Parable or Table Manners

Luke 14:7  Now He told a parable to those who were invited, [when] He noticed how they were selecting the places of honor, saying to them, (AMP).

At the Gospel Reading of Mass of Saturday 30^th October the word PARABLE occurs, and leads into turmoil of questions.

At first gaze, ‘parable’ looks out of category. Benedict is very selective on ‘narrative parables’. It is more satisfying to learn that the preamble refers to table manners. The Luke’s word, parable’ here directs to the actual narrative, from verse 15 on.

There is more light from Joachim Jeremias below, as indicated by Ben XVI.

The Table Manners is not an aside as Jeremias brings to the fore the even more significant eschatological dimension.

 Notes.

Interactive Bible. www Bible Ca

III. Classification of Parables

A. God’s expectations for Israel

1. Big Dinner: Lk 14:16-24

IV. These Are Not Parables:

A. Instructions for actual conduct:

1. Take low seat: Lk 14:7-11

2. Feast for the poor: Lk 14:12-14.  

Sacra Pagina Luke 14.7

He began to speak parabolically: Is literally, "he began to speak a parable  (parabolë) to them"; what follows, however, is not a narrative (or at least not until 14.16) but an apparent direct discourse with a deeper level of meaning. (p. 224).

C. 7 The Message of the Parables. Pope Ben XVI p. 183, (ref to J Jeremias p12)
  “ (I) limit myself the three major parable narrative in Luke’s Gospel, - the story of the Good Samaritan, - the parable of the Prodigal Son, - and the tale of the  rich man and Lazarus.
J. Jeremias Index of Synoptic Luke 14:7-11, ‘The Choice of the Places at the Table’,   191ff.

The Parables of Jesus, J. Jeremias pp. 191-193.

That is what Jesus had in mind in the παραβολην  about the Choice of Places at the Table (Luke 14.7-11 par. Matt. 20.28 D it syc), In Aramaic this logion, transmitted in two versions, has the form of a 'rhythmic couplet' in antithetic parallelism." Both versions, exhibiting agreement in content and structure, together with completely different wording, provide a classical example of translation variants in the NT (see above, pp. 25 f.). Gamoi (Luke 14.8) corresponding to deipnhsai (Matt. 20.28 D), has the general meaning of ‘banquet’ The most important guests, who are distinguished by reason of age or social standing, usually arrive last. The humiliated guest is obliged to take the lowest place, since all the intermediate places have already been occupied. The exhortation to take the lowest place voluntarily has its Old Testament equivalent in Prov. 25.6 f.: 'Glorify not thyself in the presence of the king, and stand not in the place of great men: for better it is that it be said unto thee, Come up hither; than that thou shouldest be put lower in the presence of the prince'; in rabbinical literature a similar saying is attributed to R. Simeon ben Azzai (c. AD 110), its closest parallel occurs in Mark 12.39 par. Luke 20.46, where Jesus sternly rebukes the scribes for the greedy way in which they choose the most honourable places at table. Jesus therefore is actually giving a direction for table-manners, and the word parabole should be so translated.

With regard to the question of what the concluding sentence in verse 11 [Edit. Luk 14:11

(GNT)  ὅτι πᾶς ὁ ὑψῶν ἑαυτὸν ταπεινωθήσεται καὶ ὁ ταπεινῶν ἑαυτὸν ὑψωθήσεται.

(Vulgate)  quia omnis qui se exaltat humiliabitur et qui se humiliat exaltabitur

(AMP)  For everyone who exalts himseif will be humbled (ranked below others who are honored or rewarded), and he who humbles himself (keeps a modest opinion of himself and behaves accordingly) will be exalted (elevated in rank)].

implies, it may first of all be conjectured that we have here a secondary generalizing conclusion (see above, pp. 110 f.). But of decisive weight against this conjecture is that the rabbinic parallel just mentioned concludes with a saying of Hillel's (c. 20 BC) of quite similar content: 'My abasement is my exaltation, and my exaltation is my abasement.'
From this we may infer that v. 11 is an ancient proverb which Jesus found already in use, and which was also in rabbinical literature associated with a direction concerning table-manners. The question is only whether the concluding sentence had the same meaning for Jesus as for Hillel.
For the latter it is a piece of practical wisdom: 'Pride will have a fall; humility will be rewarded.'
Is Luke 14.11 similarly intended to be a piece of practical wisdom, a rule of social etiquette? Surely not! The comparison with 14.1 I, as well as with Luke I4.I4b, (90^note  Both Luke 14.8-11 and 12-14 are arranged in antithetic parallelism with an eschatological conclusion), with 18.14, and with Matt. 23.12 shows that Luke 14.1 I is speaking of God's eschatological activity, the humbling of the proud and the exaltation of the humble in the Last Day. Hence the direction in Luke 14.1 about the desirability of modest behaviour in a guest becomes the introduction to an 'eschatological warning', which looks forward to the heavenly banquet, and is a call to renounce self-righteous pretensions and to self-abasement before God.

Read this book online

The Parables of Jesus

by Joachim Jeremias

Pages: 248

Contributors: Joachim Jeremias

Publisher: Charles Scribner's Sons

Place of Publication: New York

Publication Year: 1963

Subjects: Jesus Christ--Parables

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