1 As Jesus went into the house of one of the leading Pharisees to share bread on the Sabbath Day, they watched him to see what he would do or say, in case anything special would happen. 2 And, indeed it turned out that there was a certain man there who suffered from a disabling, possibly life threatening condition having the symptom of severe swelling of the legs.

3 Jesus, turning to the specialists in the laws of the Torah and to those particular Pharisees present, asked them, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?"

4 No one answered him at all. He then took the man who suffered from edema, and healed him. Being miraculously healed and whole there was somewhere he immediately wanted to go. Jesus let him go where he wanted.

5 And then addressing those present who were fully observant of every letter of the Torah, so as to teach everyone, he asked them, Which of you would have an animal you owned fall into a deep pit that it could not get out of on its own, and will not straightway pull it out on the Sabbath Day? 6 Everyone remained quite, even those who were unsure that they were willing to be taught by him, for no one found anything that they could say.

7 Then, wanting to teach them a parable he laid a foundation by reminding them of a principle of right Torah practice for how to conduct yourself when you are invited to an event. He spoke about this because he took note of how they marked the chief rooms or places and desired to find themselves in these when they were invited to events. And this is what he said to them:

8 "When you are invited by anyone to a wedding or other event, do not seek to be seated in a good position or gain entrance into the inner circle. You may think you have gotten somewhere, but soon someone will appear who is honored and desired more than you and you will find yourself somehow pushed back or to the side.

9 The host will then come and say to you, 'Let this person have this place'; and you begin with shame to move down the social chain until you end up taking the lowest place in the room — all because you desired to put yourself forward and everyone saw it. 10 Instead, when you are invited to an event, go and sit down in the lowest position in the common room; that when the one who invited you comes, that person may say unto you, 'Friend, come sit here with us': then you will have the respect of those who sit at the table with you.

11 For whosoever exalts himself or herself shall be thought little of in the end; while those who humble themselves shall be shown respect at all times."

12 Then Jesus also said to the person who had invited him, "When you make an event dinner or banquet, don't call your friends, nor your relatives, not even anyone who is related to you at all, nor your rich and successful neighbors; lest they also invite you to their events in return, and so you will have your reward in full.

13 Instead, when you make a feast and prepare the finest event, invite the poor, the disabled, the socially alienated and lonely. Invite to your special event only people who do not appear successful. 14 And then you shall be blessed; for they cannot do the same for you: for you shall be rewarded at the resurrection of the just, that great event of God's righteousness and generosity."

15 And when one of them that sat there eating with Jesus heard these things, he said unto him, "Blessed is the one who shall break bread in the kingdom of God".

16 Then he responded to the one who said this, and said to him, "A certain man prepared a great table for a banquet in celebration of the word of God. He invited all successful people to that feast of the word of God. 17 Near the hour of the banquet he sent his servants to personally announce to those who were invited that all things were now ready, and to tell them that it was now time for them to come to banquet hall.

18 All of them, without exception and in exactly the same way, began to make excuses. One said unto him, I have bought a piece of land, and right now I must go and see to legal matters concerning it: please excuse me and send my best regards. 19 And another said, I have just bought five pieces of heavy equipment in order to fulfill a large, new contract that I have taken on. I am on my way to test that new equipment out right now: please excuse me and send my best regards. 20 And another said, I have just gotten married. My husband and I are about to set out on our honeymoon, and therefore I cannot come. And so it went with all the invited guests.

21 The servant came, and reported all of this to his master. The master of the house then being angry said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets, into the back lanes and back roads of city and country, find the homeless, find the broken people. Bring them into my home. Bring into this very banquet hall all the unsuccessful and marginalized; don't leave behind those who are dirty and who smell offensive! Sit everyone of them here at this banquet table that is set in celebration of the word of God, all of them, all who are failures in society. Especially make a place for those who are marginalized because they are mentally ill or have disabilities or have a criminal record, or are otherwise handicapped.

22 Not long after this the servant said, "Master, it is done as you have instructed, we have invited all the poor whom we found into your house and into your banquet hall, and yet there is room".

23 The master then said unto the servant, "Go out onto the sidewalks of the streets and to the intersections where the beggars stand and into the homeless camps, and insist that they come to sit at the table of the word of God, that my house may be filled."

24 Then turning to look at everyone he was sitting with, he added, "For I say unto you, that none of those successful people which were first invited shall taste the food of my table."

25 After he had left the home of that Pharisee and had set out on the road, a great number of people accompanied him: and he turned, and said unto them,

26 "If anyone comes to me, but still loves the inheritance of his father, and mother, and still has a heart set only on building a life with their wife or husband, and children, and brothers, and sisters, and therefore does not hate all ambition for their own life, they cannot be my disciple.

27 And whoever would not be willing to be a martyr, to be nailed to a cross by the hand of the Romans together with me, cannot be my disciple; for if you continue to follow me you will see that this is what will happen.

28 For which of you, if you were intending to build a tower, a building that everyone can see and will watch being built, would not sit down first, and count the cost, to determine whether you have sufficient resources to finish it? And then, if you were unsure if you had sufficient resources, which of you would not first seek to find out how you could obtain the resources you needed?

29 Otherwise, after you had laid the foundation, and were not able to finish it, you would know full well that everyone who saw what happened to you would judge you as being incompetent.

30 They would say, 'This person had big plans and began to build, but was not able to finish'.

31 Or what nation, preparing to defend itself in war against another nation, does not sit down first, and consult among the experts whether it is able with its army that is half the size of its enemy to win a war if it must fight against it?

32 Or else that nation , seeing clearly its position, while the threatening nation is yet a great way off from being ready to actually launch a war, will quietly send an ambassador, and seek conditions of peace.

33 So likewise, whosoever the person is among you who does not forsake in their heart all their own resources, and all that they posses, and all their own ideas of success, they cannot be my disciple.

34 Salt is good: it preserves and enhances flavor, but if the salt has lost its potency and savour, will you find a seasoning to season it?

35 If salt has lost its potency it is neither fit for use in the yard, nor for adding to the compost; instead people cast it out into a pit. Whoever can hear at all in any way, let them hear. For anyone who hears should seek sincerely to understand this."

God places the lonely in families; he sets the prisoners free and gives them joy. Psalms 68:6