1 One Sabbath, when he went to take a meal at the house of a member of the council who was a Pharisee, they were watching him closely.
2 There was a man in front of him who had dropsy.
3 And Jesus said to the Pharisees and the experts in the Law, "Is it right to cure people on the Sabbath or not?"
4 But they made no answer. And he took hold of the man and cured him and sent him away.
5 Then he said to them, "Who among you, if his child or his ox falls into a well, will not pull him out at once on the Sabbath?"
6 And they could make no reply to this.
7 He noticed that the guests picked out the best places, and he gave them this illustration:
8 "When someone invites you to a wedding supper, do not take the best place, for someone more distinguished than you are may have been invited,
9 and your host will come and say to you 'Make room for this man,' and then you will proceed in confusion to take the poorest place.
10 But when you are invited anywhere, go and take the poorest place, so that when your host comes in, he will say to you, 'My friend, come to a better place.' So you will be shown consideration before all the other guests.
11 For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the man who humbles himself will be exalted."
12 And he said to the man who had invited him, "When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or your rich neighbors, for then they will invite you in return and you will be repaid.
13 But when you give an entertainment, invite people who are poor, maimed, lame, or blind.
14 Then you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you; for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the upright."
15 One of the other guests heard this, and said to him, "Blessed is the man who shall be at the banquet in the Kingdom of God!"
16 He said to him, "A man once gave a great dinner, and invited a large number to it,
17 and when the dinner hour came, he sent around his slave, to say to those who were invited, 'Come! for it is now ready!'
18 And they all immediately began to excuse themselves. The first one said to him, 'I have bought a piece of land, and I must go and look at it. Please have me excused.'
19 Another said, 'I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to examine them. Please have me excused.'
21 So the slave went back, and reported this to his master. Then the master of the house was angry and said to his slave, 'Hurry out into the streets and squares of the city, and bring the poor, the maimed, the blind, and the lame in here!'
23 And the master said to the slave, 'Go out on the roads, and among the hedges, and make them come so that my house may be full.
24 For I tell you that none of those men who were invited shall have any of my dinner!' "
25 There were great crowds accompanying him, and once he turned and said to them,
26 "If anyone comes to me without hating his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, and his very life too, he cannot be a disciple of mine.
27 For no one who does not take up his own cross and come after me can be a disciple of mine.
28 What man among you if he wishes to build a tower does not first sit down and estimate the cost of it, to see whether he has enough to complete it?
29 Or else when he has laid his foundation and cannot finish the building, everyone who sees it will begin to ridicule him,
30 and say, 'This man started to erect a building, and could not finish it!'
31 Or what king, if he is going to meet another king in battle, does not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to meet the other who is coming against him with twenty thousand?
32 And if he cannot, while the other is still far away, he sends envoys to him and asks on what terms he will make peace.
33 In just that way, no one of you who does not say goodbye to all he has can be a disciple of mine.