It happened that when He went into the house of one of the leaders of the Pharisees on the Sabbath to eat bread, they were watching Him closely.
And there in front of Him was a man suffering from dropsy.
And Jesus answered and spoke to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, ``Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?"
But they kept silent. And He took hold of him and healed him, and sent him away.
And He said to them, ``Which one of you will have a son or an ox fall into a well, and will not immediately pull him out on a Sabbath day?"
And they could make no reply to this.
And He began speaking a parable to the invited guests when He noticed how they had been picking out the places of honor at the table, saying to them,
``When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for someone more distinguished than you may have been invited by him,
and he who invited you both will come and say to you, `Give your place to this man,' and then in disgrace you proceed to occupy the last place.
``But when you are invited, go and recline at the last place, so that when the one who has invited you comes, he may say to you, `Friend, move up higher'; then you will have honor in the sight of all who are at the table with you.
``For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."
And He also went on to say to the one who had invited Him, ``When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, otherwise they may also invite you in return and that will be your repayment.
``But when you give a reception, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind,
and you will be blessed, since they do not have the means to repay you; for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous."
When one of those who were reclining at the table with Him heard this, he said to Him, ``Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!"
But He said to him, ``A man was giving a big dinner, and he invited many;
and at the dinner hour he sent his slave to say to those who had been invited, `Come; for everything is ready now.'
``But they all alike began to make excuses. The first one said to him, `I have bought a piece of land and I need to go out and look at it; please consider me excused.'
``Another one said, `I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out; please consider me excused.'
``Another one said, `I have married a wife, and for that reason I cannot come.'
``And the slave came back and reported this to his master. Then the head of the household became angry and said to his slave, `Go out at once into the streets and lanes of the city and bring in here the poor and crippled and blind and lame.'
``And the slave said, `Master, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.'
``And the master said to the slave, `Go out into the highways and along the hedges, and compel them to come in, so that my house may be filled.
`For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste of my dinner.'"
Now large crowds were going along with Him; and He turned and said to them,
``If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple.
``Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.
``For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it?
``Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him,
saying, `This man began to build and was not able to finish.'
``Or what king, when he sets out to meet another king in battle, will not first sit down and consider whether he is strong enough with ten thousand men to encounter the one coming against him with twenty thousand?
``Or else, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace.
``So then, none of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions.
``Therefore, salt is good; but if even salt has become tasteless, with what will it be seasoned?
``It is useless either for the soil or for the manure pile; it is thrown out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear."
Now all the tax collectors and the sinners were coming near Him to listen to Him.
Both the Pharisees and the scribes began to grumble, saying, ``This man receives sinners and eats with them."
So He told them this parable, saying,
``What man among you, if he has a hundred sheep and has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open pasture and go after the one which is lost until he finds it?
``When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing.
``And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, `Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!'
``I tell you that in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.
``Or what woman, if she has ten silver coins and loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it?
``When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, `Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin which I had lost!'
``In the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents."
And He said, ``A man had two sons.
``The younger of them said to his father, `Father, give me the share of the estate that falls to me.' So he divided his wealth between them.
``And not many days later, the younger son gathered everything together and went on a journey into a distant country, and there he squandered his estate with loose living.
``Now when he had spent everything, a severe famine occurred in that country, and he began to be impoverished.
``So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine.
``And he would have gladly filled his stomach with the pods that the swine were eating, and no one was giving anything to him.
``But when he came to his senses, he said, `How many of my father's hired men have more than enough bread, but I am dying here with hunger!
`I will get up and go to my father, and will say to him, ``Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight;
I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me as one of your hired men."'
``So he got up and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion for him, and ran and embraced him and kissed him.
``And the son said to him, `Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.'
``But the father said to his slaves, `Quickly bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet;
and bring the fattened calf, kill it, and let us eat and celebrate;
for this son of mine was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.' And they began to celebrate.
``Now his older son was in the field, and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing.
``And he summoned one of the servants and began inquiring what these things could be.
``And he said to him, `Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has received him back safe and sound.'
``But he became angry and was not willing to go in; and his father came out and began pleading with him.
``But he answered and said to his father, `Look! For so many years I have been serving you and I have never neglected a command of yours; and yet you have never given me a young goat, so that I might celebrate with my friends;
but when this son of yours came, who has devoured your wealth with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him.'
``And he said to him, `Son, you have always been with me, and all that is mine is yours.
`But we had to celebrate and rejoice, for this brother of yours was dead and has begun to live, and was lost and has been found.'"
Now He was also saying to the disciples, ``There was a rich man who had a manager, and this manager was reported to him as squandering his possessions.
``And he called him and said to him, `What is this I hear about you? Give an accounting of your management, for you can no longer be manager.'
``The manager said to himself, `What shall I do, since my master is taking the management away from me? I am not strong enough to dig; I am ashamed to beg.
`I know what I shall do, so that when I am removed from the management people will welcome me into their homes.'
``And he summoned each one of his master's debtors, and he began saying to the first, `How much do you owe my master?'
``And he said, `A hundred measures of oil.' And he said to him, `Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.'
``Then he said to another, `And how much do you owe?' And he said, `A hundred measures of wheat.' He said to him, `Take your bill, and write eighty.'
``And his master praised the unrighteous manager because he had acted shrewdly; for the sons of this age are more shrewd in relation to their own kind than the sons of light.
``And I say to you, make friends for yourselves by means of the wealth of unrighteousness, so that when it fails, they will receive you into the eternal dwellings.
``He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much; and he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much.
``Therefore if you have not been faithful in the use of unrighteous wealth, who will entrust the true riches to you?
``And if you have not been faithful in the use of that which is another's, who will give you that which is your own?
``No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth."
Now the Pharisees, who were lovers of money, were listening to all these things and were scoffing at Him.
And He said to them, ``You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of men, but God knows your hearts; for that which is highly esteemed among men is detestable in the sight of God.
``The Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John; since that time the gospel of the kingdom of God has been preached, and everyone is forcing his way into it.
``But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one stroke of a letter of the Law to fail.
``Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and he who marries one who is divorced from a husband commits adultery.
``Now there was a rich man, and he habitually dressed in purple and fine linen, joyously living in splendor every day.
``And a poor man named Lazarus was laid at his gate, covered with sores,
and longing to be fed with the crumbs which were falling from the rich man's table; besides, even the dogs were coming and licking his sores.
``Now the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham's bosom; and the rich man also died and was buried.
``In Hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and saw Abraham far away and Lazarus in his bosom.
``And he cried out and said, `Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus so that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue, for I am in agony in this flame.'
``But Abraham said, `Child, remember that during your life you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus bad things; but now he is being comforted here, and you are in agony.
`And besides all this, between us and you there is a great chasm fixed, so that those who wish to come over from here to you will not be able, and that none may cross over from there to us.'
``And he said, `Then I beg you, father, that you send him to my father's house--
for I have five brothers--in order that he may warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.'
``But Abraham said, `They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.'
``But he said, `No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent!'
``But he said to him, `If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.'"
