Luke 14:16-27

Jesus replied with this parable: “A man invited many to join him in a great feast. When the day for the feast arrived, the host instructed his servant to notify all the invited guests and tell them, ‘Come, for everything is now ready for you!’ But one by one they all made excuses. One said, ‘I can’t come. I just bought some property and I have to go and look it over.’ Another said, ‘Please accept my regrets, for I just purchased five teams of oxen and I need to make sure they can pull the plow.’ Another one said, ‘I can’t come because I just got married.’ “The servant reported back to the host and told him of all their excuses. The master became angry and said to his servant, ‘Go at once throughout the city and invite anyone you find—the poor, the blind, the disabled, the hurting, and the lonely. Invite them to my banquet.’ “When the servant returned to his master, he said, ‘Sir, I have done what you asked, but there’s still room for more.’ “So the master told him, ‘All right. Go out again, and this time bring them all back with you. Persuade the beggars on the streets, the outcasts, even the homeless. Insist that they come in and enjoy the feast so that my house will be full.’ “I say to you all, no one who receives an invitation to feast with me and makes excuses will ever enjoy my banquet.” As massive crowds followed Jesus, he turned to them and said, “When you follow me as my disciple, you must put aside your father, your mother, your wife, your sisters, your brothers; it will even seem as though you hate your own life. This is the price you’ll pay to be considered one of my followers. Anyone who comes to me must be willing to share my cross and experience it as his own, or he cannot be considered to be my disciple.