Luke 14

in the home of a leading Pharisee: In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus often eats with others.

a man with dropsy: Dropsy, medically known as edema, is an accumulation of fluid in tissues or a body cavity that causes swelling. It is usually a symptom of a more serious illness.

Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not?: The Jewish rabbis (religious teachers with authority) debated this question (see study note on 6:6–7).

Jesus pointed out the hypocrisy of the Pharisees. Hypocrisy means pretending to be righteous while acting differently. See also study note on 13:15–16.

the places of honor: Meals in the ancient world showed social status. A person’s place at the table depended on that status. The food each guest received could also reflect status. These guests were trying to get the places of highest honor.

The response of Jesus comments on a teaching found in Proverbs 25:6–7. In that passage, wisdom warns people not to take places of honor for themselves. Instead, they should wait to be invited to a higher place. When Jesus gave his response, he applied this wisdom to his own time. He taught that people should not seek honor for themselves. Instead, they should be humble and allow God or others to honor them.

in humiliation: In first-century Jewish culture, honor was very important. This kind of humiliation would have been almost worse than death.

do not invite your friends: Jesus challenged the common use of banquets to show and increase social status in the community. A host would invite friends of similar status and a few people of higher status. Those honored guests were then expected to invite the host back, which could improve the host’s reputation and position.

Jesus turned this social order upside down by telling his followers to invite people who had no status and could not repay them. In this way, God invites sinful people to share in his banquet of salvation.

the resurrection of the righteous: See Daniel 12:2.

This parable shows what was happening in the ministry of Jesus. The rich, powerful, and important people rejected his invitation to God’s banquet of salvation, so they would be left out. Meanwhile, poor people and outcasts accepted the invitation (see also 1:52–53; 6:21, 25; 10:15; 18:14).

Come, for everything is now ready: The invitations had been sent earlier. The guests were called when the meal was ready.

• They all began to make excuses: All these excuses would have deeply offended the host, who had spent much time and money preparing this important social event. These guests had already accepted the invitation, and their excuses were weak. Clearly, they did not want to come to the banquet.

• I have bought a field, and I need to go see it: No one would buy a field without seeing it first.

oxen, and I am going to try them out: This is another weak excuse. No one would buy oxen without having seen them plow.

I have married a wife: Some people consider this to be a good excuse since the Old Testament excused men from military service during their first year of marriage (Deuteronomy 20:7; 24:5). But this feast was a local community event, not a distant war. Additionally, in an Israelite village, people would not have planned a marriage and a banquet at the same time, so there was no real conflict.

The poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame were often treated as outsiders in Israel. Jesus reached out to them and helped them.

Go out to the highways and hedges: These people invited might refer to the Gentile, who later received the good news about Jesus and the kingdom of God (compare Acts 9:15; 13:46–48; 18:4–6; Romans 11:11–12).

large crowds were traveling with Jesus: Jesus was very popular, but he was about to teach that the cost of following him was also very high.

If anyone comes to Me and does not hate … even his own life: Following Jesus requires complete dedication. For the Christian, love for family and one's own life must not compete with devotion to Christ.

carry his cross: This symbolizes rejecting personal desires. A criminal sentenced to crucifixion would carry the horizontal beam of the cross to the place where the authorities would kill them.

Salt … if the salt loses its savor: Sodium chloride cannot actually lose its saltiness. Jesus might be speaking hypothetically (if salt were to lose), or he might be referring to a combination of minerals that included salt. The salt around the Dead Sea was a mixture of sodium chloride and other minerals. If the sodium chloride dissolved or was removed, the remaining material still looked like salt but no longer tasted salty.

It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile: Salt had various uses in the ancient world, including flavoring (14:34), preserving, and weed-killing. The sludge left after removing the sodium chloride was useless.