Study Desk

It happened that when He went into the house of one of the ^(F1)leaders of the Pharisees on the Sabbath to eat bread, ^(C1)they were watching Him ^(F2)closely.

And ^(F1)there in front of Him was a man suffering from ^(F2)edema.

And Jesus responded and said to the ^(F1)(C1)lawyers and ^(F2)Pharisees, "^(C2)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, "^(F1)(C1)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?"

^(C1)And they could offer no reply to this.

Now He began telling a parable to the invited guests when He noticed how ^(C1)they had been picking out the places of honor at the table, saying to them,

"Whenever you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, ^(C1)do not ^(F1)take the place of honor, for someone more distinguished than you may have been invited by him,

and the one who invited you ^(F1)both will come and say to you, 'Give your place to this person,' and then ^(C1)in disgrace you will proceed to occupy the last place.

"But whenever you are invited, go and ^(F1)take the last place, so that when the one who has invited you comes, he will say to you, 'Friend, ^(C1)move up higher'; then you will have honor in the sight of all who are ^(F2)dining at the table with you.

"^(C1)For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted."

Now He also went on to say to the one who had invited Him, "Whenever you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers, your relatives, nor wealthy neighbors, otherwise they may also invite you to a meal in return, and that will be your ^(F1)repayment.

"But whenever you give a ^(F1)banquet, invite people who are poor, who have disabilities, who are limping, and people who are blind;

and you will be blessed, since they ^(F1)do not have the means to repay you; for you will be repaid at ^(C1)the resurrection of the righteous."

Now when one of those who were reclining at the table with Him heard this, he said to Him, "^(C1)Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!"

But He said to him, "^(C1)A man was giving a big dinner, and he invited many;

and at the dinner hour he sent his slave to tell those who had been invited, 'Come, because everything is ready now.'

"And yet they all alike began to make excuses. The first one said to him, 'I purchased a field and I need to go out to look at it; ^(F1)please consider me excused.'

"And another one said, 'I bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out; ^(F1)please consider me excused.'

"And another one said, '^(C1)I took a woman as my 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 those who are poor, those with disabilities, those who are blind, and those who are limping.'

"And later 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 roads and the hedges and press upon them to come in, so that my house will be filled.

'For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my dinner.'"

Now ^(F1)large crowds were going along with Him, and He turned and said to them,

"^(C1)If anyone comes to Me and does not ^(F1)hate his own father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple.

"Whoever does not ^(C1)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 are watching it will begin to ridicule him,

saying, 'This person 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 ^(C1)consider whether he is strong enough with ten thousand men to face the one coming against him with twenty thousand?

"Otherwise, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and requests terms of peace.

"So then, none of you can be My disciple who ^(C1)does not ^(F1)give up all his own possessions.

"Therefore, salt is good; but ^(C1)if even salt has become tasteless, with what will it be ^(F1)seasoned?

"It is useless either for the soil or the manure pile, so it is thrown out. ^(C1)The one who has ears to hear, ^(F1)let him hear."

Now all the ^(C1)tax collectors and ^(F1)sinners were coming near ^(F2)Jesus to listen to Him.

And both the Pharisees and the scribes began to complain, saying, "This Man receives sinners and ^(C1)eats with them."

And so He told them this parable, saying,

"^(C1)What man among you, if he has a hundred sheep and has lost one of them, does not leave the other ninety-nine in the ^(F1)open pasture and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it?

"And when he has found it, he puts it on his shoulders, rejoicing.

"And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, because I have found my sheep that 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 people who have no need of repentance.

"Or what woman, if she has ten ^(F1)silver coins and loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it?

"And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, 'Rejoice with me, because I have found the coin which I had lost!'

"In the same way, I tell you, there is joy ^(C1)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 ^(C1)the share of the estate that ^(F1)is coming to me.' And so he divided his ^(F2)(C2)wealth between them.

"And not many days later, the younger son gathered everything together and went on a journey to a distant country, and there he squandered his estate in ^(F1)wild living.

"Now when he had ^(F1)spent everything, a severe famine occurred in that country, and he began doing without.

"So he went and ^(F1)hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed pigs.

"And he longed to have his fill of the carob pods that the pigs were eating, and no one was giving him anything.

"But when he came to ^(F1)his senses, he said, 'How many of my father's hired laborers have more than enough bread, but I am dying here ^(F2)from hunger!

'I will set out and go to my father, and will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven, and ^(F1)in your sight;

I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me as one of your hired laborers."'

"So he set out and came to ^(F1)his father. But when he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion for him, and ran and ^(F2)(C1)embraced him and kissed him.

"And the son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and ^(F1)in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.'

"But the father said to his slaves, 'Quickly bring out ^(C1)the best robe and put it on him, and ^(F1)(C2)put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet;

and bring the fattened calf, slaughter it, and let's eat and celebrate;

for this son of mine was ^(C1)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 slaughtered 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 ^(F1)neglected a command of yours; and yet you never gave me a young goat, so that I might celebrate with my friends;

but when this son of yours came, who has devoured your ^(F1)(C1)wealth with prostitutes, you slaughtered the fattened calf for him.'

"And he said to him, 'Son, you ^(F1)have always been with me, and all that is mine is yours.

'But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was ^(C1)dead and has begun to live, and was lost and has been found.'"