Luke 14:1–14

Jesus at a Pharisee’s House

14:8–10Ref—Pr 25:6,7

14One Sabbath, when Jesus went to eat in the house of a prominent Pharisee,^z he was being carefully watched.^{a 2}There in front of him was a man suffering from abnormal swelling of his body. ³Jesus asked the Pharisees and experts in the law,^b “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not?”^{c 4}But they remained silent. So taking hold of the man, he healed him and sent him on his way.

⁵Then he asked them, “If one of you has a child^a or an ox that falls into a well on the Sabbath day, will you not immediately pull it out?”^{d 6}And they had nothing to say.

⁷When he noticed how the guests picked the places of honor at the table,^e he told them this parable: ⁸“When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for a person more distinguished than you may have been invited. ⁹If so, the host who invited both of you will come and say to you, ‘Give this person your seat.’ Then, humiliated, you will have to take the least important place. ¹⁰But when you are invited, take the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he will say to you, ‘Friend, move up to a better place.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all the other guests. ¹¹For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”^f

¹²Then Jesus said to his host, “When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. ¹³But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind,^{g 14}and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”^h