Luke 14:1–14

A SABBATH CONTROVERSY

14One Sabbath, when he went in to eat^A 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. ³In response, Jesus asked the law experts^ab 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. ⁵And 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

⁷He told a parable^ae to those who were invited, when he noticed how they would choose the best places^af 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 person^ag than you may have been invited by your host. ⁹The 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 honored^ah 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

¹²He 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. ¹³On 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 repaid^am at the resurrection of the righteous.”^an