Shining Light Tells the Good Story 14
14
HEALING AGAIN ON THE DAY OF RESTING
1On a Day of Resting, Creator Sets Free (Jesus) was invited to the house of a headman of the Separated Ones (Pharisees) for a meal. All were keeping their eyes on him.
2A man with a sickness that made parts of his body swell up came and stood in front of him. 3Creator Sets Free (Jesus) asked the Separated Ones (Pharisees) and the scroll keepers, who are experts in tribal law, “Is it permitted to heal on the Day of Resting? Yes or no?”
4The spiritual leaders glared at him in silence. 5So he took hold of the man, healed him, and sent him on his way.
He then turned to the spiritual leaders and said, “If your child, or even a horse, fell into a watering hole, would you not pull it out on the Day of Resting?”
6The spiritual leaders had no answer for him.
HUMILITY INSTEAD OF SELF-IMPORTANCE
7He noticed how the invited guests had chosen the best seats at the table, so he gave them some wise counsel.
8“If you are invited to a wedding feast, do not sit in the best seats, for someone with greater honor may be invited. 9Then the host will come to you and say, ‘Give your seat to this person.’ Then, hanging your head, you will have to take the lowest seat.
10“Instead, take the lowest seat and the host may say to you, ‘Friend, come and sit in the seat of honor.’ You will then be honored in the eyes of all the guests.”
Creator Sets Free (Jesus) looked around the table at all the guests.
11He said to them, “The ones who put themselves above others will be brought down, but all who humble themselves will be lifted up.”
12Creator Sets Free (Jesus) then turned to the headman who had invited him and said, “When you have a feast, do not invite only your friends, relatives, and the ones with many possessions, who can repay you. 13Instead, invite the poor, the blind, and the crippled, who cannot repay you. 14Then you will be honored when the good-hearted ones are brought back to life again.”
15One of the guests at the feast said to Creator Sets Free (Jesus), “Creator’s blessing rests on the ones who will feast at the table in the Land of Creator’s good road!”
STORY OF THE GREAT FEAST
Creator Sets Free (Jesus) could see they still did not understand, so he told them another story.
16“There was a man who prepared a great feast and invited many people. 17When the feast was ready, he sent a messenger to tell the ones he had invited, ‘Come to the table, the feast is ready!’ 18But one by one they all began to make excuses.
“One said, ‘I must go and tend to my new field. Please excuse me.’
19“Another said, ‘Please excuse me also, for I must try out the horses#14:19 Lit. oxen I just traded for.’
20“And another, ‘I cannot come, for I have just been married.’
21“When the messenger told the man their answer, he became angry and said, ‘Waste no time! Go out into the village pathways and invite the ones who are poor, crippled, blind and lame.’
22“When the messenger returned, he told the man, ‘I have done what you said, but there is still room for more.’
23“So he told the messenger, ‘Go out to the mountain trails, look behind all the bushes, and urge them to come, so that my house may be filled with people. 24None of the ones I first invited will even taste of this feast!’”
COUNTING THE COST
Creator Sets Free (Jesus) was coming near to Jerusalem.
25Large crowds were following him, so he turned to them and said, 26“The ones who come to me must put me first, above all others. To walk the road with me, they must love and respect me above their own fathers and mothers, wives and children, and aunties and uncles. They must love me even more than their own lives. 27Only the ones who are willing to follow me and carry their own crossbeam are ready to walk the road with me and learn my ways.
28“Who would build a great lodge without first making sure he had enough trees to finish it? 29If he only built the floor and then ran out of trees, others would laugh at him and say, 30‘How will you finish what you started?’
31“Would a chief go to war against another chief if he only had half as many warriors? 32No! He would send messengers ahead to make a peace treaty!
33“You must count the cost of following me, for all who are not willing to give up all they have are not ready to walk the road with me and learn my ways.”
34Then he added, “Salt is a good thing, but if it loses its saltiness, how will it get its flavor back? 35That kind of salt is thrown away. It is no good for the garden or the manure pile.
“Let the ones who have ears hear what I am saying!”
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