Daily Bible Reading 18th October 2026 // Luke 14:7-11
7 Now he told a parable to those who were invited, when he noticed how they chose the places of honour, saying to them, 8 “When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in a place of honour, lest someone more distinguished than you be invited by him, 9 and he who invited you both will come and say to you, ‘Give your place to this person’, and then you will begin with shame to take the lowest place. 10 But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when your host comes he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher.’ Then you will be honoured in the presence of all who sit at table with you. 11 For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
In these verses Jesus frankly criticises the guests at the party for seeking out the best seats. He 'observed', or 'marked' their behaviour, and uttered the parable in 8-11 to deal with them. The fact that it says it was a parable indicates that there is a spiritual lesson here. That lesson is not one on good manners - although clearly the words do in fact teach us something about this - whether at a marriage feast or at a corporation affair - but behind the words about good manners there is a deeper lesson. As in social etiquette, so also in the spiritual realm, recognition eludes those who demand it, and comes to those who think more highly of others than of themselves. One commentator remarks, 'True dignity is always unconscious dignity, and true honour, whether conferred by man or God, is always unexpected' (Caird). Another says, 'Every man before God ought to feel that the lowest place is the proper place for him' (Plummer). Our Lord's point is: The place of honour is not something you can claim or take; it is something given you by others. To seek it, therefore, or believe even secretly that it is your entitlement is simply to demonstrate how dishonourable you are. A man who struggles for the place of honour proves thereby that he is dishonourable.