Luke 14:1-15

1One Jewish day of rest, Jesus went into the house of a leader of the Pharisees. This man had asked him to come and to eat a meal with him. The people there were all watching him carefully.

2A sick man came up to Jesus. His arms and legs had grown fat, because they were full of water.

3So Jesus spoke to the Pharisees and to the teachers of God's Law. He asked them, ‘Is it right for us to make someone well on our day of rest, or not?’

4But they would not say anything. So Jesus took the sick man and he made him well again. Then he let him go away.

5Then Jesus asked the people, ‘Maybe one of you has a son or an animal that falls into a well on our day of rest. What will you do? You will pull the child or the animal out of the well immediately.’

6When Jesus said this, they could not say anything else.

7Jesus watched how people chose the best places to sit at the meal. So he told this story to those who were sitting there:

8‘When someone asks you to come to a special meal, do not sit in the best place. A man that is more important than you may come later.

9Then the man that asked you to the meal might say to you, “Give the best place to this man.” Then you will feel ashamed that you sat there. You will have to move to the lowest place and sit there.

10Instead, when someone asks you to a meal, you should do this. Go and sit in the least important place. Then the man that asked you to the meal will see you there. And he may say to you, “My friend, move up here to a better place.” Everyone who is there at the meal will see this. So they will know that you are an important person.

11It will be the same in the kingdom of God. Some people lift themselves up to be important. God will bring all of them down low. Other people are humble. God will lift up those people to a good place.’

12Then Jesus said to the man who had asked him to the meal, ‘When you give a meal at midday or in the evening, do not ask your friends to come. Do not ask your brothers or your family. And do not ask the rich people that live near you to come. If you do, they will later ask you to eat at their house. This will pay you for the meal that you gave to them.

13Instead, when you prepare a big meal, you should ask the poor people to come. Ask people that have lost an arm or a leg. Ask people that cannot walk very well, and people that cannot see.

14Then God will make you happy. Those people cannot pay you for the meal you have given to them. Instead, God will pay you, on the day when he makes good people become alive again.’

15The people who were sitting at the meal heard what Jesus said. One of them said to Jesus, ‘One day, there will be a big meal in the kingdom of God. How happy are those people who will eat together at that big meal.’