Luke

Heals a Man with Dropsy

One Sabbath, Jesus went to eat at the house of a leading Pharisee, and he was carefully watched.

In front of him was a man suffering from dropsy; 

so Jesus asked the teachers of the law and the Pharisees: 

“Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?” 

But no one answered. 

Jesus then took the man, healed him, and sent him away.

And he said to them: 

“If your lamb or your ox falls into a well on a Sabbath day, who among you doesn’t hurry to pull it out?” 

And they could not answer.

Jesus then told a parable to the guests because he had noticed how they tried to take the places of honor. He said, 

“When you are invited to a wedding, do not choose the best seat. It may happen that someone more important than you has been invited, 

and your host, who invited both of you, will come and say to you, ‘Please give this person your seat.’ What shame will be yours when you take the lowest seat!

Whenever you are invited, choose the lowest seat so that your host may come and say, ‘Friend, you must come up higher.’ In that way, everyone at the table with you will see you honored.

For whoever makes himself out to be great will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”

Jesus also addressed the man who had invited him and said, “When you give a lunch or a dinner, don’t invite your friends, or your brothers and relatives, or your wealthy neighbors. For surely, they will also invite you in return and you will be repaid. 

When you give a feast, invite instead the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. 

Fortunate are you then, because they cannot repay you. You will be repaid at the resurrection of the upright.”

Upon hearing these words, one of those at the table said to Jesus: 

“Happy are those who eat at the banquet in the kingdom of God!”

Jesus replied: 

“A man once hosted a feast and invited many guests. 

When it was time for the feast, he sent his servant to tell those he had invited that everything was ready.

But all of them began to make excuses. The first said, ‘Please excuse me. I need to go see the piece of land I just bought.’ 

Another said: ‘I am sorry, but I am on my way to try out the five yoke of oxen I have just bought.’ 

Still, another said, ‘How can I come, when I’ve just got married?’

The servant returned alone and reported this to his master. Upon hearing his account, the master of the house became furious and told his servant, ‘Go out quickly, into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.’ 

The servant reported after a while, ‘Sir, your orders have been carried out, but there is still room.’ 

The master said, ‘Go out to the highways and country lanes and force people to come in to ensure that my house is full. 

I tell you, none of those invited will have a morsel of my feast.”

One day, as large crowds were walking with Jesus, he turned and said to them, 

“If you come to me, unwilling to sacrifice your love for your father and mother, your spouse and children, your brothers and sisters and indeed yourself, you cannot be my disciple. 

Whoever does not follow me, carrying his own cross, cannot be my disciple.

Do you start building a house without first sitting down to count the cost to see if you have enough to finish it? 

Otherwise, if you’ve laid the foundation and can’t complete it, everyone will laugh at you: 

‘This fellow started to build and was not able to finish.’

And when a king wages war against another king, does he not first sit down to consider whether his ten thousand can stand against the twenty thousand of his opponent? 

And if not, while the other is still a long way off, he sends messengers to arrange peace negotiations. 

In the same way, none of you may become my disciple if he does not give up everything he has.

No matter how good the salt is, if it has lost its flavor, you can’t make it salty again. 

It is unfit for either soil or manure. Just throw it away. Listen then, if you have ears!