Jesus Heals Again on the Sabbath
Luke 14One Sabbath, Jesus went to the house of one of the rulers of the Pharisees to eat bread, they were watching him closely. There in front of him was a man suffering from edema, a swelling under the skin. In response, Jesus asked the legal experts and Pharisees, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”
But they kept silent.
So Jesus took the man, healed him, and released him. He answered them, “Which of y’all, if your son or your ox fell into a well on a Sabbath day, wouldn’t immediately pull it out ?”
But they could not answer this.
Then when he noticed how the guests chose the places of honor, he told them a parable: “When someone invites you to a wedding feast, don’t take the place of honor, because someone more respected than you might have been invited. Then the host who invited both of you will come and say to you, ‘Give this person your seat.’ In disgrace, you would then go take the least important place. But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he will say to you, ‘Friend, move up to a better place.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all the other guests. For everyone who exalts themselves will be humbled, and whoever humbles themself will be exalted.”
Then Jesus said to the one who had invited him, “When you give a luncheon or a dinner, don’t invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or your rich neighbors, otherwise they might invite you in return, and you would be repaid. Instead, when you host a banquet, invite the poor, maimed, lame, and blind, and you will be blessed. Because they can’t repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”
New Guests for the Banquet
When one of those reclining at the table with him heard this, he said to Jesus, “Blessed is the one who will feast in the Empire of God!”
But Jesus said, “A man was giving a great banquet and invited many. At the time of the banquet, he sent out his servant to tell those who were invited, ‘Come y’all, everything is ready now.’ But every one of them began to make excuses.
“The first said to him, ‘I bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please excuse me.’ “Another said, ‘I bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out. Please excuse me.’ “Another said, ‘I just got married a woman, so I can’t come.’
“The servant came back and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house was enraged and said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor, crippled, blind, and lame.’
“The servant said, ‘Master, what you commanded has been done, but there is still room.’
“Then the master said to the servant, ‘Go out into the roads and along the hedges, and compel them to come in, so that my house may be filled. For I tell y’all that none of those who were invited will taste of my banquet.’”
Counting the Cost of Discipleship
Now large crowds were traveling with him. He turned and said to them, “If anyone comes to me and doesn’t hate their own father, mother, wife, children, brothers, and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not carry their own cross and follow after me cannot be my disciple. For which of y’all, wanting to build a tower, doesn’t first sit down and count the cost to see if you have enough to complete it? Otherwise, when you lay the foundation and aren’t able to finish it, everyone who sees it will begin to mock you, saying, ‘This human began to build but wasn’t able to finish.’ Or what king, when he goes to battle against another king, will not first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to oppose the one who comes against him with twenty thousand? If not, while the other is yet a great way off, he will send a delegation to ask for conditions of peace. In the same way, then, any of y’all who don’t renounce all that you has cannot be my disciple.
“Salt is excellent, but if the salt becomes tasteless, with what can it be seasoned? It isn’t fit for the soil or for the manure pile. It is thrown out. Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.”