galilee to Jerusalem where he would be crucified. Along the way, the religious leaders engaged him in verbal conflict. The religious leaders taught that to be a citizen of the kingdom of God one had to follow the rules of God, as interpreted by them. Jesus taught that one had to enter into a relationship with God through faith in his Son and repentance of sin. One of the necessary attributes in this relationship was humility.

Having just healed a man of edema on the Sabbath while having a meal at the home of a ruler of the Pharisees, Jesus then told them a parable to illustrate the necessity of humility.

Most people believe they are above average at almost everything. Psychologists call this the state of “illusory superiority”. It is also called “The Lake Wobegone Effect”, from Garrison Keillor’s fictional Minnesota town where “all the children are above average.” It simply means that we tend to inflate our positive qualities and abilities, especially in comparison to other people.

Numerous research studies have revealed this tendency to overestimate ourselves. For instance, when researchers asked a million high school students how well they got along with their peers, none of the students rated themselves below average. As a matter of fact, 60 percent of students believed they were in the top 10 percent, and 25 percent rated themselves in the top one percent.

You would think college professors might have more self-insight, but they were just as biased about their abilities. Two percent rated themselves below average, 10 percent were average, and 63 percent were above average, while 25 percent rated themselves as truly exceptional.

Of course this is statistically impossible. One researcher summarized the data this way: “It’s the great contradiction: the average person believes he is a better person than the average person.” Christian psychologist Mark McMinn contends that the “Lake Wobegone Effect” reveals our pride. He writes, “One of the clearest conclusions of social science research is that we are proud. We think better of ourselves than we really are, we see our faults in faint black and white rather than in vivid color, and we assume the worst in others while assuming the best in ourselves.”

Most people in Jesus’ day assumed the best in themselves. They believed that they were pretty good people and that they were doing a good job following the rules that would make them citizens of the kingdom of God. That is why the religious leaders were so upset that Jesus opposed their interpretation of the rules. Jesus taught that pride – thinking of ourselves better than we really are, seeing our faults in faint black and white rather than in vivid color, and assuming the worst in others while assuming the best in ourselves – was a real stumbling block to entering the kingdom of God. Instead, Jesus insisted upon the necessity of humility to enter the kingdom of God. This is what he taught in the parable of the wedding feast.

Luke 14:7-11 teaches us the necessity of humility.

1. The Prelude to the Parable (14:7)

2. The Protocol in the Parable (14:8-10)

3. The Point of the Parable (14:11)

There are many qualities that characterize citizens of the kingdom of God. One of them is humility.

The world tells us to elevate ourselves. But Jesus says that if we exalt ourselves, God will bring us down. He will humble our pride. We see God doing that from the Fall of Adam in the Garden of Eden to the Fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD. And we see God doing that throughout human history as he humbles proud individuals and nations.

God wisely designed the human body so that we can neither pat our own backs nor kick ourselves too easily.

But we will see God do this most clearly at the Final Judgment. When Jesus told the parable of the wedding feast, he was not merely giving good advice about how to behave well at a wedding feast. Instead, he was preparing people for the great reversal that will take place at the Final Judgment, when the proud will be humbled and the humble will be exalted.

The seats of honor at the Wedding Feast of the Lamb are assigned by the host – God himself. He assigns them seats by his grace. Only those who come to God in humility, bowing before him, knowing that they are unworthy sinners justly deserving his displeasure, and who therefore put their complete faith in the person and work of Jesus Christ and repent of their sins, will discover that they are assigned seats at the Wedding Feast of the Lamb.

One Sabbath, Jesus went to dine at the house of a ruler of the Pharisees. While there he healed a man of edema.

CONCLUSION: We should humble ourselves so that we may be exalted.

No proud, self-exalting persons who trust in their own merit shall ever enter the kingdom of God.

Only, humble, self-abasing persons who trust in the merit of Jesus Christ shall enter the kingdom of God.

By healing this man Jesus demonstrated compassion and asserted the lawfulness of doing works of mercy on the Sabbath.

After rebuking the people in attendance at the meal for their lack of compassion and mercy, Jesus told a parable to those who were invited, when he noticed how they chose the places of honor (14:7) at the dinner table.

It was customary for seating to be in a U-shaped table with a three-person couch on each prong of the table. The host set at the bottom. The most honored seat was to the left and the next honored seat was to the right. The places of least honor was furthest away from the host.

Furthermore, the least honored guests would arrive first. Presumably, they would take their seats at the end of the table furthest away from the host. The most honored guests would arrive with the host and take their seats nearest him.

So, when Jesus went to dine at the house of a ruler of the Pharisees, he noticed how the guests chose the places of honor. He saw their pride, how they thought of themselves better than they really were, seeing their faults in faint black and white rather than in vivid color, and assuming the worst in others while assuming the best in themselves. That is what prompted Jesus to tell them all a parable, which we call “the parable of the wedding feast.”

Jesus’ parable is about a wedding feast, and he teaches people not to go and take the seat of honor, because a more distinguished person may have been invited to the wedding.

Jesus suggested a seating protocol.

Jesus Said What Not to Do (14:8-9). First, Jesus said what not to do.