Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

⁵ The Lord says this: ‘It will be very bad for the prophets who tell false messages. They lead my people the wrong way with false promises. If people give food to them, then they are happy. So they promise that there will be no war. But, if people do not feed them, they become angry. They promise that war will come.

A prayer when you are in trouble^[a]

⁹ Our Christian friends, remember how we worked so hard to help you. We worked during the day and even during the night. We did not want to cause any problems for you. So we taught you God's good news and we did not ask you to give us anything in return.^[a]

¹⁰ You know that we lived in a good way when we were with you. God also knows that. We were completely honest with you believers. Nobody could say that we did anything wrong. ¹¹ You know that we helped you, like a father helps his own children. ¹² We taught you clearly what is true. We helped you to be strong as believers. God has chosen you to be his own people. You belong to his great kingdom, where he rules. So we told you to live in a way that pleases him.

¹³ There is another reason why we always continue to thank God for you. When we told God's message to you, you knew that it was not human ideas. You accepted it as God's own message, and that is what it certainly is. You continue to grow as believers because of God's message that you heard.

Jesus talks about dangerous teachers

23 After that, Jesus spoke to the crowds and to his disciples. ² He said, ‘The teachers of God's Law and the Pharisees have authority to explain the Law of Moses. ³ So you must obey everything that they teach you. But you should not do the same things that they do. They tell you what the Law of Moses teaches. But then they themselves do not obey it. ⁴ The rules that they give you are difficult to obey. Their rules are like heavy luggage, which they make you carry. But they themselves will not help you to carry that luggage. They will not agree to use even one finger to help you.^[a]

⁵ The Pharisees do things only so that people will see them. They wear little boxes with words from the Bible in them, but they make them really big. They also make the tassels on their clothes very long.^{[b] 6} They like to sit in the important places at special meals. They also choose to sit in the best seats in the meeting places. ⁷ They like people to praise them in the market place. They want people to call them “Teacher.”

⁸ You all belong to God's family. You have only one Teacher. So nobody should call another person, “Teacher”.^{[c] 9} Also, do not call any other person in the world, “Father”. You have only one Father, and he is in heaven.^{[d] 10} And do not call each other “Leader”. You have only one Leader. He is the Messiah that God has chosen. ¹¹ The person among you who is most important will be your servant. ¹² Some people lift themselves up to be important. But God will bring them down low. Other people are humble. God will lift up those people to a good place.’