141 It happened that when He went into the house of one of the leaders of the Pharisees on the Sabbath to eat bread , they were watching Him closely . 2 And there in front of Him was a man suffering from dropsy . 3 And Jesus answered and spoke to the lawyers and Pharisees , saying , " Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath , or not?" 4 But they kept silent . And He took hold of him and healed him, and sent him away . 5 And He said to them, " Which one of you will have a son or an ox fall into a well , and will not immediately pull him out on a Sabbath day ?" 6 And they could make no reply to this .
7 And He began speaking a parable to the invited guests when He noticed how they had been picking out the places of honor at the table, saying to them, 8 "When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast , do not take the place of honor , for someone more distinguished than you may have been invited by him, 9 and he who invited you both e will come and say to you, 'Give your place to this man ,' and then in disgrace you proceed to occupy the last place . 10 "But when you are invited , go and recline at the last place , so that when the one who has invited you comes , he may say to you, 'Friend , move up higher '; then you will have honor in the sight of all who are at the table with you. 11 " For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled , and he who humbles himself will be exalted ." 12 And He also went on to say to the one who had invited Him, "When you give a luncheon or a dinner , do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors , otherwise they may also invite you in return and that will be your repayment . 13 "But when you give a reception , invite the poor , the crippled , the lame , the blind , 14 and you will be blessed , since they do not have the means to repay you; for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous ."
15 When one of those who were reclining at the table with Him heard this , he said to Him, " Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God !" 16 But He said to him, " A man was giving a big dinner , and he invited many ; 17 and at the dinner hour he sent his slave to say to those who had been invited , 'Come ; for everything is ready now .' 18 "But they all alike e began to make excuses . The first one said to him, 'I have bought a piece of land and I need to go out and look at it; please consider me excused .' 19 "Another one said , 'I have bought five yoke of oxen , and I am going to try them out; please consider me excused .' 20 "Another one said , ' I have married a wife , and for that reason I cannot e come .' 21 "And the slave came back and reported this to his master . Then the head of the household became angry and said to his slave , 'Go out at once into the streets and lanes of the city and bring in here the poor and crippled and blind and lame .' 22 "And the slave said , 'Master , what you commanded has been done , and still there is room .' 23 "And the master said to the slave , 'Go out into the highways and along the hedges , and compel them to come in, so that my house may be filled . 24 'For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste of my dinner .' "
25 Now large crowds were going along with 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 e be My disciple . 27 "Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot e be My disciple . 28 "For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower , does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it? 29 "Otherwise e , when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish , all who observe it begin to ridicule him, 30 saying , 'This man began to build and was not able to finish .' 31 "Or what king , when he sets out to meet another king in battle , will not first sit down and consider whether he is strong enough with ten thousand men to encounter the one coming against him with twenty thousand ? 32 "Or else , while the other is still far away , he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace . 33 "So then , none e of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions .
34 "Therefore , salt is good ; but if even salt has become tasteless , with what will it be seasoned ? 35 "It is useless e either for the soil or for the manure pile ; it is thrown out. He who has ears to hear , let him hear ."
