Luke 14

Jesus Heals on the Sabbath

1It happened that when He went into the house of one of the 1leaders of the Pharisees on the Sabbath to eat bread, 2they were watching Him closely. 2And 3there in front of Him was a man suffering from dropsy. 3And Jesus answered and spoke to the 45lawyers and Pharisees, saying, “6Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?” 4But they kept silent. And He took hold of him and healed him, and sent him away. 5And He said to them, “78Which one of you will have a son or an ox fall into a well, and will not immediately pull him out on a Sabbath day?” 69And they could make no reply to this.

Parable of the Guests

7And He began speaking a parable to the invited guests when He noticed how 10they had been picking out the places of honor at the table, saying to them, 8“When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, 11do not 12take the place of honor, for someone more distinguished than you may have been invited by him, 9and he who invited you both will come and say to you, ‘Give your place to this man,’ and then 13in disgrace you 14proceed to occupy the last place. 10But when you are invited, go and recline at the last place, so that when the one who has invited you comes, he may say to you, ‘Friend, 15move up higher’; then you will have honor in the sight of all who 16are at the table with you. 1117For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

12And He also went on to say to the one who had invited Him, “When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, otherwise they may also invite you in return and that will be your repayment. 13But when you give a 18reception, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, 14and you will be blessed, since they 19do not have the means to repay you; for you will be repaid at 20the resurrection of the righteous.”

15When one of those who were reclining at the table with Him heard this, he said to Him, “21Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!”

Parable of the Dinner

16But He said to him, “22A man was giving a big dinner, and he invited many; 17and at the dinner hour he sent his slave to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come; for everything is ready now.’ 18But they all alike began to make excuses. The first one said to him, ‘I have bought a 23piece of land and I need to go out and look at it; 24please consider me excused.’ 19Another one said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out; 25please consider me excused.’ 20Another one said, ‘26I have married a wife, and for that reason I cannot come.’ 21And the slave came back and reported this to his master. Then the head of the household became angry and said to his slave, ‘Go out at once into the streets and lanes of the city and bring in here the poor and crippled and blind and lame.’ 22And the slave said, ‘Master, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.’ 23And the master said to the slave, ‘Go out into the highways and along the hedges, and compel them to come in, so that my house may be filled. 24For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste of my dinner.’”

Discipleship Tested

25Now 27large crowds were going along with Him; and He turned and said to them, 26“28If anyone comes to Me, and does not 29hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple. 27Whoever does not 30carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. 28For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it? 29Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him, 30saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ 31Or what king, when he sets out to meet another king in battle, will not first sit down and 31consider whether he is strong enough with ten thousand men to encounter the one coming against him with twenty thousand? 32Or else, while the other is still far away, he sends 32a delegation and asks for terms of peace. 33So then, none of you can be My disciple who 33does not give up all his own possessions.

34“Therefore, salt is good; but 34if even salt has become tasteless, with what will it be seasoned? 35It is useless either for the soil or for the manure pile; it is thrown out. 35He who has ears to hear, 36let him hear.”