¹⁷ At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’

³ He sent his servants^(A) to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come.

⁴ “Then he sent some more servants^(B) and said, ‘Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.’

Jesus Sends Out the Twelve^{(A)(B)(C)(D)(E)}

10 Jesus called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out impure spirits^(F) and to heal every disease and sickness.^(G)

² These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon (who is called Peter) and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; ³ Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; ⁴ Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.^(H)

Invitations of Wisdom and Folly

¹⁸ All this is from God,^(A) who reconciled us to himself through Christ^(B) and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: ¹⁹ that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them.^(C) And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. ²⁰ We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors,^(D) as though God were making his appeal through us.^(E) We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.^{(F) 21} God made him who had no sin^(G) to be sin^[a] for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.^(H)

6 As God’s co-workers^(I) we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain.^(J)