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Luke 14

Luke book home•Chapter 14 of 24•35 verses

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Luke 14 Overview

At a Pharisee’s house Jesus heals a man on the sabbath, teaches guests not to seek the highest seats, tells hosts to invite those unable to repay, and gives the parable of the great supper where invited guests make excuses and the poor and outsiders are brought in. He then turns to the crowds and teaches the severe cost of discipleship using family, cross-bearing, tower-building, warfare, possessions, and salt imagery.

LukeBook

14Chapter

35Verses

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Before you read Luke 14

Coming from

Luke 13 established the immediate context: Jesus rejects the assumption that victims of political violence or a tower collapse were worse sinners than others and calls hearers to repent.

In this chapter

Luke 14 contrasts self-exalting social religion with humble hospitality and then distinguishes receiving God’s invitation from the costly demands of following Jesus as a disciple.

Leads into

Luke 15 continues the account: Publicans and sinners draw near to hear Jesus while Pharisees and scribes complain that He receives sinners.

Key understandingExplore deeper

The great supper emphasizes rejected invitation and generous inclusion. The excuses expose misplaced priorities rather than a lack of invitation.

The cost-of-discipleship sayings are addressed to crowds considering following Jesus. Hating family is comparative loyalty language; Jesus is not commanding sinful hostility. Discipleship cost should not be confused with the free gift of eternal life.

Major truths in this chapterExplore deeper

Mercy matters more than status-preserving sabbath argument

Jesus heals and exposes inconsistent compassion.

Humility waits for honor rather than seizing it

Guests are warned against self-promotion.

Kingdom hospitality reaches people unable to repay

Jesus redirects social generosity away from reciprocity.

People can reject grace because ordinary priorities feel more urgent

Field, oxen, and marriage become excuses.

Discipleship requires counting the cost

Following Jesus must outrank competing loyalties and possessions.

Connections to the rest of ScriptureExplore deeper

Proverbs 25:6–7

Jesus’ banquet-seat teaching echoes wisdom about not exalting oneself before a king.

Isaiah 25:6

The great feast fits the prophetic image of God’s banquet.

Matthew 10:37–39

Matthew parallels the priority of Christ above family and life.

Philippians 3:7–8

Paul later counts former gains as loss for Christ, resonating with costly allegiance.

What is clear, and where care is neededExplore deeper

Do not teach that hating family means emotional hatred or abuse

The saying demands supreme loyalty to Christ in comparative terms.

Do not make forsaking possessions a universal payment for salvation

It describes readiness for discipleship, not purchase of eternal life.

Do not confuse invitation to the supper with meritorious qualification

The excluded guests refuse; the later guests are brought in by the host’s command.

Read Luke 14 watching for…

Sabbath-healing question.

Seat-selection lesson.

Who Jesus says to invite.

Excuses in the great-supper parable.

The shift from banquet to large crowds.

Tower, king-at-war, possessions, and salt images.

Chapter outline4 sections

1-6Jesus heals a man with dropsy on the Sabbath and answers the lawyers and Pharisees 7-14Jesus teaches humility at feasts and generosity toward those who cannot repay 15-24The parable of the great supper shows how invited guests make excuses while others are brought in 25-35Jesus teaches the cost of discipleship and the need to count the cost

And it came to pass, as he went into the house of one of the chief Pharisees to eat bread on the sabbath day, that they watched him.

And, behold, there was a certain man before him which had the dropsy.

And Jesus answering spake unto the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath day?

And they held their peace. And he took him, and healed him, and let him go;

And answered them, saying, Which of you shall have an ass or an ox fallen into a pit, and will not straightway pull him out on the sabbath day?

And they could not answer him again to these things.

And he put forth a parable to those which were bidden, when he marked how they chose out the chief rooms; saying unto them,

When thou art bidden of any man to a wedding, sit not down in the highest room; lest a more honourable man than thou be bidden of him;

And he that bade thee and him come and say to thee, Give this man place; and thou begin with shame to take the lowest room.

But when thou art bidden, go and sit down in the lowest room; that when he that bade thee cometh, he may say unto thee, Friend, go up higher: then shalt thou have worship in the presence of them that sit at meat with thee.

For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

Then said he also to him that bade him, When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy brethren, neither thy kinsmen, nor thy rich neighbours; lest they also bid thee again, and a recompence be made thee.

But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind:

And thou shalt be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee: for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just.

And when one of them that sat at meat with him heard these things, he said unto him, Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God.

Then said he unto him, A certain man made a great supper, and bade many:

And sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden, Come; for all things are now ready.

And they all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it: I pray thee have me excused.

And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them: I pray thee have me excused.

And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.

So that servant came, and shewed 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 hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind.

And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room.

And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.

For I say unto you, That none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper.

And there went great multitudes with him: and he turned, and said unto them,

If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.

And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.

For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?

Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him,

Saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish.

Or what king, going to make war against another king, sitteth not down first, and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand?

Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sendeth an ambassage, and desireth conditions of peace.

So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.

Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be seasoned?

It is neither fit for the land, nor yet for the dunghill; but men cast it out. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.

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Luke 14:2

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