A SABBATH CONTROVERSY

14 One Sabbath, when he went in to eatG at the house of one of the leading Pharisees,z they were watching him closely.aa 2 There in front of him was a man whose body was swollen with fluid. 3 In response, Jesus asked the law expertsab and the Pharisees, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not?”ac 4 But they kept silent. He took the man, healed him, and sent him away. 5 And to them, he said, “Which of you whose son or ox falls into a well, will not immediately pull him out on the Sabbath day?”ad 6 They could find no answer to these things.

TEACHINGS ON HUMILITY

7 He told a parableae to those who were invited, when he noticed how they would choose the best placesaf for themselves: 8 “When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, don’t sit in the place of honor, because a more distinguished personag than you may have been invited by your host. 9 The one who invited both of you may come and say to you, ‘Give your place to this man,’ and then in humiliation, you will proceed to take the lowest place.

10 “But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when the one who invited you comes, he will say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher.’ You will then be honoredah in the presence of all the other guests.ai 11 For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”aj

12 He also said to the one who had invited him, “When you give a lunch or a dinner, don’t invite your friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives, or your rich neighbors, because they might invite you back, and you would be repaid. 13 On the contrary, when you host a banquet,ak invite those who are poor, maimed, lame, or blind.al 14 And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you; for you will be repaidam at the resurrection of the righteous.”an