Luke 14
Jesus at a Pharisee's House
It happened, when he
went into the house of one of the rulers of the Pharisees on a Sabbath to
eat bread, that they were watching him. Behold, a certain man who had
dropsy was in front of him. Jesus, answering, spoke to the
lawyers and Pharisees, saying, "Is it lawful to heal
on the Sabbath?"
But they were silent.
He took him, and healed him, and let him go. He answered them, "Which of you, if your son or an ox fell
into a well, wouldn't immediately pull him out on a Sabbath
day?"
They couldn't answer
him regarding these things.
He spoke a parable to
those who were invited, when he noticed how they chose the best seats, and
said to them, "When you are invited by anyone to a marriage feast, don't
sit in the best seat, since perhaps someone more honorable than you might
be invited by him, and he
who invited both of you would come and tell you, 'Make room for this
person.' Then you would begin, with shame, to take the lowest place.
But when you are
invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when he who invited you
comes, he may tell you, 'Friend, move up higher.' Then you will be honored
in the presence of all who sit at the table with you. For everyone who exalts himself
will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted."
He also said to the
one who had invited him, "When you make a dinner or a
supper, don't call your friends, nor your brothers, nor your kinsmen, nor
rich neighbors, or perhaps they might also return the favor, and pay you
back. But when you make
a feast, ask the poor, the maimed, the lame, or the blind; and you will be blessed, because
they don't have the resources to repay you. For you will be repaid in the
resurrection of the righteous."
The Parable of the Great Banquet
When one of those who
sat at the table with him heard these things, he said to him,
"Blessed is he who will feast in the Kingdom of God!"
But he said to him,
"A certain man made a great supper, and he invited
many people. He sent out
his servant at supper time to tell those who were invited, 'Come, for
everything is ready now.' They all as one began to make
excuses.
"The first said to him, 'I have bought a
field, and I must go and see it. Please have me excused.'
"Another said, 'I have
bought five yoke of oxen, and I must go try them out. Please have me
excused.'
"Another said, 'I have
married a wife, and therefore I can't come.'
"That servant came, and
told his lord these things. Then the master of the house, being angry,
said to his servant, 'Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the
city, and bring in the poor, maimed, blind, and lame.'
"The servant said, 'Lord,
it is done as you commanded, and there is still room.'
"The lord said to the
servant, 'Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in,
that my house may be filled. For I tell you that none of
those men who were invited will taste of my supper.'"
The Cost of Being a Disciple
Now great multitudes
were going with him. He turned and said to them, "If anyone
comes to me, and doesn't hate his own father, mother, wife, children,
brothers, and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he can't be my
disciple. Whoever
doesn't bear his own cross, and come after me, can't be my disciple.
For which of you,
desiring to build a tower, doesn't first sit down and count the cost, to
see if he has enough to complete it? Or perhaps, when he has laid a
foundation, and is not able to finish, everyone who sees begins to mock
him, saying, 'This man
began to build, and wasn't able to finish.' Or what king, as he goes to
encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and consider
whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him
with twenty thousand? Or
else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends an envoy, and asks
for conditions of peace. So therefore whoever of you who
doesn't renounce all that he has, he can't be my disciple. Salt is good, but if the salt
becomes flat and tasteless, with what do you season it? It is fit neither for the soil
nor for the manure pile. It is thrown out. He who has ears to hear, let
him hear."
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