¹On one occasion when Jesus was going to the house of a leader of the
Pharisees to eat a meal on the sabbath, they were watching him closely.

  ⁷When he noticed how the guests chose the places of honor, he told them a
parable. ⁸“When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not
sit down at the place of honor, in case someone more distinguished than you
has been invited by your host; ⁹and the host who invited both of you may come
and say to you, ‘Give this person your place,’ and then in disgrace you would
start to take the lowest place. ¹⁰But when you are invited, go and sit down at
the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he may say to you, ‘Friend,
move up higher’; then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at
the table with you. ¹¹For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those
who humble themselves will be exalted.”

  ¹²He said also to the one who had invited him, “When you give a luncheon or
a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich
neighbors, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid.
¹³But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the
blind. ¹⁴And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will
be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

¹⁰Now [Jesus] was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath. ¹¹And just then there appeared a woman with a spirit that had crippled her for
eighteen years. She was bent over and was quite unable to stand up straight.
¹²When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, “Woman, you are set free
from your ailment.” ¹³When he laid his hands on her, immediately she stood
up straight and began praising God. ¹⁴But the leader of the synagogue,
indignant because Jesus had cured on the sabbath, kept saying to the crowd,
“There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and
be cured, and not on the sabbath day.” ¹⁵But the Lord answered him and
said, “You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the sabbath untie his ox or
his donkey from the manger, and lead it away to give it water? ¹⁶And ought
not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen long
years, be set free from this bondage on the sabbath day?” ¹⁷When he said this,
all his opponents were put to shame; and the entire crowd was rejoicing at all
the wonderful things that he was doing.

[Jesus said:] ⁴⁹“I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! ⁵⁰I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what stress I am under until it is completed! ⁵¹Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division! ⁵²From now on five in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three; ⁵³they will be divided:

 father against son

  and son against father,

 mother against daughter

  and daughter against mother,

 mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law

  and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”

 ⁵⁴He also said to the crowds, “When you see a cloud rising in the west, you immediately say, ‘It is going to rain’; and so it happens. ⁵⁵And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, ‘There will be scorching heat’; and it happens. ⁵⁶You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?”

[Jesus said:] ³²“Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. ³³Sell your possessions, and give alms. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. ³⁴For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

 ³⁵“Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit; ³⁶be like those who are waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet, so that they may open the door for him as soon as he comes and knocks. ³⁷Blessed are those slaves whom the master finds alert when he comes; truly I tell you, he will fasten his belt and have them sit down to eat, and he will come and serve them. ³⁸If he comes during the middle of the night, or near dawn, and finds them so, blessed are those slaves.

 ³⁹“But know this: if the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. ⁴⁰You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.”