Luke 14
BSASBJesus is a dinner guest in a Pharisee’s home, and the meal becomes a classroom. He heals a sick man on the Sabbath, teaches humility and generous hospitality, and tells of a great banquet that the invited refuse and the outcasts fill. Then he turns to the crowds and tells them plainly what following him costs.
Luke 14:1
Jesus accepts a meal at a leading Pharisee’s house on the Sabbath. It looks friendly, but the guests are not simply enjoying his company. They are watching him, hoping to catch him in some fault. Jesus goes in anyway, knowing he is being tested.
BSA: watching (“observing, paying close attention to”): The guests studied Jesus with suspicious, close attention, waiting to see if he would break their rules.
Greek: παρατηρούμενοι (paratēroumenoi, G3906) — “watching closely, keeping an eye on.” The word suggests careful, sideways scrutiny, the kind used when someone is lying in wait for a slip. The invitation was a trap, not only hospitality.
Luke 14:2-3
A man swollen with dropsy, a painful buildup of fluid, stands right in front of Jesus. It may well have been arranged. Jesus does not dodge the trap. He asks the legal experts openly whether healing on the Sabbath is lawful, putting the question on the table.
BSA: dropsy (“having edema, swollen with fluid, a medical condition”): The man suffered a real, visible illness, and Jesus saw a person in need rather than a test case.
Luke 14:4
No one answers. Their silence says more than words. Jesus then takes hold of the man, heals him, and sends him away. The man is released from his illness and from being used as a pawn. Mercy does not wait for permission.
BSA: healed (“cured, restored to health”): The healing was a full restoration, not a partial relief.
See also: Luke 13:10-17.
Luke 14:5-6
Jesus points to ordinary common sense. Anyone would pull a son or an ox out of a pit on the Sabbath without delay. If rescuing is right for a child or animal, it is right for this man. They have nothing to say.
BSA: immediately (“without delay, at once”): Nobody would stop to debate. Need calls for action right away, and so it did for this man.
See also: Matthew 12:11-12.
Luke 14:7-9
Jesus sees the guests jostling for the best seats and tells a parable. Taking a high seat risks being publicly moved down when a more distinguished guest arrives. The shame of ending up in the last place is the painful result of self-promotion.
BSA: humiliation (“shame, disgrace”): Being moved down in front of everyone brings public disgrace, and the proud seeker of honor ends up with the opposite.
Luke 14:10-11
Take the lowest seat, and the host may call you up in front of everyone. Jesus then states the principle behind it. God lifts those who lower themselves and brings down those who lift themselves up. Real honor is received from God, not seized.
BSA: humbles (“lowers, makes themselves nothing”): Humility here is a freely chosen lowness, not being forced down by others.
See also: Proverbs 25:6-7; James 4:10.
Luke 14:12
Now Jesus speaks to the host. If we invite only friends, relatives and rich neighbors, we are really trading favors. They will invite us back and the matter is settled. Jesus questions generosity that quietly expects something in return.
BSA: repaid (“receive antapodoma, repayment or reward”): The word means a return payment. Such hospitality is a swap, so the reward is already collected.
Greek: ἀνταπόδομά (antapodoma, G468) — “a repayment, a return.” The word names something given back in exchange. Jesus is saying that a favor repaid on earth uses up the reward, so nothing is left for God to give.
Luke 14:13-14
Instead, invite those who can never pay you back: the poor, the crippled, the lame and the blind. These are the people the community usually overlooked. God himself will repay such kindness when the righteous rise. Giving without return carries a blessing that no earthly exchange can match.
BSA: blessed (“happy, fortunate”): The one who gives freely, with no return, is truly happy in God’s sight. resurrection (“standing up again from death”): The final reward is waiting at the rising of the dead, beyond this life.
See also: Proverbs 19:17; Luke 6:35.
Luke 14:15
A fellow guest hears this talk of resurrection and calls it a blessing to eat at God’s feast in the kingdom. He is right, but he may be assuming the seat is secure for people like himself. Jesus answers with a parable that unsettles that comfort.
See also: Isaiah 25:6.
Luke 14:16-17
A man prepares a great banquet and invites many. When the hour comes, he sends his servant to say, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’ This is God’s invitation. The feast is prepared and waiting, and nothing is lacking except the guests’ response.
BSA: servant (“slave”): The messenger is one who belongs to the master and carries his word, not his own.
Luke 14:18-20
All of the invited begin making excuses. A field, oxen, a new marriage: none is wicked in itself. They are ordinary good things that took first place. The excuses show how everyday concerns can crowd out the call of God.
BSA: excuses (“to refuse or decline invitations”): Politely worded, each one is still a refusal of the host.
Luke 14:21-22
The angry master sends his servant out for the poor, crippled, blind and lame of the city. The servant reports there is still room. God’s table is wide, and the ones society ignores are welcomed to it. His house is not yet full.
BSA: room (“space, place”): God’s generosity is not exhausted; there is still space for more.
See also: Luke 4:18.
Luke 14:23-24
The servant goes beyond the city to the highways and hedges, the outer edges, and urges people in. The master wants a full house. Those who first refused the invitation will not taste the feast. The call reaches far beyond the expected guests.
BSA: compel (“to force, to urge strongly”): The word carries earnest, insistent urging, as when outsiders feel unworthy and must be persuaded that the invitation is real.
Greek: ἀνάγκασον (anankason, G315) — “press, urge, constrain.” The word means to press hard on someone. Here it pictures eager insistence, because people who feel unfit need convincing that the welcome is genuine.
See also: Matthew 22:8-10.
Luke 14:25-26
Large crowds follow, but Jesus does not want a casual crowd. He says that no one can be his disciple unless they hate family and even their own life. This is strong language meaning that loyalty to Christ must come first, so that every other love ranks far below it.
BSA: hate (“completely rejects, hates”): The word is deliberately forceful, showing that no other loyalty may compete with devotion to Christ. life (“soul, breath of life”): Even one’s own self and life must be held loosely, beneath Christ.
Greek: μισεῖ (misei, G3404) — “hates, loves less.” In the language of the day this could mean to put in a clearly lesser place. Jesus is not telling us to despise our families but to rank every love below him.
See also: Matthew 10:37.
Luke 14:27
The cross was an instrument of execution, and a condemned man carried his own crossbeam to the place of death. Jesus uses this picture. To follow him means being willing to die to our own agenda and walk behind him.
BSA: cross (“instrument of capital punishment”): Hearers knew it meant a shameful public death, so Jesus is describing complete surrender.
See also: Luke 9:23.
Luke 14:28-30
A man planning a tower first sits down and counts the cost. If he runs out of money halfway, everyone laughs at the unfinished building. Jesus asks his listeners to think honestly about what following him involves before they start.
BSA: count (“calculate, figure out”): Discipleship calls for sober, deliberate thought, not a rush of enthusiasm.
Luke 14:31-32
A king facing an army twice the size of his own must think before fighting. If he cannot win, he seeks peace while the enemy is still far off. The second picture adds urgency: do not delay in deciding where you stand.
BSA: peace (“harmony, freedom from war, prosperity”): The king seeks terms that end the conflict. The point is realistic assessment, not retreat.
Luke 14:33
Jesus gives the point of both pictures. A disciple must give up everything he has. This means holding nothing back from Christ, with all possessions and plans under his claim. He asks for all of us, and he offers himself in return.
BSA: give up (“renounce, forsake”): The word means to say goodbye to and let go of, so that nothing stands as a rival to Christ.
Greek: ἀποτάσσεται (apotassetai, G657) — “says farewell to, renounces.” The word is used for taking leave of people. It pictures bidding goodbye to the claim our possessions have on us.
See also: Philippians 3:7-8.
Luke 14:34-35
Salt is useful only while it is salty. A disciple who has lost the distinctive character of Christ is useless to the world, and cannot be restored by anything else. Jesus ends with a call to listen carefully and take it seriously.
BSA: savor (“taste, flavor”): Salt’s whole worth lies in its taste. A disciple’s worth lies in genuine devotion to Christ.
See also: Matthew 5:13; Mark 4:9.