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Luke 14

KJV · Chapter 14/24

1And it came to pass, as he went into the house of one of the chief Pharisees to eat bread on the sabbath day, that they watched him.

2And, behold, there was a certain man before him which had the dropsy.

3And Jesus answering spake unto the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath day?

4And they held their peace. And he took him, and healed him, and let him go;

5And answered them, saying, Which of you shall have an ass or an ox fallen into a pit, and will not straightway pull him out on the sabbath day?

6And they could not answer him again to these things.

7And he put forth a parable to those which were bidden, when he marked how they chose out the chief rooms; saying unto them,

8When thou art bidden of any man to a wedding, sit not down in the highest room; lest a more honourable man than thou be bidden of him;

9And he that bade thee and him come and say to thee, Give this man place; and thou begin with shame to take the lowest room.

10But when thou art bidden, go and sit down in the lowest room; that when he that bade thee cometh, he may say unto thee, Friend, go up higher: then shalt thou have worship in the presence of them that sit at meat with thee.

11For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

12Then said he also to him that bade him, When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy brethren, neither thy kinsmen, nor thy rich neighbours; lest they also bid thee again, and a recompence be made thee.

13But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind:

14And thou shalt be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee: for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just.

15And when one of them that sat at meat with him heard these things, he said unto him, Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God.

16Then said he unto him, A certain man made a great supper, and bade many:

17And sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden, Come; for all things are now ready.

18And they all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it: I pray thee have me excused.

19And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them: I pray thee have me excused.

20And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.

21So that servant came, and shewed 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 hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind.

22And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room.

23And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.

24For I say unto you, That none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper.

25And there went great multitudes with him: and he turned, and said unto them,

26If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.

27And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.

28For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?

29Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him,

30Saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish.

31Or what king, going to make war against another king, sitteth not down first, and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand?

32Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sendeth an ambassage, and desireth conditions of peace.

33So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.

34Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be seasoned?

35It is neither fit for the land, nor yet for the dunghill; but men cast it out. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

Jesus heals a man on the Sabbath at the home of a Pharisee and teaches about humility at the table. He tells the parable of the great banquet, whose original guests refuse to attend, and teaches about the cost of being his disciple.

Explanation

The banquet scene begins with Jesus observing people competing for the seats of honor, and he teaches that true honor comes from God, not self-promotion. The parable of the great banquet criticizes those who reject God's invitation because of material priorities (a field, oxen, a wedding), making room for the marginalized who accept the invitation. The closing teachings on counting the cost of following Jesus (a tower, a war) show that discipleship demands serious commitment, not an impulsive decision. The practical application today is to honestly evaluate whether life's priorities leave room for what God calls most important.

Fun facts

  • Invitations to banquets in ancient Middle Eastern culture were sent in advance and confirmed on the day itself, which is why the refusals in the parable (v.18-20) would have been seen as a serious social insult to the host.
  • The tasteless salt mentioned at the end of the chapter refers to salt from the region of the Dead Sea, which contained mineral impurities and could lose its saltiness, becoming useless — an image well known to Jesus' listeners.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Luke 14:1Jesus enters the house of a prominent Pharisee on a Sabbath to eat, but the mood is already hostile: the text makes clear they were watching Him closely, looking for grounds for an accusation.
  2. Luke 14:2A man with dropsy, an abnormal buildup of fluid in the body, is right there in front of Jesus — possibly placed there on purpose as a test, given the watchful atmosphere of the previous verse.
  3. Luke 14:3Unlike other Sabbath healings, this time Jesus asks before acting, putting the question directly to the lawyers and Pharisees: is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?
  4. Luke 14:4Their silence shows they have no good counterargument, but they are also unwilling to admit it — Jesus heals the man anyway and sends him away.
  5. Luke 14:5Jesus again uses the argument of an animal fallen into a well, which anyone would rescue even on the Sabbath — a practical exception everyone already accepted without objection.
  6. Luke 14:6Once again no one can answer this argument — the second silence in the same scene confirms that Jesus’ reasoning was unanswerable to them.
  7. Luke 14:7Jesus notices how the guests were choosing the best seats and uses that as a hook for a parable about social behavior.
  8. Luke 14:8Where each guest sat at a banquet was not random: seats closest to the host marked social status, and competing for a better place than one deserved was a real social scene, not an exaggeration on Jesus’ part. The recommendation to choose the lowest seat avoids precisely the public embarrassment of being demoted in front of everyone.
  9. Luke 14:9If someone more important arrives later, the host may ask that the seat be given up, and the person ends up having to take the last place, humiliated in front of everyone.
  10. Luke 14:10Jesus recommends the opposite: take the last place on purpose, so that the host might invite the person to move up — a path to genuine honor, without the risk of public humiliation.
  11. Luke 14:11The general principle closes the teaching: whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted — the social lesson becomes a broader spiritual principle.
  12. Luke 14:12Turning to the host himself, Jesus challenges the normal logic of invitations: inviting rich friends and relatives only guarantees social repayment, which would already be the whole reward.
  13. Luke 14:13The normal custom was to invite those who could return the invitation later — a social exchange between equals. Inviting people who could never pay it back breaks that exchange logic that organized practically all of social life at the time.
  14. Luke 14:14The alternative proposed brings a different reward: invite those who cannot repay, and the reward comes only at the resurrection of the just, not in an immediate exchange.
  15. Luke 14:15One of the guests lets slip an idealized comment about eating bread in the kingdom of God — it is this remark that leads into the parable of the great banquet told next.
  16. Luke 14:16The parable begins with a common scene: a man arranges a great banquet and invites many people.
  17. Luke 14:17It was customary at the time to invite in advance and then send word once the meal was actually ready — this second notice is what the servant brings to the guests.
  18. Luke 14:18The first excuse, having bought a field and needing to see it, sounds unconvincing: no one would buy land without seeing it first.
  19. Luke 14:19The second excuse, testing five yoke of newly bought oxen, has the same problem: it is not something that needed doing at that exact hour.
  20. Luke 14:20The third excuse, having just gotten married, is the weakest of all — a recent marriage would not have kept someone from attending a feast.
  21. Luke 14:21Faced with the general refusal, the master of the house, indignant, changes the target of the invitation: he sends for the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame from the city streets — the same group Jesus had already recommended inviting earlier.
  22. Luke 14:22The servant reports that the order was carried out and there is still room — showing that the marginalized of the city do not even fill the whole reserved space.
  23. Luke 14:23The master orders him to go even further, to the roads and hedges outside the city, and to urge people to come in — an invitation extended to strangers, who would probably hesitate without some insistence.
  24. Luke 14:24The conclusion is final: none of the original guests will taste that banquet — their refusal had a lasting consequence, despite the genuine invitation they received.
  25. Luke 14:25Great crowds accompany Jesus, and He turns to speak directly to them — introducing one of the most demanding passages on the cost of following Him.
  26. Luke 14:26This way of speaking, contrasting loving and hating in an exaggerated way, is a common construction in the Hebrew and Aramaic of the time to mean loving far less by comparison, not literal hatred — the same construction appears elsewhere in biblical texts about preferring one person over another. Jesus is demanding that no family bond, however strong, come before commitment to Him.
  27. Luke 14:27Repeating a teaching already given before, carrying one’s own cross and following Him appears here as a condition, not a suggestion, for being called a disciple.
  28. Luke 14:28Building a watchtower, common in vineyards to protect the harvest, required real planning of resources before starting — an unfinished tower would stand there, a visible failure for everyone to see. It is an everyday agricultural scene any listener would recognize at once.
  29. Luke 14:29The risk of starting to build and failing to finish brings public ridicule as a consequence, from whoever sees the stalled work — an image of shame from lack of planning.
  30. Luke 14:30The mockery is quoted directly: ‘This man began to build, and was not able to finish’ — a very specific, humiliating public verdict.
  31. Luke 14:31Calculating whether ten thousand soldiers could withstand an attack of twenty thousand was a practical, common military assessment that any king or general of the time would make before deciding between fighting or negotiating peace. Jesus uses this realistic calculation to speak of the weight of deciding to follow Him without counting the cost first.
  32. Luke 14:32In the second parable, about the king going to war, if his forces are not enough he sends a delegation to ask for peace terms while the other king is still far away — a strategic decision made in time, before it is too late.
  33. Luke 14:33The conclusion joins both parables: giving up everything one has is presented as a necessary condition for being a disciple, a very demanding standard after these two examples of counting the cost beforehand.
  34. Luke 14:34Salt in that era, mixed with minerals, could lose its saltiness while the useless residue remained — hence Jesus’ question about how to restore something that has already lost its purpose.
  35. Luke 14:35That useless salt is fit neither for the soil nor for fertilizer, so it is simply thrown out — and Jesus closes with the same call to genuine attention used at the end of the parable of the sower.

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