Luke 14

¹And it came to pass, when he came into the house of one of the rulers of the Pharisees on the Sabbath to eat a meal, that they themselves were watching him closely.

²And behold, there was a certain man who had dropsy before him.

³And Jesus, answering, said to the lawyers and Pharisees: Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?

⁴But they were silent. And he took hold and healed him and let him go.

⁵And he answered them, saying: Which of you whose son or ox falls into a pit will not immediately pull him out on the day of the Sabbath?

⁶And they were not able to answer him in response to these things.

⁷And he told a parable to those who had been invited, noticing how they were choosing the places of honor, saying to them:

⁸When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not recline at the place of honor, lest someone more honored than you has been invited by him,

⁹and the one who invited you and him will come and say to you: Give this person your place. And then you will begin with shame to take 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 will say to you: Friend, go up higher. Then you will have honor before all those who are reclining with you.

¹¹For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.

¹²He also said to the one who had invited him: When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and it becomes a repayment to you.

¹³But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind.

¹⁴and you will be blessed, because they have nothing to repay you; for it will be repaid to you at the resurrection of the righteous.

¹⁵When one of those reclining with him heard these things, he said to him: Blessed is the one who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!

¹⁶But he said to him: A certain man was giving a great banquet and invited many.

¹⁷And at the hour of the banquet he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited: Come, for everything is now ready.

¹⁸And all began at once to make excuses. The first said to him: I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it. I beg you, consider me excused.

¹⁹And another said: I have bought five yoke of oxen and I am going to test them. I beg you, consider me excused.

²⁰And another said: I have married a wife, and for this reason I am not able to come.

²¹And when that servant returned, he reported these things to his master. 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 and crippled and blind and lame here.

²²And the servant said: Sir, what you commanded has been done, and there is still room.

²³And the master said to the servant: Go out into the roads and hedgerows and compel them to come in, so that my house may be filled.

²⁴For I tell you, none of those men who were invited will taste my supper. For many are called, but few are chosen.

²⁵Now great crowds were traveling with him, and turning, he said to them:

²⁶If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, and yes, even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.

²⁷And whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.

²⁸For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it?

²⁹lest, having laid a foundation and not being able to finish, all those looking on begin to mock him

³⁰saying, 'This man began to build and was not able to finish.'

³¹Or what king, going to encounter another king in war, will not first sit down and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet the one coming against him with twenty thousand?

³²But if not, while he is still far off, having sent an embassy he asks for the terms of peace.

³³So therefore every one of you who does not renounce all his own possessions cannot be my disciple.

³⁴Salt is good, then; but if even the salt becomes tasteless, with what will it be seasoned?

³⁵It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; they throw it out. Let the one who has ears to hear, hear.