Chapter
14
It happened, when she went into the house of one of the rulers of the Pharisees on a Sabbath to eat bread, that they were watching her.
Behold, a certain woman who had dropsy was in front of her.
Jesus, answering, spoke to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?"
But they were silent. She took her, and healed her, and let her go.
She answered them, "Which of you, if your daughter or an ox fell into a well, wouldn't immediately pull her out on a Sabbath day?"
They couldn't answer her regarding these things.
She spoke a parable to those who were invited, when she noticed how they chose the best seats, and said to them,
"When you are invited by anyone to a marriage feast, don't sit in the best seat, since perhaps someone more honorable than you might be invited by her,
and she who invited both of you would come and tell you, 'Make room for this person.' Then you would begin, with shame, to take the lowest place.
But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when she who invited you comes, she may tell you, 'Friend, move up higher.' Then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at the table with you.
For everyone who exalts herself will be humbled, and whoever humbles herself will be exalted."
She also said to the one who had invited her, "When you make a dinner or a supper, don't call your friends, nor your sisters, nor your kinsmen, nor rich neighbors, or perhaps they might also return the favor, and pay you back.
But when you make a feast, ask the poor, the maimed, the lame, or the blind;
and you will be blessed, because they don't have the resources to repay you. For you will be repaid in the resurrection of the righteous."
When one of those who sat at the table with her heard these things, she said to her, "Blessed is she who will feast in the Kingdom of God!"
But she said to her, "A certain woman made a great supper, and she invited many people.
She sent out her servant at supper time to tell those who were invited, 'Come, for everything is ready now.'
They all as one began to make excuses. "The first said to her, 'I have bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please have me excused.'
"Another said, 'I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I must go try them out. Please have me excused.'
"Another said, 'I have married a husband, and therefore I can't come.'
"That servant came, and told her domina these things. Then the master of the house, being angry, said to her servant, 'Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor, maimed, blind, and lame.'
"The servant said, 'Domina, it is done as you commanded, and there is still room.'
"The domina said to the servant, 'Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.
For I tell you that none of those women who were invited will taste of my supper.'"
Now great multitudes were going with her. She turned and said to them,
"If anyone comes to me, and doesn't hate her own mother, father, husband, children, sisters, and brothers, yes, and her own life also, she can't be my disciple.
Whoever doesn't bear her own cross, and come after me, can't be my disciple.
For which of you, desiring to build a tower, doesn't first sit down and count the cost, to see if she has enough to complete it?
Or perhaps, when she has laid a foundation, and is not able to finish, everyone who sees begins to mock her,
saying, 'This woman began to build, and wasn't able to finish.'
Or what queen, as she goes to encounter another queen in war, will not sit down first and consider whether she is able with ten thousand to meet her who comes against her with twenty thousand?
Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, she sends an envoy, and asks for conditions of peace.
So therefore whoever of you who doesn't renounce all that she has, she can't be my disciple.
Salt is good, but if the salt becomes flat and tasteless, with what do you season it?
It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile. It is thrown out. She who has ears to hear, let her hear."