The Life of Jesus

When it was time for the banquet, he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’

But one after another they all began to make excuses. The first one said, ‘I have bought a field, and I need to go see it. Please excuse me.’

Another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out. Please excuse me.’

Still another said, ‘I have married a wife, so I cannot come.’

The servant returned and reported all this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the city, and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.’

‘Sir,’ the servant replied, ‘what you ordered has been done, and there is still room.’

So the master told his servant, ‘Go out to the highways and hedges and compel them to come in, so that my house will be full.

For I tell you, not one of those men who were invited will taste my banquet.’”

Large crowds were now traveling with Jesus, and He turned and said to them,

“If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be My disciple.

And whoever does not carry his cross and follow Me cannot be My disciple.

Which of you, wishing to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost to see if he has the resources to complete it?

Otherwise, if he lays the foundation and is unable to finish the work, everyone who sees it will ridicule him,

saying, ‘This man could not finish what he started to build.’

Or what king on his way to war with another king will not first sit down and consider whether he can engage with ten thousand men the one coming against him with twenty thousand?

And if he is unable, he will send a delegation while the other king is still far off, to ask for terms of peace.

In the same way, any one of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be My disciple.

Salt is good, but if the salt loses its savor, with what will it be seasoned?

It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile, and it is thrown out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

Now all the tax collectors and sinners were gathering around to listen to Jesus.

So the Pharisees and scribes began to grumble: “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

Then Jesus told them this parable:

“What man among you, if he has a hundred sheep and loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the pasture and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it?

And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders,

comes home, and calls together his friends and neighbors to tell them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my lost sheep!’