After taking His first round of jabs at the Pharisees in attendance, Jesus offers another round of verbal punches thrown in their direction as He proceeds to offer a discourse on seating arrangements. Luke writes “when Jesus noticed how the guests chose the places of honor, He told them a parable” (14:7a). A brief reminder about common table practice seems appropriate at this moment, as we remember that the meal would take place around a u-shaped table. At the center of the base of the “u” will be the chief seat of the meal, called the “protoklisian.” The two honored guests will sit at the right and left of the chief seat, with descending honor (in a society shaped by honor and shame) and social status marked by distance from the chief seat. The seat that would be the furthest away from the chief seat would be the “eschaton.”
Jesus continues on to say “When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, because a person more distinguished than you may have been invited by your host” (14:8). When we read this, doing so with modern mindsets, which for most of us have been shaped by western culture, we tend to miss a lot of important aspects of the story because we are not attuned to the specific culture of meals that then existed and still exists in the eastern world. We have a tendency to look at this directive by Jesus as something along the lines of common courtesy or as a mark of Jesus’ humility, without getting a grip of the broad sociological and ultimately theological components that are present. So when we go on to hear Jesus’ explanation, and find Him saying, in the wake of the arrival of a more distinguished person, “So the host who invited both of you will come and say to you, ‘Give this man your place.’ Then, ashamed, you will begin to move to the least important place” (14:9), we, unless we take the time to understand the societal context, will find that we have an inherent disability that will also disable our interpretation of the words and the event. Jesus’ hearers, who are sitting at the table with Him, have no such disadvantage, as they would have the examples of protoklisian and eschaton before their eyes; and we can even presume that something like what Jesus is describing has just taken place.
Also, we have to notice the words that are used. When Jesus speaks of the person that is “ashamed,” and moving to the least important place, He is not making reference to simple embarrassment. Rather, He is making reference to a dramatic moment in a culture in which honor and shame in the community is everything. His hearers would comprehend the weight of the shaming that has occurred in this parable. Jesus goes on to say “But when you are invited, go and take the least important place, so that when your host approaches you he will say to you, ‘Friend move up here to a better place.’” (14:10a) When He says this, again, He is not talking about common courtesy or simple humility. He is working up to a point, and begins to finish out His thought by saying “Then you will be honored in the presence of all who share the meal with you” (14:10b).
Jesus, who is showing forth Himself as the Messiah, is constantly at meals in an era that is highly charged with messianic hopes and thoughts concerning the great messianic banquet. To this point, Luke records Jesus making reference to this banquet, when He says (just before arriving at this meal) “people will come from east and west, and from north and south, and take their places at the banquet table in the kingdom of God” (13:29). It was well understood that this kingdom of God was the kingdom inaugurated with the presence and work of the messiah, as Israel’s God embodied Himself in human flesh and entered into history to bring about the climax of His redemptive plan. As we bring in this fundamentally important concept of the messianic banquet, which we will see is highly determinative for Jesus and the early church, we Yet again must ask if we are stretching the analogy too far. Jesus is talking about table customs and here we are engaging in speculation about messianic banquets. Is this appropriate? It absolutely is because of what Jesus says next, which is “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted” (14:11).
How did Jesus finish out His speech in the thirteenth chapter, when He was speaking of the messianic banquet? He said, “But indeed, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last” (13:30). At the table, and based upon what He has just said, talk of humiliation and exaltation would have been well understood. Those who are in the seats of honor are served first, whereas those in the least honorable seats are served last. Because He speaks of first and last in the context of the messianic banquet, the words carry the same connotation, and this would be easily recognized by Luke’s first century readers.
No comments:
Post a Comment