Luke 14:12-24 - The Parable Of The Great Banquet

¹² Jesus said to his host: When you give a lunch or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or your rich neighbors. They will invite you back, and in this way you will be paid for what you did. ¹³ When you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. ¹⁴ You will be blessed because they are not able to pay you back. God will repay you on the day the good people rise from death.

¹⁵ One of the guests at the table then said to Jesus: Those who sit down at the feast in the Kingdom of God will be happy!

¹⁶ Jesus said: There was a man who gave a great feast to which he invited many people. ¹⁷ He sent his servant to tell the guests that everything is ready.

¹⁸ They all made excuses one after another. The first one told the servant: 'I bought a field and must go and look at it. Please accept my apologies.'

¹⁹ Another said: 'I purchased five pairs of oxen and am on my way to try them out. Please accept my apologies.'

²⁰ Another explained: 'I am newly married and I cannot come.'

²¹ The servant returned and conveyed this to his master. The master was furious. He commanded his servant to hurry into the streets and alleys of the town, and bring back the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.

²² The servant soon told his master, 'Your order has been carried out but there is still more room.'

²³ The master told the servant, 'Go to the country roads and lanes and make people come so my house will be full.' ²⁴ None of those who were invited will taste my dinner! He said.