Chapter Overview Key ideas, context & where Christ is 1 One Sabbath , when he went to dine at the house of a ruler of the Pharisees , they were watching him carefully .
2 And behold , there was a man before him who had dropsy .
3 And Jesus responded to the lawyers and Pharisees , saying , “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath , or not ?”
4 But they remained silent . Then he took him and healed him and sent him away .
5 And he said to them , “Which of you , having a son or an ox that has fallen into a well on a Sabbath day , will not immediately pull him out ?”
6 And they could not reply to these things .
7 Now he told a parable to those who were invited , when he noticed how they chose the places of honor , saying to them ,
8 “When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast , do not sit down in a place of honor , lest someone more distinguished than you be invited by him ,
9 and he who invited you both will come and say to you , ‘Give your place to this person ,’ and then you will begin with shame to take the lowest place .
10 But when you are invited , go and sit in the lowest 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 who sit at table with you .
11 For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled , and he who humbles himself will be exalted .”
12 He said also to the man who had invited him , “When you give a dinner or a banquet , do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors , lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid .
13 But when you give a feast , invite the poor , the crippled , the lame , the blind ,
14 and you will be blessed , because they cannot repay you . For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just .”
15 When one of those who reclined at table with him heard these things , he said to him , “Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God !”
16 But he said to him , “A man once gave a great banquet and invited many .
17 And at the time for the banquet he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited , ‘Come , for everything is now ready .’
18 But 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 . Please have me excused .’
19 And another said , ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen , and I go to examine them . Please have me excused .’
20 And another said , ‘I have married a wife , and therefore I cannot come .’
21 So the servant came and reported these things to his master . Then the master of the house became angry and said to his servant , ‘Go out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city , and bring in the poor and crippled and blind and lame .’
22 And the servant said , ‘Sir , what you commanded has been done , and still there is room .’
23 And the master said to the servant , ‘Go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in , that my house may be filled .
24 For I tell you , none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet .’”
25 Now great crowds accompanied him , and he turned and said to them ,
26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters , yes , and even his own life , he cannot be my disciple .
27 Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple .
28 For which of you , desiring to build a tower , does not first sit down and count the cost , whether he has enough to complete it ?
29 Otherwise , when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish , all who see it begin to mock him ,
30 saying , ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish .’
31 Or what king , going out to encounter another king in war , will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand ?
32 And if not , while the other is yet a great way off , he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace .
33 So therefore , any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple .
34 “Salt is good , but if salt has lost its taste , how shall its saltiness be restored ?
35 It is of no use either for the soil or for the manure pile . It is thrown away . He who has ears to hear , let him hear .”
Scripture quotations marked “ESV” are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway. Used by permission. All rights reserved.