Luke 14

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¹One Sabbath day Jesus went to eat dinner in the home of a leader of the Pharisees, and the people were watching him closely. ✦ ²There was a man there whose arms and legs were swollen. ³Jesus asked the Pharisees and experts in religious law, “Is it permitted in the law to heal people on the Sabbath day, or not?” ✦ ⁴When they refused to answer, Jesus touched the sick man and healed him and sent him away. ✦ ⁵Then he turned to them and said, “Which of you doesn’t work on the Sabbath? If your son or your cow falls into a pit, don’t you rush to get him out?” ✦ ⁶Again they could not answer. ✦ ⁷When Jesus noticed that all who had come to the dinner were trying to sit in the seats of honor near the head of the table, he gave them this advice: ✦ ⁸“When you are invited to a wedding feast, don’t sit in the seat of honor. What if someone who is more distinguished than you has also been invited? ✦ ⁹The host will come and say, ‘Give this person your seat.’ Then you will be embarrassed, and you will have to take whatever seat is left at the foot of the table! ✦ ¹⁰“Instead, take the lowest place at the foot of the table. Then when your host sees you, he will come and say, ‘Friend, we have a better place for you!’ Then you will be honored in front of all the other guests. ✦ ¹¹For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” ✦ ¹²Then he turned to his host. “When you put on a luncheon or a banquet,” he said, “don’t invite your friends, brothers, relatives, and rich neighbors. For they will invite you back, and that will be your only reward. ✦ ¹³Instead, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. ✦ ¹⁴Then at the resurrection of the righteous, God will reward you for inviting those who could not repay you.” ✦ ¹⁵Hearing this, a man sitting at the table with Jesus exclaimed, “What a blessing it will be to attend a banquet in the Kingdom of God!” ✦ ¹⁶Jesus replied with this story: “A man prepared a great feast and sent out many invitations. ✦ ¹⁷When the banquet was ready, he sent his servant to tell the guests, ‘Come, the banquet is ready.’ ✦ ¹⁸But they all began making excuses. One said, ‘I have just bought a field and must inspect it. Please excuse me.’ ✦ ¹⁹Another said, ‘I have just bought five pairs of oxen, and I want to try them out. Please excuse me.’ ²⁰Another said, ‘I just got married, so I can’t come.’ ✦ ²¹“The servant returned and told his master what they had said. His master was furious and said, ‘Go quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and invite the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.’ ✦ ²²After the servant had done this, he reported, ‘There is still room for more.’ ✦ ²³So his master said, ‘Go out into the country lanes and behind the hedges and urge anyone you find to come, so that the house will be full. ✦ ²⁴For none of those I first invited will get even the smallest taste of my banquet.’” ✦ ²⁵A large crowd was following Jesus. He turned around and said to them, ✦ ²⁶“If you want to be my disciple, you must, by comparison, hate everyone else—your father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even your own life. Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple. ✦ ²⁷And if you do not carry your own cross and follow me, you cannot be my disciple. ✦ ²⁸“But don’t begin until you count the cost. For who would begin construction of a building without first calculating the cost to see if there is enough money to finish it? ✦ ²⁹Otherwise, you might complete only the foundation before running out of money, and then everyone would laugh at you. ³⁰They would say, ‘There’s the person who started that building and couldn’t afford to finish it!’ ✦ ³¹“Or what king would go to war against another king without first sitting down with his counselors to discuss whether his army of 10,000 could defeat the 20,000 soldiers marching against him? ✦ ³²And if he can’t, he will send a delegation to discuss terms of peace while the enemy is still far away. ✦ ³³So you cannot become my disciple without giving up everything you own. ✦ ³⁴“Salt is good for seasoning. But if it loses its flavor, how do you make it salty again? ✦ ³⁵Flavorless salt is good neither for the soil nor for the manure pile. It is thrown away. Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand!” ✦

Tap any verse for its study page. Underlined terms mark a concept, person, or place; ✦ marks verses with cross-references.

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Where this chapter connects

Matt 22 ·10 Luke 14 ·7 Luke 20 ·6 Acts 13 ·5 Luke 11 ·5 Matt 10 ·5 Luke 18 ·5 Matt 11 ·4

Christ at the center

Luke shows Jesus the Savior for all — outsiders, the poor, the nations — the one who, on the Emmaus road, opened all the Scriptures to show they were about himself.

How Luke 14 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Resources, by level

Lay

★ Start hereDocumentaryFollowing the MessiahAppian Media · Free · evangelical
A free, beautifully shot 10-part series walking the lands of Jesus' life — Bethlehem, Galilee, Jerusalem, and more.
★ Start hereAudioThrough the WordThrough the Word · ~10 min/chapter · Free · evangelical
A clear ~10-minute audio teaching for every one of the Bible's 1,189 chapters — the most systematic free way to study chapter by chapter.

Pastoral

SermonChuck Smith — C2000 SeriesChuck Smith · Free · evangelical
Free verse-by-verse audio through the entire Bible from the founder of Calvary Chapel.

Commentaries & study tools

VideoBibleProject — Luke videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
VideoWatch teaching on Luke 14YouTube · Lay · Free
Sermons and chapter teaching from across YouTube.
CommentaryEnduring Word — Luke 14David Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical
Readable, verse-by-verse exposition of the whole chapter.
CommentaryMatthew Henry on LukeMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
ReferenceBlue Letter Bible — Luke 14Blue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free
Interlinear, lexicon, and study tools across the chapter.

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