Beginning
Jesus and the Pharisee
14 One sabbath, Jesus went to a meal in the house of a leading Pharisee. They were keeping a close eye on him.
2 There was a man there in front of Jesus who suffered from dropsy. 3 So Jesus asked the lawyers and Pharisees, “Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath or not?” 4 They remained silent. He took the man, healed him, and dismissed him.
5 Then he said to them, “Suppose one of you has a son—or an ox!—that falls into a well. Are you going to tell me you won’t pull him out straight away on the sabbath day?” 6 They had no answer for that.
7 He noticed how the guests chose the best seats, and told them this parable.
8 “When someone invites you to a wedding feast,” he said, “don’t go and sit in the best seat, in case some other guest more important is invited, 9 and the person who invited you both comes and says to you, ‘Please move down for this man,’ and you will go to the end of the line covered with embarrassment. 10 Instead, when someone invites you, go and sit down at the lowest place. Then, when your host arrives, he will say to you, ‘My dear fellow! Come on higher up!’ Then all your fellow guests will show you respect. 11 All who push themselves forward, you see, will be humbled, and all who humble themselves will be honored.”
The parable of the great banquet
12 He then turned to his host. “When you give a lunch or a supper,” he said, “don’t invite your friends or your family or relatives, or your rich neighbors. They might ask you back again, and you’d be repaid. 13 When you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame and the blind. 14 God will bless you, because they have no way to repay you! You will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”
15 One of the guests heard this, and commented, “A blessing on those who eat food in God’s kingdom!”
16 Jesus said, “Once a man made a great dinner, and invited lots of guests. 17 When the time for the meal arrived, he sent his servant to say to the guests, ‘Come now—everything’s ready!’ 18 But the whole pack of them began to make excuses. The first said, ‘I’ve just bought a field, and I really have to go and see it. Please accept my apologies.’ 19 Another one said, ‘I’ve just bought five yoke of oxen, and I’ve got to go and test them out—please accept my apologies.’ 20 And another one said, ‘I’ve just got married, so naturally I can’t come.’ 21 So the servant went back and told his master all this. The householder was cross, and said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the town and bring in here the poor, the crippled, the lame and the blind.’ 22 ‘All right, Master,’ said the servant, ‘I’ve done that—but there’s still room.’ 23 ‘Well then,’ said the master to the servant, ‘go out into the roads and hedgerows and make them come in, so that my house may be full! 24 Let me tell you this: none of those people who were invited will get to taste my dinner.’ ”
The cost of discipleship
25 A large crowd was gathering around him. Jesus turned to face them.
26 “If any of you come to me,” he said to them, “and don’t hate your father and your mother, your wife and your children, your brothers and your sisters—yes, and even your own life!—you can’t be my disciple. 27 If you don’t pick up your own cross and come after me, you can’t be my disciple.
28 “Don’t you see? Supposing one of you wants to build a tower; what will you do? You will first of all sit down and work out how much it will cost, to see whether you have enough to finish it. 29 Otherwise, when you’ve laid the foundation and then can’t finish it, everyone who sees it will begin to make fun of you. 30 ‘Here’s a fellow,’ they’ll say, ‘who began to build but couldn’t finish!’
31 “Or think of a king, on the way to fight a war against another king. What will he do? He will first sit down and discuss with his advisers whether, with ten thousand troops, he is going to be a match for the other side who are coming with twenty thousand! 32 If they decide he isn’t, he will send a delegation, while the other one is still a long way away, and sue for peace.
33 “In the same way, none of you can be my disciple unless you give up all your possessions.
34 “Salt is good; but if even the salt loses its savor, how can it be made salty again? 35 It’s no good for soil and no good for manure. People throw it away. If you have ears, then listen!”
The parables of the lost sheep and the lost coin
15 All the tax-collectors and sinners were coming close to listen to Jesus. 2 The Pharisees and the legal experts were grumbling. “This fellow welcomes sinners!” they said. “He even eats with them!”
3 So Jesus told them this parable. 4 “Supposing one of you has a hundred sheep,” he said, “and you lose one of them. What will you do? Why, you’ll leave the ninety-nine out in the countryside, and you’ll go off looking for the lost one until you find it! 5 And when you find it, you’ll be so happy—you’ll put it on your shoulders 6 and come home, and you’ll call your friends and neighbors in. ‘Come and have a party!’ you’ll say. ‘Celebrate with me! I’ve found my lost sheep!’
7 “Well, let me tell you: that’s how glad they will be in heaven over one sinner who repents—more than over ninety-nine righteous people who don’t need repentance.
8 “Or supposing a woman has ten drachmas and loses one of them. What will she do? Why, she’ll light a lamp, and sweep the house, and hunt carefully until she finds it! 9 And when she finds it she’ll call her friends and neighbors in. ‘Come and have a party!’ she’ll say. ‘Celebrate with me! I’ve found my lost coin!’
10 “Well, let me tell you: that’s how glad God’s angels feel when a single sinner repents.”
The parable of the Prodigal: the father and the younger son
11 Jesus went on: “Once there was a man who had two sons. 12 The younger son said to the father, ‘Father, give me my share in the property.’ So he divided up his livelihood between them. 13 Not many days later the younger son turned his share into cash, and set off for a country far away, where he spent his share in having a riotous good time.
14 “When he had spent it all, a severe famine came on that country, and he found himself destitute. 15 So he went and attached himself to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into the fields to feed his pigs. 16 He longed to satisfy his hunger with the pods that the pigs were eating, and nobody gave him anything.
17 “He came to his senses. ‘Just think!’ he said to himself. ‘There are all my father’s hired hands with plenty to eat—and here am I, starving to death! 18 I shall get up and go to my father, and I’ll say to him: “Father; I have sinned against heaven and before you; 19 I don’t deserve to be called your son any longer. Make me like one of your hired hands.” ’ 20 And he got up and went to his father.
“While he was still a long way off, his father saw him and his heart was stirred with love and pity. He ran to him, hugged him tight, and kissed him. 21 ‘Father,’ the son began, ‘I have sinned against heaven and before you; I don’t deserve to be called your son any longer.’ 22 But the father said to his servants, ‘Hurry! Bring the best clothes and put them on him! Put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet! 23 And bring the calf that we’ve fattened up, kill it, and let’s eat and have a party! 24 This son of mine was dead, and is alive again! He was lost, and now he’s found!’ And they began to celebrate.”
The parable of the Prodigal: the father and the older son
25 “The older son was out in the fields. When he came home, and got near to the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 He called one of the servants and asked what was going on.
27 “ ‘Your brother’s come home!’ he said. ‘And your father has thrown a great party—he’s killed the fattened calf!—because he’s got him back safe and well!’
28 “He flew into a rage, and wouldn’t go in.
“Then his father came out and pleaded with him. 29 ‘Look here!’ he said to his father, ‘I’ve been slaving for you all these years! I’ve never disobeyed a single commandment of yours. And you never even gave me a young goat so I could have a party with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours comes home, once he’s finished gobbling up your livelihood with his whores, you kill the fattened calf for him!’
31 “ ‘My son,’ he replied, ‘you’re always with me. Everything I have belongs to you. 32 But we had to celebrate and be happy! This brother of yours was dead and is alive again! He was lost, and now he’s found!’ ”
The parable of the shrewd manager
16 Jesus said to his disciples, “Once there was a rich man who had a steward, and charges were laid against him that he was squandering his property. 2 So he called him and said to him, ‘What’s all this I hear about you? Present an account of your stewardship; I’m not going to have you as my steward anymore!’
3 “At this, the steward said to himself, ‘What shall I do? My master is taking away my stewardship from me! I can’t do manual work, and I’d be ashamed to beg . . .
4 “ ‘I have an idea what to do!—so that people will welcome me into their households when I am fired from being steward.’
5 “So he called his master’s debtors to him, one by one. ‘How much,’ he asked the first, ‘do you owe my master?’
6 “ ‘A hundred measures of olive oil,’ he replied.
“ ‘Take your bill,’ he said to him, ‘sit down quickly, and make it fifty.’
7 “To another he said, ‘And how much do you owe?’
“ ‘A hundred measures of wheat,’ he replied.
“ ‘Take your bill,’ he said, ‘and make it eighty.’
8 “And the master praised the dishonest steward because he had acted wisely. The children of this world, you see, are wiser than the children of light when it comes to dealing with their own generation.
9 “So let me tell you this: use that dishonest stuff called money to make yourselves friends! Then, when it gives out, they will welcome you into homes that will last.”
Teachings on stewardship
10 “Someone who is faithful in a small matter,” Jesus continued, “will also be faithful in a large one. Someone who is dishonest in a small matter will also be dishonest in a large one. 11 If you haven’t been faithful with that wicked thing called money, who is going to entrust you with true wealth? 12 And if you haven’t been faithful in looking after what belongs to someone else, who is going to give you what is your own?
13 “Nobody can serve two masters. You will end up hating one and loving the other, or going along with the first and despising the other. You can’t serve God and money.”
14 The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this, and mocked Jesus. 15 So he said to them, “You people let everyone else know that you’re in the right—but God knows your hearts. What people call honorable, God calls abominable!
16 “The law and the prophets lasted until John. From now on, God’s kingdom is announced, and everyone is trying to attack it. 17 But it’s easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one dot of an ‘i’ to drop out of the law.
18 “Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and a person who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.”
The parable of the rich man and Lazarus
19 “There was once a rich man,” said Jesus, “who was dressed in purple and fine linen, and feasted in splendor every day. 20 A poor man named Lazarus, who was covered with sores, lay outside his gate. 21 He longed to feed himself with the scraps that fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.
22 “In due course the poor man died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died, and was buried. 23 As he was being tormented in Hades, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, and Lazarus in his bosom.
24 “ ‘Father Abraham!’ he called out. ‘Have pity on me! Send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue! I’m in agony in this fire!’
25 “ ‘My child,’ replied Abraham, ‘remember that in your life you received good things, and in the same way Lazarus received evil. Now he is comforted here, and you are tormented. 26 Besides that, there is a great chasm standing between us. People who want to cross over from here to you can’t do so, nor can anyone get across from the far side to us.’
27 “ ‘Please, then, Father,’ he said, ‘send him to my father’s house. 28 I’ve got five brothers. Let him tell them about it, so that they don’t come into this torture-chamber.’
29 “ ‘They’ve got Moses and the prophets,’ replied Abraham. ‘Let them listen to them.’
30 “ ‘No, Father Abraham,’ he replied, ‘but if someone went to them from the dead, they would repent!’
31 “ ‘If they don’t listen to Moses and the prophets,’ came the reply, ‘neither would they be convinced, even if someone rose from the dead.’ ”
Scripture quotations from The New Testament for Everyone are copyright © Nicholas Thomas Wright 2011, 2018, 2019.