1 One ◄Jewish day of rest/Sabbath day►, Jesus went to eat [SYN] at the house of an important Pharisee. Some men who studied the Jewish laws and other Pharisees who were there were watching him carefully to see if he would do something for which they could accuse him. 2 Unexpectedly, there was a man in front of Jesus whose arms and legs were swollen. 3 Jesus said to them, “Is it permitted in our(inc) Jewish laws to heal someone ◄on our Jewish rest day/on the Sabbath►, or not?” 4  They knew that their laws permitted it, but they thought that healing was work, which they thought was wrong to do ◄on the Sabbath/on the Jewish rest day► (OR, they knew that their laws permitted it, but they did not want to admit it). So they did not reply. Then Jesus put his hands on the man and healed him. Then he told him to go home. 5 Then he said to the rest of them, “If you had a son or an ox that fell into a well on a ◄Sabbath/our day of rest►, would you immediately work to pull him out, or would you(sg) let him stay there until the next day?” 6  They knew that they would immediately work to pull him out, even on their day of rest, so they could not justly say that Jesus did wrong by healing the man on that day. So they said nothing in reply to Jesus.

7 Jesus noticed that those people who had been {whom the Pharisee had} invited to the meal chose to sit in the places where important people usually sit. Then he gave this advice to them: 8 “When one of you (sg) is invited by someone {someone invites one of you (sg)} to a wedding feast, do not sit in a place where important people sit. Perhaps the man giving the feast has invited a man more important than you (sg). 9  When that man comes, the man who invited both of you will come to you (sg) and say to you, ‘Let this man take your seat!’ Then you (sg) will have to take the most undesirable seat, and you will be ashamed. 10 Instead, when you are invited {someone invites one of you} to a feast, go and sit in the most undesirable seat. Then when the man who invited everyone comes, he will say to you (sg), ‘Friend, sit in a better seat!’ Then all the people who are eating with you (sg) will see that he is honoring you. 11 Also, remember this: God will humble those who exalt themselves. And he will exalt those who humble themselves.”

12  Jesus also said to the Pharisee who had invited him to the meal, “When you (sg) invite people to a midday or evening meal, do not invite your friends or your family or your other relatives or your rich neighbors. They can later invite you (sg) for a meal. In that way they will repay you. 13 Instead, when you (sg) give a feast, invite poor people, crippled people, lame people, or blind people. 14 They will be unable to repay you. But God will bless you! He will repay you at the time when he causes righteous people to become alive again.”

15 One of those who were eating with Jesus heard him say that. He said to Jesus, “God has truly blessed us Jews who will eat with the Messiah when he starts to rule!” 16 But to show that many Jews whom God had invited would not accept God’s invitation [MET], Jesus replied to him, “One time a man decided to prepare a large feast. He invited many people to come. 17 When it was the day for the feast, he sent his servant to tell those who had been {whom he had} invited, ‘Come now because everything is ready!’ 18 But when the servant did that, all of the people whom he had invited began to say why they did not want to come. The first man the servant went to said, ‘I have just bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please ask your master to forgive me for not coming!’ 19 Another person said, ‘I have just bought five pair of oxen, and I must go to examine them. Please ask your master to forgive me for not coming!’ 20 Another person said, ‘I have just been married. So I cannot come.’ 21 So the servant returned to his master and reported what everyone had said. The owner of the house was angry when he heard the reasons they gave for not coming. He said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly to the streets and alleys of the city and find poor and crippled and blind and lame people, and bring them here into my house!’ 22  After the servant went and did that, he came back and said, ‘Sir, I have done what you (sg) told me to do, but there is still room for more people.’ 23  So his master said to him, ‘Then go outside the city. Search for people along the highways. Search also along the narrow roads with hedges beside them where homeless people may be staying. Strongly urge the people in those places to come to my house. I want it to be full of people!’ ” 24  Then Jesus said, “I tell you (pl) this: Very few of you Jewish people will enjoy my feast, even though I invited you first to eat it with me when I become king.”

25 Large groups of people were traveling with Jesus. He turned and said to them, 26 “If anyone comes to me who loves his father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters more than [HYP] he loves me, he cannot be my disciple. He must even love me more than he loves his own life! 27  People who are ready to execute a prisoner make him carry his cross [MET] to the place where others will nail him on it. Only those who are willing to allow others to hurt them and disgrace them like that because of being my disciples, and who are willing to obey what I teach, can be my disciples. 28  I will illustrate [MET]. If one of you desired to build a ◄tower/big house►, ◄you would surely first sit down and determine how much it would cost!/would you not first sit down and determine how much it would cost?► [RHQ] Then you would determine whether you had enough money to complete it. 29  If you did not do that, if you laid the foundation and were not able to finish the rest of the tower, everyone who saw it would make fun of you. 30 They would say, ‘This man started to build a tower, but he was not able to finish it!’ 31 Or, if a king decided to send his army to war against another king, ◄he would surely first sit down with those who advised him./would he not first sit down with those who advised him?► [RHQ] They would determine whether his army, which had only 10,000 soldiers, could defeat the other army, which had 20,000 soldiers, and was about to attack his army. 32 If he decided that his army could not defeat that army, he would send messengers to the other king while the other army was still far away. He would tell the messengers to say to that king, ‘What things must I do to have peace with your country?’ 33 So, similarly, if any one of you does not first decide that you (sg) are willing to give up all that you have, you cannot be my disciple.”

34  Jesus also said, “You are like [MET] salt, which is useful to put on food. But ◄salt certainly cannot be made {you certainly cannot make salt} to taste salty again if it stops tasting salty!/can salt be made {can you make salt} to taste salty again if it quits tasting salty?► [RHQ] 35  If salt does not taste salty any more, it is not good for the soil or even for the manure heap. People throw it away. The same thing will happen to you if you become useless to God. If you want to understand what I just said [IDM], you must consider carefully what you have heard!”