Luke 14
1It happened on a Sabbath, when Jesus went to eat a meal in the home of one of the leaders of the Pharisees, that they were watching him closely. 2Right there in front of him was a man suffering from swelling in his body. 3Addressing the experts in religious law and the Pharisees, Jesus asked, "Is it permitted to heal on the Sabbath, or not?" 4But they remained silent. So he took hold of the man, healed him, and sent him on his way. 5Then he said to them, "If one of you has a son or an ox that falls into a well, will you not immediately pull him out on the Sabbath day?" 6And they were unable to offer any reply to this.
7When he noticed how the invited guests were choosing the places of honor for themselves, he told them a parable: 8"When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not recline in the place of honor, lest someone more distinguished than you has been invited by the host. 9Then the one who invited both of you will come and say to you, 'Give this person your place,' and you will proceed with shame to take the very last place. 10Instead, when you are invited, go and recline in the last place, so that when your host comes, he may say to you, 'Friend, move up higher.' Then you will be honored in the presence of all your fellow guests. 11For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted."
12He also said to the man who had invited him, "When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not call your friends, your brothers, your relatives, or your wealthy neighbors. If you do, they might invite you in return and you would be repaid. 13Instead, when you host a reception, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. 14Then you will be flourishing, because they have nothing with which to repay you; for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just."
15Hearing this, one of the fellow guests said to him, "How flourishing is the one who will feast in the Kingdom of God!" 16But Jesus said to him, "A certain man was giving a great banquet and invited many people. 17At the hour of the banquet, he sent his slave to say to those who had been invited, 'Come, for everything is now ready.' 18But one after another, they all began to make excuses. The first said to him, 'I have bought a field and I must go out and see it; I ask you, please have me excused.' 19Another said, 'I have bought five yoke of oxen and I am on my way to test them; I ask you, please have me excused.' 20And another said, 'I have just married a wife, and for this reason I cannot come.'
21When the slave returned, he reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house became angry and said to his slave, 'Go out quickly into the wide streets and the narrow alleys of the city, and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.' 22Later the slave said, 'Master, what you commanded has been done, and there is still room.' 23The master said to the slave, 'Go out to the roads and the country lanes and compel them to come in, so that my house may be filled. 24For I tell you: none of those people who were invited will taste my banquet.'"
25Large crowds were traveling with him, and he turned and said to them, 26"If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—and yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple. 27Whoever does not carry his own cross and follow behind me cannot be my disciple.
28For which of you, wanting to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it? 29Otherwise, if he lays a foundation and is not able to finish, everyone watching will begin to mock him, 30saying, 'This man began to build and was not able to finish.' 31Or what king, marching out to engage another king in war, will not first sit down and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand men to encounter the one coming against him with twenty thousand? 32If not, while the other is still far off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. 33In the same way, therefore, every one of you who does not renounce all his own possessions cannot be my disciple.
34Salt is good; but if even salt loses its flavor, with what will it be seasoned? 35It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; people just throw it out. Let the one who has ears to hear, listen!"