Luke 14
14
1-3One time when Jesus went for a Sabbath meal with one of the top leaders of the Pharisees, all the guests had their eyes on him, watching his every move. Right before him there was a man hugely swollen in his joints. So Jesus asked the religion scholars and Pharisees present, “Is it permitted to heal on the Sabbath? Yes or no?”
4-6They were silent. So he took the man, healed him, and sent him on his way. Then he said, “Is there anyone here who, if a child or animal fell down a well, wouldn’t rush to pull him out immediately, not asking whether or not it was the Sabbath?” They were stumped. There was nothing they could say to that.
Invite the Misfits
7-9He went on to tell a story to the guests around the table. Noticing how each had tried to elbow into the place of honor, he said, “When someone invites you to dinner, don’t take the place of honor. Somebody more important than you might have been invited by the host. Then he’ll come and call out in front of everybody, ‘You’re in the wrong place. The place of honor belongs to this man.’ Embarrassed, you’ll have to make your way to the very last table, the only place left.
10-11“When you’re invited to dinner, go and sit at the last place. Then when the host comes he may very well say, ‘Friend, come up to the front.’ That will give the dinner guests something to talk about! What I’m saying is, If you walk around all high and mighty, you’re going to end up flat on your face. But if you’re content to be simply yourself, you will become more than yourself.”
12-14Then he turned to the host. “The next time you put on a dinner, don’t just invite your friends and family and rich neighbors, the kind of people who will return the favor. Invite some people who never get invited out, the misfits from the wrong side of the tracks. You’ll be—and experience—a blessing. They won’t be able to return the favor, but the favor will be returned—oh, how it will be returned!—at the resurrection of God’s people.”
The Story of the Dinner Party
15That triggered a response from one of the guests: “How fortunate the one who gets to eat dinner in God’s kingdom!”
16-17Jesus followed up. “Yes. For there was once a man who threw a great dinner party and invited many. When it was time for dinner, he sent out his servant to the invited guests, saying, ‘Come on in; the food’s on the table.’
18“Then they all began to beg off, one after another making excuses. The first said, ‘I bought a piece of property and need to look it over. Send my regrets.’
19“Another said, ‘I just bought five teams of oxen, and I really need to check them out. Send my regrets.’
20“And yet another said, ‘I just got married and need to get home to my wife.’
21“The servant went back and told the master what had happened. He was outraged and told the servant, ‘Quickly, get out into the city streets and alleys. Collect all who look like they need a square meal, all the misfits and homeless and down-and-out you can lay your hands on, and bring them here.’
22“The servant reported back, ‘Master, I did what you commanded—and there’s still room.’
23-24“The master said, ‘Then go to the country roads. Whoever you find, drag them in. I want my house full! Let me tell you, not one of those originally invited is going to get so much as a bite at my dinner party.’”
Figure the Cost
25-27One day when large groups of people were walking along with him, Jesus turned and told them, “Anyone who comes to me but refuses to let go of father, mother, spouse, children, brothers, sisters—yes, even one’s own self!—can’t be my disciple. Anyone who won’t shoulder his own cross and follow behind me can’t be my disciple.
28-30“Is there anyone here who, planning to build a new house, doesn’t first sit down and figure the cost so you’ll know if you can complete it? If you only get the foundation laid and then run out of money, you’re going to look pretty foolish. Everyone passing by will poke fun at you: ‘He started something he couldn’t finish.’
31-32“Or can you imagine a king going into battle against another king without first deciding whether it is possible with his ten thousand troops to face the twenty thousand troops of the other? And if he decides he can’t, won’t he send an emissary and work out a truce?
33“Simply put, if you’re not willing to take what is dearest to you, whether plans or people, and kiss it good-bye, you can’t be my disciple.
34-35“Salt is excellent. But if the salt goes flat, it’s useless, good for nothing.
“Are you listening to this? Really listening?”
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THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved. Used by permission of NavPress. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.
Luke 14
14
1And it came to pass, as he went into the house of one of the rulers, who was of the Pharisees, to eat bread on the sabbath, that they were watching him. 2And behold, there was a certain dropsical man before him. 3And Jesus answering spoke unto the doctors of the law and Pharisees, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath? 4But they were silent. And taking him he healed him and let him go. 5And answering he said to them, Of which of you shall an ass or ox fall into a well, that he does not straightway pull him up on the sabbath day? 6And they were not able to answer him to these things.
7And he spoke a parable to those that were invited, remarking how they chose out the first places, saying to them, 8When thou art invited by any one to a wedding, do not lay thyself down in the first place at table, lest perhaps a more honourable than thou be invited by him, 9and he who invited thee and him come and say to thee, Give place to this man, and then thou begin with shame to take the last place. 10But when thou hast been invited, go and put thyself down in the last place, that when he who has invited thee comes, he may say to thee, Friend, go up higher: then shalt thou have honour before all that are lying at table with thee; 11for every one that exalts himself shall be abased, and he that abases himself shall be exalted. 12And he said also to him that had invited him, When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy brethren, nor thy kinsfolk, nor rich neighbours, lest it may be they also should invite thee in return, and a recompense be made thee. 13But when thou makest a feast, call poor, crippled, lame, blind: 14and thou shalt be blessed; for they have not the means to recompense thee; for it shall be recompensed thee in the resurrection of the just.
15And one of those that were lying at table with them, hearing these things, said to him, Blessed is he who shall eat bread in the kingdom of God. 16And he said to him, A certain man made a great supper and invited many. 17And he sent his bondman at the hour of supper to say to those who were invited, Come, for already all things are ready. 18And all began, without exception, to excuse themselves. The first said to him, I have bought land, and I must go out and see it; I pray thee hold me for excused. 19And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them; I pray thee hold me for excused. 20And another said, I have married a wife, and on this account I cannot come. 21And the bondman came up and brought back word of these things to his lord. Then the master of the house, in anger, said to his bondman, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring here the poor and crippled and lame and blind. 22And the bondman said, Sir, it is done as thou hast commanded, and there is still room. 23And the lord said to the bondman, Go out into the ways and fences and compel to come in, that my house may be filled; 24for I say to you, that not one of those men who were invited shall taste of my supper.
25And great crowds went with him; and, turning round, he said to them, 26If any man come to me, and shall not hate his own father and mother, and wife, and children, and brothers, and sisters, yea, and his own life too, he cannot be my disciple; 27and whoever does not carry his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. 28For which of you, desirous of building a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, if he have what is needed to complete it; 29in order that, having laid the foundation of it, and not being able to finish it, all who see it do not begin to mock at him, 30saying, This man began to build and was not able to finish? 31Or what king, going on his way to engage in war with another king, does not, sitting down first, take counsel whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him coming against him with twenty thousand? 32and if not, while he is yet far off, having sent an embassy, he asks for terms of peace. 33Thus then every one of you who forsakes not all that is his own cannot be my disciple. 34Salt then is good, but if the salt also has become savourless, wherewith shall it be seasoned? 35It is proper neither for land nor for dung; it is cast out. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.
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First published in 1890. This edition is maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society.