Luke 14 (NMV)
1 One Sabbath, when He went in to eat at the house of one of the leading Pharisees, they were watching Him closely.
2 Right in front of Him was a man whose body was swollen with fluid.
3 In response, Jesus asked the legal experts and the Pharisees, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not?"
4 But they kept silent. He took the man, healed him, and sent him away.
5 And He said to them, "Which of you, if your son or ox falls into a well on a Sabbath day, will not immediately pull him out?"
6 They could find no answer to these things.
7 He told a parable to those who had been invited, when He noticed how they chose the places of honor:
8 "When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, don't sit in the place of honor, because someone more distinguished than you may have been invited by your host.
9 Then the one who invited both of you may come and say to you, 'Give your place to this man,' and in humiliation you will proceed to take the lowest place.
10 But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when the one who invited you comes, he will say to you, 'Friend, move up higher.' Then you will be honored in the presence of all the other guests.
11 For everyone who lifts himself up will be brought low, and the one who humbles himself will be lifted up."
12 He also said to the one who had invited Him, "When you give a lunch or a dinner, don't invite your friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives, or your rich neighbors, because they might invite you back, and you would be repaid.
13 Instead, when you host a banquet, invite the poor, the disabled, the lame, and the blind.
14 And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you; for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous."
15 When one of those who reclined at the table with Him heard these things, he said to Him, "Blessed is the one who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!"
16 Then He told him, "A man was giving a large banquet and invited many.
17 At the time of the banquet, he sent his servant to tell those who were invited, 'Come, because everything is now ready.'
18 But they all alike began to make excuses. The first one said to him, 'I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it. I ask you to excuse me.'
19 Another said, 'I have bought five pairs of oxen, and I'm going to try them out. I ask you to excuse me.'
20 And another said, 'I just got married, and therefore I cannot come.'
21 So the servant came back and reported these things to his master. Then in anger, the master of the house told his servant, 'Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the city and bring in the poor, disabled, blind, and lame.'
22 'Master,' the servant said, 'what you ordered has been done, and there is still room.'
23 Then the master told the servant, 'Go out into the roads and along the boundary fences, and urge them to come in, so that my house may be filled.
24 For I tell you, none of those men who were invited will taste my banquet.'"
25 Now large crowds were traveling with Him. So He turned and said to them,
26 "If anyone comes to Me and does not place Me above his own father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, even above his own life, he cannot be My disciple.
27 Whoever does not carry his own cross and follow Me cannot be My disciple.
28 For which of you, wanting to build a tower, doesn't first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it?
29 Otherwise, after he has laid the foundation and cannot finish it, all the onlookers will begin to ridicule him,
30 saying, 'This man started to build and wasn't able to finish.'
31 Or what king, going to war against another king, will not first sit down and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand?
32 If not, while the other is still far off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace.
33 In the same way, therefore, every one of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be My disciple.
34 "But if salt loses its purpose, its saltiness, how will it be made useful again?
35 It isn't fit for the soil or for the manure pile; they throw it out. Let anyone who has ears to hear, listen!"