I think it may be significant that the passive voice is used in verse 8: "When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast..." [ESV]. It's also a passive in the Greek (ὅταν κληθῇς ὑπό τινος εἰς γάμους), the Latin Vulgate ("cum invitatus fueris ad nuptias..."), and my German and French New Testaments ("Wenn du von jemandem zur Hochzeit geladen bist..." "Lorsque tu seras invité par quelqu'un à des noces..."). To some degree, this matches the mindset that Jesus advocates: the man in the parable shouldn't take a seat of honor for himself, but he may accept a higher seat if one is given to him. There's a connection between the passive voice, where the subject is acted upon, and this humble acceptance.
The other thing I noticed is that, like Matthew 23:12, verse 11 contains a chiasm illustrating an inversion: "'For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.'" This is also in the Greek (ὅτι πᾶς ὁ ὑψῶν ἑαυτὸν ταπεινωθήσεται, καὶ ὁ ταπεινῶν ἑαυτὸν ὑψωθήσεται), the Latin Vulgate ("Quia omnis qui se exaltat humiliabitur et qui se humiliat exaltabitur"), and my German and French New Testaments ("Denn wer sich selbst erhöht, der soll erniedrigt werden; und wer sich selbst erniedrigt, der soll erhöht werden" "Car quiconque s'élève sera abaissé, et quiconque s'abaisse sera élevé").
