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¹ One Sabbath, Jesus[fn] went to the house of a leader of the Pharisees to eat a meal. The guests[fn] were watching Jesus[fn] closely. ² A man whose body was swollen with fluid suddenly appeared in front of him. ³ So Jesus asked the Pharisees and experts in the law, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not?"[xr] ⁴ But they kept silent. So he took hold of the man,[fn] healed him, and sent him away. ⁵ Then he asked them, "If your son[fn] or ox falls into a well on the Sabbath day, you would pull him out immediately, wouldn't you?"[xr] ⁶ And they couldn't argue with him about this.

⁷ When Jesus[fn] noticed how the guests were choosing the places of honor, he told them a parable. ⁸ "When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, don't sit down at the place of honor in case someone more important than you was invited by him. ⁹ Then the host who invited both of you would come to you and say, 'Give this person your place.' In disgrace, you would have to take the place of least honor. ¹⁰ But when you are invited, go and sit down at the place of least honor. Then, when your host comes, he will tell you, 'Friend, move up higher,' and you will be honored in the presence of all who eat with you.[xr] ¹¹ For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the person who humbles himself will be exalted."[xr] ¹² Then he told the man who had invited him, "When you give a luncheon or a dinner, stop inviting only[fn] your friends, brothers, relatives, or rich neighbors. Otherwise, they may invite you in return and you would be repaid. ¹³ Instead, when you give a banquet, make it your habit to invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind.[xr] ¹⁴ Then you will be blessed because they can't repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous."

¹⁵ Now one of those eating with him heard this and said to him, "How blessed is the person who will eat[fn] in the kingdom of God!"[xr] ¹⁶ Jesus[fn] said to him, "A man gave a large banquet and invited many people.[xr] ¹⁷ When it was time for the banquet, he sent his servant to tell those who were invited, 'Come! Everything is now ready.'[xr] ¹⁸ Every single one of them began asking to be excused. The first said to him, 'I bought a field, and I need to go out and inspect it. Please excuse me.' ¹⁹ Another said, 'I bought five pairs of oxen, and I'm on my way to try them out. Please excuse me.' ²⁰ Still another said, 'I recently got married, and that's why I can't come.' ²¹ "So the servant went back and reported this to his master. Then the master of the house became angry and told his servant, 'Go quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring back the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.' ²² The servant said, 'Sir, what you ordered has been done, and there is still room.' ²³ Then the master told the servant, 'Go out into the streets and the lanes and make the people come in, so that my house may be full. ²⁴ For I tell all of you,[fn] none of those men who were invited will taste anything at my banquet.'"[xr]

²⁵ Now large crowds were traveling with Jesus.[fn] He turned and said to them, ²⁶ "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father, mother, wife, children, brothers, and sisters, as well as his own life, he can't be my disciple.[xr] ²⁷ Whoever doesn't carry his cross and follow me can't be my disciple.[xr] ²⁸ "Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. He will first sit down and estimate the cost to see whether he has enough money to finish it, won't he?[xr] ²⁹ Otherwise, if he lays a foundation and can't finish the building,[fn] everyone who watches will begin to ridicule him ³⁰ and say, 'This person started a building but couldn't finish it.' ³¹ "Or suppose a king is going to war against another king. He will first sit down and consider whether with 10,000 men he can oppose the one coming against him with 20,000 men, won't he? ³² If he can't, he will send a delegation to ask for terms of peace while the other king[fn] is still far away. ³³ In the same way, none of you can be my disciple unless he gives up all his possessions." ³⁴ "Now, salt is good. But if the salt should lose its taste, how can its flavor be restored?[xr] ³⁵ It is suitable neither for the soil nor for the manure pile. People[fn] throw it away. Let the person who has ears to hear, listen!"