Read the Gospels in 40 Days
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!’ ”
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!”
Scripture quotations from The New Testament for Everyone are copyright © Nicholas Thomas Wright 2011, 2018, 2019.