Beginning

6 Jesus was walking through the grain fields on a Sabbath day. His disciples picked some of the grain as they went along. They cleaned it by rubbing it in their hands, and ate it.

² Some of the Pharisees said, `Why do your disciples do what is not right on the Sabbath day?"

³ Jesus answered them, `Have you not read what David did? He and his men were hungry.

⁴ He went into God's house. Some bread was there for God. But David took the bread and ate it. He also gave some of it to the men who were with him. Only the priests have the right to eat that bread.'

⁵ Jesus said to them, `The Son of Man rules over the Sabbath day.'

⁶ On another Sabbath day, Jesus went into the meeting house and taught. A man was there whose right hand was thin and weak.

⁷ The scribes and Pharisees watched Jesus to see if he would heal the man on the Sabbath day. They wanted to find something wrong about Jesus.

⁸ But Jesus knew what they were thinking. He spoke to the man whose hand was thin and weak. He said, `Come and stand here in front' The man stood up.

⁹ Jesus said to them, `I ask you, is it right to do good things on the Sabbath day, or to do wrong things? Is it right to heal people so that they will live, or to let them die?'

¹⁰ He looked around at them all. Then he said to the man, `Hold out your hand.' The man did so and it was made well like the other hand.

¹¹ The Pharisees were very angry and they talked together about what they could do to Jesus.

¹² About that time Jesus went out of the city on the hill to talk with God. He talked with God all night.

¹³ In the morning he called his disciples to him. He chose twelve of them and called them apostles [special messengers].

^14-16 hey were Simon, whom Jesus called Peter, and his brother Andrew, James and John, Philip and Bartholomew, Matthew and Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon the freedom fighter, Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, the one who gave Jesus over to people who hated him.

¹⁷ Then Jesus came down the hill with them and stood on the flat ground. Many people came. There were many of his disciples. And there were many people from all parts of Judea, and from Jerusalem, and from the seaside of Tyre and Sidon. They came to hear him and to be healed because they were sick.

¹⁸ Some were troubled by bad spirits, and they were healed.

¹⁹ All the people wanted to touch Jesus. Power came from him and he healed them all.

²⁰ Jesus looked at his disciples and said, `God will make happy you who are poor. The kingdom of God is for you.

²¹ `God will make happy you who are hungry now. You will be filled. `God will make happy you who cry now. You will laugh.

²² `God will make you happy when people hate you, when they will not let you belong to their group, when they say wrong things about you and make your name bad. God blesses you when it is for the sake of the Son of Man.

²³ Be very happy on that day and dance for joy. God will be good to you in heaven. The fathers of these people did the same things to the prophets of God long ago.

²⁴ `But you who are rich will have trouble. You have already had your good times.

²⁵ `You who have all you want now will have trouble! You will be hungry. `You who laugh now will have trouble. You will be sad and cry.

²⁶ `When all the people praise you, you will have trouble! The fathers of these people did the same things to those who were not true prophets of God.'

²⁷ `But I say to you who hear, love your enemies. Do good things to those who hate you.

²⁸ Bless those who use bad words about you. Ask God to do good to those who trouble you.

²⁹ `If someone hits you on one side of your face, turn the other side also. `If someone takes your coat, let him have your shirt also.

³⁰ `Give to every one who begs you for something.

³¹ `Do to other people what you want them to do to you.

³² If you love those who love you, what good is there in that? Even bad people love those who love them.

³³ If you do good things to those who do good things to you, what good is there in that? Bad people do the same.

³⁴ If you lend to those who will give to you, what good is there in that? Even bad people lend to bad people, if they think they will get the same from them.

³⁵ `Love your enemies. Do good things. Lend to people and do not look to get anything back. You will be paid well. You will be sons of the Highest One. He is kind to those who do not thank him and to those who are bad.

³⁶ So be kind like your Father.'

³⁷ `Do not judge others and you will not be judged. Do not punish others, and you will not be punished. Let others go free and God will let you go free.

³⁸ Give to people and they will give to you. They will fill your cup, press it down, shake it, and let it run over. That is what they will give to you. How much you give to others is how much God will give to you.'

³⁹ Jesus also told the people a story. He said, `A blind man cannot lead a blind man. They will both fall into a hole.

⁴⁰ The one who learns is not better than his teacher. But every one who learns will be like his teacher when his teacher has finished teaching him.

⁴¹ `Why do you look at the small piece of dust in your brother's eye? And you do not see the big stick in your own eye.

⁴² How can you say to your brother, "Brother, let me take the dust out of your eye"? But you do not see the stick in your own eye. You are not true to yourselves! First take the stick out of your own eye. Then you will be able to see to take the dust out of your brother's eye.'

⁴³ `A good tree does not have bad fruit. And also, a bad tree does not have good fruit.

⁴⁴ Every kind of tree is known by its fruit. People do not pick fruit like figs from thorn trees. And they do not pick grapes from bramble bushes.

⁴⁵ A good man has stored up good things in his heart, so he says good things. A bad man has stored up wrong things in his heart, so he will say wrong things. The mouth will say what is in the heart.'

⁴⁶ `Why do you call me "Lord, Lord," but you do not do what I tell you?

⁴⁷ `A person comes to me. He hears what I say and obeys me. I will show you who he is like.

⁴⁸ He is like a man who built a house. He dug down deep in the ground and made it stand on a rock. The water in the river came up high. The water beat hard against the house. But the house did not move, because it was built on a rock.

⁴⁹ A man hears what I say but does not obey me. He is like a man who built his house on top of the ground. He did not dig down deep. The water beat hard against it and it fell with a loud noise!'

7 Jesus finished saying all these things for the people to hear. Then he went to Capernaum.

² An army officer had a servant whom he loved. The servant was sick and almost dying.

³ The officer heard of Jesus. So he sent some of the leaders of the Jews to him. He asked him to come and heal his servant.

⁴ They came to Jesus and begged him very much. They said, `He is a good man. You should come and do this for him.

⁵ He loves our people and he built the meeting house for us.'

⁶ Jesus went with them. When he came near the house, the officer sent some friends to meet him and to say, `Sir, do not trouble yourself to come further. I am not good enough to have you come into my house.

⁷ And I did not think I was good enough to come to you. Just say the word and my servant will be healed.

⁸ I myself am a man who takes orders, and I have soldiers who take orders from me. I say to one, "Go," and he goes. I say to another, "Come," and he comes. I say to my servant, "Do this," and he does it.'

⁹ Jesus was surprised when he heard this. He turned to the people who followed him. He said, `I tell you, I have not found a Jew who believes as this man does.'

¹⁰ The men who had been sent to Jesus went back into the house. They found that the servant who had been sick was well.

¹¹ Soon after that, Jesus went to the town of Nain. His disciples and many other people went with him.

¹² He came near the gate of the town. There he met people carrying out a man who had died. He was the only son of his mother. And her husband was dead too. Many people from the city were with her.

¹³ The Lord saw her. He shared in her sorrows and troubles. He said to her, `Do not cry.'

¹⁴ Jesus came and touched the thing on which the body lay. The men who were carrying it stopped walking. Jesus said, `Young man, I tell you, get up!'

¹⁵ The dead man sat up and began to talk. Jesus gave him to his mother.

¹⁶ Everyone was very much surprised. They praised God. They said, `A great prophet of God has come to us. God has remembered his people.'

¹⁷ The people all over Judea and all the country around it heard what Jesus had done.

¹⁸ John also heard about all these things from his disciples.

¹⁹ He called two of them and sent them to Jesus. He asked, `Are you the One who is to come? Or shall we wait for another person?'

²⁰ When the men came to Jesus, they said, `John the Baptizer sent us to you. He asks, "Are you the One who is to come? Or shall we wait for another person?" '

²¹ At that time Jesus healed many people who were sick or had troubles or bad spirits. He made many blind people able to see.

²² He answered John's disciples, `Go tell John what you have seen and heard. Blind people see. The lame people walk. People with leprosy are healed. People who could not hear can hear. Dead people are alive again. Poor people hear the good news.

²³ Happy is the person who is not troubled in his heart about me.'

²⁴ When John's messengers had gone away, Jesus began to talk to the people about John. He said, `What did you go out into the desert to see? Did you go out to see a tall grass moving in the wind?

²⁵ What did you go out to see? A man wearing fine clothes? People who wear fine clothes and have nice things live in kings' houses.

²⁶ What did you go out to see? A prophet of God? Yes, I tell you, and he is much more than a prophet.

²⁷ He is the one the holy writings tell about: "See, I send my messenger ahead of you. He will make the way ready for you."

²⁸ I tell you, no one has ever been born who is greater than John. And yet, the smallest one in the kingdom of God is greater than he.'

²⁹ All the people and the tax collectors praised God when they heard that. They had been baptised by John.

³⁰ But the Pharisees and teachers of the law would not follow God's way and they were not baptised by John.

³¹ Jesus asked, `What will I say that the people of today are like? What are they like?

³² They are like children who sit in the market. They call to other children. They say, "We played music for you, but you did not dance. We cried, but you did not cry."

³³ John the Baptizer came. He does not eat bread or drink wine. You say, "He has a bad spirit in him."

³⁴ The Son of Man came. He eats and drinks. You say, "This man eats and drinks too much! He is a friend of tax collectors and bad people!"

³⁵ A man is proved wise by what he has done.'

³⁶ One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to come and eat with him. So Jesus went into the Pharisee's house and sat down to eat.

³⁷ In that city was a bad woman. When she knew that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee's house, she came and brought a bottle of oil. It was oil that smelled very sweet and cost much money.

³⁸ She stood behind Jesus by his feet, and she was crying. She began to wash his feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. Then she kissed his feet and put oil on them.

³⁹ The Pharisee who had asked Jesus to his house saw this. He said to himself, `If this man were a prophet of God, he would know what kind of woman is touching him. She is a bad woman.'

⁴⁰ Jesus said to him, `Simon, I have something to say to you.' And he said, `Teacher, say it.'

⁴¹ Jesus said, `There was a man who used to lend money to people. Two people owed him money. One man owed him five hundred pieces of silver money. The other owed him fifty pieces.

⁴² They could not pay the money, so he let them both free. Now which one of them will love him more?'

⁴³ Simon answered, `I would say the one he let off the most.' Jesus said, `You are right.'

⁴⁴ Then he turned towards the woman. He said to Simon, `Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me water to wash my feet. But she has washed my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair.

⁴⁵ You did not kiss me. But since she came in, she has kissed my feet again and again.

⁴⁶ You did not put oil on my head. But she has put sweet smelling oil on my feet.

⁴⁷ So I tell you, she has done many wrong things, but she has been forgiven because she loved me so much. But one who has been forgiven a little loves me only a little'

⁴⁸ Jesus said to the woman, `The wrong things you have done are forgiven.'

⁴⁹ Then those who were at the table with him began to say to themselves, `Who is this man? He even forgives people for the wrong things they have done.'

⁵⁰ Jesus said to the woman, `You are saved because you believed. Go in peace.'