Luke Chapter 14

From The Open Bible Project

14:1 It happened, when he went into the house of one of the rulers of the Pharisees on a Sabbath to eat bread, that they were watching him.

• (1) The law of the very sabbath ought not to hinder the offices of charity.
• (a) Either one of the elders, whom they called the sanhedrin, or one of the chiefs of the synagogue: for all the Pharisees were not chief men of the synagogue (John 7:48); for this word Pharisee was the name of a sect, though it appears by viewing the whole history of the matter that the Pharisees had much authority.

14:2 Behold, a certain man who had dropsy was in front of him.

14:3 Jesus, answering, spoke to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?"

14:4 But they were silent. He took him, and healed him, and let him go.

14:5 He answered them, "Which of you, if your [35] son [See Luke Footnotes 35] or an ox fell into a well, wouldn't immediately pull him out on a Sabbath day?"

14:6 They couldn't answer him regarding these things.

14:7 He spoke a parable to those who were invited, when he noticed how they chose the best seats, and said to them,

• (2) The reward of pride is dishonour, and the reward of true modesty is glory.

14:8 "When you are invited by anyone to a marriage feast, don't sit in the best seat, since perhaps someone more honorable than you might be invited by him,

14:9 and he who invited both of you would come and tell you, 'Make room for this person.' Then you would begin, with shame, to take the lowest place.

14:10 But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when he who invited you comes, he may tell you, 'Friend, move up higher.' Then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at the table with you.

14:11 For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted."

14:12 He also said to the one who had invited him, "When you make a dinner or a supper, don't call your friends, nor your brothers, nor your kinsmen, nor rich neighbors, or perhaps they might also return the favor, and pay you back.

• (3) Against those who spend their goods either for the glory of man or for hope of recompence, whereas Christian charity considers only the glory of God, and the profit of our neighbour.

14:13 But when you make a feast, ask the poor, the maimed, the lame, or the blind;

14:14 and you will be blessed, because they don't have the resources to repay you. For you will be repaid in the resurrection of the righteous."

14:15 When one of those who sat at the table with him heard these things, he said to him, "Blessed is he who will feast in the Kingdom of God!"

• Compare Revelation 19:9.

14:16 But he said to him, "A certain man made a great supper, and he invited many people.

14:17 He sent out his servant at supper time to tell those who were invited, 'Come, for everything is ready now.'

14:18 They all as one began to make excuses. "The first said to him, 'I have bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please have me excused.'

• (4) For the most part even those to whom God has revealed himself are so mad, that any help which they have received of God they willingly turn into obstructions and hindrances.
• (b) On purpose, and a thing agreed upon before: for though they give different reasons why they cannot come, yet all of them agree in this, that they have their excuses so that they may not come to supper.

14:19 "Another said, 'I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I must go try them out. Please have me excused.'

14:20 "Another said, 'I have married a wife, and therefore I can't come.'

14:21 "That servant came, and told 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 the poor, maimed, blind, and lame.'

• (c) Wide and broad areas.

14:22 "The servant said, 'Lord, it is done as you commanded, and there is still room.'

14:23 "The lord said to the servant, 'Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.

• God invited the Gentiles to enter the Kingdom of God.

14:24 For I tell you that none of those men who were invited will taste of my supper.'"

• Much of the Jewish authority, who were invited, will enter the Kingdom because of their disbelief.

14:25 Now great multitudes were going with him. He turned and said to them,

• (5) Even those affections which are in themselves worthy of praise and commendation must be controlled and kept in order, so that godliness may have the upper hand and have preeminence.

14:26 "If anyone comes to me, and doesn't [36] disregard [See Luke Footnotes 36] his own father, mother, wife, children, brothers, and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he can't be my disciple.

• (d) If anything stands between God and him, as Theophylact says: and therefore these words are spoken in a comparative way, and not by themselves.

14:27 Whoever doesn't bear his own cross, and come after me, can't be my disciple.

• (6) The true followers of Christ must at once build and fight, and therefore be ready and prepared to endure all types of miseries.

14:28 For which of you, desiring to build a tower, doesn't first sit down and count the cost, to see if he has enough to complete it?

• (e) At home, and calculates all his costs before he begins the work.

14:29 Or perhaps, when he has laid a foundation, and is not able to finish, everyone who sees begins to mock him,

14:30 saying, 'This man began to build, and wasn't able to finish.'

14:31 Or what king, as he goes to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand?

14:32 Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends an envoy, and asks for conditions of peace.

14:33 So therefore whoever of you who doesn't renounce all that he has, he can't be my disciple.

14:34 Salt is good, but if the salt becomes flat and tasteless, with what do you season it?

• (7) The disciples of Christ must be wise, both for themselves and for others: otherwise they become the most foolish of all.

14:35 It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile. It is thrown out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear."