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Luke 14

Jesus confronts the pursuit of status, widens the banquet’s welcome, and demands allegiance that reaches family, possessions, and life itself.

Jesus is eating at a Pharisee ruler’s house on the Sabbath, with lawyers and Pharisees watching him. He heals a man with dropsy, then addresses guests choosing the best seats and a host able to welcome people who cannot repay him. A remark about God’s Kingdom leads to a story of a great supper and guests who refuse to come. Later, Jesus turns to the crowds following him and spells out the cost of being his disciple.

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1When he went into the house of one of the rulers of the Pharisees on a Sabbath to eat bread, they were watching him.
3Jesus, answering, spoke to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”
5He answered them, “Which of you, if your son or an ox fell into a well, wouldn’t immediately pull him out on a Sabbath day?”
6They couldn’t answer him regarding these things.
7He spoke a parable to those who were invited, when he noticed how they chose the best seats, and said to them,
9and 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.
10But 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.
11For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”
13But when you make a feast, ask the poor, the maimed, the lame, or the blind;
14and 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.”
15When one of those who sat at the table with him heard these things, he said to him, “Blessed is he who will feast in God’s Kingdom!”
16But he said to him, “A certain man made a great supper, and he invited many people.
17He sent out his servant at supper time to tell those who were invited, ‘Come, for everything is ready now.’
18They 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.’
20“Another said, ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I can’t come.’
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.’
22“The servant said, ‘Lord, it is done as you commanded, and there is still room.’
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.
24For I tell you that none of those men who were invited will taste of my supper. For many are called, but few are chosen.’”
25Now great multitudes were going with him. He turned and said to them,
26“If anyone comes to me, and doesn’t disregard his own father, mother, wife, children, brothers, and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he can’t be my disciple.
27Whoever doesn’t bear his own cross and come after me, can’t be my disciple.
28For 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?
30saying, ‘This man began to build and wasn’t able to finish.’
31Or 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?
32Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends an envoy and asks for conditions of peace.
33So therefore, whoever of you who doesn’t renounce all that he has, he can’t be my disciple.
34“Salt is good, but if the salt becomes flat and tasteless, with what do you season it?
35It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile. It is thrown out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
World English BibleRead in NIV in Psalmlog →Highlighted verses are the most connected.
Key verses
Luke 14:11Jesus turns the scramble for honored seats into a warning that self-exaltation ends in humiliation.
Luke 14:26Addressing the crowds, Jesus makes allegiance to him the claim that outweighs even family ties and personal survival.
Luke 14:27The cross names the costly obedience Jesus requires, preparing for his warnings about counting the cost.
Where this chapter reaches

Proverbs shares the warning against claiming an honored place at a ruler’s table and the link between humility and honor. Matthew and Mark share Jesus’ teaching about taking up the cross, while Matthew also presents a banquet whose invited guests refuse to come.

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Notice

After reading the whole chapter

What do the seating choices and guest lists reveal about honor and generosity?

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What would you need to weigh when considering Jesus’ words about family, possessions, and the cross?

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Questions people ask about Luke 14

Does Luke 14:26 mean Christians should hate their families?

The supplied text uses “disregard” and includes a person’s own life alongside family ties. Jesus is describing the allegiance required of his disciples: even the closest relationships cannot outrank his claim. The surrounding sayings about the cross and possessions make the cost explicit. They give no permission to mistreat relatives.

What does it mean to count the cost in Luke 14?

Jesus describes a builder checking whether he can finish a tower and a king weighing the strength of an opposing army. Both examples stress reckoning with what lies ahead. Jesus connects them to discipleship through his demand to renounce possessions, following his words about family ties and bearing the cross.

What is the meaning of the great supper in Luke 14?

The story answers a guest’s remark about feasting in God’s Kingdom. Those first invited excuse themselves over property, work, and marriage. The host brings in people excluded from ordinary circles of honor, then seeks more guests beyond the city. The ending warns that those who refused will miss the supper.

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Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).