Jesus was praying, and when He ceased, some of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray.” He said, “When you pray, say –
“Father, your name be hallowed.
Your kingdom come.
Give us day by day our needful bread.
Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone indebted to us.
And lead us not into temptation.”
He said to them, “Which of you will have a friend, and will go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves, because a friend of mine has come from a journey to me, and I have not what I may set before him.’ He from within will say, ‘Trouble me not. The door is now closed, and my children are in bed. I cannot rise to give you.’
“I say to you, though he will not give him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence, he will rise and give him as many as he needs.
“Ask, and it will be given to you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and it will be opened to you. Everyone that asks receives, he that seeks finds, and to him that knocks, it will be opened.
“Should a son ask for bread from any of you that is a father, would he give him a stone? Also, a fish, would he instead give him a serpent? Or should he also ask for an egg, would he give him a scorpion? If you, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Father who is from heaven give to those that ask Him.”
He was casting out a demon from a dumb man, and when the demon had gone out, the man spoke. The crowds wondered. Some of them said, “By Beelzebub, the prince of the demons, He casts out the demons.” Others tempting Him asked Him for a sign from heaven. Knowing their thoughts, He said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is made desolate, and house falls against house. If Satan also has been divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand?
“You say that I cast out the demons by Beelzebub, but if I cast out the demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out? They will be your judges. If I, by the finger of God, cast out the demons, then has the kingdom of God already come upon you?
“When the armed strong man keeps guard over his palace, his goods are safe, but when a stronger man comes upon him and overcomes him, he takes away all his armor, which he has trusted in, and distributes his spoils.
“He that is not with me is against me, and he that gathers not with me scatters.
“When the unclean spirit has gone out of the man, he goes through dry places seeking rest, and finding none, he says, ‘I will return to my house where I came from.’ He comes and finds it swept and set in order. Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself. Entering in, they dwell there, and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first.”
A woman said to Him, “Blessed is the womb that bore you,” He said, “Blessed are they that hear the word of God and keep it.”
While the crowds crowded together, He began to say, “This generation is an evil generation; it seeks a sign, and no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah. As Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of man also be to this generation.
“The queen of the south will rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them. She came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon. Something greater than Solomon is here.
“The men of Nineveh will stand up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it. They changed their mindset at the preaching of Jonah, and something greater than Jonah is here.
“No one after lighting a lamp puts it in a secret place, nor under the measure basket, but upon the lamp stand, that those who come in may see the light. The lamp of the body is your eye. When your eye is simple, your whole body is full of light, but whenever it is evil, your body is full of darkness.
“Take heed that the light that is in you is not darkness. If your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, the whole will be full of light, as when the lamp by its brightness gives you light.”
While He spoke, a Pharisee asked Him to dine...
When the crowd had come together, Jesus said to His disciples, “Beware the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. Nothing is concealed which will not be revealed and hidden which will not be made known. Whatever you have said in darkness, will be heard in the light, and what you have spoken in the ear in a secret place, will be proclaimed on the housetops.
“I say to you, my friends, be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after this have no more that they can do. Fear Him who after He has killed has authority to cast you into Gehenna, the valley of wailing. Yes, I say to you, fear Him.
“Are five sparrows not sold for two farthings? Yet not one of them is forgotten before God. Even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, you are of more value than many sparrows.
“I say to you, whoever confesses me before men, also will the Son of man confess him before the angels of God, but he that denies me before men will be denied before the angels of God.
“Everyone that speaks a word against the Son of man, it will be forgiven him, but to him that blasphemes against the Holy Spirit it will not be forgiven.
“When they bring you before synagogues, rulers, and authorities, be not anxious how or what you will say. The Holy Spirit will teach you in the same hour what things to say.”
Someone from the crowd said to Him, “Teacher, speak to my brother that he will divide with me the inheritance.” He said to him, “Man, who appointed me a judge or a divider over you? Take heed and beware of all covetousness, for no one has his life in the abundance of the things which he possesses.”
He spoke a parable, “The ground of a certain rich man brought forth abundantly. He reasoned within himself, ‘What will I do, for I have nowhere to gather my fruits?’ He said, ‘I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will gather in all my produce and my good things.’
“I will say to my soul, ‘Soul, you have many good things laid up for many years - rest, eat, drink, and be merry.’ God said to him, ‘Senseless man, tonight I will require your soul, but the things that you have prepared, whose will they be?’
“So is he that lays up treasure and is not rich toward God.”
He said to His disciples, “I say to you, be not anxious for your life, what you will eat, nor for your body, what you will put on. Isn't life more than food and the body more than clothing?
“Consider the ravens, that they neither sow nor reap, which have neither storehouse nor granary and yet God feeds them, how much better you are than the birds.
“Which of you, by being anxious, can add to his height one inch? If you can’t do even this, why be anxious about the rest?
“Consider the lilies, how they neither spin nor weave. Yet I say to you, not even Solomon, in all his glory, was clothed like one of these. If God so clothes the grass that today is in the field, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith.
“Seek not what you will eat and what you will drink and be not of doubtful mind. All these things the nations of the world seek after, but your Father knows what you need. Seek His kingdom, and these things will be given you in addition.
“Fear not, it is Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
“Sell your possessions and give charity, make for yourselves purses that grow not old, a treasury unfailing in the heavens, where no thief comes near, neither moth corrupts. Where your treasure is, there your heart will also be.
“Let your loins be tightened up and your lamps lit. Be you like men awaiting their lord, when he will return from the marriage. That when he comes and knocks, they may immediately open to him.
“Blessed are those servants, whom the lord when he comes will find watching. Truly I say to you he will tighten himself, have them sit at the table and serve them. If in the second or third watch, he will come and find them so, blessed are they.
“Know this, that if the master of the house had known at what hour the thief would come, he would not have permitted his house to be broken in.
“Be ready, in an unknown hour the Son of man comes.”
Peter said to Him, “Lord, do you speak...
Some present told Jesus of the Galileans, whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. He said, “Do you think that these Galileans were sinners above all the Galileans because they suffered such things? I tell you no, but unless you take on a life-changing mindset, you will, in like manner, perish.
“Or those eighteen, on whom destroyed the tower in Siloam and killed them, think you that they were debtors above all the men that dwell in Jerusalem? I tell you, no, but unless you take on a life-changing mindset, you will, in like manner, perish.”
He spoke this parable, “A man had a fig tree in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. He said to the vinedresser, ‘Behold, for three years I came seeking fruit from this fig tree and found none, cut it down. Why let it spoil the ground?’ He answered, ‘Sir, let it alone this year until I have dug about it and thrown in manure. Afterward, it will produce fruit, but if not, you can cut it down.’”
He was teaching in the synagogue on the Sabbath. A woman that had had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years was bowed over and not able to lift herself up. Seeing her, Jesus called to her and said, “Woman, you are freed from your infirmity.” He laid His hands on her, and she stood erect and glorified God.
The ruler of the synagogue, angry that He had cured on the Sabbath, said to the crowd, “There are six days in which work ought to be done. On them come and be cured, and not on the Sabbath day.” The Lord said, “Hypocrites, does not each one of you on the Sabbath free his ox or ass from the stall and lead him away and give him water? This woman, who is a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound eighteen years, shouldn’t she not be freed from this bond on the Sabbath day?”
His adversaries were ashamed, and the crowd rejoiced for the glorious things that had been done by Him. He said, “To what will I liken the kingdom of God? It is like a grain of mustard that a man took and threw into his garden. It grew and became a tree, and the birds of the heaven roosted in its branches.
“To what will I liken the kingdom of God? It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, until the whole was leavened.”
Passing through the cities and villages teaching...
Jesus entered the house of one of the chief men of the Pharisees on a Sabbath to eat bread, and they were watching Him. Before Him was a man with dropsy. Jesus spoke to the lawyers and Pharisees, “Is it lawful to cure on the Sabbath or not?” They were silent.
He took him, restored him to health and let him go. He said to them, “Should a son or ox of any of you fall into a pit, and will he not draw him out on the Sabbath day?” They were not able to answer Him these things.
Observing how they chose out the chief places, He spoke a parable, “When you are called to a marriage, do not sit at the chief place, unless a more honorable than you may have been called by him, and he that called you will come and say to you, ‘Give this man this place,’ and then you are with shame to occupy the last place.
“When you are called, go and sit in the last place. When he that called you comes, he will say to you, ‘Friend, go up higher.’ Then, you will have honor in the presence of those that sit with you. Everyone that exalts himself will be humbled, and he that humbles himself will be exalted.”
He also said to them, “When you make a supper, call not your friends, brothers, relatives or rich neighbors, unless they call you in turn and a recompense be made for you.
“When you make a feast, call the poor, maimed, handicap, and blind, and you will be blessed, for they cannot recompense you. You will have recompense in the resurrection of the just.”
Someone of those that sat with Him, hearing these things, said to Him, “Blessed is he that eats bread in the kingdom of God.” He said to him, “A certain man made a great supper and called many and sent his servant at the hour of supper to say to those that had been called, ‘Come, for it is now prepared.’
“They all, with one consent, began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a field, and I must go and see it. I pray you excuse me.’ Another said, ‘I have bought five yokes of oxen, and I am going to prove them. I pray you excuse me.’ Another said, ‘I have married a wife, and I cannot come.’
“The servant reported these things to his lord. Then the master, being angry, said to his servant, ‘Go out into the streets and lanes of the city, to the poor, maimed, blind and handicap and bring in hither.’
“The servant said, ‘Lord, what your command...
The sinners and tax collectors were drawing near to Jesus to hear Him. The Pharisees and scribes murmured, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.” He spoke to them this parable, “What man of you, that has a hundred sheep, and loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost? When he finds it, he rejoices. Having come home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ I say to you that there will be joy in heaven over one sinner that changes their mindset, more than over ninety-nine righteous who have no need of changing their mindsets.
“Or what woman having ten drachmas, if she loses one drachma, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek carefully until she finds it? When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the drachma that I lost.’ So, there rises joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that changes their mindset.”
He said, “A certain man had two sons. The younger of them said, ‘Father, give me the part of the estate that falls to me.’
“He divided the inheritance. Not many days after, the younger son gathered all together and went from home into a distant country, and there wasted his estate by sinful living.
“When he had spent all, there rose a great famine throughout that land, and he began to be in want. He went and joined himself to one of the citizens of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. He desired to fill his belly with the pods that the swine ate, but no one gave to him.
“Having come to himself, he said, ‘How many hired servants of my father have bread to spare? I am perishing here with hunger. I will rise and go to my father and say to him, father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight. No longer am I worthy to be called your son. Make me as one of your hired servants.’
“He rose and came to his father. While he was yet a great way off, his father saw him and had pity on him. Running, he fell upon his neck and kissed him. The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight. No longer am I worthy to be called your son.’
“The father said to his servants, ‘Bring the best robe...