Jesus Heals on the Sabbath

14 It happened that when He went into the house of one of the ^[a]leaders of the Pharisees on the Sabbath to eat bread, ^(A)they were watching Him ^[b]closely. ² And ^[c]there in front of Him was a man suffering from ^[d]edema. ³ And Jesus responded and said to the ^[e](B)lawyers and ^[f]Pharisees, “^(C)Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?” ⁴ But they kept silent. And He took hold of him and healed him, and sent him away. ⁵ And He said to them, “^[g](D)Which one of you will have a son or an ox fall into a well, and will not immediately pull him out on a Sabbath day?” ^6 (E)And they could offer no reply to this.

Parable of the Guests

⁷ Now He began telling a parable to the invited guests when He noticed how ^(F)they had been picking out the places of honor at the table, saying to them, ⁸ “Whenever you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, ^(G)do not ^[h]take the place of honor, for someone more distinguished than you may have been invited by him, ⁹ and the one who invited you ^[i]both will come and say to you, ‘Give your place to this person,’ and then ^(H)in disgrace you will proceed to occupy the last place. ¹⁰ But whenever you are invited, go and ^[j]take the last place, so that when the one who has invited you comes, he will say to you, ‘Friend, ^(I)move up higher’; then you will have honor in the sight of all who are ^[k]dining at the table with you. ^11 (J)For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

¹² Now He also went on to say to the one who had invited Him, “Whenever you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers, your relatives, nor wealthy neighbors, otherwise they may also invite you to a meal in return, and that will be your ^[l]repayment. ¹³ But whenever you give a ^[m]banquet, invite people who are poor, who have disabilities, who are limping, and people who are blind; ¹⁴ and you will be blessed, since they ^[n]do not have the means to repay you; for you will be repaid at ^(K)the resurrection of the righteous.”

¹⁵ Now when one of those who were reclining at the table with Him heard this, he said to Him, “^(L)Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!”

Parable of the Dinner

¹⁶ But He said to him, “^(M)A man was giving a big dinner, and he invited many; ¹⁷ and at the dinner hour he sent his slave to tell those who had been invited, ‘Come, because everything is ready now.’ ¹⁸ And yet they all alike began to make excuses. The first one said to him, ‘I purchased a field and I need to go out to look at it; ^[o]please consider me excused.’ ¹⁹ And another one said, ‘I bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out; ^[p]please consider me excused.’ ²⁰ And another one said, ‘^(N)I took a woman as my wife, and for that reason I cannot come.’ ²¹ And the slave came back and reported this to his master. Then the head of the household became angry and said to his slave, ‘Go out at once into the streets and lanes of the city and bring in here those who are poor, those with disabilities, those who are blind, and those who are limping.’ ²² And later the slave said, ‘Master, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.’ ²³ And the master said to the slave, ‘Go out into the roads and the hedges and press upon them to come in, so that my house will be filled. ²⁴ For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my dinner.’”

Discipleship Tested

²⁵ Now ^[q]large crowds were going along with Him, and He turned and said to them, ²⁶ “^(O)If anyone comes to Me and does not ^[r]hate his own father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple. ²⁷ Whoever does not ^(P)carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. ²⁸ For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost, to see if he has enough to complete it? ²⁹ Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who are watching it will begin to ridicule him, ³⁰ saying, ‘This person began to build, and was not able to finish!’ ³¹ Or what king, when he sets out to meet another king in battle, will not first sit down and ^(Q)consider whether he is strong enough with ten thousand men to face the one coming against him with twenty thousand? ³² Otherwise, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and requests terms of peace. ³³ So then, none of you can be My disciple who ^(R)does not ^[s]give up all his own possessions.

³⁴ “Therefore, salt is good; but ^(S)if even salt has become tasteless, with what will it be ^[t]seasoned? ³⁵ It is useless either for the soil or the manure pile, so it is thrown out. ^(T)The one who has ears to hear, ^[u]let him hear.”

Put On the New Self

3 Therefore, if you have been ^(A)raised with Christ, keep seeking the things that are above, where Christ is, ^(B)seated at the right hand of God. ^2 [a](C)Set your minds on the things that are above, not on the things that are on earth. ³ For you have ^(D)died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. ⁴ When Christ, ^(E)who is our life, is revealed, ^(F)then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.

^5 (G)Therefore, ^[b]treat ^(H)the parts of your earthly body as dead to ^(I)sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which ^[c]amounts to idolatry. ⁶ For it is because of these things that ^(J)the wrath of God is coming ^[d]upon the ^[e]sons of disobedience, ⁷ and ^(K)in them you also once walked, when you were living ^[f]in them. ⁸ But now you also, ^(L)rid yourselves of all of them: ^(M)anger, wrath, malice, slander, and ^(N)obscene speech from your mouth. ^9 [g](O)Do not lie to one another, since you ^(P)stripped off the old ^[h]self with its evil practices, ¹⁰ and have ^(Q)put on the new self, which is being ^[i](R)renewed to a true knowledge ^(S)according to the image of the One who ^(T)created it— ¹¹ a renewal in which ^(U)there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, ^(V)circumcised and uncircumcised, ^[j](W)barbarian, ^[k]Scythian, ^(X)slave, and free, but ^(Y)Christ is all, and in all.

¹² So, as those who have been ^(Z)chosen of God, holy and beloved, ^(AA)put on a ^(AB)heart of compassion, kindness, ^(AC)humility, gentleness, and ^[l](AD)patience; ^13 (AE)bearing with one another, and ^(AF)forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; ^(AG)just as the Lord forgave you, so must you do also. ¹⁴ In addition to all these things put on love, which is ^[m](AH)the perfect bond of ^(AI)unity. ¹⁵ Let ^(AJ)the peace of Christ, to which you were ^[n]indeed called in ^(AK)one body, ^[o]rule in your hearts; and ^[p]be thankful. ¹⁶ Let ^(AL)the word of ^[q]Christ richly dwell within you, ^[r]with all wisdom ^(AM)teaching and admonishing ^[s]one another ^(AN)with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, ^(AO)singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. ^17 (AP)Whatever you do in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, ^(AQ)giving thanks through Him to God the Father.

Family Relations

^18 (AR)Wives, ^(AS)be subject to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. ^19 (AT)Husbands, love your wives and do not become bitter against them. ^20 (AU)Children, obey your parents in everything, for this is pleasing ^[t]to the Lord. ^21 (AV)Fathers, do not ^[u]antagonize your children, so that they will not become discouraged.

^22 [v](AW)Slaves, obey those who are your ^[w]human masters in everything, ^(AX)not with ^[x]eye-service, as people-pleasers, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord. ²³ Whatever you do, do your work ^[y]heartily, ^(AY)as for the Lord and not for people, ^24 (AZ)knowing that it is from the Lord that you will receive the reward ^[z]of ^(BA)the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you ^(BB)serve. ²⁵ For ^(BC)the one who does wrong will receive the consequences of the wrong which he has done, and ^[aa](BD)that without partiality.

4 Masters, grant your slaves justice and fairness, ^(BE)knowing that you also have a Master in heaven.

^2 (BF)Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving; ³ praying at the same time ^(BG)for us as well, that God will open up to us a ^(BH)door for ^(BI)the word, so that we may proclaim ^(BJ)the mystery of Christ, for which I have also ^(BK)been imprisoned; ⁴ that I may make it clear ^(BL)in the way that I ought to proclaim it.

^5 [ab](BM)Conduct yourselves with wisdom toward ^(BN)outsiders, ^[ac](BO)making the most of the opportunity. ^6 (BP)Your speech must always be ^[ad]with grace, as though seasoned with ^(BQ)salt, so that you will know how you should ^(BR)respond to each person.

^7 (BS)As to all my affairs, ^(BT)Tychicus, our ^(BU)beloved brother and faithful servant and fellow bond-servant in the Lord, will bring you information. ^8 (BV)For I have sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know about our circumstances and that he may ^(BW)encourage your hearts; ^9 [ae]and with him is ^(BX)Onesimus, our faithful and ^(BY)beloved brother, ^(BZ)who is one of your own. They will inform you about the whole situation here.

^10 (CA)Aristarchus, my ^(CB)fellow prisoner, sends you his greetings; and also ^(CC)Barnabas’ cousin Mark (about whom you received ^[af]instructions; ^(CD)if he comes to you, welcome him); ¹¹ and also Jesus who is called Justus; these are the only ^(CE)fellow workers for the kingdom of God ^(CF)who are from the circumcision, and they have proved to be an encouragement to me. ^12 (CG)Epaphras, ^(CH)who is one of your own, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, sends you his greetings, always ^(CI)striving earnestly for you in his prayers, that you may ^[ag]stand ^[ah](CJ)mature and ^[ai]fully assured in all the will of God. ¹³ For I testify for him that he has ^[aj]a deep concern for you and for those who are in ^(CK)Laodicea and Hierapolis. ^14 (CL)Luke, the beloved physician, sends you his greetings, and ^(CM)Demas does also. ¹⁵ Greet the brothers and sisters who are in ^(CN)Laodicea and also ^[ak]Nympha and ^(CO)the church that is in ^[al]her house. ^16 (CP)When ^[am]this letter is read among you, have it also read in the church of the Laodiceans; and you, for your part, ^(CQ)read ^[an]my letter that is coming from ^(CR)Laodicea. ¹⁷ Tell ^(CS)Archippus, “See to the ^(CT)ministry which you have received in the Lord, so that you may ^[ao]fulfill it.”

^18 [ap]I, Paul, ^(CU)write this greeting with my own hand. ^(CV)Remember my ^[aq](CW)imprisonment. ^(CX)Grace be with you.