Luke 14

And it came to pass 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 closely.

And Look! There was before him a certain man whose body was swollen.

And Jesus answering spoke to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?”

But they held their peace. And he took hold of him, and healed him, and let him go.

And he said to them, “Which of you having a son or an ox that has fallen into a well, will not immediately pull him out on a Sabbath day?”

And they could not reply to these things.

And he began speaking a parable to those who were invited, when he observed how they chose the places of honor, saying to them,

“When you are called by someone to a marriage feast, do not sit down in the places of honor, lest a more honorable man than you is called by him,

and the one who called both you and him, having come, will say to you, ‘Give this man place,’ and then with shame you will begin to take the lowest place.

But when you are called, go and recline to eat in the lowest place so that when he who has called you comes, he will say to you, ‘Friend, go up higher.’ Then will you have glory in the presence of all those who are reclining to eat with you.

For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”

And he also said to him who had called him, “When you make a dinner or a banquet, do not call your friends, nor your brothers, nor your relatives, nor rich neighbors, lest they also call you in return, and then you would be repaid.

But when you make a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind,

and you will be blessed, because they do not have the means to repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

And when one of those who reclined to eat with him heard these things, he said to him, “Blessed is anyone who will eat bread at the feast in the Kingdom of God!”

But he said to him, “A certain man was giving a great banquet, and called many.

And at the time of the banquet he sent out his servant to say to those who were called, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’

And they all alike 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, have me excused.’

And another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am on my way to try them out. I ask you, have me excused.’

And another said, ‘I have married a wife and therefore I am not able to come.’

And the servant came, and told his lord these things. Then the head of the house, being enraged, said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in here the poor and maimed and blind and lame.’

And the servant said, ‘Lord, what you commanded is done, and there is still room.’

And the lord said to the servant, ‘Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, so that my house will be filled.

For I say to you, that none of those men who were called will taste of my banquet.’”

Now large crowds went with him, and he turned and said to them,

“If anyone comes to me, and does not hate his own father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brothers, and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he is not able to be my disciple.

Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me is not able to be my disciple.

“For which of you, wanting to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost and see if he has enough to complete it?

Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him,

saying, ‘This man began to build, and could not finish.’

Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not first sit down and take counsel and see if he is able with 10,000 to meet him who comes against him with 20,000?

And if not, while the other is still a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for the terms of peace.

So therefore, any of you who does not renounce all that he has is not able to be my disciple.

“Now salt is good, but if the salt has become unsalty, how can you make it salty again?

It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile. It is thrown out into the street. Anyone who has ears to hear had better listen!”