Beginning
Further warnings
12 Crowds were gathering in their thousands, so much so that they were trampling on each other. Jesus began to say to his disciples, “Watch out for the leaven of the Pharisees—I mean, their hypocrisy. This is a matter of first importance.
2 “Nothing is concealed that won’t be uncovered; nothing is hidden that won’t be made known. 3 So whatever you say in the darkness will be heard in the light, and whatever you speak indoors into someone’s ear will be proclaimed from the housetops.
4 “So, my friends, I have this to say to you: don’t be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more they can do. 5 I will show you who to fear: fear the one who starts by killing and then has the right to throw people into Gehenna. Yes, let me tell you, that’s the one to fear!
6 “How much do five sparrows cost? Two copper coins? And not one of them is forgotten in God’s presence. 7 But the hairs of your head have all been counted. Don’t be afraid! You are worth more than lots of sparrows.
8 “Let me tell you: if anyone acknowledges me before others, the son of man will acknowledge that person before God’s angels. 9 But if anyone denies me before others, that person will be denied before God’s angels.
10 “Everyone who speaks a word against the son of man will have it forgiven; but the one who blasphemes against the holy spirit will not be forgiven.
11 “When they bring you before synagogues, rulers and authorities, don’t worry about how to give an answer or what to say. 12 The holy spirit will teach you what to say at that very moment.”
The parable of the rich fool
13 Someone from the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me!”
14 “Tell me, my good man,” replied Jesus, “who appointed me as a judge or arbitrator over you?
15 “Watch out,” he said to them, “and beware of all greed! Your life doesn’t consist of the sum total of your possessions.”
16 He told them a parable. “There was a rich man whose land produced a fine harvest. 17 ‘What shall I do?’ he said to himself. ‘I don’t have enough room to store my crops!
18 “ ‘I know!’ he said. ‘I’ll pull down my barns—and I’ll build bigger ones! Then I’ll be able to store all the corn and all my belongings there. 19 And I shall say to my soul, Soul, you’ve got many good things stored up for many years. Take it easy! Eat, drink, have a good time!’
20 “But God said to him, ‘Fool! This very night your life will be demanded of you! Now who’s going to have all the things you’ve got ready?’ 21 That’s how it is with someone who stores up things for himself and isn’t rich before God.
22 “So let me tell you this,” he said to the disciples. “Don’t be anxious about your life—what you should eat; or about your body—what you should wear. 23 Life is more than food! The body is more than clothing! 24 Think about the ravens: they don’t sow seed, they don’t gather harvests, they don’t have storehouses or barns; and God feeds them. How much more will he feed you! Think of the difference between yourselves and the birds!
25 “Which of you by being anxious can add a day to your lifetime? 26 So if you can’t even do a little thing like that, why worry about anything else? 27 Think about the lilies and the way they grow. They don’t work hard, they don’t weave cloth; but, let me tell you, not even Solomon in all his glory was dressed up like one of them. 28 So if that’s how God clothes the grass in the field—here today, into the fire tomorrow—how much more will he clothe you, you little-faith lot!
29 “So don’t you go hunting about for what to eat or what to drink, and don’t be anxious. 30 The nations of the world go searching for all that stuff, and your father knows you need it. 31 This is what you should search for: God’s kingdom! Then all the rest will be given you as well. 32 Don’t be afraid, little flock. Your father is delighted to give you the kingdom.
33 “Sell your possessions and give alms. Make yourselves purses that don’t wear out, a treasure in heaven that lasts forever, where the thief doesn’t come near and the moth doesn’t destroy. 34 Yes: where your treasure is, that’s where your heart will be too.”
Jesus’ call to watchfulness
35 “Make sure you’re dressed and ready with your lamps alight,” said Jesus. 36 “You need to be like people waiting for their master when he comes back from the wedding feast, so that when he comes and knocks they will be able to open the door for him at once. 37 A blessing on the servants whom the master finds awake when he comes! I’m telling you the truth: he will put on an apron and sit them down and come and wait on them. 38 A blessing on them if he comes in the second watch of the night, or even the third, and finds them like that!
39 “But you should know this: if the householder had known what time the thief was coming, he wouldn’t have let his house be broken into. 40 You too should be ready, because the son of man is coming at a time you don’t expect.”
41 “Master,” said Peter, “are you telling this parable for us, or for everyone?”
42 “Who then is the faithful and wise servant,” said Jesus, “whom the master will set over all his household, to give them their allowance of food at the proper time? 43 A blessing on the servant that his master, when he comes, finds doing just that! 44 I’m telling you truly, he will install him as manager over all his possessions. 45 But if that servant says in his heart, ‘My master is taking his time over coming back,’ and begins to beat the slaves and slave-girls, to eat and drink and get drunk— 46 then the master of that servant will come on a day he doesn’t expect him to, and at a moment he didn’t imagine, and he will cut him in two. He will give him the same place as the unbelievers.
47 “If a servant knew what the master wanted, and didn’t get ready, or do what was wanted, the punishment will be a severe beating. 48 If the servant didn’t know, and did what deserved a beating, it will be a light beating. Much will be required from one who is given much; if someone is entrusted with much, even more will be expected in return.”
Reading the signs of the times
49 “I came to throw fire upon the earth,” Jesus continued, “and I wish it were already alight! 50 I have a baptism to be baptized with, and I am under huge pressure until it’s happened!
51 “Do you suppose I’ve come to give peace to the earth? No, let me tell you, but rather division. 52 From now on, you see, families will be split down the middle: three against two in a family of five, and two against three, 53 father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.
54 “When you see a cloud rising in the west,” he said to the crowds, “you say at once, ‘It’s going to rain,’ and rain it does. 55 When you see the south wind getting up, you say, ‘It’s going to be very hot,’ and that’s what happens. 56 You impostors! You know how to work out what the earth and the sky are telling you; why can’t you work out what’s going on at this very moment?
57 “Why don’t you judge for yourselves what you ought to do? 58 When you go with your accuser before a magistrate, do your best to reach a settlement with him. Otherwise he may drag you in front of the judge, and the judge will hand you over to the officer, and the officer will throw you into jail. 59 Let me tell you, you won’t get out from there until you have paid the very last coin.”
The parable of the fig tree
13 At that moment some people came up and told them the news. Some Galileans had been in the Temple, and Pilate had mixed their blood with that of the sacrifices.
2 Jesus’ response was this. “Do you suppose,” he said, “that those Galileans suffered such things because they were greater sinners than all other Galileans? 3 No, let me tell you! Unless you repent, you will all be destroyed in the same way.
4 “And what about those eighteen who were killed when the tower in Siloam collapsed on top of them? Do you imagine they were more blameworthy than everyone else who lives in Jerusalem? 5 No, let me tell you! Unless you repent, you will all be destroyed in the same way.”
6 He told them this parable. “Once upon a time there was a man who had a fig tree in his vineyard. He came to it looking for fruit, and didn’t find any. 7 So he said to the gardener, ‘Look here! I’ve been coming to this fig tree for three years hoping to find some fruit, and I haven’t found any! Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?’
8 “ ‘I tell you what, Master,’ replied the gardener; ‘let it alone for just this one year more. I’ll dig all round it and put on some manure. 9 Then, if it fruits next year, well and good; and if not, you can cut it down.’ ”
Jesus heals a crippled woman on the sabbath
10 One sabbath, Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues. 11 There was a woman there who had had a spirit of weakness for eighteen years. She was bent double, and couldn’t stand fully upright. 12 Jesus saw her and called to her.
13 “Woman,” he said, laying his hands on her, “you are freed from your affliction.” And at once she stood upright, and praised God.
14 The synagogue president was angry that Jesus had healed on the sabbath.
“Look here,” he said to the crowd, “there are six days for people to work! Come on one of those days and be healed, not on the sabbath day!”
15 “You bunch of hypocrites!” replied Jesus. “You would all be quite happy to untie an ox or a donkey from its stall on the sabbath day and lead it out for a drink! 16 And isn’t it right that this daughter of Abraham, tied up by the satan for these eighteen years, should be untied from her chains on the sabbath day?”
17 At that, all the people who had been opposing him were ashamed. The whole crowd was overjoyed at all the splendid things he was doing.
18 So Jesus said, “What is God’s kingdom like? What shall we compare it with? 19 It’s like a mustard seed that someone took and placed in his garden. It grew, and became a tree, and the birds of the sky made nests in its branches.”
20 And again he said, “What shall we say God’s kingdom is like? 21 It’s like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, until the whole thing was leavened.”
Entering through the narrow door
22 Jesus went through the towns and villages, teaching as he went, making his way towards Jerusalem.
23 “Master,” somebody said to him, “will there be only a few that are saved?”
24 “Struggle hard,” Jesus replied, “to get in by the narrow gate. Let me tell you: many will try to get in and won’t be able to. 25 When the householder gets up and shuts the door—at that moment you will begin to stand outside and knock at the door and say, ‘Master, open the door for us.’ Then he will say in response, ‘I don’t know where you’ve come from.’ 26 Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate with you and drank with you, and you taught in our streets!’ 27 And he will say to you, ‘I don’t know where you people are from. Be off with you, you wicked lot.’
28 “That’s where you’ll find weeping and gnashing of teeth: when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in God’s kingdom, and you yourselves thrown out. 29 People will come from East and West, from North and South, and sit down to feast in God’s kingdom. 30 And, listen to this: some who are last will be first, and some of the first will be last.”
Jesus grieves over Jerusalem
31 Just then some Pharisees came up and spoke to Jesus.
“Get away from here,” they said, “because Herod wants to kill you.”
32 “Go and tell that fox,” replied Jesus, “ ‘Look here: I’m casting out demons today and tomorrow, and completing my healings. I’ll be finished by the third day. 33 But I have to continue my travels today, tomorrow and the day after that! It couldn’t happen that a prophet would perish away from Jerusalem.’
34 “Jerusalem, Jerusalem! You kill the prophets, and stone the people sent to you! How many times did I want to collect your children, like a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would have none of it! 35 Look, your house has been abandoned. Let me tell you this: you will never see me until you are prepared to say, ‘Welcome with a blessing in the name of the Lord!’ ”
Scripture quotations from The New Testament for Everyone are copyright © Nicholas Thomas Wright 2011, 2018, 2019.