Luke 14
- Who wrote it
- Traditionally Luke, a doctor and companion of Paul
- Who it was for
- Theophilus and other followers of Jesus
- What was happening
- A Sabbath dinner, a great banquet, and the cost of following
What’s happening
On a Sabbath Jesus goes to eat at the house of a leader of the Pharisees, and they are watching him closely. A man with dropsy is in front of him. Jesus asks the lawyers and Pharisees, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?" They are silent. He takes the man, heals him, and sends him away, then asks, "Which of you, if your son or an ox fell into a well, wouldn't immediately pull him out on a Sabbath day?" They can't answer. Noticing how guests choose the places of honor, he says, "When you are invited by anyone to a wedding feast, don't sit in the place of honor, in case someone more honorable than you is invited," but go to the lowest place, so the host will say, "Friend, move up higher." "For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted." To his host he says, "When you make a dinner or a supper, don't call your friends, nor your brothers, nor your kinsmen, nor rich neighbors, or they may also return the favor. But when you make a feast, ask the poor, the maimed, the lame, or the blind; and you will be blessed, because they don't have the resources to repay you. For you will be repaid in the resurrection of the righteous." One of the guests says, "Blessed is he who will feast in the Kingdom of God!" and Jesus tells of a man who gives a great supper and invites many. At supper time he sends his servant to say, "Come, for everything is ready now." They all begin to make excuses: one has bought a field and must go see it, another has bought five yoke of oxen and must test them, another has married a wife and cannot come. The master is angry and sends the servant to the streets and lanes of the city to bring in the poor, the maimed, the blind, and the lame. When there is still room, he says, "Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. For I tell you that none of those men who were invited will taste of my supper." Large crowds are traveling with him, and he turns and says, "If anyone comes to me, and doesn't hate his own father, mother, wife, children, brothers, and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he can't be my disciple. Whoever doesn't bear his own cross, and come after me, can't be my disciple." He tells of a man who builds a tower, who first sits down and counts the cost, lest he lay a foundation and be unable to finish, and a king going to war who sits down and considers whether he can meet an army of twenty thousand with ten thousand. "So therefore whoever of you who doesn't renounce all that he has, he can't be my disciple." Salt is good, but if the salt has lost its flavor, it is good for neither the soil nor the manure pile. "He who has ears to hear, let him hear."
Why the setting matters
Meals in this world ran on honor. Seating showed rank, invitations were returned, and one's standing rose or fell with the guest list, which is why Jesus' advice about places and invitations hits so hard. The guests who "watch him" are the host's circle, and Jesus uses the table to turn their rules upside down. Dropsy (swelling from fluid retention) was a recognized illness. The poor, maimed, lame, and blind are people the Dead Sea Scrolls' community excluded from its meals, so naming them as the guests is deliberate. Banquet invitations were sent twice, once ahead of time and again when the meal was ready, so the excuses mean the guests had already accepted. The excuses are weak: no one buys a field unseen, or oxen untested, and a newly married man was exempt from war in Deuteronomy 20:7, which may be the point of the third excuse. "Hate" in 14:26 is Semitic hyperbole for loving less than Jesus (see Matthew 10:37); "his own life also" shows it is about priorities, not feelings. The tower builder and the king are both figures who count before they commit. "Bear his own cross" would remind hearers of Roman crucifixion, in which the condemned carried the crossbeam. Salt that loses its taste is a puzzle, since pure salt does not; the saying is about discipleship that has lost its character.
Who’s in this chapter
Jesus
A guest at a Pharisee's table, who tells the host how to invite.
Pharisees and scribes
The Pharisees and lawyers who are watching him.
The man with dropsy
Healed on the Sabbath, in front of the guests.
The crowds
Travel with him and are told what following costs.
Talk it through
- Jesus tells a host to invite those who can't repay him. What would that cost in a world run on honor?
- The guests all had good-sounding excuses. What do the excuses show about what they were choosing?
- "Hate your father and mother" is hyperbole. What is Jesus' actual point about priority?
- Count the cost, he says, but he gives no way out. What is the counting for?
Read Luke 14
World English Bible
1When he went into the house of one of the rulers of the Pharisees on a Sabbath to eat bread, they were watching him. 2Behold, a certain man who had dropsy was in front of him. 3Jesus, answering, spoke to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”
4But they were silent.
He took him, and healed him, and let him go. 5He answered them, “Which of you, if your son or an ox fell into a well, wouldn’t immediately pull him out on a Sabbath day?”
6They couldn’t answer him regarding these things.
7He spoke a parable to those who were invited, when he noticed how they chose the best seats, and said to them, 8“When you are invited by anyone to a wedding feast, don’t sit in the best seat, since perhaps someone more honorable than you might be invited by him, 9and he who invited both of you would come and tell you, ‘Make room for this person.’ Then you would begin, with shame, to take the lowest place. 10But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when he who invited you comes, he may tell you, ‘Friend, move up higher.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at the table with you. 11For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”
12He also said to the one who had invited him, “When you make a dinner or a supper, don’t call your friends, nor your brothers, nor your kinsmen, nor rich neighbors, or perhaps they might also return the favor, and pay you back. 13But when you make a feast, ask the poor, the maimed, the lame, or the blind; 14and you will be blessed, because they don’t have the resources to repay you. For you will be repaid in the resurrection of the righteous.”
15When one of those who sat at the table with him heard these things, he said to him, “Blessed is he who will feast in God’s Kingdom!”
16But he said to him, “A certain man made a great supper, and he invited many people. 17He sent out his servant at supper time to tell those who were invited, ‘Come, for everything is ready now.’ 18They all as one began to make excuses.
“The first said to him, ‘I have bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please have me excused.’
19“Another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I must go try them out. Please have me excused.’
20“Another said, ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I can’t come.’
21“That servant came, and told his lord these things. Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor, maimed, blind, and lame.’
22“The servant said, ‘Lord, it is done as you commanded, and there is still room.’
23“The lord said to the servant, ‘Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. 24For I tell you that none of those men who were invited will taste of my supper.’ ”
25Now great multitudes were going with him. He turned and said to them, 26“If anyone comes to me, and doesn’t disregard his own father, mother, wife, children, brothers, and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he can’t be my disciple. 27Whoever doesn’t bear his own cross, and come after me, can’t be my disciple. 28For which of you, desiring to build a tower, doesn’t first sit down and count the cost, to see if he has enough to complete it? 29Or perhaps, when he has laid a foundation, and is not able to finish, everyone who sees begins to mock him, 30saying, ‘This man began to build, and wasn’t able to finish.’ 31Or what king, as he goes to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? 32Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends an envoy, and asks for conditions of peace. 33So therefore whoever of you who doesn’t renounce all that he has, he can’t be my disciple. 34Salt is good, but if the salt becomes flat and tasteless, with what do you season it? 35It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile. It is thrown out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
Text: World English Bible, Public domain. About our sources