Luke 14:7-11 And he put forth a parable to those which were bidden, when he marked how they chose out the chief rooms; saying to them.… We have been taught to regard this parable as a counsel of prudence, and of a somewhat worldly prudence, rather than as a counsel of perfection. Some of our best commentators so read it, while they confess that. thus read, it enforces an artificial rather than a real humility, that it even makes an affected humility the cloak of a selfish ambition which is only too real and perilous. What this interpretation really comes to is this, that when our Lord was speaking to men who eagerly grasped at the best places, all He had to give them was some ironic advice on the best way of securing that paltry end, in the hope that, if they learned not to snatch at what they desired, they might by-and-by come to desire something higher and better. Is that like Him? Do you recognize His manner, His spirit, in it? Can you possibly be content with such an interpretation of His words? I. Even if we take the parable simply as A COUNSEL OF PRUDENCE, considering the lips from which it fell, there is surely much more in it, Why may we not take it as enjoining a genuine and unaffected humility; as teaching that the only distinction which deserves a thought is that which is freely bestowed on men of a lowly and kindly spirit? Why may we not take it as setting forth a truth which experience abundantly confirms, viz., that even the most worldly and selfish of men have a sincere respect for the unworldly; that the only men who they can bear to see preferred before themselves are those of a spirit so gentle and sweet and unselfish as not to grasp at any such preference or distinction? II. BUT MAY WE NOT TAKE IT AS A COUNSEL OF PERFECTION? In the Church, as well as in the world, we find men and women of a pushing, forward spirit, a selfish and conceited temperament, who covet earnestly the best seat rather than the best gift, and the first place rather than the prime virtues; who never doubt that, let others be where they will, they are entitled to sit down in the highest room. And, curiously enough, it is the comparatively ignorant who are most deeply convinced of their own wisdom; the narrow mind which is most sure that it is always in the right; those who have the least in which to trust, who trust in themselves; those who are most incompetent to rule, who are most ambitious of rule, most vexed and incensed if they are not suffered to rule. What they most need, then, is to hear a Voice, whose authority they cannot contest, which bids them take a lower place, both in the Church and in their own conceit, than that which on very slender evidence they have assumed to be their due. On the other hand, happily, we find many men and women in the Church, who are either naturally of a meek and quiet spirit, or who, by the grace of God, have so far tamed and subdued their natural self-will and self-conceit as to show, by word and deed, that they are familiar with their own weakness, and are on their guard against it. And when the Voice comes to them, "Friend, go up higher, take a more honourable post, not that you may be better seen or receive praise from men, but that you may serve them better, on a larger scale, or in a more public way," no one is more unaffectedly surprised than they are. Yet these are precisely the men whom we all delight to honour and to see honoured. Because they abase themselves, we rejoice in their exaltation. III. Does, however, even this wholesome and pertinent lesson on humility exhaust the spiritual meaning which we are told this parable must have? By no means, I think. WE MAY READ IT IN A SENSE IN WHICH EVEN THE UNWELCOME COMMAND, "GO DOWN LOWER," MAY BECOME WELCOME TO US, AND MAY REALLY MEAN, "COME UP HIGHER." How often does our Lord compare the kingdom of heaven — i.e., the ideal Church — to a feast to which all are invited, and all may come without money and without price I And when we listen to the call, come into His kingdom, and sit down at His table, how often does the first joy of our salvation fade into disappointment and dismay as we perceive that His salvation is in large measure a salvation from ourselves, that His call is a call to share in His own self-sacrificing love, His unthanked toil, or even His poverty, shame, and affliction! When we first apprehend what His call really means, does it not seem to us as if it were a command to come down, not only from all that we once took pleasure or pride in, but also from the very honours and enjoyments which we had looked for in His kingdom and service? Alas, how we misread His love! For what can any call to the cross be, but a call to the throne? (S. Cox, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: And he put forth a parable to those which were bidden, when he marked how they chose out the chief rooms; saying unto them, |
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