Luke 14:1–14

Instruction on the Sabbath

14Now it happened, as He went into the house of one of the rulers of the Pharisees to eat bread on the Sabbath, that they watched Him closely. ²And behold, there was a certain man before Him who had dropsy. ³And Jesus, answering, spoke to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, ^a“Is it lawful to heal on the ¹Sabbath?”

⁴But they kept silent. And He took him and healed him, and let him go. ⁵Then He answered them, saying, ^b“Which of you, having a ²donkey or an ox that has fallen into a pit, will not immediately pull him out on the Sabbath day?” ⁶And they could not answer Him regarding these things.

Parable of the Ambitious Guest

⁷So He told a parable to those who were invited, when He noted how they chose the best places, saying to them: ⁸“When you are invited by anyone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in the best place, lest one more honorable than you be invited by him; ⁹and he who invited you and him come and say to you, ‘Give place to this man,’ and then you begin with shame to take the lowest place. ^10cBut when you are invited, go and sit down in the lowest place, so that when he who invited you comes he may say to you, ‘Friend, go up higher.’ Then you will have glory in the presence of those who sit at the table with you. ^11dFor whoever exalts himself will be ³humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

¹²Then He also said to him who invited Him, “When you give a dinner or a supper, do not ask your friends, your brothers, your relatives, nor rich neighbors, lest they also invite you back, and you be repaid. ¹³But when you give a feast, invite ^ethe poor, the ⁴maimed, the lame, the blind. ¹⁴And you will be ^fblessed, because they cannot repay you; for you shall be repaid at the resurrection of the just.”