more than a week. When Jesus told this parable, many people were able to understand the picture he was trying to create because he used a Jewish wedding as the setting of the story. Luke's saying that "Every one that exalteth himself shall be humbled; but he that humbleth himself shall be exalted" is also found in and . It is similar to Matthew 18:4. David Brown notes that this parable includes "a reproduction" of Proverbs 25:6–7. Parable of the Great Supper The Parable of the Great Banquet or the Wedding Feast or the Marriage of the King's Son (verses 16-24) is also found in Matthew . A variant of the parable also appears in Saying 64 of the Gnostic Gospel of Thomas. Many guests are invited to the banquet, but they "all alike" offered excuses, of which three examples are given. The eschatological image of a wedding also occurs in the parable of the Faithful Servant and the parable of the Ten Virgins. Here, it includes the extension of the original invitation (to Jews) to also include Gentiles. In Luke, the invitation is extended particularly to "the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame" (), evidencing explicit concern for the "poor and the outcasts". Leaving All to Follow Christ Counting the Cost, or in the NIV: The Cost of Being a Disciple or in the NRSV: The Cost of Discipleship or in the NKJV: Leaving All to Follow Christ, are titles given to verses 25-33 in this chapter, which include a pair of illustrations of the importance of deliberating in advance "whether they were able and prepared to bear all their losses and persecutions to which the profession of the gospel would expose them". The first title comes from the phrase "count the cost", which occurs in the King James Version of the passage, as well as some other versions. Eric Franklin argues that the requirement to "hate" in verse 26 is "Semitic exaggeration", and Joseph Benson envisages that hatred "signifies only an inferior degree of love". American New Testament scholar Joel B. Green suggests that it is unclear what kind of tower is being referred to in the first illustration, but notes that the message is that a "thoroughgoing fidelity to God's salvific aim" is required, "manifest in one's identity as a disciple of Jesus". This involves putting family and possessions second, as in Matthew 8:18–22 and