Luke 14

Healing Again on the Sabbath

¹ And it came to pass when he entered into the house of one of the rules of the Pharisees on the Sabbath to eat bread, and they were watching him closely. ² And behold [a] certain man was suffering from dropsy before him. ³ And answering Jesus spoke to the lawyers and Pharisees saying: Is it allowed on the Sabbath to heal or not? ⁴ But they were silent. And having taken hold [of him] he healed him, and sent [him] away. ⁵ And to them he said: Whose son ¹ or beast falls into [a] well, and you do not straightway pull him up on the day of the Sabbath? ⁶ And they were not able to reply to these [things].

On Seeking Seats of Honor

⁷ But he was saying to those invited [a] parable, noticing ² how they were choosing the first seats, saying to them: ⁸ Whenever you be invited by someone to [a] wedding, do not recline³ in the first seat, lest one more honored than you be invited by him, ⁹ and coming the [one] having invited you and him will say to you: Give to this [one] the place, and then you begin with disgrace to be occupying the last place. ¹⁰ But whenever you be invited, having proceeded you recline in the last place, in order that when he come the [one] having invited you will say to you: Friend, move up higher. Then it will be to you glory before all those reclining with you. ¹¹ For everyone exalting himself will be humbled, and the [one] humbling himself will be exalted. ¹² But he was also saying to the [one] having invited him: Whenever you do [a] lunch or [a] dinner, be not calling your friends or your brothers or your relatives or your rich friends or your brothers or your relatives or your rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and it become recompense to you. ¹³ But whenever you would do [a] banquet, be calling poor, crippled, lame, blind, ¹⁴ and you will be blessed, because they do not have to repay you. For it will be repaid to you in the resurrection of the just.

The Parable of the Great Banquet

¹⁵ But when one of those laying back with him heard these [things] he said to him: Blessed is he who eats bread in the kingdom of God. ¹⁶ But he said to him: A certain man was doing [a] big dinner, and invited many. ¹⁷ And he sent his slave in the hour of the dinner to say to those invited: Be coming, for already is it prepared. ¹⁸ And they were beginning from one all to be excusing [themselves]. The first said to him, I bought [a] field, and I have necessity having gone to be seeing it; I ask⁴ you, Be having me excused. ¹⁹ And another said: I bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to examine them; I ask⁴ you, Be having me excused. ²⁰ And another said: I married [a] wife, and because of this I am unable to come. ²¹ And having arrived, the slave reported to his lord these [things]. Then having been angered the master of the house said to his slave: Go swiftly into the streets and alleys of the city, and bring here the poor and crippled and blind and lame. ²² And the slave said: Lord, what you commanded is come to pass, and yet is there place. ²³ And the Lord said to the slave: Go out into the roads and hedges and compel [them] to come in, that my house be filled. ²⁴ For I say to you that none of those men invited will taste my dinner.

Counting the Cost

²⁵ But [a] great crowd was going with him, and turning he said to them: ²⁶ If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yet even his own psyche-life⁵ , is not able to be my disciple. ²⁷ Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me is not able to be my disciple. ²⁸ For who among you wishing to build [a] tower does not first having sat reckon the cost, if he has [enough] for completion? ²⁹ In order that when he having placed [the] foundation and not being able to complete [it] all those beholding begin to be mocking him, ³⁰ saying that: This man began to be building and was not able to complete [it]. ³¹ Or what king when he proceeds to another king to engage in battle does not having sat first resolve if he is able in ten thousand to meet the [one] coming upon him with twenty thousand? ³² But if not, while being afar off having sent [an] ambassador he asks⁴ the [terms] for peace. ³³ Likewise therefore everyone among you who does not take leave⁶ of all his possessions is not able to be my disciple. ³⁴ Good therefore [is] the salt. But if the salt become tasteless, with what will it be seasoned? ³⁵ Neither for [the] ground⁷ nor for the dung heap is it fit, they throw it out. The [one] having ears to be hearing, let⁸ him be hearing.

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¹"son" p^45,75BWK; "donkey" Hℵ vg; "sheep" D

²or "aiming at"

³In that Middle Eastern culture, you reclined to dine.

⁴EROTAO (ερωταω) "Ask", but more polite, not demanding/begging as is AITEO. Both AITEO and EROTAO occur in John.16:26.

⁵from PSYCHE (ψυχη): an individual manifestation of life/consciousness. Animals have PSYCHEs as well as humans. Contrast ZOE (ζωη)—Life 'collectively', interdependent, interconnected.

⁶APOTASSO (απoτασσω), 'take leave'. It is only used 6 places in the NT: Mark.6:46, Luke.9:61, Luke.14:33, Acts.18:18,

Acts.18:21, 2Cor.2:13.

APOTASSO has the sense of 'appoint oneself-apart-from'—there's an element of Will in separating oneself from something. It doesn't have any sense of rejecting a negative; in general it seems to be used to indicated willingly separating oneself from a positive. So you 'take leave' of loved ones, for example, which is actually how this verb is generally used.

'Renounce' implies an outright rejection, there's a certain animosity in 'renounce', which is not present in APOTASSO. Furthermore, in general, when you 'take leave' (APOTASSO), it doesn't preclude the possibility of returning. In fact, when Paul uses APOTASSO in Acts 18:21, he explicitly says he is returning. This further illustrates the complete lack of animosity towards the object from which you are 'taking leave' implied APOTASSO.

⁷GE "GAY" (γη) "earth", "land" (remember that they didn't understand about the Earth being a planet floating in space yet), sometimes "ground" or "dirt".

⁸imperative