Chronological
The rich young ruler
15 People were bringing even tiny babies to Jesus for him to touch them. When the disciples saw it, they forbade them sternly. 16 But Jesus called them. “Let the children come to me,” he said, “and don’t stop them! God’s kingdom belongs to the likes of these. 17 I’m telling you the truth: anyone who doesn’t receive God’s kingdom like a child will never get into it.”
18 There was a ruler who asked him, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit the life of the age to come?”
19 “Why call me good?” said Jesus to him. “No one is good except God alone. 20 You know the commandments: Don’t commit adultery, don’t kill, don’t steal, don’t swear falsely, honor your father and mother.”
21 “I’ve kept them all,” he said, “since I was a boy.”
22 When Jesus heard that, he said to him, “There’s just one thing you’re short of. Sell everything you own, and distribute it to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come and follow me.”
23 When he heard that he became very sad. He was extremely wealthy.
24 Jesus saw that he had become sad, and said, “How hard it is for those with possessions to enter God’s kingdom! 25 Yes: it’s easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter God’s kingdom.”
26 The people who heard it said, “So who can be saved?”
27 “What’s impossible for humans,” said Jesus, “is possible for God.”
28 “Look here,” said Peter, “we’ve left everything and followed you.”
29 “I’m telling you the truth,” said Jesus, “everyone who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, because of God’s kingdom, 30 will receive far more in return in the present time—and in the age to come they will receive the life that belongs to that age.”
Jesus heals a blind beggar
31 Jesus took the Twelve aside.
“Look,” he said, “we’re going up to Jerusalem. Everything that’s written in the prophets about the son of man will be fulfilled. 32 Yes: he will be handed over to the pagans; he’ll be mocked, abused and spat upon. 33 They will beat him and kill him; and on the third day he’ll be raised.”
34 They didn’t understand any of this. The word was hidden from them, and they didn’t know what he meant.
35 As they were getting near Jericho there was a blind man sitting by the road, begging. 36 When he heard a crowd passing through the town he asked what was going on.
37 “Jesus of Nazareth is coming by,” people said to him.
38 So he shouted out, “Jesus—David’s son! Have pity on me!”
39 The people who were at the front of the group firmly told him to be silent. But he yelled out all the more, “David’s son! Have pity on me!”
40 Jesus stopped, and told them to bring the man to him. When he came up, he asked him, 41 “What d’you want me to do for you?”
“Master,” he said, “I want to see again.”
42 “Then see again,” said Jesus. “Your faith has saved you.”
43 At once he received his sight again, and followed him, glorifying God. And when all the people saw it, they gave praise to God.
The calling of Zacchaeus
19 They went into Jericho and passed through. 2 There was a man named Zacchaeus, a chief tax-collector, who was very rich. 3 He was trying to see who Jesus was, but, being a small man, he couldn’t, because of the crowd. 4 So he ran on ahead, along the route Jesus was going to take, and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him.
5 When Jesus came to the place, he looked up. “Zacchaeus,” he said to him, “hurry up and come down. I have to stay at your house today.” 6 So he hurried up, came down, and welcomed him with joy.
7 Everybody began to murmur when they saw it. “He’s gone in to spend time with a proper old sinner!” they were saying.
8 But Zacchaeus stood there and addressed the master.
“Look, Master,” he said, “I’m giving half my property to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I’m giving it back to them four times over.”
9 “Today,” said Jesus, “salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham. 10 You see, the son of man came to seek and to save the lost.”
The king, the servants and the money
11 While people were listening to this, Jesus went on to tell a parable. They were, after all, getting close to Jerusalem, and they thought that the kingdom of God was going to appear at any moment.
12 “There was once a nobleman,” he said, “who went into a country far away to be given royal authority and then return. 13 He summoned ten of his slaves and gave them ten silver coins. ‘Do business with these,’ he said, ‘until I come back.’ 14 His subjects, though, hated him, and sent a delegation after him to say, ‘We don’t want this man to be our king.’
15 “So it happened that when he received the kingship and came back again, he gave orders to summon the slaves who had received the money, so that he could find out how they had got on with their business efforts. 16 The first came forward and said, ‘Master, your money has made ten times its value!’
17 “ ‘Well done, you splendid servant!’ he said. ‘You’ve been trustworthy with something small; now you can take command of ten cities.’
18 “The second came and said, ‘Master, your money has made five times its value!’
19 “ ‘You too—you can take charge of five cities.’
20 “The other came and said, ‘Master, here is your money. I kept it wrapped in this handkerchief. 21 You see, I was afraid of you, because you are a hard man: you profit where you made no investment, and you harvest what you didn’t sow.’
22 “ ‘I’ll condemn you out of your own mouth, you wicked scoundrel of a servant!’ he replied. ‘So: you knew that I was a hard man, profiting where I didn’t invest and harvesting where I didn’t sow? 23 So why didn’t you put my money with the bankers? Then I’d have had the interest when I got back!’
24 “ ‘Take the money from him,’ he said to the bystanders, ‘and give it to the man who’s made ten of them!’ 25 (‘Master,’ they said to him, ‘he’s got ten coins already!’)
26 “Let me tell you: everyone who has will be given more; but if someone has nothing, even what he has will be taken away from him. 27 But as for these enemies of mine, who didn’t want me to be king over them—bring them here and slaughter them in front of me.”
The triumphal entry
28 With these words, Jesus went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem.
29 As they came close, as near as Bethany and Bethphage, at the place called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of the disciples on ahead. 30 “Go into the village over there,” he said, “and as you arrive you’ll find a colt tied up, one that nobody has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. 31 If anyone says to you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ you should say, ‘Because the master needs it.’ ”
32 The two who were sent went off and found it just as Jesus had said to them. 33 They untied the colt, and its owners said to them, “Why are you untying the colt?”
34 “Because the master needs it,” they replied.
35 They brought it to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the colt, and mounted Jesus on it. 36 As he was going along, people kept spreading their cloaks on the road.
37 When he came to the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began to celebrate and praise God at the tops of their voices for all the powerful deeds they had seen.
38 “Welcome, welcome, welcome with a blessing,” they sang.
“Welcome to the king in the name of the Lord!
“Peace in heaven, and glory on high!”
39 Some of the Pharisees from the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, tell your disciples to stop that.”
40 “Let me tell you,” replied Jesus, “if they stayed silent, the stones would be shouting out!”
Jesus cleanses the Temple
41 When he came near and saw the city, he wept over it.
42 “If only you’d known,” he said, “on this day—even you!—what peace meant. But now it’s hidden, and you can’t see it. 43 Yes, the days are coming upon you when your enemies will build up earthworks all round you, and encircle you, and squeeze you in from every direction. 44 They will bring you crashing to the ground, you and your children within you. They won’t leave one single stone on another, because you didn’t know the moment when God was visiting you.”
45 He went into the Temple and began to throw out the traders.
46 “It’s written,” he said, “ ‘My house shall be a house of prayer; but you’ve made it a brigands’ cave.’ ”
47 He was teaching every day in the Temple. But the chief priests, the scribes and the leading men of the people were trying to destroy him. 48 They couldn’t find any way to do it, because all the people were hanging on his every word.
Scripture quotations from The New Testament for Everyone are copyright © Nicholas Thomas Wright 2011, 2018, 2019.