Historical
Humility and danger
18 At that time the disciples came to Jesus.
“So, then,” they said, “who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”
2 Jesus called a child and stood her in the middle of them.
3 “I’m telling you the truth,” he said. “Unless you turn inside out and become like children, you will never, ever, get into the kingdom of heaven. 4 So if any of you make yourselves humble like this child, you will be great in the kingdom of heaven. 5 And if anyone welcomes one such child in my name, they welcome me.
6 “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to trip up,” he went on, “it would be better for them to have a huge millstone hung around their neck and be drowned far out in the deep sea. 7 It’s a terrible thing for the world that people will be made to stumble. Obstacles are bound to appear and trip people up, but it will be terrible for the person who makes them come.”
More about the “little ones”
8 “But if your hand or your foot causes you to trip up,” Jesus continued, “cut it off and throw it away. It’s better to enter into life crippled or lame than to go into eternal fire with both hands and both feet! 9 And if your eye causes you to trip up, pull it out and throw it away. Going into life with one eye is better than going into hell with two!
10 “Take care not to despise one of these little ones. I tell you this: in heaven, their angels are always gazing on the face of my father who lives there.
12 “How does it seem to you? If someone has a hundred sheep and one of them wanders off and goes missing, what will he do? He’ll leave the ninety-nine on the hillside and go off after the one that’s missing, won’t he? 13 And when, eventually, he finds it, I’ll tell you the truth: he will celebrate over that one more than over the ninety-nine who didn’t go missing! 14 It’s the same with your father in heaven. The last thing he wants is for a single one of these little ones to be lost.”
Reconciliation and prayer in the community
15 “If another disciple sins against you,” Jesus continued, “go and have it out, just between the two of you alone. If they listen to you, you’ve won back a brother or sister. 16 But if they won’t listen, you should take with you one or two others, so that ‘everything may be established from the mouth of two or three witnesses.’ 17 If they won’t listen to them, tell it to the assembly. And if they won’t listen to the assembly, you should treat such a person like you would a Gentile or a tax-collector. 18 I’m telling you the truth: whatever you tie up on earth will have been tied up in heaven; and whatever you untie on earth will have been untied in heaven.
19 “Again, let me tell you the truth: if two of you come to an agreement on earth about any matter that you want to ask, it will be done for you by my father in heaven. 20 Yes: where two or three come together in my name, I’ll be there amongst them.”
The challenge of forgiveness
21 Then Peter came to Jesus.
“Master,” he said, “how many times must I forgive my brother when he sins against me? As many as seven times?”
22 “I wouldn’t say seven times,” replied Jesus. “Why not—seventy times seven?
23 “So, you see,” he went on, “the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle up accounts with his servants. 24 As he was beginning to sort it all out, one man was brought before him who owed ten thousand talents. 25 He had no means of paying it back, so the master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and everything he possessed, and payment to be made.
26 “So the servant fell down and prostrated himself before the master.
“ ‘Be patient with me,’ he said, ‘and I’ll pay you everything!’
27 “The master was very sorry for the servant, and let him off. He forgave him the loan.
28 “But that servant went out and found one of his fellow-servants, who owed him a hundred dinars. He seized him and began to throttle him. ‘Pay me back what you owe me!’ he said.
29 “The colleague fell down and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I’ll pay you!’
30 “But he refused, and went and threw him into prison until he could pay the debt.
31 “So when his fellow-servants saw what had happened, they were very upset. They went and informed their master about the whole affair. 32 Then his master summoned him.
“ ‘You’re a scoundrel of a servant!’ he said to him. ‘I let you off the whole debt, because you begged me to. 33 Shouldn’t you have taken pity on your colleague, like I took pity on you?’
34 “His master was angry, and handed him over to the torturers, until he had paid the whole debt. 35 And that’s what my heavenly father will do to you, unless each of you forgives your brother or sister from your heart.”
The question about divorce
19 So this is what happened next. When Jesus had finished saying all this, he went away from Galilee and came to the region of Judaea across the Jordan. 2 Large crowds followed him, and he healed them there.
3 Some Pharisees approached him with a trick question.
“Is it lawful,” they asked, “for a man to divorce his wife for any reason at all?”
4 “Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that the creator from the beginning ‘made them male and female’? 5 And this is what he said: ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ 6 As a result, they are no longer two, but one flesh. So humans shouldn’t split up what God has joined together.”
7 “So then,” they asked, “why did Moses lay it down that one should give the woman a certificate of divorce and make the separation legal?”
8 “Moses gave you this instruction about how to divorce your wives,” replied Jesus, “because your hearts were hard. But that’s not how it was at the beginning. 9 Let me tell you this: anyone who divorces his wife, except for immorality, and marries another woman, commits adultery.”
Marriage, celibacy and children
10 The disciples said to Jesus, “If that’s the situation of a man with his wife, it would be better not to marry!”
11 “Not everyone can accept this word,” replied Jesus; “only the people it’s given to. 12 You see, there are some eunuchs who are that way from birth. There are some who have been made eunuchs by others. And there are some who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. If anyone can receive this, let them do so.”
13 Then children were brought to Jesus for him to lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples spoke sternly to them. 14 But Jesus said, “Let the children come to me! Don’t stop them! They are the sort the kingdom of heaven belongs to!” 15 And he laid his hands on them.
Then he moved on elsewhere.
The rich young man
16 Suddenly a man came up to Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what good thing must I do if I’m to possess the life of the age to come?”
17 “Why come to me with questions about what’s good?” retorted Jesus. “There is One who is good! If you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.”
18 “Which ones?” he asked.
“These ones,” Jesus answered: “ ‘don’t murder, don’t commit adultery, don’t steal, don’t tell lies under oath, 19 respect your father and mother,’ and ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’ ”
20 “I’ve kept the lot,” said the young man. “What am I still short of?”
21 “If you want to complete the set,” Jesus replied, “go and sell everything you own and give it to the poor. That way you’ll have treasure in heaven! Then come and follow me.”
22 When the young man heard him say that, he went away very sad. He had many possessions.
The first and the last
23 Jesus said to his disciples, “I’m telling you the truth: it’s very hard for a rich person to get into the kingdom of heaven. 24 Let me say it again: it’s easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter God’s kingdom.”
25 The disciples were completely flabbergasted when they heard that. “So who then can be saved?” they asked.
26 Jesus looked round at them. “Humanly speaking,” he replied, “it’s impossible. But everything’s possible with God.”
27 Then Peter spoke up. “Look here,” he said, “we’ve left everything behind and followed you. What can we expect?”
28 “I’m telling you the truth,” Jesus replied. “In God’s great new world, when the son of man sits on his glorious throne, those of you who have followed me will sit on twelve thrones—yes, you!—and rule over the twelve tribes of Israel. 29 And anyone who’s left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or estates because of my name will get back a hundred times over, and will inherit the life of that new age. 30 But many at the front will find themselves at the back, and the back ones at the front.”
The workers in the vineyard
20 “So you see,” Jesus continued, “the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. 2 He agreed with the workers to give them a dinar a day, and sent them off to his vineyard.
3 “He went out again in the middle of the morning, and saw some others standing in the market-place with nothing to do.
4 “ ‘You too can go to the vineyard,’ he said, ‘and I’ll give you what’s right.’ 5 So off they went.
“He went out again about midday, and then in the middle of the afternoon, and did the same. 6 Then, with only an hour of the day left, he went out and found other people standing there.
“ ‘Why are you standing here all day with nothing to do?’ he asked them.
7 “ ‘Because no one has hired us,’ they replied. “ ‘Well,’ he said, ‘you too can go into the vineyard.’
8 “When evening came, the vineyard-owner said to his servant, ‘Call the workers and give them their pay. Start with the last, and go on to the first.’
9 “So the ones who had worked for one hour came, and each of them received a dinar. 10 When the first ones came, they thought they would get something more; but they, too, each received a dinar.
11 “When they had been given it, they grumbled against the landowner. 12 ‘This lot who came in last,’ they said, ‘have only worked for one hour—and they’ve been put on a level with us! And we did all the hard work, all day, and in the heat as well!’
13 “ ‘My friend,’ he said to one of them, ‘I’m not doing you any wrong. You agreed with me on one dinar, didn’t you? 14 Take it! It’s yours! And be on your way. I want to give this fellow who came at the end the same as you. 15 Or are you suggesting that I’m not allowed to do what I like with my own money? Or are you giving me the evil eye because I’m good?’
16 “So those at the back will be at the front, and the front ones at the back.”
The cup he had to drink
17 Jesus was on his way up to Jerusalem. He took the twelve disciples aside in private, while they were on the road, and said to them, 18 “Look here. We’re going up to Jerusalem. The son of man will be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they’re going to condemn him to death. 19 They will hand him over to the pagans, and they’re going to mock him, flog him and crucify him. And on the third day he will be raised.”
20 Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came up, with her sons, to Jesus. She bowed low in front of him and indicated that she had a special request to make.
21 “What d’you want?” he asked her.
“It’s about these two sons of mine,” she said to him. “Please say that, when you’re king, they may sit, one at your right hand and one at your left.”
22 “You don’t know what you’re asking for,” said Jesus. “Can you two drink the cup I’m going to drink?”
“Yes, we can,” they replied.
23 “Well,” said Jesus, “so you will drink my cup, then! But sitting at my right and left is not something I can grant. That’s up to my father to give to whoever he has in mind.”
24 When the other ten heard this they were annoyed with the two brothers. 25 But Jesus called them together.
“You know how it is with pagan rulers,” he said. “They lord it over their subjects. They get all high and mighty and let everybody know it. 26 But that’s not how it’s to be with you. If any of you wants to be great, he must be your servant. 27 If any of you wants to be first, he must be the slave of all. 28 That’s how it is with the son of man: he didn’t come to have servants obey him, but to be a servant—and to give his life as ‘a ransom for many.’ ”
The healing of two blind men
29 As they were going out of Jericho, a large crowd was following Jesus. 30 Just then two blind men were sitting by the wayside, and heard that Jesus was going by. “Have pity on us, Master, son of David!” they shouted.
31 The crowd scolded them and told them to be silent. But they shouted out all the more, “Have pity on us, Master, son of David!”
32 Jesus came to a stop. He called them. “What d’you want me to do for you?” he asked.
33 “Master,” they replied, “we want you to open our eyes.”
34 Jesus was very moved. He touched their eyes. At once they could see again, and they followed him.
Scripture quotations from The New Testament for Everyone are copyright © Nicholas Thomas Wright 2011, 2018, 2019.