Luke 14:1–14

Healing on the Sabbath

14On a Sabbath day, when Jesus went to eat at the home of a leading Pharisee, the people were watching Jesus very closely. ²And in front of him was a man with dropsy. ^{n 3}Jesus said to the Pharisees and experts on the law, “Is it right or wrong to heal on the Sabbath day?” ⁴But they would not answer his question. So Jesus took the man, healed him, and sent him away. ⁵Jesus said to the Pharisees and teachers of the law, “If your child ⁿ or ox falls into a well on the Sabbath day, will you not pull him out quickly?” ⁶And they could not answer him.

Don’t Make Yourself Important

⁷When Jesus noticed that some of the guests were choosing the best places to sit, he told this story: ⁸“When someone invites you to a wedding feast, don’t take the most important seat, because someone more important than you may have been invited. ⁹The host, who invited both of you, will come to you and say, ‘Give this person your seat.’ Then you will be embarrassed and will have to move to the last place. ¹⁰So when you are invited, go sit in a seat that is not important. When the host comes to you, he may say, ‘Friend, move up here to a more important place.’ Then all the other guests will respect you. ¹¹All who make themselves great will be made humble, but those who make themselves humble will be made great.”

You Will Be Rewarded

¹²Then Jesus said to the man who had invited him, “When you give a lunch or a dinner, don’t invite only your friends, your family, your other relatives, and your rich neighbors. At another time they will invite you to eat with them, and you will be repaid. ¹³Instead, when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. ¹⁴Then you will be blessed, because they have nothing and cannot pay you back. But you will be repaid when the good people rise from the dead.”