Beginning
Teachings on the sabbath
6 One sabbath, Jesus was walking through some cornfields. His disciples were plucking and eating ears of grain, rubbing them with their hands.
2 “Why,” asked some Pharisees, “are you doing something that isn’t permitted on the sabbath?”
3 “Haven’t you read what David did?” replied Jesus. “When he and his men were hungry, 4 he went into God’s house and took the ‘bread of the presence,’ which no one but the priests was allowed to eat. He ate some, and gave it to his companions.
5 “The son of man,” he declared, “is Lord of the sabbath.”
6 On another sabbath he went into the synagogue and was teaching. A man was there whose right hand was withered. 7 The scribes and Pharisees were watching him, to see if he would heal him on the sabbath, so that they could find an accusation against him.
8 He knew what they were thinking.
“Get up,” he said to the man with the withered hand, “and come out here in the middle.” He got up and came out.
9 “Let me ask you something,” Jesus said to them. “Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath or to do evil? To save life or to destroy it?”
10 He looked round at all of them.
“Stretch out your hand,” he said to the man.
He did so; and his hand was restored. 11 But they were filled with rage, and discussed with each other what they might do to Jesus.
The Beatitudes
12 It happened around that time that Jesus went up into the mountain to pray, and he spent all night in prayer to God. 13 When day came, he called his disciples, and chose twelve of them, calling them “apostles”: 14 Simon, whom he called Peter, and Andrew his brother, and James and John, and Philip, Bartholomew, 15 Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Simon who was called “the hothead,” 16 Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who turned traitor.
17 He went down with them, and took up a position on a level plain where there was a large crowd of his followers, with a huge company of people from all Judaea, from Jerusalem, and from the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon. 18 They came to hear him, and to be cured from their diseases. Those who were troubled by unclean spirits were healed, 19 and the whole crowd tried to touch him, because power was going out from him and healing everybody.
20 He lifted up his eyes and looked at his disciples, and said:
“Blessings on the poor: God’s kingdom belongs to you!
21 “Blessings on those who are hungry today: you’ll have a feast!
“Blessings on those who weep today: you’ll be laughing!
22 “Blessings on you, when people hate you, and shut you out, when they slander you and reject your name as if it was evil, because of the son of man. 23 Celebrate on that day! Jump for joy! Don’t you see: in heaven there is a great reward for you! That’s what their ancestors did to the prophets.
24 “But woe betide you rich: you’ve had your comfort!
25 “Woe betide you if you’re full today: you’ll go hungry!
“Woe betide you if you’re laughing today: you’ll be mourning and weeping!
26 “Woe betide you when everyone speaks well of you: that’s what their ancestors did to the false prophets.”
Loving your enemies
27 “But this is my word,” Jesus continued, “for those of you who are listening: love your enemies! Do good to people who hate you! 28 Bless people who curse you! Pray for people who treat you badly!
29 “If someone hits you on the cheek—offer him the other one! If someone takes away your coat—don’t stop him taking your shirt! 30 Give to everyone who asks you, and don’t ask for things back when people have taken them.
31 “Whatever you want people to do to you, do that to them. 32 If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Think about it: even sinners love people who love them. 33 Or again, if you do good only to people who do good to you, what credit is that to you? Sinners do that too. 34 If you lend only to people you expect to get things back from, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners to get paid back. 35 No: love your enemies, do good and lend without expecting any return. Your reward will be great! You will be children of the Highest! He is generous, you see, to the stingy and wicked. 36 You must be merciful, just as your father is merciful.
37 “Don’t judge, and you won’t be judged. Don’t condemn, and you won’t be condemned. Forgive, and you’ll be forgiven. 38 Give, and it will be given to you: a good helping, squashed down, shaken in, and overflowing—that’s what will land in your lap. Yes: the ration you give to others is the ration you’ll get back for yourself.”
Judging others and true obedience
39 Jesus told them this riddle. “What do you get when one blind man guides another? Both of them falling in a ditch! 40 Students can’t do better than the teacher; when the course is done, they’ll all be just like the teacher.
41 “Why look at the speck of dust in your brother’s eye, when you haven’t noticed the plank in your own eye? 42 How can you say to your brother, ‘Dear brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when you can’t see the plank in your own? You’re a fraud! First take the plank out of your own eye, and then you’ll see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.
43 “You see, no good tree bears bad fruit; nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. 44 Every tree is known by its fruit. You don’t pick figs from thorns; nor do you get grapes from a briar-bush. 45 The good person brings good things out of the good treasure of the heart; the evil person brings evil things out of evil. What comes out of the mouth is what’s overflowing in the heart.
46 “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and don’t do what I say? 47 I’ll show you what people are like when they come to me, and hear my words, and do them. 48 They are like a wise man building a house: he dug, he went down deep, and he laid a foundation on rock. When a flood came, the river burst its banks all over the house, but it couldn’t shake it because it was well built. 49 But when people hear but don’t obey—that’s like a man who built a house on the ground, without a foundation. When the river burst over it, it fell down at once. The ruin of that house was devastating.”
The healing of the centurion’s servant
7 When Jesus had finished saying all these words in the hearing of the people, he went into Capernaum.
2 There was a centurion who had a slave who was particularly precious to him. This slave was ill, at the point of death. 3 The centurion heard about Jesus, and sent some Jewish elders to him, to ask him to come and rescue his slave. 4 They approached Jesus and begged him eagerly.
“He deserves a favor like this from you,” they said. 5 “He loves our people, and he himself built us our synagogue.”
6 Jesus went with them.
When he was not far off from the house, the centurion sent friends to him with a further message.
“Master,” he said, “don’t trouble yourself. I don’t deserve to have you come under my roof. 7 That’s why I didn’t think myself worthy to come to you in person. But—just say the word, and my slave will be healed. 8 You see, I’m used to living under authority, and I have soldiers reporting to me. I say to this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; to another one, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my slave, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”
9 When Jesus heard this he was astonished.
“Let me tell you,” he said, turning to the crowd that was following him, “I haven’t found faith of this kind, even in Israel.”
10 The people who had been sent to him went back to the house. There they found the slave in good health.
The raising of the widow’s son
11 Not long afterwards, Jesus went to a town called Nain. His disciples went with him, and so did a large crowd. 12 As he got near to the gate of the city, a young man was being carried out dead. He was the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. There was a substantial crowd of the townspeople with her.
13 When the master saw her, he was very sorry for her. “Don’t cry,” he said to her. 14 Then he went up and touched the bier, and the people carrying it stood still.
“Young fellow,” he said, “I’m telling you—get up!” 15 The dead man sat up and began to speak, and he gave him to his mother.
16 Terror came over all of them. They praised God.
“A great prophet has risen among us!” they said. “God has visited his people!”
17 This report went out about him in the whole of Judaea and the surrounding countryside.
Jesus and John the Baptist
18 The disciples of John the Baptist told him about all these things. John called two of these followers 19 and sent them to the master with this message: “Are you the Coming One, or should we expect someone else?”
20 The men arrived where Jesus was. “John the Baptist,” they said, “has sent us to you to say, ‘Are you the Coming One, or should we expect someone else?’ ”
21 Then and there Jesus healed several people of diseases, plagues and possession by unclean spirits; and he restored the sight of several blind people. 22 Then he answered them: “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind see, the lame walk, people with virulent skin diseases are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor hear the gospel. 23 And a blessing on the person who isn’t shocked by me!”
24 So off went John’s messengers.
Jesus then began to talk to the crowds about John. “Why did you go out into the desert?” he asked. “What were you looking for? A reed swaying in the breeze? 25 Well then, what did you go out to see? Someone dressed in silks and satins? See here, if you want to find people wearing fine clothes and living in luxury, you’d better look in royal palaces. 26 So what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes indeed, and more than a prophet. 27 This is the one of whom the Bible says, ‘Look: I send my messenger before my face; he will get my path ready ahead of me.’
28 “Let me tell you this,” he went on. “Nobody greater than John has ever been born of women. But the one who is least in God’s kingdom is greater than he is.”
29 When all the people, and the tax-collectors, heard that, they praised God for his faithfulness; they had been baptized with John’s baptism. 30 But the Pharisees and the lawyers, who had not been baptized by John, rejected God’s plan for them.
31 “What picture can I use,” Jesus continued, “for the people of this generation? What are they like? 32 They’re like children sitting in the square and calling this old riddle to each other:
We piped for you and you didn’t dance;
we wailed for you and you didn’t cry!
33 “When John the Baptist came, he didn’t eat bread or drink wine, and you say, ‘He’s got a demon!’ 34 When the son of man came, eating and drinking, you say, ‘Look! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax-collectors and sinners!’ 35 Well, wisdom is justified by all her children.”
Jesus anointed by a sinful woman
36 A Pharisee asked Jesus to dine with him, and he went into the Pharisee’s house and reclined at table. 37 A woman from the town, a known bad character, discovered that he was there at table in the Pharisee’s house. She brought an alabaster jar of ointment. 38 Then she stood behind Jesus’ feet, crying, and began to wet his feet with her tears. She wiped them with her hair, kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment.
39 The Pharisee who had invited Jesus saw what was going on.
“If this fellow really was a prophet,” he said to himself, “he’d know what sort of a woman this is who is touching him! She’s a sinner!”
40 “Simon,” replied Jesus, “I have something to say to you.”
“Go ahead, Teacher,” he replied.
41 “Once upon a time there was a moneylender who had two debtors. The first owed him five hundred dinars, the second fifty. 42 Neither of them could pay him, and he let them both off. So which of them will love him more?”
43 “The one he let off the more, I suppose,” replied Simon.
“Quite right,” said Jesus.
44 Then, turning towards the woman, he said to Simon, “You see this woman? When I came into your house, you didn’t give me water to wash my feet—but she has washed my feet with her tears, and wiped them with her hair. 45 You didn’t give me a kiss, but she hasn’t stopped kissing my feet from the moment I came in. 46 You didn’t anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment.
47 “So the conclusion I draw is this: she must have been forgiven many sins! Her great love proves it! But if someone has been forgiven only a little, they will love only a little.”
48 Then he said to the woman, “Your sins are forgiven.”
49 “Who is this,” the other guests began to say among themselves, “who even forgives sins?”
50 “Your faith has saved you,” said Jesus to the woman. “Go in peace.”
Scripture quotations from The New Testament for Everyone are copyright © Nicholas Thomas Wright 2011, 2018, 2019.