Luke 14:20-30

20 "Another one said, '¹I have married a 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 the poor and crippled and blind and lame.'

22 "And 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 highways and along the hedges, and compel them to come in, so that my house may be filled.

24 'For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste of my dinner.' "

Discipleship Tested

25 Now large crowds were going along with Him; and He turned and said to them,

26 "²If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot * be My disciple.

27 "Whoever does not ³carry 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 observe it begin to ridicule him,

30 saying, 'This man began to build and was not able to finish.'

Cross References

• 1. Deuteronomy 24:5; 1 Corinthians 7:33
• 2. Matthew 10:37
• 3. Matthew 10:38; Matthew 16:24; Mark 8:34; Luke 9:23

Footnotes

• [a] Lit "many"
• [b] I.e. by comparison of his love for Me