THINK TOGETHER.
Which do you like better, being first or being last? Why?
READ TOGETHER.
Luke 14:7-11. 7Now he told a parable to those who were invited, when he noticed how they chose the places of honor, saying to them, 8“When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in a place of honor, lest someone more distinguished than you be invited by him, 9and 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. 10But 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 honored in the presence of all who sit at table with you. 11For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
Do you remember what we said a parable does? It uses an everyday “earthly” situation to teach a spiritual or “heavenly” lesson. Today’s lesson from Jesus is about humility.
In Jesus day, when you were invited to a party or a banquet you would be told where to sit. The closer you were to the host of the banquet the more honorable or important you were seen to be. If you were asked to sit far away from the host, well, then you were not considered to be as important or as honorable as others.
So what does Jesus tell us to do in this parable, and what lesson is he teaching us? Jesus tells followers that when they go to someone’s house for a banquet they should never try to sit in the best, most important seats. Instead, they should sit in the least important seat, the lowest place. Why? Because if you come in and assume that you are the most important person there, but then the host moves you to a lower place…how embarrassing is that? But if you come in and sit in the worst seat but then the host moves you to a better seat…now that’s exciting.
God hates pride and loves humility. That’s what Jesus is teaching us in this parable. In this parable God is the host of the banquet and we are the guests. We should never try to be the most important person in this life. We should never put ourselves in the “best seats.” Instead we should be humble and let others have the best places. We should go last, and let others go first. We should brag about others and not ourselves. Then if God, the host of life, wants to lift us up and move us to a better seat, great!
This is exactly how Jesus lived his life, isn’t it? He went from having the best seat in Heaven, the one right next to God, and he gave it up for the worst seat on earth, the lowest place, the cross. But then what happened? That’s right, God raised Jesus from the dead and re-seated him in Heaven on the throne. Jesus humbled himself and God exalted Jesus.
Can you do the same thing? Can you humble yourself? Can you put yourself second instead of first? With Jesus you can. When you know that one day Jesus will give you everything, you can set everything aside for others today.
Because of Jesus one day God will give us the best seats in Heaven.
With Jesus we can humble ourselves and take second place today.
DO SOMETHING TOGETHER
Check out the I Am Second website. Watch one of the videos together as a family and talk about how we can put ourselves second when we know Jesus has honored us with his love.
PRAY TOGETHER
Father, I know I try to put myself first sometimes. Help me to be humble and take second place so that others can see your grace and love in me. Amen.
TLICfamily 