“When you are invited to an important social function, don’t be quick to sit near the head of the table, choosing for yourself a seat of honor. What will happen to you when someone arrives who is more distinguished than you? The host will bring him over to where you are sitting and ask for your seat, saying in front of all the guests, ‘You’re in the wrong place. Please give this person your seat.’ Disgraced, you will have to take whatever seat is left. Instead, when you’re invited to a banquet, you should choose to sit in the lowest place. When your host comes and sees you there, he may say, ‘My friend, come with me and let me seat you in a better place.’ Then, in front of all the other guests at the banquet, he will honor you by seating you in the place of highest respect.
“Remember this: everyone with a lofty opinion of who he is and who seeks to raise himself up will be publicly humbled. And everyone with a modest opinion of who he is and chooses to humble himself will be raised up before all.”
Then Jesus turned to his host and said, “When you throw a banquet, don’t just invite your friends, relatives, or rich neighbors—for it is likely they will return the favor. It is better to invite those who never get an invitation. If you invite the poor to your banquet, along with the outcast, the handicapped, and the blind—those who could never repay you the favor, then you will experience a great blessing in this life, and at the resurrection of the godly you will receive a full reward.”
When they heard this, one of the dinner guests said to Jesus, “Someday God will have a kingdom feast, and how happy and privileged will be the ones who get to share in that joy!”
Jesus replied with this parable:
“A man invited many to join him in a great feast. When the day for the feast arrived, the host instructed his servant to notify all the invited guests and tell them, ‘Come, for everything is now ready for you!’
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