Jesus Is Cordially Invited
1Jesus went into the home of a leading Pharisee. He went there to eat a meal on the Sabbath. People kept a close eye on him. 2Right in front of Jesus there was a man suffering from edema—swelling. [1]3Jesus had a question for the Pharisees and the scholars who were experts in Jewish law. “Does the Law allow us to heal people on the Sabbath, or not?” 4Nothing but silence. Jesus grabbed hold of the man and healed him right there. Then Jesus sent him on his way. 5Jesus asked the Jewish leaders, “If your son or your ox fell into a well, which one of you would not instantly pull the child or the critter to safety—even on the Sabbath day?” 6No one had an answer for that question.
Keep It Humble, or Get Humbled
7Jesus started teaching the still-gathering group by telling them stories known as parables. He noticed that the people invited to the meal were beginning to jockey for seats generally reserved for the most honored guests. So he told the group, 8“When someone invites you to a wedding feast, don’t grab a seat near the head of the table—or any other seat of honor. If you do, you take the risk that the host may have invited someone even more important to him. 9If that happens, the host who invited both of you will have to say to you, ‘I’m sorry, but I need you to give your seat to this person.’ My goodness, when that happens think of the shame you’ll feel when you move to a seat at the far end of the table.10“Here’s another approach. When you’re invited to a meal like this, take a seat at the least important spot around the table. That way, when your host sees you there he may say to you, ‘Buddy, get up out of there and come sit close to me!’ My goodness, when that happens think of how glorious you’ll feel in front of all those other people around the table.
11“Here’s how it works. If you make yourself out to be a big deal, people will cut you down to size. But if you keep it humble, people will honor you for that.” 12Jesus turned to his host and said, “When you serve a banquet like this for lunch or dinner, don’t invite your friends, brothers, other relatives, or rich neighbors—because you know they’ll return the favor and feed you a good meal sometime. 13When you serve a meal like this, go ahead and invite the poor, the lame, and the blind. 14You’ll be happy you did. Those people don’t have any way of paying you back. But I can assure you that a payday is coming on Resurrection Day, when good souls rise from the dead.”
The Banquet in Heaven
15Reacting to this, one of the men at the table said, “It will be wonderful to eat bread in the kingdom of God!”16Jesus told the man a story. “One day a man decided to host a huge banquet. He invited a lot of people. 17Later, when the meal was ready, he sent his slave out to deliver the message: ‘Come and get it. Everything is ready now.’
18“But one guest after another declined, making all kinds of excuses. The first excuse: ‘Hey, I just bought a field and I’ve got to go make sure everything is okay there. So give my apologies.’
19“Another guest said, ‘Well, I just bought myself five teams of oxen. I have to go try them out. The host will understand.’
20“Another guest said, ‘OK, it’s like this, I just married myself a wife. I can’t come.’ [2]
21“The slave came back and delivered the news to the man of the house who was throwing the party. The man, mad as all get-out, gave his slave new instructions. ‘Right now, go out into the streets and the alleys of this city and bring back the poor, the lame, and the blind.’
22“Job done, the slave reported, ‘Sir, I did what you told me to do, but there’s still room for more people.’
23“The man told his slave, ‘Doggone it, go outside the city if you have to—down the caravan trails and out to the farms. Do whatever you can to compel people to come here and fill up my house. 24I’ll tell you this much, not one of those men I first invited to this party will get a single bite of this meal.’”
Expensive Cost of Following Jesus
25There was a huge crowd of people following Jesus as he traveled. At one point he turned to the crowd and said, 26“So, you want to follow me. Let me tell you something, you can never truly follow me unless you love me more than you love everyone else in your life. By comparison, you would despise even your own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters—and even yourself. Unless you love me that much, you can’t be my disciple.27“There’s a cross of suffering we have to carry. If you can’t carry your cross as you follow me, you can’t follow me. 28If you decide to build a tower, don’t you first figure out how much it’s going to cost so you know if you’ve got enough to finish the job? 29If you don’t have enough, and you lay the foundation but aren’t able to finish the job, people are going to tear into you and say, 30‘This guy starts jobs he can’t finish.’ 31And won’t a king, headed into war, first see if he can develop a strategy to take his 10,000 men into battle and fight off an army of 20,000? 32And if the king can’t figure out a way to do that, he’ll send a delegation to the other king to ask what it would take to make peace.
33“In the same way, if you don’t surrender to me by loving me more than you love all the stuff you own, you can’t be my disciple. 34Salt is a wonderful seasoning. But if salt goes stale, how can it possibly get that flavor back? 35At that point it’s good for nothing. It can’t help the dirt. It can’t even help the manure pile. We just have to throw it away. Are you listening to me? If you’re listening, I sure hope you’re hearing me.”
