St Luke 14: 1, 7-14
Invite the poor to your banquet
14:1 On one occasion when Jesus was going to the house of a leader of the Pharisees to eat a meal on the Sabbath, they were watching him closely.
14:7 When he noticed how the guests chose the places of honor, he told them a parable.
14:8 “When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not sit down at the place of honor, in case someone more distinguished than you has been invited by your host,
14:9 and the host who invited both of you may come and say to you, ‘Give this person your place,’ and then in disgrace you would start to take the lowest place.
14:10 But when you are invited, go and sit down at 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 the table with you.
14:11 For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
14:12 He said also to the one who had invited him, “When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers and sisters or your relatives or rich neighbors, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid.
14:13 But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind.
14:14 And you will be blessed because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”
[1] Καὶ ἐγένετο ἐν τῷ ἐλθεῖν αὐτὸν εἰς οἶκόν τινος τῶν ἀρχόντων τῶν Φαρισαίων σαββάτῳ φαγεῖν ἄρτον, καὶ αὐτοὶ ἦσαν παρατηρούμενοι αὐτόν.
[7] ῎Ελεγε δὲ πρὸς τοὺς κεκλημένους παραβολήν, ἐπέχων πῶς τὰς πρωτοκλισίας ἐξελέγοντο, λέγων πρὸς αὐτούς·
[8] ὅταν κληθῇς ὑπό τινος εἰς γάμους, μὴ κατακλιθῇς εἰς τὴν πρωτοκλισίαν, μήποτε ἐντιμότερός σου ᾖ κεκλημένος ὑπ᾿ αὐτοῦ,
[9] καὶ ἐλθὼν ὁ σὲ καὶ αὐτὸν καλέσας ἐρεῖ σοι· δὸς τούτῳ τόπον· καὶ τότε ἄρξῃ μετ᾿ αἰσχύνης τὸν ἔσχατον τόπον κατέχειν.
[10] ἀλλ᾿ ὅταν κληθῇς, πορευθεὶς ἀνάπεσε εἰς τὸν ἔσχατον τόπον, ἵνα ὅταν ἔλθῃ ὁ κεκληκώς σε εἴπῃ σοι· φίλε, προσανάβηθι ἀνώτερον· τότε ἔσται σοι δόξα ἐνώπιον τῶν συνανακειμένων σοι.
[11] ὅτι πᾶς ὁ ὑψῶν ἑαυτὸν ταπεινωθήσεται καὶ ὁ ταπεινῶν ἑαυτὸν ὑψωθήσεται.
[12] ῎Ελεγε δὲ καὶ τῷ κεκληκότι αὐτόν· ὅταν ποιῇς ἄριστον ἢ δεῖπνον, μὴ φώνει τοὺς φίλους σου μηδὲ τοὺς ἀδελφούς σου μηδὲ τοὺς συγγενεῖς σου μηδὲ γείτονας πλουσίους, μήποτε καὶ αὐτοί σε ἀντικαλέσωσι, καὶ γενήσεταί σοι ἀνταπόδομα.
[13] ἀλλ᾿ ὅταν ποιῇς δοχήν, κάλει πτωχούς, ἀναπήρους, χωλούς, τυφλούς,
[14] καὶ μακάριος ἔσῃ, ὅτι οὐκ ἔχουσιν ἀνταποδοῦναί σοι· ἀνταποδοθήσεται γάρ σοι ἐν τῇ ἀναστάσει τῶν δικαίων.
Comments
The Pharisees watch with evil intent, ready to ambush Jesus. He carefully watches to see how the dinner guests scramble for social prestige at table. St Luke draws attention to what Jesus says by using the impf. ‘he was saying’. The ‘parable’ that follows has an epimythium cast as a chiastic paradox. In v. 13 ἀναπήρους should be taken in the general sense of ‘handicapped, disabled’ rather than ‘crippled’. Jesus urges his auditors always to invite to meals the socially disabled (‘poor’) and the physically disabled .
[1] ἦσαν παρατηρούμενοι αὐτόν: periphrastic impf. (see last week’s comments on this form). παρατηρέω, ‘I observe’ can take on a sinister meaning (in cl. and Hellenistic Gk, as also in LXX: LSJ s.v., 1; Muraoka s.v., 1), i.e., ‘I watch closely with evil design’, as in Daniel 6.11, etc. The Pharisees’ scrutiny is not well intentioned.
[7] Ἔλεγε δὲ πρὸς τοὺς κεκλημένους παραβολήν: Ἔλεγε, impf., ‘he was saying, he said, he was delivering/ performing a parable’. The impf. can be used to flag the content of direct speech, esp. longer discourse (in this case, a parable).
ἐπέχων: ἐπέχω,‘pay attention to’, ‘observe’ (EDNT s.v.). In cl. Gk the vb connotes directing one’s mind to something (LSJ s.v., II.2). Here the part. is followed by an interrogative clause, πῶς τὰς πρωτοκλισίας ἐξελέγοντο (‘how they were selecting/ they tried to selectthe first seats’—if we take the impf. ἐξελέγοντο as conative).
τὰς πρωτοκλισίας: ‘first seats at table’ (a NT word). Cf. v. 8. V. 10, προσανάβηθι ἀνώτερον, q.v. below.
[9] μετ᾿ αἰσχύνης τὸν ἔσχατον τόπον: αἰσχύνη, ‘shame, dishonour’ that accrues to someone (cl. Gk: LSJ s.v. I.1) is a strongly emotive word.
ἔσχατον: modifies τόπον (‘place’); when used of space, the adj. means ‘farthest’, ‘at the end’ (Homer & cl. Gk poetry & prose: LSJ s.v., I.1). Cf. v. 10. For τόπος cf. Engl. topography. ἔσχατον τόπον recurs in v.10.
[10] προσανάβηθι ἀνώτερον: προσαναβαίνω, ‘ascend towards’ (LXX); ἀνώτερον, adv., comparative degree of ἄνω, ‘upwards’. Thus, lit., ‘climb up more upwards, higher up’. Προσ-ανα–βαίνω itself contains the element ἄνω, ‘upwards’. The hypothetical guest is invited to climb physically and socially in the dinner setting.
[11] πᾶς ὁ ὑψῶν ἑαυτὸν ταπεινωθήσεται καὶ ὁ ταπεινῶν ἑαυτὸν ὑψωθήσεται: note the rhetorical figures of antithesis (exalt/ be humbled), chiasmus (AB ~ BA), and paradox. Vv. 12- 14 express a seeming paradox, too.
[12] Ελεγε δὲ καὶ τῷ κεκληκότι αὐτόν: see on the impf. in v. 7.
[13] δοχήν: δοχή (cf. δέχομαι, ‘I receive’) is a ‘reception, entertainment’, which can include a lavish dinner (Hellenistic, LXX Gk).
ἀναπήρους: ‘maimed, mutilated’ (in cl. Gk: LSJ s.v.; also LXX: Muraoka s.v.). Here the term should be taken generally as ‘the handicapped, disabled’ (not ‘crippled’ as in EDNT s.v. and the Engl. trans.). ‘The lame’ and ‘the blind’ that follow are specific cases of disability.
Insights into Biblical Greek Grammar and Syntax 