It is a pure gift — we have no right to it; we have proven our helplessness to achieve it and our unworthiness to possess it. Jesus Christ bought it for us: he paid the ransom price, he redeemed us when we could not redeem ourselves, and he gave us eternal life as a free gift. He has taught us how to qualify for the gift, but the gift itself we could never earn by our own efforts. And what does he require of us in order to qualify, to show that we do not hold such a sacrifice cheaply or disdain it because it is a gift? In return for the gifts, without which we cannot survive an hour, God seeks of us, first of all, that “we despise not his gifts” by putting them in second place to our own “virtuous industry.”
“A certain man made a great supper, and bade many: And sent his servant . . . to say to them that were bidden, Come; for all things are now ready. . . . [Come and help yourselves! But they all alike began to make excuses:] I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it. . . . I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them. . . . I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come. . . . The master of the house being angry [and insulted at these people who placed business before pleasure, sent his servant to bring in the poor, maimed, halt, and blind, those so poor they must have been lazy bums]. . . . For I say unto you, That none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper” (Luke 14:16–21 [Luke 9:7], 24).
Matthew 22 gives a shorter version: A king invites them to a marriage feast with all things prepared — a magnificent spread. “But they made light of it [they despised it], and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise” [they were all business]. Then the king said: “The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy.” They thought that each of these can be worked for, each of these can be bought. But they were fools (Matthew 22:2–10 [Matt. 10:17-18]).
The Great Supper; Counting the Cost
He is eating at a Pharisee’s table on the Sabbath, and he spends the meal dismantling the meal: first the scramble for the good seats, then the guest list, then the whole idea that an invitation can be safely declined. A man at the table says something pious about eating bread in the kingdom of God, and gets back a story about a supper nobody came to. Then, walking away with the crowds, he tells them what following him will cost, and twice says to sit down first and work out whether they can afford it.
Note. The Joseph Smith Translation widens the hardest saying in the chapter to husbands and wives alike and then explains it (hating your own life means being afraid to lay it down), adds a command to settle the matter in your heart before you start, and gives the saying about salt an occasion it does not have in the King James: a challenge about Moses and the prophets.
? How to read this edition
The reading is the Joseph Smith Translation, in the text of the Covenant Christian Edition, carried beside each Gospel and set against the King James baseline. Headers give both numbering systems: the CCE chapter and verse, and the traditional KJV reference.
1And it came to pass, as he went into the house of one of the chief Pharisees to eat bread on the Sabbath day, that they watched him. 2And behold, there was a certain man before him who had edema. 3And Jesus spoke unto the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath day? 4And they held their peace. And he took him the man and healed him, and let him go, 5and spoke unto them again, saying, Which of you shall have an ass or an ox fallen into a pit and will not immediately pull him out on the Sabbath day? 6And they could not answer him to these things.
7And he put forth a parable to those which were bid, when he marked unto them concerning those who were bid to a wedding, for he knew how they chose out the chief rooms; saying unto them, and exalted themselves one above another. Wherefore, he spoke unto them, saying, 8When you are bid of any man to a wedding, sit not down in the highest room, lest a more distinguished man than you should be bid of him, 9and he who bid you and him, with him who is more distinguished, come and say to you, Give this man place, and you begin with shame to take the lowest room. 10But when you are bid, go and sit down in the lowest room, that when he who bid you comes, he may say unto you, Friend, go up higher. Then shall you have worship honor of God in the presence of them who sit at a meal with you. 11For whoever exalts himself shall be abased, and he who humbles himself shall be exalted.
12Then said he also to him that bid him, concerning him who bid to the wedding, When you make a dinner or a supper, call not your friends nor your brethren, neither your kinsmen nor your rich neighbors, lest they also bid you again and a recompense be made to you. 13But when you make a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind, 14and you shall be blessed, for they cannot recompense you, for you shall be recompensed at the resurrection of the just.
15And when one of them who sat at a meal with him heard these things, he said unto him, Blessed is he who shall eat bread in the kingdom of God. 16Then said he unto him, A certain man made a great supper and bid many, 17and sent his servants at supper time to say to them who were bid, Come, for all things are now ready. 18And they all, with one consent, began to make excuses. The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground and I must go and see it; I ask that you have me excused. 19And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen and I go to prove them; I ask that you have me excused. 20And another said, I have married a wife, therefore I cannot come. 21So that servant came and showed his lord these things. Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servants, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring here the poor and the maimed, the lame and the blind. 22And the servant said, Lord, it is done as you have commanded, and yet there is room. 23The lord said unto his servant, Go out into the highways and hedges and compel them men to come in, that my house may be filled. 24For I say unto you that none of those men who were bid shall taste of my supper.
25And when he had finished these sayings, he departed from there, and there went great multitudes with him. And he turned and said unto them, 26If anyone come to me and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, or husband, yea, and his their own life also, he — or in other words, is afraid to lay down their life for my sake, cannot be my disciple. 27And whoever does not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. 28Wherefore, settle this in your hearts: that you will do the things which I shall teach and command you. For which of you, intending to build a tower, sits not down first and counts the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it has money to finish his work? 29Lest haply unhappily, after he has laid the foundation and is not able to finish it, all that behold it his work, all who behold begin to mock him, 30saying, This man began to build and was not able to finish?
And this he said signifying there should not any man follow him unless he was able to continue, saying, 31Or what king, going to make war against another king, sits not down first and consults whether he be able, with ten thousand, to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? 32Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends an ambassage and desires conditions of peace. 33So likewise, whoever he be of you that forsakes of you forsakes not all that he has, he cannot be my disciple.
34Then certain of them came to him, saying, Good Master, we have Moses and the prophets; and whoever shall live by them, shall he not have life? And Jesus answered, saying, You know not Moses, neither the prophets, for if you had known them, you would have believed on me; for, to this intent they were written. For I am sent that you might have life. Therefore, I will liken it unto salt which is good; but if the salt has lost its savor, with what shall it be seasoned? 35It is neither fit for the land nor yet for the dunghill; men cast it out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear. These things he said signifying that which was written truly must all be fulfilled.
The Sacrifice of All Things, and Come Up Higher
Even His Own Life Also
The Lectures on Faith were given to the elders’ school in Kirtland in the winter of 1834–35 and printed in 1835 as the first part of the Doctrine and Covenants. The sixth lecture never names Luke 14, but it echoes verses 26–33, down to “his own life also” (v. 26) and “the sacrifice of all things” (v. 33), and it gives the reason for the cost: only that sacrifice produces the faith that lays hold on eternal life. The Joseph Smith Translation’s verse 26 speaks of being afraid “to lay down their life,” and its verse 28 asks the hearer to settle in his heart that he will do what he is taught, which is the lecture’s own theme: knowing that one is doing the will of God.
Lectures on Faith, Lecture Sixth, ¶¶5–7, in Doctrine and Covenants (Kirtland, 1835), pp. 60–61 · canonized in the CCE as Teachings and Commandments 110 · Joseph Smith Papers ↗Also recorded in Teachings and Commandments 110, Lecture 6:5–7.
For a man to lay down his all, his character and reputation, his honor and applause, his good name among men, his houses, his lands, his brothers and sisters, his wife and children, and even his own life also, counting all things but filth and dross for the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ, requires more than mere belief, or supposition that he is doing the will of God, but actual knowledge: realizing, that when these sufferings are ended he will enter into eternal rest; and be a partaker of the glory of God.
For unless a person does know that he is walking according to the will of God, it would be offering an insult to the dignity of the Creator, were he to say that he would be a partaker of his glory when he should be done with the things of this life. But when he has this knowledge, and most assuredly knows that he is doing the will of God, his confidence can be equally strong that he will be a partaker of the glory of God.
Let us here observe, that a religion that does not require the sacrifice of all things, never has power sufficient to produce the faith necessary unto life and salvation; for from the first existence of man, the faith necessary unto the enjoyment of life and salvation never could be obtained without the sacrifice of all earthly things: it was through this sacrifice, and this only, that God has ordained that men should enjoy eternal life; and it is through the medium of the sacrifice of all earthly things, that men do actually know that they are doing the things that are well pleasing in the sight of God. When a man has offered in sacrifice all that he has, for the truth’s sake, not even withholding his life, and believing before God that he has been called to make this sacrifice, because he seeks to do his will, he does know most assuredly, that God does and will accept his sacrifice & offering, & that he has not nor will not seek his face in vain. Under these circumstances, then, he can obtain the faith necessary for him to lay hold on eternal life.
Wait Till God Shall Say to Them, Come Up Higher
Speaking to the Female Relief Society of Nauvoo three weeks after it organized, Joseph Smith answered a complaint that some of the sisters were overstepping in laying hands on the sick. His answer reached for this chapter’s parable. Richard C. Galbraith’s Scriptural Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith keys the phrase to Luke 14:8–11, the guest who takes the lowest room and is called up. Notice which way the invitation runs: nobody promotes themselves; the householder does it.
Discourse, 28 April 1842, Nauvoo, Illinois · History, 1838–1856, volume C-1 Addenda, pp. 26–27 (History of the Church 4:602–607; Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 224); from Eliza R. Snow’s minutes in the Nauvoo Relief Society Minute Book · Joseph Smith Papers ↗Also recorded in the Minute Book itself.
Prest Joseph Smith arose and called the attention of the meeting to the 12th. chapter 1st Corinthians. “Now concerning Spiritual gifts I would not have you Ignorant” Said that the passage in the 3rd verse which reads “No man can Say that Jesus is the Lord but by the holy Ghost” Should be translated “no man can know that Jesus is the Lord but by the holy Ghost” He continued to read the chapter, and give instructions respecting the different offices, and the necessity of every individual acting in the Sphere allotted him or her, and filling the Several offices to which they were appointed.— Spoke of the disposition of many men to consider the lower offices in the church dishonorable and to look with jealous eyes upon the Standing of others who are called to preside over them, That it was the folly & nonsense of the human heart for a Person to be aspiring to other Stations than those to which they are appointed of God for them to occupy that it was better for Individuals to magnify their respective callings and wait patiently till God Shall Say to them “come up higher”
He Said the reason of these remarks being made was, that Some little foolish things were circulating in the Society, against Some Sisters Not doing right in laying hands on the Sick. Said if the People had common Sympathies they would rejoice that the Sick could be healed; That the time had not been before that these things could be in their Proper order; that the church is not fully organized, in its Proper order, and cannot be, untill the temple is completed, where places will be provided for the Administration of the ordinances of the Priesthood.
President Smith continued the Subject, by quoting the commission given to the ancient apostles in Mark 16th chapter 15, 16, 17, 18, verses, “Go ye into all the world and Preach the gospel to every creature. He that Believeth & is baptized Shall be Saved; but he that believeth not Shall be damned. And these Signs Shall follow them that believe: In my name Shall they cast out devils; they Shall Speak with new tongues; They Shall take up Serpants; and if they Drink any deadly thing, it Shall not hurt them they [s]hall Lay hands on the Sick & they Shall recover.” No matter who believeth, these Signs such as healing the Sick, casting out devils &c Should follow all that believe whether male or female. He asked the Society if they could not See by this Sweeping promise, that wherein they are ordained it is the privaledge of those Set apart to administer in that authority which is confered on them; and if the Sisters Should have faith to heal the Sick let all hold their tongues, and let every thing roll on.
The whole discourse is longer than the part quoted here; these are the paragraphs that bear on the passage. The reading is the History’s text, which its compilers took from Eliza R. Snow’s minutes and filled out; switch to “Scribal accounts” for her minutes as she kept them.
A Gift Despised by Being Put Second
Nibley reads the guest list as a set of businessmen declining a free dinner, and the parable as being about what happens to a gift when it is placed behind one’s own industry. The bracketed asides are his own, inserted into the quotation as he read it aloud.