The Parable of the Great Banquet

¹² He said also to the man who had invited him, “When you give ^(A)a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers^[a] or your relatives or rich neighbors, ^(B)lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid.

^46 (A)For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?

The Sin of Partiality

2 My brothers,^{[a] (A)}show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, ^(B)the Lord of glory. ² For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, ³ and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” ^(C)while you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet,” ⁴ have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become ^(D)judges with evil thoughts? ⁵ Listen, my beloved brothers, ^(E)has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be ^(F)rich in faith and heirs of ^(G)the kingdom, ^(H)which he has promised to those who love him? ⁶ But you ^(I)have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who ^(J)drag you ^(K)into court?

^32 (A)“If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. ³³ And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. ³⁴ And ^(B)if you ^(C)lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to get back the same amount. ³⁵ But ^(D)love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and ^(E)you will be sons of ^(F)the Most High, for ^(G)he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. ^36 (H)Be merciful, even as ^(I)your Father is merciful.

Giving to the Needy

6 “Beware of ^(A)practicing your righteousness before other people in order ^(B)to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.

^2 (C)“Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may ^(D)be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have ^(E)received their reward. ³ But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, ⁴ so that your giving may be in secret. ^(F)And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

⁵ “Say to all the people of the land and the priests, ‘When you fasted and mourned in ^(A)the fifth month and in ^(B)the seventh, for these ^(C)seventy years, ^(D)was it ^(E)for me that you fasted? ^6 (F)And when you eat and when you drink, do you not eat for yourselves and drink for yourselves? ^7 (G)Were not these the words that the Lord proclaimed ^(H)by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and prosperous, ^(I)with her cities around her, and the ^(J)South and the ^(K)lowland were inhabited?’”