It happened on the Sabbath Day when he went into the house of a certain ruler among Pharisees to take a meal, that they were watching him.

Great crowds were along with him, and he turned to them and said:

"If any one comes to me and does not hate father and his mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters, yes, and his own very life also, he cannot be a disciple of mine.

One of his fellow guest who was listening to him, said to him, "Blessed are those who eat bread in the kingdom of God."

"Which of you who is desirous of building a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, to see if he has the means to complete it?

"Just so any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.

"Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me, cannot be a disciple of mine.

"Said the master to his slave. 'Go out into the roads and the hedges, and make them come in, so that my house may be filled.

Also to his host who had invited him, he continued, saying. "When you are making a dinner-party or a supper, do not invite your friends, or your brothers, or your relatives, or your rich neighbors, lest it chance that they invite you in return, and a recompense be made by you.

"At dinnertime he sent his slave to say to those who had been invited, 'Come, for all things are now ready.'

"And they all, without exception, proceeded to excuse themselves. The first told him. 'I have bought a field, and must needs go and see it. Pray have me excused.'

"So the slave came and presented all these answers to his master. Then the master of the house was indignant, and said to his slave. 'Go out, quickly, into the streets and alleys of the city, and bring in hither the poor, the maimed, the blind, the lame.'

"'This fellow began to build and could not finish.'

"'For I tell you that not one of those invited guests shall taste my supper.'"

"'I have taken a wife,' said the another, 'and for that reason I am unable to come.'

"And the slave said, 'My master, your orders have been carried out, but yet there is room.'

"The second said: 'I have bought five yolk of oxen and am on my way to try them. I pray that you will have me excused.'

"Lest it happen that after he has laid the foundations and is unable to complete it, all who see it shall begin to jeer at him saying,

"Or what king as he goes forth to join battle with another king in war does not sit down first and deliberate whether he can meet with ten thousand men the one who is advancing against him with twenty thousand?

"If he cannot, while the other king is yet a great way off, he sends an embassy to ask conditions of peace.

Jesus answered. "A certain man was making a great feast to which he invited many guests.

He told a parable to the guests when he noticed how they began choosing the best seats. He said to them.

"Salt is good, but if even the salt have lost its flavor, with what shall it be seasoned?

"For every one who exalts himself shall be humbled, and he who humbles himself shall be exalted."

And to them he said, "Which of you when an ox or ass has fallen into a well, will at once pull him out on the Sabbath Day?"

"Then you will be blessed, because they have no means to repay you, but you shall be paid in the Resurrection of the Just."

"But when you make a reception, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind.

And lo! there was in front of him a man who had dropsy.

"But when you are invited, go and sit down in the lowest place, so that when your host arrives he may say to you, 'My friend, come up higher.' Then you will be honored before the other guest.

"When you are invited by any one to a marriage-feast, do not sit down in the best seat, lest a guest more distinguished than yourself has been invited, and your host come to you and say,

So Jesus questioned the lawyers and the Pharisees, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath Day or not?"

They kept silent. Then Jesus took him and healed him and let him go.

They could not answer this.

"'Give place to this man,' and then with mortification you proceed to take the lowest place.

"It is fit neither for the land nor the dung-hill; men cast it out. He who has ears to hear let him listen to this!"