Luke 14

1 One Sabbath, Jesus went to eat in the home of a leading Pharisee, and those in attendance were watching Him closely.

One (Jewish day of rest/Sabbath day), Jesus went to eat [SYN] at the house of an important Pharisee. Some [men who studied the Jewish] laws and other Pharisees who were there were watching him carefully [to see if he would do something for which they could accuse him].

2 Right there before Him was a man with dropsy.

Unexpectedly, there was a man in front of Jesus whose arms and legs were swollen.

3 So Jesus asked the experts in the law and the Pharisees, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not?”

Jesus said to them, “Is it permitted in [our(inc)] Jewish laws to heal [someone] (on our Jewish rest day/on the Sabbath), or not?”

4 But they remained silent. Then Jesus took hold of the man, healed him, and sent him on his way.

[They knew that their laws permitted it, but they thought that healing was work, which they thought was wrong to do] (on the Sabbath/on the Jewish rest day) (OR, [they knew that their laws permitted it, but they did not want to admit it]). So they did not reply. Then Jesus put his hands on the man and healed him. Then he told him to go [home].

5 And He asked them, “Which of you whose son or ox falls into a pit on the Sabbath day will not immediately pull him out?”

Then he said to the rest of them, “If you had a son or an ox that fell into a well on a (Sabbath/our day of rest), would you immediately [work to] pull him out, [or would you(sg) let him stay there until the next day]?”

6 And they were unable to answer these questions.

[They knew that they would immediately work to pull him out, even on their day of rest, so they could not justly say that Jesus did wrong by healing the man on that day. So] they said nothing in reply to Jesus.

7 When Jesus noticed how the guests chose the places of honor, He told them a parable:

Jesus noticed that those people who had been {whom [the Pharisee] had} invited [to the meal] chose [to sit in] the places where important [people usually sit]. Then he gave [this advice] to them:

8 “When you are invited to a wedding banquet, do not sit in the place of honor, in case someone more distinguished than you has been invited.

“When one of you [(sg)] is invited by someone {someone invites one of you [(sg)]} to a wedding feast, do not sit in a place where important people sit. Perhaps the man [giving the feast] has invited a man more important than you [(sg)].

9 Then the host who invited both of you will come and tell you, ‘Give this man your seat.’ And in humiliation, you will have to take the last place.

[When that man comes], the man who invited both of you will come to you [(sg)] and say to you, ‘Let this man take your seat!’ Then you [(sg)] will have to take the most undesirable seat, and you will be ashamed.

10 But when you are invited, go and sit in the last place, so that your host will come and tell you, ‘Friend, move up to a better place.’ Then you will be honored in front of everyone at the table with you.

Instead, when you are invited {[someone] invites one of you} [to a feast], go and sit in the most undesirable seat. Then when the man who invited everyone comes, he will say to you [(sg)], ‘Friend, sit in a better seat!’ Then all the people who are eating with you [(sg)] will see that he is honoring you.

11 For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Also, [remember this]: [God] will humble those who exalt themselves. And [he] will exalt those who humble themselves.”

12 Then Jesus said to the man who had invited Him, “When you host a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or brothers or relatives or rich neighbors. Otherwise, they may invite you in return, and you will be repaid.

[Jesus] also said to [the Pharisee] who had invited him to the meal, “When you [(sg)] invite people to a midday or evening meal, do not invite your friends or your family or your other relatives or your rich neighbors. They can later invite you [(sg) for a meal]. In that way they will repay you.

13 But when you host a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind,

Instead, when you [(sg)] give a feast, invite poor [people], crippled [people], lame [people], or blind [people].

14 and you will be blessed. Since they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

They will be unable to repay you. [But God will bless you! He] will repay you [at the time] when [he causes] righteous people to become alive again.”

15 When one of those reclining with Him heard this, he said to Jesus, “Blessed is everyone who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God.”

One of those who were eating with Jesus heard him say that. He said to Jesus, “God [has truly] blessed [us Jews] who will eat [with the Messiah] when he starts to rule!”

16 But Jesus replied, “A certain man prepared a great banquet and invited many guests.

But [to show that many Jews whom God had invited would not accept God’s invitation] [MET], Jesus replied to him, “One time a man [decided] to prepare a large feast. He invited many people to come.

17 When it was time for the banquet, he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’

When it was the day for the feast, he sent his servant to tell those who had been {whom he had} invited, ‘Come [now] because everything is ready!’

18 But one after another they all began to make excuses. The first one said, ‘I have bought a field, and I need to go see it. Please excuse me.’

But [when the servant did that], all of the people [whom he had invited] began to say why they did not want to come. The first [man the servant went to] said, ‘I have just bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please [ask your master to] forgive me for not coming!’

19 Another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out. Please excuse me.’

Another person said, ‘I have just bought five pair of oxen, and I must go to examine them. Please [ask your master to] forgive me for not coming!’

20 Still another said, ‘I have married a wife, so I cannot come.’

Another person said, ‘I have just been married. So I cannot come.’

21 The servant returned and reported all this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the city, and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.’

So the servant returned to his master and reported what [everyone had said]. The owner of the house was angry [when he heard the reasons they gave for not] coming. He said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly to the streets and alleys of the city [and find] poor and crippled and blind and lame [people, and bring] them here into [my house]!’

22 ‘Sir,’ the servant replied, ‘what you ordered has been done, and there is still room.’

[After the servant went and did that], he [came back and] said, ‘Sir, I have done what you [(sg)] told me to do, but there is still room [for more people].’

23 So the master told his servant, ‘Go out to the highways and hedges and compel them to come in, so that my house will be full.

[So] his master said to him, ‘Then go [outside the city]. Search for people along the highways. Search also along the narrow roads with hedges beside them [where homeless people may be staying]. Strongly urge the people in those places to come to [my house]. I want it to be full of [people]!’”

24 For I tell you, not one of those men who were invited will taste my banquet.’”

[Then Jesus said], “I tell you [(pl)] this: Very few of you [Jewish] people will enjoy my feast, even though [I] invited you [first to eat it with me when I become king].”

25 Large crowds were now traveling with Jesus, and He turned and said to them,

Large groups of people were traveling with [Jesus]. He turned and said to them,

26 “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be My disciple.

“If anyone comes to me who loves his father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters [more than] [HYP] [he loves me], he cannot be my disciple. He must even love me more than he loves his own life!

27 And whoever does not carry his cross and follow Me cannot be My disciple.

[People who are ready to execute a prisoner make] him carry his cross [MET] [to the place where others will nail him] on it. Only those who are willing [to allow others to hurt them and disgrace them] like that because of being my disciples, and who are willing to obey what I teach, can be my disciples.

28 Which of you, wishing to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost to see if he has the resources to complete it?

[I will illustrate] [MET]. If one of you desired to build a (tower/big house), (you would surely first sit down and determine how much it would cost!/would you not first sit down and determine how much it would cost?) [RHQ] Then you would determine whether you had enough money to complete it.

29 Otherwise, if he lays the foundation and is unable to finish the work, everyone who sees it will ridicule him,

[If you did not do that], if you laid the foundation and were not able to finish [the rest of the tower], everyone who saw it would make fun of you.

30 saying, ‘This man could not finish what he started to build.’

They would say, ‘This man started to build [a tower], but he was not able to finish it!’

31 Or what king on his way to war with another king will not first sit down and consider whether he can engage with ten thousand men the one coming against him with twenty thousand?

Or, if a king decided to [send his army to] war against another king, (he would surely first sit down [with those who] advised [him]./would he not first sit down [with those who] advised [him]?) [RHQ] They would determine whether [his army], which had only 10,000 soldiers, could defeat the [other army], which had 20,000 soldiers, and was about to attack his [army].

32 And if he is unable, he will send a delegation while the other king is still far off, to ask for terms of peace.

If he [decided] that his army could not [defeat that army], he would send messengers to [the other king] while the other army was still far away. He would tell the messengers to say to that king, ‘What things must I do to have peace with your country?’

33 In the same way, any one of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be My disciple.

So, similarly, if any one of you does not first decide that you [(sg)] are [willing to] give up all that you have, you cannot be my disciple.”

34 Salt is good, but if the salt loses its savor, with what will it be seasoned?

[Jesus also said, “You are like] [MET] salt, which is useful [to put on food]. But (salt certainly cannot be made {[you] certainly cannot make salt} to taste salty again if it stops tasting salty!/can salt be made {can [you] make salt} to taste salty again if it quits tasting salty?) [RHQ]

35 It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile, and it is thrown out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

[If salt does not taste salty any more], it is not good for the soil or even for the manure heap. [People] throw it away. [The same thing will happen to you if you become useless to God]. If you want to understand what I just said [IDM], you must consider [carefully] what you have heard!”