¹Now it came to pass, when he had gone into the home of one of the senior members of the Pharisees on a Sabbath to eat bread, that they were watching him closely, ²and it was the case that there was in front of him a certain man with oedema, ³at which Jesus reacted and addressed the scholars in the law and the Pharisees and said, “Is it permitted to heal on the Sabbath?” ⁴But they kept quiet. Then he took hold of him and cured him and let him go. ⁵Then he replied to them and said, “Who among you whose son or ox falls into a well would not immediately draw it up on the Sabbath day?” ⁶And they could not argue against those matters with him. ⁷Then he told the guests a parable as he noticed how they chose the prime seats, and he said to them, ⁸“When you have been invited to a wedding by someone, do not recline at a prime seat, in case someone more honourable than you is invited by him, ⁹and the one who invited you and him should come and say to you, ‘Give your place to this man’, and then you will have to move on with shame to occupy the last choice place. ¹⁰But when you are invited, go and recline in the last choice place so that when your host comes, he says to you, ‘My friend, come up higher.’ Then you will have honour in the sight of those reclining with you. ¹¹For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” ¹²Then he said to him who had invited him, “When you give a lunch or dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relations or rich neighbours, in case they also invite you in return, and you have a repayment.” ¹³But when you give a reception, invite the poor, the disabled, the lame, the blind, ¹⁴and you will be blessed, because they don't have the means to repay you. For it will be repaid to you in the resurrection of the righteous. ¹⁵Then when one of those reclining with him at table heard these things, he said to him, “Blessed is he who will eat lunch in the kingdom of God.” ¹⁶At this he said to him, “A certain man gave a grand dinner and invited many people. ¹⁷And he sent his servant at the hour of the dinner to say to the guests, ‘Come along, for everything is already prepared.’ ¹⁸But they all one after the other set about excusing themselves. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a field, and I need to go out and see to it. I ask you to accept my apologies.’ ¹⁹And another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out. I ask you to accept my apologies.’ ²⁰And another said, ‘I have married a woman, which is why I can't come.’ ²¹So that 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 into the streets and lanes of the town and bring in the poor and the disabled and the lame and the blind here.’ ²²In due course the servant said, ‘Master, it has been done as you ordered, but there is still place.’ ²³At this the master said to the servant, ‘Go out into the roads and paths and compel them to come in, so that my house is filled. ²⁴For I say to you, no-one of those men who were invited will have a taste of the dinner of mine.’ For many are called, but few chosen.” ²⁵Moreover large crowds were going with him, and he turned and said to them, ²⁶“If anyone comes to me but does not hate his father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be a disciple of mine. ²⁷And whoever does not bear his cross and follow me cannot be a disciple of mine. ²⁸For who among you, wishing to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the expense, to see whether he has enough money for its completion, ²⁹in case after he has laid the foundation, he does not have the means to complete it, and everyone who sees it starts mocking him, ³⁰saying, ‘This man started building, but he was not able to complete it’? ³¹Or what king, making a move to engage another king in war, does not first sit down and take counsel as to whether he is powerful enough with ten thousand soldiers to confront him with twenty thousand soldiers coming against him? ³²If not, while he is still far off, he will send a delegation and ask for terms of peace. ³³So in this way, every one of you who does not bid farewell to all his own possessions cannot be a disciple of mine. ³⁴Salt is good, but if salt becomes insipid, with what can it be seasoned? ³⁵It is not fit for either land or manure; it is thrown away outside. Let him who has ears to hear, hear.”