1One Sabbath, when he went to dine at the house of a ruler of the Pharisees, they were watching him carefully. (可3:2; 路7:36; 路11:37; 路20:20)2And behold, there was a man before him who had dropsy.3And Jesus responded to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?” (太12:10; 路7:30; 路13:14)4But they remained silent. Then he took him and healed him and sent him away.5And he said to them, “Which of you, having a son[1] or an ox that has fallen into a well on a Sabbath day, will not immediately pull him out?” (申22:4; 太12:11; 路13:15)6And they could not reply to these things. (太22:46)
The Parable of the Wedding Feast
7Now he told a parable to those who were invited, when he noticed how they chose the places of honor, saying to them, (路11:43)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,9and 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.10But 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. (箴25:6)11For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” (箴29:23; 结21:26; 太18:4; 路18:14; 雅4:6; 雅4:10; 彼前5:5)
The Parable of the Great Banquet
12He 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[2] or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid. (路6:34; 约21:12)13But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, (尼8:10; 尼8:12; 斯9:22; 路14:21)14and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.” (约11:24; 徒24:15; 林前15:23; 帖前4:16; 启20:4)15When 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!” (路13:29; 路22:16; 路22:30; 启19:9)16But he said to him, “A man once gave a great banquet and invited many. (赛25:6; 太22:2)17And at the time for the banquet he sent his servant[3] to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’ (斯6:14; 箴9:3; 箴9:5)18But 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.’19And another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to examine them. Please have me excused.’20And another said, ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.’ (申24:5)21So 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.’ (路14:13)22And the servant said, ‘Sir, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.’23And 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.24For I tell you,[4] none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet.’” (太21:43; 徒13:46)
The Cost of Discipleship
25Now 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. (申33:9; 太10:37; 路14:33; 路16:13; 约12:25; 徒20:24; 启12:11)27Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. (太10:38; 太16:24; 可8:34; 路9:23; 约19:17)28For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? (箴24:27)29Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him,30saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’31Or 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? (路14:28)32And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace.33So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple. (路14:26; 路18:28; 腓3:7)
Salt Without Taste Is Worthless
34“Salt is good, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? (太5:13; 可9:50)35It 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.” (太11:15)