The Confusing Sayings: Luke 22:27

For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is at the table? But I am among you as one who serves.

This article starts a new series explaining Jesus’s Confusing Sayings, but it also continues the last series of Similar Sayings.

If any of Jesus verse’s are confusing to you, let me know in a comment and I will analyze its Greek in a future article.

Today’s verse demonstrates the cleverness of Jesus in using the multiple meanings of Greek words. The verse is from the Last Supper in Luke. Before this, Jesus said that the one who will betray him is at their table. The Apostles, bless their hearts, start arguing amongst themselves about which of them is the greatest.

Similar Verses

This is similar to the argument the Apostles had in Matthew 20:24, where James and John’s mother ask for special recognition for her sons. Jesus say that the rulers among the Gentiles have authority among them. then, in Matthew 20:26-27, he says:

NIV: Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant,
NIV: and whoever wants to be first must be your slave—

In Mark, Jesus asked his students what they were arguing about on the road to Capernaum in Mark 9:33. When they tell him that they are discussing who is best among them, he said to them in Mark 9:35:

NIV: Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all.

The Luke Verse

In Luke, at the Last Supper, this dispute comes up again. Perhaps Jesus chose the Apostles because they were average people and not scholars or religious teachers. There were plenty of those in Galilee and Judea, but he choose regular people. They needed to have his more difficult ideas repeated many times in different ways for them to understand them.

In all these similar verses, Jesus at some point tells them that the kings among non-Judean exert authority. Then he said that it won’t be the same with them. In this Luke verse, he first said that the greatest would be like the youngest and a servant. He then says in Luke 22:27 :

NIV: For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is at the table? But I am among you as one who serves.

• The words in boldface are explained below.

Since Jesus has explained this idea directly to the Apostles more than once, Jesus answers it once more in a more humorous way that might force his students to think. On the surface, in the English translation, this verse offers the Apostles a simple contradiction. The first question is easy to answer. The one who serves is a servant and the one at the table is the master. But Jesus ends with his punchline, which contradicts what is obvious: he is the one who serves. If we think about it, he may well have been the one serving at the Last Supper. Jesus is the Apostles’ lord and master, but he is serving them, not only at the meal, but as a teacher.

Verse Structure

This verse is impossible to understand unless we are willing to accept that Jesus liked to play with multiple meanings, especially when teasing his students, who were, too often asking questions that he had already answered more directly. There are two key words here that have multiple meanings.

This verse starts with a question that is the setup. Jesus asks which person is “greater.” But the word translated as “greater” has a lot of different meanings. It primarily means physically "bigger", "higher", "longer," as well as "greater." It is primarily used to describe physical size and height but the Apostles were using it to discuss their personal status. It can mean greater in status, but using its primary meaning, the initial question creates a contradiction. Since the “greater” primarily means physically “higher,” the question is about who is physically higher, contrasting the one serving or the one reclining at the table.

The idea of “reclining” comes from the word translated “at the table.” This verb can mean "lie at a table," and "recline." Laying down is even lower that sitting down. However, this is something of an secondary meaning. The word primarily, means "to be laid up as a votive offering in the temple,” and "to be dedicated.” It is primarily a religious word that Jesus uses in a commonplace way. Since Jesus uses it on only three occasions instead of the word for sit and recline that he regularly uses, it is clearly intentional. It seems to suggest something about the fate of the Apostles.

A More Literal Translation

A more literal translation of this verse is:

Listeners Heard: Because who is higher? The one reclining or the one serving? Certainly not the one reclining! I, myself, however, am in your midst as the one serving!

What is higher in status is lower in physical height. The suggestion is that physical height in this case is more representative of how he sees true status because the work we do while standing is more important that what we do sitting. Jesus was a speaker, not a writer. This solves the contradiction in the final line because Jesus is physically higher in serving as a teacher, he is also higher in status as their leader. This is consistent with all his previous teaching in Matthew and Mark.

An even more complete version of what the listeners heard, taking in all the plays on words, might be more like:

Listeners Heard: Because who is higher? The master reclining or the servant serving? Certainly not the master reclining! I, myself, however, am in your midst as the servant!

The words “master” and “servant” aren’t actually in the verse, but they are implied by the sense of reclining and the Greek word for “serving,” which means “to act as a servant.”

All these similar verses, the versions in Matthew, Mark, and Luke offer the same basic teaching, but in very different contexts and using different words. My exploration of similar verses has led me to think that all of these verses were spoken in slightly different words at different times. Because Jesus is trying to get his Apostles, who were ordinary people, to understand his meaning. He repeated his lessons for them so that his point would be clearer for all of us down through history.