Is It Right to Heal on the Sabbath Day?

14 ¹On a Sabbath day,* Jesus went to the home of a leading Pharisee* to eat with him. The people there were all watching Jesus very closely. ²A man with a bad disease* was put before Jesus. ³Jesus said to the Pharisees* and teachers of the law, "Is it right or wrong to heal on the Sabbath day?" ⁴But they would not answer his question. So Jesus took the man and healed him. Then Jesus sent the man away. ⁵Jesus said to the Pharisees and teachers of the law, "If your son or work animal falls into a well on the Sabbath day, you know you would pull him out quickly." ⁶The Pharisees and teachers of the law could say nothing against what Jesus said.

Don't Make Yourself Important

⁷Then Jesus noticed that some of the guests were choosing the best places to sit. So Jesus told this story: ⁸"When a person invites you to a wedding, don't sit in the most important seat. The person may have invited someone more important than you. ⁹And if you are sitting in the most important seat, then the person that invited you will come to you and say, 'Give this man your seat!' Then you will begin to move down to the last place. And you will be very embarrassed. ¹⁰So when a person invites you, go sit in the seat that is not important. Then the person that invited you will come to you and say, 'Friend, move up here to a more important seat!' Then all the other guests will respect you. ¹¹Every person that makes himself important will be made humble. But the person that makes himself humble will be made important."

You Will Be Rewarded

¹²Then Jesus said to the Pharisee* that had invited him, "When you give a lunch or a dinner, don't invite only your friends, brothers, relatives, and rich neighbors. At another time they will invite you to eat with them. Then you will have your reward. ¹³Instead, when you give a feast, invite the poor people, the crippled, and the blind. ¹⁴Then you will be blessed, because these people cannot pay you back. They have nothing. But you will be rewarded at the time when good people rise from death."

Sabbath day The seventh day of the Jewish week. It was a special religious day for the Jews. Pharisees The Pharisees were a Jewish religious group that claimed to follow carefully all Jewish laws and customs. disease The man had dropsy, a sickness that causes the body to swell larger and larger.