It happened one Sabbath, when He went for a meal at the house of one of the ruling Pharisees, that ^athey were watching Him closely and carefully hoping to entrap Him. 2 And there in front of Him was a man who had ¹dropsy (extreme swelling) . 3 And Jesus asked the ^alawyers and the Pharisees, “^bIs it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?” 4 But they kept silent. Then He took hold of the man and healed him, and sent him on his way. 5 Then He said to them, “^aWhich one of you, having a son or an ox that falls into a well, will not immediately pull him out on the Sabbath day?” 6 ^aAnd they were unable to reply to this.

7 Now Jesus began telling a parable to the invited guests when He noticed how ^athey had been selecting the places of honor at the table, saying to them, 8 “When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, ^ado not sit down to eat at the place of honor, since a more distinguished person than you may have been invited by the host, Prov 25:6, 7 9 and he who invited both of you will come and say to you, ‘Give this man your place,’ and then, ^ain disgrace you proceed to take the last place. 10 But when you are invited, go and sit down to eat at the last place, so that when your host comes, he will say to you, ‘Friend, ^amove up higher’; and then you will be honored in the presence of all who are at the table with you. 11 ^aFor everyone who exalts himself will be humbled before others, and he who habitually humbles himself (keeps a realistic self-view) will be exalted.”

12 Jesus 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 wealthy neighbors, otherwise they may also invite you in return and that will be your repayment. 13 But when you give a banquet or a reception, invite the poor, the disabled, the lame, and the blind, 14 and you will be blessed because they cannot repay you; for you will be repaid at ^athe resurrection of the ¹righteous (the just, the upright) .”

15 When one of those who were reclining at the table with Him heard this, he said to Him, “^aBlessed (happy, prosperous, to be admired) is he who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!”

16 But Jesus said to him, “^aA man was giving a big dinner, and he invited many guests; 17 and at the dinner hour he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, ‘Come, because everything is ready now.’ 18 But they all alike began to make excuses. The first one said to him, ‘I have purchased a piece of land and I have to go out and see it; please consider me excused.’ 19 Another one said, ‘I have purchased five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out; please consider me excused.’ 20 And another said, ‘^aI have recently married a wife, and for that reason I am unable to come.’ Deut 24:5 21 So the servant came back and reported this to his master. Then his master, the head of the household, became angry at the rejections of his invitation and said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and the lanes of the city and bring in here the poor and the disabled and the blind and the lame.’ 22 And the servant after returning said, ‘Sir, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.’ 23 Then the master told the servant, ‘Go out into the highways and along the hedges, and compel them to come in, so that my house may be filled with guests. 24 For I tell you, not one of those who were invited and declined will taste my dinner.’”

25 Now large crowds were going along with Jesus; and He turned and said to them, 26 ^a“If anyone comes to Me, and does not ¹hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life in the sense of indifference to or relative disregard for them in comparison with his attitude toward God—he cannot be My disciple. 27 Whoever does not ^acarry his own cross expressing a willingness to endure whatever may come and follow after Me believing in Me, conforming to My example in living and, if need be, suffering or perhaps dying because of faith in Me cannot be My disciple. 28 For which one of you, when he wants to build a watchtower for his guards, does not first sit down and calculate the cost, to see if he has enough to finish it? 29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is unable to finish the building, all who see it will begin to ridicule him, 30 saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish!’ 31 Or what king, when he sets out to meet another king in battle, will not first sit down and ^aconsider whether he is strong enough with ten thousand men to encounter the one who is coming against him with twenty thousand? 32 Or else if he feels he is not powerful enough, while the other king is still a far distance away, he sends an envoy and asks for terms of peace. 33 So then, none of you can be My disciple who ^adoes not carefully consider the cost and then for My sake ¹give up all his own possessions.

34 “Therefore, salt is good; but ^aif salt has become tasteless, with what will it be seasoned? 35 It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; it is thrown away. ^aHe who has ears to hear, let him hear and heed My words.”

It happened that when He went into the house of one of the ¹leaders of the Pharisees on the Sabbath to eat bread, ^athey were watching Him ²closely. 2 And ¹there in front of Him was a man suffering from ²edema. 3 And Jesus responded and said to the ^1alawyers and ²Pharisees, “^bIs it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?” 4 But they kept silent. And He took hold of him and healed him, and sent him away. 5 And He said to them, “^1aWhich 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?” 6 ^aAnd they could offer no reply to this.

7 Now He began telling a parable to the invited guests when He noticed how ^athey had been picking out the places of honor at the table, saying to them, 8 “Whenever you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, ^ado not ¹take the place of honor, for someone more distinguished than you may have been invited by him, 9 and the one who invited you ¹both will come and say to you, ‘Give your place to this person,’ and then ^ain disgrace you will proceed to occupy the last place. 10 But whenever you are invited, go and ¹take the last place, so that when the one who has invited you comes, he will say to you, ‘Friend, ^amove up higher’; then you will have honor in the sight of all who are ²dining at the table with you. 11 ^aFor everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

12 Now He also went on to say to the one who had invited Him, “Whenever you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers, your relatives, nor wealthy neighbors, otherwise they may also invite you to a meal in return, and that will be your ¹repayment. 13 But whenever you give a ¹banquet, invite people who are poor, who have disabilities, who are limping, and people who are blind; 14 and you will be blessed, since they ¹do not have the means to repay you; for you will be repaid at ^athe resurrection of the righteous.”

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

16 But He said to him, “^aA man was giving a big dinner, and he invited many; 17 and at the dinner hour he sent his slave to tell those who had been invited, ‘Come, because everything is ready now.’ 18 And yet they all alike began to make excuses. The first one said to him, ‘I purchased a field and I need to go out to look at it; ¹please consider me excused.’ 19 And another one said, ‘I bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out; ¹please consider me excused.’ 20 And another one said, ‘^aI took a woman as my wife, and for that reason I cannot come.’ 21 And 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 those who are poor, those with disabilities, those who are blind, and those who are limping.’ 22 And later the slave said, ‘Master, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.’ 23 And the master said to the slave, ‘Go out into the roads and the hedges and press upon them to come in, so that my house will be filled. 24 For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my dinner.’”

25 Now ¹large crowds were going along with Him, and He turned and said to them, 26 “^aIf anyone comes to Me and does not ¹hate his own father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple. 27 Whoever does not ^acarry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. 28 For 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? 29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who are watching it will begin to ridicule him, 30 saying, ‘This person began to build, and was not able to finish!’ 31 Or what king, when he sets out to meet another king in battle, will not first sit down and ^aconsider whether he is strong enough with ten thousand men to face the one coming against him with twenty thousand? 32 Otherwise, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and requests terms of peace. 33 So then, none of you can be My disciple who ^adoes not ¹give up all his own possessions.

34 “Therefore, salt is good; but ^aif even salt has become tasteless, with what will it be ¹seasoned? 35 It is useless either for the soil or the manure pile, so it is thrown out. ^aThe one who has ears to hear, ¹let him hear.”