Translation:Luke

Chapter 1
Seeing that many take in hand to set up a narrative about the deeds that have accomplished in us, In the same way that they gave their eyewitness accounts as they proclaimed the Word,  I also thought it would be good to write out a factual and clear account of all that happened from the very beginning. This is written to you, most mighty Theophilos, so you can know definitely that what you were taught is sure and certain.

During the rule of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zacharias (of the Abijah priestly order). He was married to Elisabeth, who also came from the line of Aaron the priest. They both did what was right in God’s eyes, following all his commands and rules blamelessly. They had no children as Elisabeth could not become pregnant, and they were both growing old.

Since Zacharias fulfilled his priestly duties before God and on behalf of his priestly order, he got the chance to go into the Lord’s temple and burn incense. A large crowd of people were outside praying at this time of offering incense. An angel of the Lord appeared before him, standing on the right hand side of the altar of incense. Zacharias was startled, and he was terrified. But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zacharias. Your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elisabeth will bear you a son, and you are to name him John. He will bring you joy and happiness, and many people will celebrate his birth. In the Lord’s eyes he will be great. He will not drink wine or any other alcoholic drink, and will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his birth. He will bring many people of Israel back to the Lord their God. He will go before the Lord in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and to turn the backsliders to a right understanding—to make a people ready for the Lord.”

“How do I know this is true?” Zacharias asked the angel. “I am an old man, and my wife is getting old too.” “I am Gabriel,” the angel answered. “I stand in God’s presence and I was sent to tell you this good news. Look—since you do not trust what I am telling you, you will be dumb, unable to speak, until the time comes when my words come true.”

The people outside were waiting for Zacharias, and were surprised that he took so long in the temple. When he did come out he was not able to speak to them and they realized he had seen a vision in the temple. Even though he nodded a lot, he was completely dumb.

When he had finished his time of temple service, he went back home. A few days later his wife Elisabeth became pregnant, and she stayed hidden inside for five months. “Now the Lord has done this for me to take away my disgrace in people’s eyes,” she said.

In the sixth month of her pregnancy God sent the angel Gabriel to the city of Nazareth in Galilee to meet a young woman called Mary. She was engaged to be married to a man called Joseph from house of David. The angel came to her and said, “Rejoice! You who have been graced, the Lord is with you.” But Mary was very confused at what he told her and wondered what kind of opening line this was. “Do not be afraid, Mary,” the angel said, “because you have found grace with God. You will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and call him Jesus. He will be very great, and he will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of David his father, and he will be king of the house of Jacob forever. His kingdom will never come to an end.”

“How could I have a baby?” Mary asked. “I have never been with a man.” “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. That is why the Holy One who is born will be called the Son of God. And Elisabeth, your relative, she has also become pregnant in her old age. She has already been pregnant six months—the woman that people said could not conceive. Nothing is impossible for God.” “I am the Lord’s servant,” said Mary. “May everything you said come true for me.” Then the angel left her.

A little while later Mary hurried up to a city of Judah in the mountains, to Zacharias’ house. She called out to Elisabeth as she entered the home. As soon as Elisabeth heard Mary’s call, the baby jumped for joy inside her. Elisabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, and cried out. “How blessed you are among women, and how blessed your child will be!” she shouted. “Why am I so favored that the mother of my Lord should visit me? Look—as soon as soon as I heard you call my baby jumped for joy inside me. How fortunate you are for trusting, because what the Lord promised you will be fulfilled.”

“My spirit gives great praise to the Lord,” said Mary. “I am so happy with God my Saviour, because he noticed my low status, his servant. From now on every generation will say I was blessed. God Almighty has done great things for me, holy is his name, and his mercy lasts for all generations to those who respect him. With the power of his strong arm he breaks up the proud hearts of those who think they are clever. He pulls down the powerful from their thrones, and elevates those who are humble. Those who hunger he fills with all that is good, and those who are rich he sends away empty-handed. He came to help his servant Israel, remembering him in mercy, just as he told our fathers he would, to Abraham and his descendants for ever.” Mary stayed with her for three months and then went back home.

Now it was time for Elisabeth to have her baby, and she gave birth to a son.

Her neighbors and relatives got to hear how the Lord had been so mercifully kind to her, and the celebrated with her. Eight days later they came to circumcise the boy, and intended to name him Zacharias after his father. “No,” Elisabeth said, “he is to be called John.” “But there is no one among your relatives who is called that,” they told her. They gestured to Zacharias, the boy’s father, and asked him what he wanted to name his son. Zacharias asked for something to write on, and wrote down, “His name is John.” They were all surprised. Immediately he could talk again, and spoke out loud, praising God. Everyone living nearby was totally awed by what had happened, and news spread throughout the hill country of Judea. All who heard about it wondered what it meant and asked, “What will the little boy grow up to be?” For God’s guiding hand was with him.

Zacharias, his father, filled with the Holy Spirit, spoke this prophecy:

“May the Lord, the God of Israel, be blessed, because he has looked after his people and liberated them. He has brought to life powerful salvation for us in the line of his servant David, as he promised through his holy prophets of the past. He brings salvation from our enemies and those who hate us. He was merciful to our fathers, remembering his holy covenant, the promise he made to our father Abraham,  to give us freedom from fear, rescuing us from the hand of our enemies,  to serve him in doing good and right all our lives. Even though you are just a small child you will be called the prophet of the Most High, for you will go ahead of the Lord to prepare his way, to provide knowledge of salvation to his people through the forgiving of their sins,  through the caring mercy of God to us, as he looks with goodness on us as the dawn,  revealing himself to those who sit in the dark and in the shadow of death, to set our feet in the straight path of peace.”

The boy John grew strong in the spirit, and stayed out in the desert until the time came for him to publicly appear to Israel.

Chapter 2
Now it came to pass in those days, there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be appraised. (This was the first appraisal made, Quirinius being governor of Syria). And all went to have themselves appraised, each man to his native city. Since Joseph was descended from king David, he traveled from Nazareth in Galilee to Bethlehem, the city of David, in Judea. There he would register, together with his betrothed wife Mary, who was she having been pregnant. While they were there, the time came for her to have the baby. She gave birth to her firstborn son, and wrapped him up in strips of cloth and laid him in a feeding trough—because there was no room left at the inn. Nearby some shepherds were living outdoors in the fields, watching over their flocks during the night. An angel of the Lord suddenly appeared, and the Lord’s glory shone all around them, and they were terribly afraid. “Don’t be afraid!” the angel told them. “Look, I’m telling you good news that will bring immense joy to everyone. Today, here in the city of David, the Saviour is born to you. He is the Messiah, the Lord. Your sign of confirmation is this: you will find the child wrapped in strips of cloth and lying in a feeding trough. Right then a vast gathering of heavenly beings appeared, praising God, and saying, “Glory to the Most High God, and peace to all thoughtful people on earth.” Once the angels had left them and returned to heaven, the shepherds said to each other, “Let’s go right now to Bethlehem and see what’s happened—this prediction that the Lord has revealed to us.” They rushed off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in the feeding trough. Once they’d seen this for themselves, they spread the news of the prophecy about this baby. Everyone who heard about it was astonished at what the shepherds told them, while Mary paid close attention to what they said and mulled over what they meant. The shepherds went back to their fields, honoring and praising God for everything they’d seen and heard, everything that was just as they had been told. After eight days, the baby was circumcised as required, and given the name Jesus, (as the angel had named him before he was even conceived). Once the time of ceremonial purification was completed according to the law of Moses, they took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord. This was to follow the law of God that says, “Every mother’s firstborn son is dedicated to the Lord,” and to sacrifice a pair of turtle doves or two young pigeons, as God’s law also requires. There was a man named Simeon living in Jerusalem. This man lived rightly and reverently. He was waiting for Israel’s hope, and the Holy Spirit was with him. The Holy Spirit had revealed that he would not die before he saw Christ the Lord. Under the direction of the Spirit he went to the temple and when Jesus’ parents brought the little boy to be dedicated as the Law required, Simeon himself picked up Jesus, thanked God, and said, “Lord, now you can let your servant go in peace as you promised, because my own eyes have seen your salvation  that you have made available for everyone. He is a light to reveal you to the nations, and the glory of your people Israel.” Jesus’ father and mother were astonished at what was being said about him. Simeon blessed them, and told Mary Jesus’ mother, “This child is destined to be the downfall and the restoration of many in Israel, and to be a miracle that will be denied. For you it will be like a sword piercing right though your soul, so that the thoughts of many minds will be disclosed.” Anna the prophetess was there. (She was the daughter of Phanuel, from the tribe of Asher, and was very old. She’d been married for seven years, and then had lived as a widow until eighty-four. She was always in the temple, serving there with fasting and prayer.)  Right then she came in and was praising God, talking about Jesus to everyone who was waiting for Jerusalem to be liberated. Once they’d done everything required by God’s law, they went back to their home town of Nazareth in Galilee. The little boy grew up fit and strong, and very wise, with God’s blessing on him. Every year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the Passover festival. When Jesus was twelve, they went to the festival as they usually did. When it was over and time to return home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, and his parents didn’t realize it. They thought he was with everybody else traveling back. It was a day later before they started looking for him among their relatives and friends. Since they didn’t find him they returned to Jerusalem and looked for him there. Three days later they found him in the temple, sitting among the religious teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. All the people listening to him were astonished by his knowledge and his answers. His parents were shocked to see him doing this, and his mother asked him, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Look how worried we’ve been, your father and I. We’ve been looking all over for you!” “Why were you looking for me?” Jesus answered. “Didn’t you know I had to be here in my father’s house?” But they didn’t understand what he was saying to them. Then he accompanied them back to Nazareth and did what they told him. His mother kept careful mental note of everything, and Jesus grew up mentally and physically, favored by God and people.

Chapter 3
It was when Tiberias had been Caesar for fifteen years, Pointius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod the tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and Trachonitis, and Lysanius tetrarch of Abiline; at the time when Annas and Caiphas were high priests. This was when the word of God came to John, son of Zacharias, while he was in the desert. He moved around the whole Jordan region, publicly telling people they needed to repent and be baptized to be freed from their sins.

As Isaiah the prophet wrote, “A voice crying out in the desert, ‘Prepare the Lord’s way, make his paths straight. Every valley will be filled in, and every hill and mountain will be leveled; the crooked ways will be straightened, and the rough ways made smooth. Everyone will see God’s salvation.’”

John told the crowds that came to him to be baptized, “You viper’s brood, who warned you to run away from the coming judgment? Produce some worthwhile ‘fruits of repentance,’ and don’t start telling yourselves ‘we’re descendants of Abraham.’ I’m telling you that God could create children of Abraham from these stones. The ax is already being swung at the base of the trees, and whichever tree doesn’t produce good fruit is being chopped down and thrown into the fire.” “So what do we have to do?” the crowds asked him.

“If you have two coats, give one to the person that doesn’t have any, and if you have food, do the same,” he told them. Some tax collectors came to be baptized, and they also asked him, “Teacher, what do we have to do?” “Don’t collect any more tax than you should,” he told them. “What about us?” asked some soldiers. “What do we have to do?” “Don’t demand money with violence, don’t blackmail people, and be satisfied with your wages,” he told them. The people were looking forward with eager anticipation wondering if John himself could be the Messiah. John responded, telling everybody, “Without a doubt I’m baptizing you in water. But someone is coming who is greater than me, and I’m not worthy to undo his shoes. He will baptize you in the Holy Spirit and with fire. With his winnowing tool in hand, he’s ready to separate the wheat from the chaff on his threshing floor. He’ll bring the wheat into his barn, but will burn up the chaff with a fire that can’t be put out.”

With many similar invitations John preached the good news to the people. But because John reprimanded Herod the tetrarch for marrying Herodias, Herod’s brother’s wife, and for all the evil things Herod had done— Herod added to all this evil by imprisoning John.

After all the people had been baptized, Jesus was also baptized. As he prayed, heaven opened, and the Holy Spirit came down upon him in the form of a dove. A voice came from heaven saying, “You are my son, the one I love. I am so pleased with you.”

Jesus was about thirty when he began to speak publicly. He was the son, as people thought, of Joseph; the son of Heli, the son of Maththat, the son of Levi, the son of Melchi, the son of Jannai, the son of Joseph,  the son of Mattathias, the son of Amos, the son of Nahum, the son of Esli, the son of Naggai,  the son of Maath, the son of Mattathias, the son of Semein, the son of Josech, the son of Joda,  the son of Joanan, the son of Rhesa, the son of Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, the son of Neri,  the son of Melchi, the son of Addi, the son of Kosam, the son of Elmadam, the son of Er,  the son of Joshua, the son of Eliezer, the son of Jorim, the son of Maththat, the son of Levi,  the son of Simeon, the son of Judas, the son of Joseph, the son of Jonam, the son of Eliakim,  the son of Melea, the son of Menna, the son of Mattatha, the son of Nathan, the son of David,  the son of Jesse, the son of Obed, the son of Boaz, the son of Salmon, the son of Nahshon,  the son of Aminadab, the son of Arni, the son of Hezron, the son of Perez, the son of Judah,  the son of Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham, the son of Terah, the son of Nahor,  the son of Serug, the son of Reu, the son of Peleg, the son of Eber, the son of Shelah  the son of Cainan, the son of Arphaxad, the son of Shem, the son of Noah, the son of Lamech,  the son of Methuselah, the son of Enoch, the son of Jared, the son of Mahalaleel, the son of Cainan,  the son of Enos, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.

Chapter 4
Jesus, filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was brought by the Spirit to the desert. For forty days he was tempted by the devil. All that time he ate nothing, so in the end he was starving hungry. “If you’re the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread,” the devil told him. “It's been written, ‘A human won't live on bread only.’” Then the devil took him up and showed him all the world’s kingdoms in an instant of time. The devil told Jesus, “I will give all this ruling power and glory to you. It’s been given to me and I can give it to whoever I want. So if you bow down and worship me then you can have all of it.” “It's been written, ‘You will be on your knees and bow to the Lord your God and you will serve him only.’” Then the devil took Jesus to Jerusalem, placed him on the top of the temple, and told him, “If you’re the Son of God, jump down from here. As Scripture says, ‘He will command his angels to take good care of you, to carefully hold you up so you won’t stumble by your foot tripping over a stone.'"  “It's been said, ‘You won't presumptuously test the Lord your God,” Jesus replied.  Once the devil was completely done with his temptations, he left Jesus for a while. Jesus returned to Galilee with the power of the Spirit. News about him spread round the whole countryside.  Jesus was teaching in their synagogues, and everyone was praising him.  He arrived in Nazareth, where he was brought up, and he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day as he always used to.  He was given the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. Jesus opened the scroll to the place where it’s written:  “The Lord’s breath-wind is on me, because he has anointed me to tell good news to poor ones. He has sent me to announce forgiveness to captured ones, and vision-restoration to blind ones, to send out oppressed ones in forgiveness,  to announce an acceptable year of the Lord.” He rolled up the scroll, and handed it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fixed on him. “Today this writing has been fulfilled, in the ears of all of you,” he told them. Everybody said good things about him, and they were pleasantly surprised at the gracious words he spoke. “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” they asked. “All of you will definitely say to me this saying, ‘Doctor, cure yourself!— all of what we heard has been done in Capernaum, do here, too, in your hometown,’” he responded. “But I’m telling you, no prophet is accepted in his hometown. It’s also certainly true that there were many widows in Israel during Elijah’s time, when there was a drought for three and a half years, which caused a great famine throughout the country. But Elijah wasn’t sent to any of these. He was sent to the widow in Zarephath in the country of Sidon! And there were many lepers in Israel in Elisha’s time, but none of them were healed except Naaman the Syrian!” When they heard this everyone in the synagogue was furious. They jumped up and threw him out of the city, and dragged him up to the top of the hill the city was built on so they could throw him off the cliff. But he passed through them and went on his way. Jesus went to Capernaum, a city in Galilee. He was teaching them during the Sabbath day, and they were astonished at what he taught them, because he spoke with authority. There was a man in the synagogue who had an evil spirit. He shouted out, “Hey, what have we go to do with you, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!” “Be quiet—and come out of him,” Jesus told the spirit. Throwing him around, the demon left the man without hurting him. Everyone was shocked and they asked each other, “What kind of teaching is this? With power and authority he commands evil spirits—and they leave!” Word about Jesus spread everywhere in the surrounding countryside. Jesus left the synagogue and went to Simon’s house. Simon’s mother-in-law had a high fever and they asked Jesus for help. Jesus stood over her and commanded the fever to leave her, and it did. Immediately she got up and took care of them. When the sun had set, everyone who was sick from all kinds of diseases were taken to him, and one by one Jesus placed his hands on them and healed them. Demons came out of many people, shouting, “You are the Son of God.” But Jesus would not allow them to speak because they knew he was Christ.” When daylight came Jesus went out to a quiet place, but the crowds followed him and caught up with him. They tried to stop him because they did not want him to leave. But he told them, “I must go to other cities to tell them the good news of the kingdom of God, because that’s why I was sent.” So Jesus continued teaching the good news in the synagogues of Judea.

Chapter 5
At one time, as Jesus was standing beside the Sea of Galilee, a crowd of people was pressing in on him to hear the word of God. Jesus noticed two boats lying there—the fishermen had left them and were washing their nets. Jesus got into one of the boats which belonged to Simon, and Jesus asked him to push off from shore just a little way. Jesus sat in the boat and taught the crowds. When he finished speaking, he told Simon, “Launch out into the deep, and lower your nets for a catch.” “Lord, we worked hard all night, and caught nothing—but if you say so, I’ll lower the nets,” Simon replied. As they did so, the nets closed around a great shoal of fish, and their nets began to break. They waved to their companions in the other boat for them to come over and help. The others arrived, and all together they filled both the boats with fish—so much so that the boats began to sink! When Simon Peter realized what had happened, he dropped to his knees before Jesus. “Lord, please go away from me, for I am a sinful man!” he exclaimed, because he and everyone with him had been gripped with panic and amazement over the catch that they had landed together— as were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon’s partners. “Don’t be afraid,” Jesus told Simon. “From now on you’ll be catching humans!” Once they’d pulled the boats up onshore, they left everything behind and followed Jesus. One time when he was visiting one of the cities, a man with really bad leprosy saw Jesus. He bowed his faced to the ground and begged Jesus, “Please Lord, if you’re willing you can make me clean.” Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be made clean!” Immediately the leprosy was gone. Jesus instructed him to not tell anyone. “But having gone, show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing like Moses said to do, as proof to them.” But the news about Jesus spread even more, and huge crowds came to hear Jesus and to be healed of their diseases. Jesus used to retreat into the deserts and pray. One day when Jesus was teaching, the Pharisees and religious teachers from all over Galilee, Judea, and Jerusalem were sitting there. The Lord’s healing power was with him, and some men brought a paralyzed man on a mat. They were trying to bring him in and lay him down in front of Jesus. But because they couldn’t find any way through the crowd, they went up on the roof and let the man down on the mat through the rooftiles, right in front of Jesus. Jesus saw the trust they were placing in him, and said to the man, “You sins are forgiven.” The religious teachers and the Pharisees began to argue. “Who is this speaking blasphemies?” they asked. “Who can forgive sins? Only God can do that!” Jesus knew what they were arguing about, and told them, “Why are you questioning this in your minds? What’s easier—to say your sins are forgiven, or to say get up and walk? But so you can be sure that the son of Man does have the right here on earth to forgive sins…” He said to the paralyzed man, “I’m telling you, get up, and having picked up your mat, journey to your house.” The man immediately got up in front of them. He picked up the mat he’d been lying on, and went home, praising God. Everyone was totally amazed. They praised God and in great awe said, “We’ve seen incredible things today!” After this Jesus left, and he saw a tax collector called Levi sitting at the tax booth. “Follow me,” said Jesus. And Levi abandoned everything, got up, and followed Jesus. Then Levi organized a large banquet at his home in Jesus’ honor, and a great crowd of tax collectors and others were sitting to eat with them. The Pharisees and the religious teachers complained to Jesus’ disciples. “Why do you people eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” they asked. “Healthy people don’t need a doctor, but sick people do,” Jesus replied. “I didn’t come to call to repentance those who live right—I came to call sinners.” “John’s disciples often fast and pray, and the Pharisees’ disciples do too, but your disciples are busy eating and drinking,” they told him. “Should the groomsmen fast when the bridegroom is with them?” Jesus asked. “But the time is coming when the bridegroom will be taken away from them—then they can fast.” Then he gave them an illustration. “Nobody tears out a patch from new clothes to mend old clothes, otherwise he’s torn the new clothes and the patch from the new won’t match the old. And nobody puts new wine into old wineskins, because if they did the new wine would burst the wineskins, and both wine and wineskins would be wasted. You put new wine in new wineskins. And nobody who’s drinking old wine wants new wine, because he says the old is better.”

Chapter 6
One Sabbath day, as Jesus was walking through the cornfields, his disciples picked some ears of grain and ate them, rubbing them first in their hands [to remove the husks]. So some of the Pharisees asked, “Why are you doing things that aren’t allowed on the Sabbath?” “Haven’t you ever read what David did, when he and his men were hungry?” Jesus replied. “How he went into the house of God, took and ate the consecrated bread, and gave it to his men too? That’s not allowed either—the consecrated bread is only for the priests.” “The Son of man is Lord of the Sabbath,” he told them. Another Sabbath he went into the synagogue to teach. A man was there whose right hand was crippled. The religious teachers and the Pharisees were watching Jesus closely to see if he would heal on the Sabbath so they could have a reason to accuse him. But Jesus knew what they were thinking, and he said to the many with the crippled hand, “Get up, and stand in front of everyone.” The man got up and stood there. Then Jesus said to them, “Let me ask you, is it legal to do good on the Sabbath, or to do evil? To save life, or to destroy it?” He looked round at everyone, and then said to the man, “Hold out your hand.” The man did so, and his hand was healed. But the religious teachers and the Pharisees became completely mad with rage, and were planning among themselves what action to take against Jesus. One of these days Jesus went into the mountains to pray. He stayed there all night, praying to God. In the morning he called together his disciples, and chose twelve of them as apostles: Simon (who Jesus also called Peter), Andrew his brother, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew,  Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, Simon the Revolitionary,  Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot (who turned traitor). Jesus came down the mountain with them and stopped on some flat ground. There a large crowd of his disciples and many other people from all over Judea, Jerusalem, and the sea coast of Tyre and Sidon, came to listen to hear him and to be cured from their diseases; and those suffering from evil spirits were also healed. The whole crowd tried to touch him, because power was coming from him and healing everyone. Looking his disciples in the eye, Jesus told them: “How happy for you who are poor, for the kingdom of God is yours. How happy for you who are hungry now, because your will eat your fill. How happy for you who are weeping now, because you will laugh. How happy for you when people hate you, and reject you, and insult you, and curse you because of me, the Son of man. When that day comes, be happy and jump for joy, and look for your great reward in heaven. Remember that the ancestors of these people mistreated the prophets in the same way. But how sad for you who are rich, for you have already received your reward in this life. How sad for you who are well-fed now, because you will be hungry. How sad for you who are laughing now, because you will mourn and cry. How sad for you when everyone praises you. Remember that the ancestors of these people treated the false prophets in the same way. But I tell anyone who’s listening, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone hits you on one cheek, turn the other cheek, and if someone takes your robe, don’t stop them taking your shirt. Give to whoever asks you, and whoever takes something from you, don’t ask for it back. Do to others what you would want them to do to you. If you love those who love you, is that so great? Even sinners love those who love them. And if you’re good to those who’re good to you, is that so great either? Sinners do that too. And if you lend to people you expect to repay you, how great is that? Sinners also lend to sinners expecting to get back what they lent. Instead you should love your enemies, do good to them, and lend out without expecting to receive anything back. Your will have a great reward and you will be children of the Most High God because he himself is kind to ungrateful and evil people. Be kindhearted, just as your Father is kindhearted. Don’t criticize, and you won’t be criticized; don’t condemn, and you won’t be condemned; forgive, and you’ll be forgiven; give, and you will receive really generously. In fact when what you receive is measured out, it’s pressed down so more can be added, spilling out over the top, falling into your lap! For whatever scale you use to measure what you give will be used to measure what you receive.” He told a story to illustrate… “One blind person can’t lead another, can they? They’d both fall into a hole in the ground, wouldn’t they? A disciple doesn’t know more than his teacher, does he? Only once he’s learned everything—then he’ll be like his teacher. And why are you so concerned about the speck that’s in your brother’s eye but don’t notice the plank that’s in your own eye? How can you tell your brother, “Brother let me take out the speck that’s in your eye,” when you can’t even see the plank that’s in your own eye? You hypocrite, first of all take out the plank from your own eye, and then you’ll be able to see clearly enough to take out the speck from your brother’s eye. A good tree doesn’t produce bad fruit, and on the other hand a bad tree doesn’t produce good fruit. Every tree is recognized by the fruit it produces. You don’t go and pick figs from thorn bushes, or harvest grapes from brambles. Whoever is good produces good things from what they have stored inside them, and whoever is evil produces evil things from what they have stored inside them. People say what they’re thinking inside. “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ when you don’t do what I tell you? Let me give you an example of someone who comes to me and does I what I say. He’s like a man building a house. He dug really deep and laid the foundation on solid rock. When the river burst its banks and the flood rushed against the house it didn’t damage it because it was so well built. Someone who hears but doesn’t do what I say is like the man who built his house without a foundation. When the flood rushed against the house it immediately fell down—it totally collapsed.

Chapter 7
After he finished speaking to the people, Jesus went to Capernaum. A centurion was there who had a servant that he valued highly, who was sick and about to die. When he heard about Jesus, the centurion sent the Jewish elders to him, asking him to come and heal his servant. When the elders came to Jesus, they begged him: “You should really come and do what he asks. He definitely deserves it, because he loves our people and he built our synagogue.” As Jesus went with them and they approached the house, the centurion sent friends to Jesus to tell him, “Lord, you don’t need to trouble yourself by coming inside, and I also didn’t consider myself worthy to go and see you. Just say the word, and my servant will be healed. I’m subject to my superiors, and I have soldiers under me. I tell one to go and he goes, another to come and he comes, and to my servant do this and he does it.” When Jesus heard this, he was amazed. He turned to the crowd following him, and told them, “Believe me, I haven’t found such trust anywhere in Israel.” The centurion’s friends returned to the house and found the servant in excellent health. A little while later Jesus went to a city called Nain. His disciples and a large crowd went with him. As Jesus approached the city gate he met a funeral procession. The dead man was the only son of a widow. A crowd from the city was with her. When the Lord saw her he was touched with compassion for her, and said, “Don’t cry.” Jesus went up to the coffin and touched it, and the pall-bearers stood still. Jesus said, “Young man, I tell you, get up.” And the dead man sat up and began to speak. Jesus handed him back to his mother. A sense of awe gripped everyone there and they praised God, saying “A powerful prophet has arisen among us,” and “God has come to help his people.” News about Jesus spread through the whole of Judea and everywhere around. John’s disciples told him everything that happened. John called on two of his disciples to go and see Jesus, and ask “Are you the one who was supposed to come, or should we wait for someone else?” When they came to Jesus, they told him, “John the Baptist sent us to you, to ask you ‘Are you the one to come or should we wait for someone else?’” Right at that time Jesus healed many people of their sickness, diseases, evil spirits—and he helped many blind to see. Jesus answered the men who’d come to see him, “Tell John what you saw and what you heard. The blind are seeing, the lame are walking, the lepers are healed, the deaf are hearing, the dead are raised back to life, the poor are listening to the good news— and how wonderful it is for anyone who’s not offended by what I’m doing. Once the messengers from John had left, Jesus started talking to the crowd. “Regarding John—when you went out to look for him in the desert, what did you expect to see? Some dry stalk blown about by the wind? Did you come looking for someone dressed in fine clothes? No, those who dress in fashionable clothes and live in the lap of luxury are found in palaces. Did you go looking for a prophet? Yes, and I’m telling you, he’s so much more than a prophet. “This Scripture was written about him: ‘Look, I’m sending my messenger before you to prepare your way ahead of you.’” “Listen to what I’m telling you: no one is greater than John of those born of women, but the most insignificant in God’s kingdom is greater than he is.” When everyone heard this—even the tax collectors—they declared that God was right, having been baptized by John. But the Pharisees and the religious teachers dismissed God’s purpose for them, refusing to be baptized by John. “What shall I compare these people to—what are they like?” asked Jesus. “They’re like children sitting in the market, telling each other, ‘we played the flute for you and you didn’t dance; we sang sad songs and you didn’t cry.’ John the Baptist came and he didn’t worry about eating bread and drinking wine, and you say he was demon-possessed. The Son of man came, eating and drinking with people, and you say ‘look he spends time feasting and drinking wine, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’ Wisdom is proved right by all her children! One of the Pharisees invited Jesus to eat with him. Jesus went to the Pharisee’s house and sat down to eat. A woman from that town—a sinner—having learnt that Jesus was eating in the Pharisee’s house brought an alabaster jar of perfume. She knelt behind Jesus and with her tears wet his feet, and with her hair she dried them. She kissed his feet, and poured the perfume on them. When the Pharisee who had invited Jesus saw this he said to himself, “If this man was a prophet he would know who this woman was who touched him, and what kind of person she was—a real sinner!” “Simon, I need to tell you something,” Jesus commented. “Go on, teacher,” he replied. “Once there were two people in debt to a lender. One owed five hundred, the other only fifty. Neither could pay him back, so he forgave the debts. Which one will like him more?” “I assume the one who was forgiven the most,” Simon answered. “You’re right,” said Jesus. He turned to the woman, and said to Simon, “You see this woman? I came into your house, and you didn’t give me any water to wash my feet, but she washed my feet with her tears, and wiped my feet dry with her hair. You didn’t give me a kiss, but ever since I came in she hasn’t stopped kissing my feet. You didn’t put any put oil on my head, but she poured perfume over my feet. That’s why I tell you that her many sins have been forgiven, because she loved so much. But whoever is forgiven little loves little.” And Jesus said to the woman, “Your sins have been forgiven.” Those who were sitting eating with him started to say to themselves, “Who’s this who presumes to forgive sins?” But Jesus told the woman, “Your trust has saved you, go in peace.”

Chapter 8
Later on, Jesus traveled through the towns and villages, publicizing and telling the good news of God’s kingdom. With him were the twelve disciples, and a number of women who had been healed from evil spirits and sickness—Mary called Magdalene from whom seven demons had been expelled, Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod’s chief administrator, and Susanna, and many more who helped by providing support from what they owned. A large crowd gathered made up of people from many towns who came to see him. Jesus spoke to them using an illustration. “A sower went out to sow his seed. As he sowed, some fell on the road where people walked over it, and wild birds ate it up. Some fell on rock, and once it sprouted it dried up for lack of moisture. Some fell among thorns and as it grew together the thorns choked it. Some fell on good earth and after it sprouted it produced a harvest one hundred times.” Telling them this, he shouted out, “If you have ears, then listen!” But his disciples asked him, “What’s the meaning of this illustration?” “You’ve been given understanding of the inner workings of God’s kingdom, but the rest have illustrations, so that— ‘Seeing, they don’t really see; hearing, they don’t really understand.’ “So this is what the illustration means. The seed is God’s message of truth. The seed sown on the road are like those who listen, but then the devil comes and takes away the truth from their minds, so that they don’t trust and aren’t saved. The seed sown on the rock are like those who hear and welcome the truth with joy but don’t have any roots. They trust for a while but when difficult times come they give up. The seed sown among thorns are like those who hear but because of the distractions of life’s worries, wealth, and pleasure, produce nothing. The seed sown on good earth are like those who are sincere and do what is right. They hear the message of truth, hold in to it, and quietly but profitably produce a harvest. “You don’t light a lamp and hide it under a bucket or put it under a bed. Instead you put it on a stand, so that anyone who comes in can see by the light. There’s nothing hidden that won’t be revealed; there’s nothing secret that won’t become known and be made visible. “So be careful how you ‘hear’ [God’s message of truth]. To whoever has received, more will be given; whoever doesn’t receive will have taken away from them even what they think they have!” Jesus’ mother and brothers arrived, but they couldn’t get through the crowd to him. Jesus was told, “Your mother and your brothers are standing over there, wanting to see you.” “My mother and my brothers are those who hear God’s message of truth, and practice it,” Jesus replied. One day Jesus got into a boat with his disciples. “Let’s cross over to the other side of the lake,” he told them, and they set off. But as they were sailing Jesus fell asleep, and a storm descended on the lake. The boat was swamped and they were in danger of sinking. They went to Jesus and woke him up. “Master, master, we’re going to drown!” Jesus woke up and told off the wind and the stormy waves; they stopped and it was calm. “Where’s your trust?” he asked them. Terrified, they were amazed and said to each other, “So who is this—he orders the winds and the sea, and they obey him?” They sailed to the Gerasene region, across from Galilee. After Jesus got out of the boat and went ashore, he was met by a demon-possessed man from the town there. He hadn’t worn clothes or lived in a house for a long time. Instead he lived in the tombs. When he saw Jesus he cried out, fell at Jesus’ feet, and in a loud voice asked, “What have you got to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? Don’t torture me, I’m begging you!” For Jesus had already commanded the evil spirit to leave the man. (Many times it had seized him and even though he was guarded and tied down with chains and foot shackles, he would tear apart the chains and the demon would drive him into the desert areas). “What’s your name?” Jesus asked him. “Legion,” [“many”], he replied, because many demons had entered him. They pleaded with Jesus not to order them into the Abyss. A large herd of pigs was feeding on the hillside nearby, and they begged him for permission to go into the pigs. Jesus let them do it. The demons left the man and went into the pigs. The herd stampeded down the cliff into the lake, and were drowned. The herdsmen who looked after the pigs ran away and reported what happened to the people in the town and the countryside. The people came to see what had happened. When they came to Jesus and found the man who the devils had left, sitting there at Jesus’ feet clothed and thinking straight, they were alarmed. Those who had seen what happened told them how the demon-possessed man was healed. Everyone from the whole Gerasene region asked Jesus to leave because they were gripped by a dreadful fear. So he got into a boat, and went back. The man who the devils had left begged Jesus to let him come along, but Jesus sent him back. “Return home, and explain everything God’s done for you,” Jesus told him. So he went away and telling the whole town everything Jesus did for him. When Jesus returned [back across the lake], a crowd of people welcomed him, because they were all eagerly waiting for him. A man called Jairus, who was a synagogue leader, came and fell at Jesus’ feet. He begged Jesus to come to his home because his only daughter, about twelve, was dying. As he went the crowds were crushing him. A woman who had been sick with bleeding for twelve years was there. She had spent everything she had on doctors, and none of them could help her. She came up behind Jesus and touched the edge of his clothes. Immediately the bleeding stopped. “Who touched me?” asked Jesus. Everybody denied it. “Master,” said Peter, “people are crowding around you and pushing up against you.” “Someone did touch me,” Jesus replied, “because I know power went out from me.” Once the woman realized she couldn’t escape notice, she went forward trembling, and fell down before him. She explained in front of everybody why she’d touched Jesus, and how she’d been immediately cured. “Daughter, your trust has healed you, go in peace,” he told her. While he was still speaking, someone came from the home of the synagogue leader, who said, “Your daughter’s dead; don’t bother the Teacher.” But Jesus heard, and told Jairus, “Don’t be afraid, only trust, and she will be healed.” When Jesus came to the house he didn’t let anyone else enter except Peter, John, and James, and the girl’s father and mother. Everyone was crying, and mourning for her. “Don’t cry,” said Jesus. “She’s not dead, she’s sleeping.” They laughed at him, because they knew she was dead. 4But Jesus held her hand, and said loudly, “My child, get up!” Her breath of life returned, and she got up immediately. He told them to give her something to eat. Her parents were astounded—but Jesus instructed them not to tell anyone what had happened.

Chapter 9
Calling the twelve disciples together, Jesus gave to them power and authority over all demons, and to heal diseases. He sent them out to announce God’s kingdom and to heal the sick. “Don’t take anything with you for the journey,” he told them. “Not a walking stick, not a bag, no bread and no money, not an extra coat. Whichever house you go into, remain there, and leave from there. If people don’t accept you, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that town as evidence against them.” They left and traveled through the villages, telling the good news and healing everywhere. Herod the tetrarch heard about everything that was going on, and he was thoroughly puzzled. Some said that John had been raised from the dead; others said that Elijah had appeared; still others said that one of the ancient prophets had returned to life. Herod said, “I beheaded John—so who is this that I’m hearing about?” He went on trying to see Jesus. When the apostles returned they told Jesus what they had done. He took them with him and went to a town called Bethsaida. But the crowds got to know and followed him there. He welcomed them and told them about the kingdom of God, and healed those who needed it. As the day went on, the Twelve came and told him, “Send the crowd away so they can go into the villages and countryside around and find a place to stay and food to eat—we’re in the desert here!” “You give them something to eat,” Jesus replied. “All we’ve got are five loaves and two fish—unless we go and buy food for everyone,” they said. There were about five thousand men. “Tell them to sit down in groups of around fifty,” he told his disciples. So they did, and had all the people sit down. Jesus took the five loaves and the two fish. He looked up to heaven, blessed them, and broke them in pieces, and kept on giving them to the disciples to share with the people. They all ate until they were full, and twelve baskets of left-overs were collected. At one time, when Jesus was praying privately, with just his disciples with him, he asked them, “The crowds—who do they say I am?” “John the Baptist, or others say Elijah, and still others say one of the ancient prophets risen from the dead,” they replied. “But what about you—who do you say I am?” he asked. “The Christ of God,” Peter replied. Jesus warned them, giving strict instructions, not to tell anybody about this. “The Son of man must suffer a great deal,” he said. “He’ll be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the religious teachers, and will be killed, but on the third day will be raised back to life.” “If anyone wants to follow me, you have to deny yourself, pick up your cross, and follow me,” Jesus told everyone. “For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will save it. What use is it for anyone to gain the whole world and then to be ruined or lost? Whoever is ashamed of me and my message, the Son of man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his glory, and the glory of the Father and the holy angels. Believe me when I tell you that there are some standing here who won’t taste death until they see the kingdom of God.” About eight days later, after he’d told them this, Jesus took Peter, John, and James and went up a mountain to pray. While he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothing became a dazzling white. There appeared two men talking with Jesus—they were Moses and Elijah—visible in glorious form. They were talking about Jesus’ death which he was about to fulfill in Jerusalem. Peter and those with him had fallen fast asleep. Waking up with a start, they saw Jesus’ glorious form, and the two men standing next to him. Seeing they were about to leave, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it’s wonderful to be here. Let’s make some shelters—one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah,” not really knowing what he was saying. As he was speaking a cloud came and spread out over them, and they were scared as they entered the cloud. A voice came from the cloud, which said, “This is my Son, my chosen one, listen to him.” When the voice finished speaking, only Jesus was there. They kept quiet about what happened, and told no one at that time about what they’d seen. The next day, a huge crowd met Jesus after they’d come down the mountain. A man in the crowd shouted out, “Teacher, please take a look at my son. He’s my only child. A spirit takes hold of him and immediately it screams, makes him convulse, and foam at the mouth. It hardly gives him any peace and it’s hurting him badly. I pleaded with your disciples to drive it out, but they couldn’t.” “You’re a distrustful and perverted people,” Jesus answered. “How long to I have to stay with you, and put up with you? Bring your son here.” Even as he was coming, the demon threw him to the ground in convulsions. But Jesus reprimanded the evil spirit and healed the boy, and gave him back to his father. Everyone was astounded by this demonstration of God’s greatness. But while everyone was amazed by everything he did, Jesus told his disciples, “Listen—and make sure these words sink in! The Son of man is about to be betrayed into human hands.” But they didn’t understand what he was talking about—the meaning was hidden from them so they didn’t see the implications, and they were afraid to ask him about it. Then they started arguing among themselves about who of them was the greatest. But Jesus, knowing what they were thinking, picked up and placed a small child beside him. “Whoever accepts this little child in my name accepts me, and whoever accepts me accepts the one who sent me—because the least important person among all of you is actually the greatest.” John replied, “Master, we saw someone driving out demons in your name, so we tried to stop him because he wasn’t one of us disciples.” “Don’t stop him,” Jesus replied. “Whoever isn’t against you is for you.” As the time approached when he would ascend to heaven, Jesus took the hard decision to go to Jerusalem. He sent messengers on ahead. They arrived at a Samaritan village to get things ready for him, but the people didn’t welcome him because he was determined to press on to Jerusalem. When the disciples James and John realized this, they asked Jesus, “Master, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to burn them up?” But Jesus turned to them, and told them off. Then they continued on to another village. As they went on their way, one man said to Jesus, “I’ll follow you wherever you go!” Jesus told the man, “Foxes have their dens, and wild birds have their nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere even to lay down his head.” Jesus told another man, “Follow me.” But the man replied, “Master, first let me go and bury my father.” “Leave the dead to bury those who are dead,” Jesus replied. “You are to go and announce God’s kingdom.” Another man said, “Lord, I will follow you! But first let me go and say goodbye to my family.” “Nobody, once they’ve started to plough and then look back, is right for God’s kingdom.”

Chapter 10
After this, the Lord appointed seventy other disciples, and sent them ahead two by two into every town and place that he intended to visit. “The harvest is great, but the workers few,” he told them. “So pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest fields. Go on your way—I’m sending you like sheep among wolves. Don’t take a money bag or a backpack or sandals, and don’t stop to talk to people on the way. When you enter a house, say first, “Peace to this house.” If there’s a person of peace living there, your peace will rest on them; if not, it will come back to you. Stay in the same house, eating and drinking whatever they give you, for a worker deserves their pay. Don’t go from house to house. Whatever town you enter and people welcome you, eat what’s set before you and heal the sick people there. Tell them, ‘God’s kingdom is near you.’ But whatever town you enter and the people don’t welcome you, go into their streets and tell them, ‘We’re wiping off against you even the dust of your town that sticks to our feet. But you should realize this—God’s kingdom is near.’ “Believe me when I tell you that it’ll be better in the day of judgment for Sodom than for that town. Shame on you Korazin! Shame on you Bethsaida! Because if the miracles that happened in you had happened in Tyre and Sidon they would have changed their minds a long time ago and would be sitting in sackcloth and ashes. That’s why it will be better in the judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you. And you, Capernaum, you won’t be lifted up to heaven. No, you will go down to Hades. “Whoever hears you hears me, and whoever rejects you rejects me, and whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me.” The seventy disciples returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.” Jesus replied, “I watched Satan fall like lightening from heaven. See, I have given you power to walk on snakes and scorpions, and on all enemy power, and nothing will be able to harm you. But don’t rejoice that the spirits submit to you, instead rejoice that your names are written down in heaven.” At that same time Jesus was filled with the joy of the Holy Spirit, and said, “I praise you Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you hid these things from the wise and clever people and revealed them to children! Yes, Father, you were pleased to do it like this. Everything has been handed over to me by my Father. Nobody understands the Son except the Father, and nobody understands the Father except the Son, and to those the Son wants to reveal him.” Jesus turned to the disciples when they were on their own and told them, “How happy you should be to see the things you’re seeing, because I’m telling you that many prophets and kings wanted to see what you’re seeing, but they didn’t see, and wanted to hear the things you’re hearing, but didn’t hear. One time an expert in religious law stood up to try to trap Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “What should I do so I can receive eternal life?” “What does the written law say? How do you interpret it?” asked Jesus. “'You should love the Lord your God with your whole heart, and your whole spirit, and your whole strength, and your whole mind', and 'love your neighbour as yourself',” the man answered. “You’ve answered right,” Jesus told him, “Do this and you will live.” But the man, wanting to prove himself right, asked Jesus, “And who’s my neighbour?” There was a man who went down from Jerusalem to Jericho,” Jesus said in reply. “He was attacked by robbers who stripped him and beat him up. They left him for half-dead. By chance a priest was going the same way, and saw the man. But he passed by on the opposite side of the road. In the same way a Levite, when he got to the place and saw the man, he also passed by on the opposite side of the road. But then a Samaritan man came along. As he was passing by, he saw the man and took pity on him. He went over to him and bandaged the man’s wounds, treating them with oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey and brought him to an inn where he took care of him. The next day he gave two denarii to the innkeeper and told him, ‘Take care of him and if you spend more, when I return I’ll pay you back.’ So which one of these three people, do you think, was really a neighbor to the man attacked by robbers?” “The one who showed kindness to him,” the man replied. “Then go and do the same thing,” Jesus told him. As they went on their way, Jesus went into a village, and a woman called Martha welcomed him to her home. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet to listen to his teaching. Martha was preoccupied with getting the meal ready, and came to Jesus, telling him, “Master, don’t you care that my sister has left me alone to do all the work? Tell her to come and help me!” “Martha, Martha,” the Lord replied, “You’re worried and upset about many things. But only one thing is really needed here—Mary has chosen what’s best, and it won’t be taken away from her.”

Chapter 11
At one time Jesus was praying at a particular place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, please teach us to pray, just like John taught his disciples.” So Jesus said to them, “When you pray, say, Father, holy is your name. May your kingdom come, and give us the bread we need every day. Forgive us our sins, as we also forgive everyone who owes us, and keep us from temptation.” Jesus said to them, “If you have a friend and you go to him in the middle of the night and say, ‘My friend, lend me three loaves of bread because a friend of mine has come to visit me and I don’t have anything to give him,’ mightn’t your friend say from inside the house, ‘I’ve finished my work and locked the door, and my children are in bed with me—I can’t get up to give you anything now’? I tell you, even though he won’t get up and give you anything, despite being a friend—if you insist, your friend will get up and give you everything you need. “I tell you, ask, and you will receive; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and everyone who seeks, finds; and everyone who knocks has the door opened to them. Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, gives him a snake instead of the fish? Or if he asks for an egg, you give him a scorpion? If you, being evil, know to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him? Jesus was driving out a demon that caused dumbness. When the demon was gone, the man that was dumb spoke, and the crowds were astonished. But some of them said, “He casts out demons in the name of Beelzebub, the ruler of demons,” while others wanted to test Jesus by asking him to give a miraculous sign from heaven. Jesus, knowing what they were thinking, said, “Any kingdom that’s divided against itself is destroyed, and a house divided against itself falls. If Satan was divided against himself, how would his kingdom stand? You say that I cast out demons in the name of Beelzebub. But if I cast out demons in the name of Beelzebub, in whose name do your sons cast them out? They’ll be your judges for what you’ve said! “But if I cast out demons by the ‘finger of God,’ then God’s kingdom has arrived, right here with you! When a strong, fully-armed man guards his house, everything he has is safe. But if a stronger man comes and overpowers him, then the stronger takes from him all his weapons that he relied on, and shares out all his possessions. “Whoever is not on my side is against me, and whoever doesn’t work together with me is working to break it apart. When an evil spirit leaves someone, it goes through barren places looking for somewhere to stay. Finding nowhere to stay, it says, “I’ll go back to the house I left.’ When it returns, it finds its old home all clean and tidy. So it goes and finds seven other spirits even more evil than itself, and they go in an live there—and the final state of that man is worse than where he started. While Jesus was speaking, a woman in the crowd shouted out, “Blessed is the womb you came from and the breasts that nursed you.” But Jesus said, “Better to say blessed are those who hear God’s word, and do what it says.” As the crowds gathered around Jesus, he started to teach them. “This is an evil generation because it is looking for a miraculous sign,” he told them. “No sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah. Just as Jonah was a sign to the people of Nineveh, so will the Son of man be a sign to this generation. The queen of the south will be raised at the judgment with the people of this generation and will condemn them, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon—and there’s someone greater than Solomon here! The people of Nineveh will be raised at the judgment with this generation, and will condemn it, because they repented at Jonah’s preaching—and there’s someone greater than Jonah here! No one lights a lamp and puts it under a bucket. No, you put it on a lampstand so that everyone coming into the house can see the light. The light of your body is your eye. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is lit up. But when your eye is evil, your whole body is in the dark. So watch out that the light you have in you is not really the darkness. If your whole body is lit up, with no dark parts, then it will be completely full of light, just like a lamp shining brightly gives you light. As Jesus spoke, a Pharisee asked him to come and eat with him. So Jesus went and sat down to a meal. The Pharisee was surprised that Jesus didn’t ceremonially wash before eating. So the Lord said to him, “You Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside you’re full of greed and evil. Foolish people—don’t you think he who made the outside made the inside too? Act compassionately from within and everything will be clean to you. Shame on you Pharisees! You pay tithe on herbs and plants, but ignore justice and the love of God. That’s what you should have done, while not leaving these other things undone. Shame on you Pharisees! You love the best seats in the synagogues, and to be greeted with respect in the markets. Shame on you! You are like unmarked graves that people walk over, not knowing where they’re treading.” One of the experts in religious law responded, “Teacher, when you speak like this, you’re criticizing us too!” “Shame on you lawyers too,” Jesus replied. You load up people with burdens too hard to carry, but you don’t help carry those burdens even with your little finger. Shame on you! You build memorial tombs for the prophets, but it was your own fathers that killed them. In this way you give evidence that you agree with what your fathers did—they killed them, and you built their tombs! “That’s why God in his wisdom said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles, and they will kill and persecute some of them,’ so that the blood of all the prophets shed from the beginning of the world will be required from this generation. From the blood of Abel right up to the blood of Zachariah, who was killed between the altar and the sanctuary, it will be required from this generation. Shame on you lawyers! You took away the key of knowledge—you didn’t go in yourselves, and you kept others from going in too.” When Jesus left there, the religious teachers and the Pharisees harassed him violently, trying to provoke him into saying more, waiting to catch him off-guard and trap him with something he said.

Chapter 12
Meanwhile the crowd of thousands had grown even bigger, so much so that they were trampling on one another. Jesus began speaking to his disciples first of all. “Watch out for the Pharisees’ yeast of hypocrisy! There’s nothing concealed that won’t be revealed, nothing hidden that won’t be made known. Whatever you said in the dark will be heard in the light, and whatever you whispered in private will be shouted from the rooftops. I tell you, my friends, don’t be afraid of those who kill the body—because once they’ve done that there’s nothing worse they can do. Let me warn you who you should be afraid of. You should be afraid of the one who after killing people has the power to throw them into hell. That’s who you should be afraid of. Aren’t five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet God doesn’t forget a single one of them. Even the hairs on you head have been counted. And don’t worry, you’re worth more than many sparrows! “I’m telling you, everyone who declares for me publicly, the Son of man will also declare for them before God’s angels, but whoever publicly denies me will be denied before God’s angels. Everyone who speaks against the Son of man will be forgiven, buy anyone who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit won’t be forgiven. “When they drag you before synagogue leaders and rulers and authorities, don’t worry about how to defend yourself or what to say. The Holy Spirit will instruct you at that time what’s important to say.” Moreover [he] whom out of the crowd says to him, “Teacher, say to my brother to divide inheritance with me.” But says to him, “Human, who set me a judge or divider over you?” He told the people, “Be careful, and stay away from all greedy thoughts and actions—because a person’s life isn’t made up of how many things they have.” He told them a story to illustrate the point. “There was a rich man whose land was very productive,” he began. “The man thought to himself, ‘what shall I do, because I’ve nowhere to store my produce?’ He decided, 'this is what I’ll do—I’ll pull down my barns and build bigger ones, and I’ll be able to store all my produce and possessions. Then I’ll tell myself, ‘Self, you have enough for many years, so take it easy, eat, drink, and have fun!’ But God told him, ‘Foolish man! Tonight your life is required to be returned—and who will get everything you’ve stored up?’ That’s what it’s like for people who collect wealth for themselves but are not rich in God’s eyes.” Jesus told his disciples, “That’s why I’m telling you, don’t worry about life—about what to eat, or what clothes to put on your body. Life is more than food, and body more than clothes. Think about the crows—they don’t sow or reap, have no store-rooms or barns, but God feeds them. Plus you’re much more valuable than birds! And can any of you live a bit longer by worrying about it? If you can’t do anything about these trivial things, why worry about the rest? Think about lilies, and how they grow. They don’t work hard, and don’t spin yarn—but I tell you, not even Solomon in all his glory was as beautifully dressed compared to them. And if God makes plants growing in fields so beautiful, which are here today but tomorrow are burned as fuel in an oven, how much more valuable you are, you who trust so little! Don’t be preoccupied about what you have to eat or drink, don’t be anxious. Those are the things that everybody in the world worries about—but your Father knows you need them. Just look for God’s kingdom, and these things will be provided for you. Don’t be afraid, little flock, because your Father is pleased to give you the kingdom. Sell what you have, and give to the poor. Make yourself money-bags that don’t wear out, an infinite treasure in heaven where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be. Be ready for action, and keep your lamps burning. Be like servants waiting for their master when he returns from his wedding feast, ready to quickly open the door for him when he comes and knocks. It’ll be good for those servants that the master finds keeping watch. I’m telling you, he will get himself ready, have them sit down for a meal, and will come and serve them! Even if he comes half-way through the night, or just before morning, they will be blessed if he finds them like that—watching! Remember this—if the master knew what time a thief was coming, he would keep watch, and not let his house be broken into. In the same way you should be ready, for the Son of man is coming at a time you don’t expect. “Are you telling us this story to us, or is it for everybody?” asked Peter. “So who is the trustworthy and wise supervisor, the one in the household his master gives responsibility to, to share out their food allowance at the right time?” the Lord asked. “How good for that servant when his master comes and finds him doing as he should. Believe me—the master will put the servant in charge of everything he has. But if that servant should say to himself, ‘My master is taking his time in returning,’ and begin to beat the other servants, men and women, to feast and get drunk—that servant’s master will return unexpectedly one day, will punish him severely, and count him as completely untrustworthy. “That servant, who knew what his master wanted, and yet didn’t prepare or carry out his instructions, he will be heavily beaten; but the servant who didn’t know, still deserving punishment, will be beaten only lightly. From anyone who is given much, much will be required, and from anyone who is entrusted with much, more will be expected. I came to set the earth on fire, and I really wish it was already burning! But I have a baptism to experience, and how I am suffering until it’s done! Do you think I came to bring peace to the earth? No, I’m telling you that I bring complete disagreement. From now on if there’s five people in a house, they will be divided against each other—three against two, and two against three. They will be opposed to each other—father against son, son against father, mother against daughter, daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law, and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.” Jesus also spoke to the crowds. “When you see a cloud coming from the west, you say straight away, ‘A shower’s coming,’ and so it does,” he told them. “And when a south wind blows, you say ‘a heat-wave’s coming,” and it does. You hypocrites, how is it that you know how to analyze the weather but you don’t know how to analyze the current time? Why don’t you think for yourselves and decide what’s right? It’s as if you’re going with your opponent before the magistrate—while on the way you’d be working to settle the matter so you wouldn’t be dragged before the judge, and the judge hand you over to the court official, and the court official throw you into prison… I tell you, you won’t get out of there until you’ve paid the last penny.”

Chapter 13
Around that time people told Jesus about some Galileans who had been killed by Pilate even while they were offering sacrifices in the Temple. “Do you think that these Galileans were the worst sinners among all Galileans because they suffered like this?” Jesus asked them. “No. But I tell you, unless you repent, you will all die like them too. Or what about those eighteen people that were killed when the tower in Siloam fell on them? Do you think they were the most guilty people in all Jerusalem? No. But I tell you, unless you repent, you will die like them too.” He told them this story. “There was a man who had a fig tree planted in his vineyard. He came looking for fruit on it, but didn’t find any. So he said to the gardener, ‘Look, I’ve been coming three years running and haven’t found any fruit on this fig tree. Chop it down—why should it just take up space?” “Master,” the man replied, “leave it just one more year, and I’ll dig the soil around it and put on some fertilizer. If it gives fruit from then on, then that’s good. If not, then you can have it chopped down.” Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. A woman was there who had been sick for eighteen years, bent over and unable to straighten up. When Jesus saw her, he called her over, and told her, “You’re set free from your sickness.” He placed his hands on her, and she was immediately able to straighten up, and she glorified God. But the synagogue leader was angry that Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, and told the crowd, “There are six days when you have to work. So come and be healed during those days, and not on the Sabbath day.” But the Lord answered him, “You hypocrites,” he said, “don’t every one of you untie your ox or donkey from the stable and take it to give it a drink? So shouldn’t this woman, this daughter of Abraham who has been tied up by Satan for eighteen years, have been untied from the chain that bound her this Sabbath day?” When he said this, all those trying to trap him were shamed, and the whole crowd was delighted by the wonderful things he did. The Jesus said, “So what is God’s kingdom like? What should I compare it to? It’s like a single mustard seed, which a man planted in his garden. It grew and became a tree, and the wild birds came and nested in its branches.” “What shall I liken God’s kingdom to?” he asked again. “It’s like yeast that a woman used and mixed with three measures of flour, until the whole dough rose.” Jesus traveled through towns and villages, teaching as he made his way to Jerusalem. “Lord, are only a few going to be saved?” someone asked. “Try really hard to enter the narrow doorway, for I’m telling you that many will try to go in, and won’t be able to. Once the house owner gets up and shuts the door, you’ll be standing on the outside knocking on the door, saying ‘Master, please open the door.” He’ll reply, ‘I don’t know where you’re from.’ Then you’ll say ‘We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets!’ He’ll say, ‘I tell you, I don’t know where you come from—get away from me, all you people who don’t do what’s right!’ And there’ll be crying and grinding of teeth when you see Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and all the prophets in God’s kingdom but you thrown out. People will come from the east and the west, the north and the south, and they still sit down to eat in God’s kingdom. Look—the last will be first, and the first will be last.” Right then some Pharisees arrived, and said “Get away from here—Herod’s trying to kill you.” Jesus said to them, “Go and tell that fox, ‘Look, I’m driving out demons and healing people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I’ll achieve my purpose [for being here]. Even so I must continue on my way today and tomorrow, and the day after, for a prophet can’t die outside of Jerusalem! Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill prophets and stone those who are sent to you! How often I would have gathered all your children together just like a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you didn’t want to know! Look, your house is being abandoned, and I tell you, you won’t see me until you say, ‘Blessed is the one comes in the name of the Lord.’”

Chapter 14
It so happened that one Sabbath that Jesus went into the house of some of the Pharisees’ leaders to have a meal, and they were keeping a close watch on him. A man was there suffering from limbs swollen with fluid. So Jesus asked the experts in religious law and the Pharisees, “Does the law permit healing on the Sabbath or not?” But they kept quiet. Jesus took hold of the man, healed him, and sent him on his way. Then Jesus told them, “If your son or your ox fell into a well on the Sabbath, wouldn’t you go and get him out straight away?” They weren’t able to answer anything. Then he told a story to those who had been invited to the meal, since he’d noticed how they chose the best seats. He told them, “When you’re invited by someone to a wedding reception, don’t sit in the best seat, in case someone more important than you may have been invited. Your host may come and tell you, ‘Give this man your place,’ and then you’ll be embarrassed to have to move to the worst seat. Instead, when you’re invited, go and sit in the worst seat, so that when your host comes, he may tell you, ‘My friend, please move to a better seat,' then you’ll be honored in front of everyone who is sitting at the table with you. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” Then he told those who had invited him, “When you have a lunch or a dinner, don’t call your friends, or your brothers, or your relatives, or your rich neighbors, for they may invite you in return, and you’d be paid back. Instead, when you prepare a meal, invite the poor, the disabled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, because they don’t have anything to give you back—you’ll be rewarded in the resurrection of the good. When one of them eating at the table with Jesus heard what he said, he told Jesus, “How fortunate for those who feast in God’s kingdom!” “There was a man who prepared a great banquet, and invited many people,” Jesus told him. “At mealtime he sent his servant out to tell everyone who had been invited, ‘Come, because the banquet’s ready.’ Every one of them started making excuses. The first told him, ‘I’ve bought a field and have to go and see it. Please excuse me.’ Another said, ‘I’ve bought five pairs of oxen and have to go and check them out. Please excuse me.’ Another said, ‘I’ve just got married and so I can’t come.’ So the servant returned and told his master what they said. Then the house-owner got angry and told his servant, ‘Go out right away into the streets and alleys of the town, and bring here the poor and disabled and blind and lame.’ “Master, I did what you told me, but there’s still room,” said the servant. So the master told the servant, “Go out on the country roads and paths, and urge people to come, so that my house may be full. I tell you, not one of those people that were invited is going to taste my banquet.’” A large crowd was following Jesus. He turned to them and told them, “If anyone wants to come to me and does not hate their father and mother, and spouse and children, and brothers and sisters—yes, and their own life too—they can’t be my disciple. Whoever does not bear their cross, and follow me, can’t be my disciple. If you wanted to build a tower, wouldn’t you first work out how much it would cost, and then see if you had enough to finish it? Otherwise, after you laid the foundation, and then weren’t able to finish it, everyone watching would laugh at you, saying, ‘This person started building but couldn’t finish.’ “What king who goes out to meet another king in battle, doesn’t first sit down and work out if he and his ten thousand could meet the one coming against him with twenty thousand? If he can’t, he’ll send emissaries while the other king is still a long way away, and ask for peace terms. In the same way every one of you who doesn’t say goodbye to everything you have can be my disciple. Salt’s good, but if it becomes tasteless, how do you make it taste again? It’s no good for the ground or for fertilizer, you just throw it out. Whoever has ears, listen!”

Chapter 15
All the tax collectors and other ‘sinners’ used to come and listen to Jesus. The Pharisees and the religious teachers complained. “This man is welcoming sinners, and eating with them,” they said. So Jesus told them this story. “If a man has a hundred sheep and loses one, wouldn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go looking for the one that’s lost, until he found it? When he finds it, he happily puts it on his shoulders. Once he gets home, he calls his friends and neighbors to come, telling them, ‘Come and celebrate with me, because I’ve found my lost sheep!’ I tell you that there will be more joy like this over a sinner that repents than over the ninety-nine good people that don’t need to repent. “If a woman has ten drachma coins, and loses one, wouldn’t she light and lamp and sweep the house and look carefully until she finds it? When she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors to come, telling them, ‘Come and celebrate with me because I found the drachma coin that was lost.’ I’m telling you that there is joy just like this among God’s angels over one sinner that repents. “There was a man who had two sons,” Jesus told them. “The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, please give me my inheritance early.’ So the man divided what he had between them. A few days later the younger son collected up all he had and left to go to a distant country. Here he wasted all his wealth by living an extravagant and wild life. Once he’d spent all he had, a severe famine took place in that country and he started to be in need. So he went and got a job from one of the landowners there who sent him off to his fields to feed pigs. He was so hungry that he would have even eaten the seed-pods the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything. When reality hit him, he said to himself, “How many of my father’s workers have more than enough to eat, and I’m dying here from hunger! I’m going to go to my father and tell him ‘Father, I’ve sinned against God and against you. I’m no longer worthy to be called your son. Please hire me as one of your workers.’ So he got going, and went to his father. “But when he was still a long way away, his father saw him, and his heart went out to his son. The father ran and hugged his son, and kissed him. The son said to him, ‘Father, I’ve sinned against God and against you. I’m no longer worthy to be called your son.’ But the father told his servants, “Bring quickly the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger, and shoes on his feet. Fetch the calf we’ve been fattening up and kill it. Let’s have a wonderful feast because this is my son who I thought was dead, but who has returned alive, he was lost but now he’s found. And they started celebrating. Now the older son was out in the fields, and as he headed towards the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked what was happening. “Your brother has returned, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he’s come back safe and well,” the servant told him. “But the brother was angry, and refused to go in. So his father came out, and encouraged him to join them. “He told his father, ‘Look, I’ve served you for many years, and never did anything you told me not to, but you never gave me even a young goat to use to have a party with my friends. Now this son of yours returns, who has spent your money on prostitutes, you kill the fattened calf for him!’ “‘Son,’ the father replied, ‘You’re always here with me, and everything I have is yours. But it was right to be happy and celebrate now, for this is your brother we thought was dead, but who has returned alive—he was lost but now he’s found.’”

Chapter 16
“Once there was a rich man, whose manager was accused of wasting the rich man’s money,” Jesus said to his disciples. “So the rich man called his manager, and asked him ‘What’s this I hear about you? Give me your management report, because you won’t be managing any more.’ The manager said to himself, ‘What am I going to do, now that my master is taking away the management job from me? I don’t have strength to go digging, and I’m ashamed to beg. I know what I’ll do, so that when I’m dismissed as manager, people will welcome me into their homes.’ “So he asked each person who owed his master to come and see him. He asked the first one, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ And he said, ‘A hundred units of oil.’ And he said to him, ‘Take the receipt, quickly sit down, and write fifty.’  Then he said to another, ‘And how much do you owe?” The man said, ‘A hundred measures of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Take your receipt and write eighty.’ “The rich man commended his defrauding manager for his sharp practice, because people of this world act more cleverly in dealing with each other than do the children of light. “I tell you, make friends for yourselves using the wealth of this corrupt world so that when it’s used up, they will welcome you into eternal homes. Whoever can be trusted with small things can also be trusted with big things, while whoever is dishonest in small things will also be dishonest in big things. So if you aren’t trustworthy when it comes to worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? And if you’re not trustworthy with what belongs to someone else, who will trust you with what belongs to you? No servant is able to obey two masters. Either he will hate one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and look down on the other. You can’t serve both God and Money.” The Pharisees, who loved money, heard what Jesus said, and they mocked him. Jesus told them, “You justify yourselves in front of people, but God knows your hearts, for what people think is highly respectable is detested by God. The time of the law and the prophets lasted until John. From then on the good news of God’s kingdom is being spread, and everyone is pushing hard to get in. Even so, it’s easier for heaven and earth to disappear than to drop one point of the Law. All those who divorce their wives and marry others are committing adultery, and those who marry someone who is divorced are committing adultery. “There once was a man who was rich, who wore expensive purple and fine linen clothes, and lived a life of luxury. A beggar named Lazarus sat beside his gate, covered in sores, longing to be fed from the scraps that came from the rich man’s table. Even dogs came to lick his sores. “It happened that the beggar died, and he was carried away by angels to be close to Abraham. The rich man died too, and he was buried. Tormented in Hades he looked up and saw Abraham a long way away, with Lazarus at his side. “‘Father Abraham,’ he cried out, ‘Please have mercy on me, and send Lazarus so he could dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue—because I am being burned in torment.’ “But Abraham told him, ‘My son, remember that you enjoyed the good things in life, while Lazarus had a very bad life. Now he is here to be comforted, while you suffer in torment. Beside all that, there’s a great chasm set between us and you so that anyone who wants to get from here to you can’t do so, and no one can cross over from there to get to us.’ “The rich man said, ‘Father, I’m asking you—please send him to my father’s house, up here in this place of torment.’ “But Abraham replied, ‘They already have Moses and the prophets to warn them—let them listen to them.’ “‘No, father Abraham,’ the man said. ‘They’d repent if someone raised from the dead went to them!’ “‘If they won’t listen to Moses and the prophets,’ Abraham told him, ‘they wouldn’t be convinced even if someone returned from the dead.’”

Chapter 17
Jesus told his disciples, “Temptations are unavoidable, but how bad it will be for those who do the tempting! It would be better for such people for a millstone to be hung around their neck and then to be thrown into the sea, rather than to be the cause of temptation for children in the faith. You need to take care—if your brother sins, then warn him; and if he repents, then forgive him. Even if he sins against you seven times during the day, and seven times comes back to you and says, ‘I repent,’ you shall forgive him.” “Help us to trust more!” his disciples told the Lord. And the Lord said, “Even if your trust was as small as a tiny mustard seed, you could say to this big mulberry tree, ‘Pull up your roots, and plant yourself in the sea,’ and it would obey you. “If you have a servant who does ploughing or looks after sheep, do you tell him when he comes in from work, ‘Please come straight away and sit down for a meal’? Don’t you tell him, ‘Prepare a meal for me, get yourself ready and serve me until I’ve finished eating and drinking, and then after that you can eat and drink’? And do you thank the servant because he did what he was told? No. It’s the same for you, when you’ve done everything your told to do, just say, ‘we are undeserving servants—we just did our duty.’” As they were on their way to Jerusalem, they passed between Samaria and Galilee. As he went through a particular village, ten lepers met him. They stood some way away, and called out, “Jesus, Master, please have pity on us.” When Jesus saw them, he told them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” As they went to do so, they were healed of their leprosy. One of them, seeing that he was healed, returned to Jesus, and shouted loud praises to God. He fell down before Jesus, and thanked him. The man was a Samaritan. “Weren’t there ten lepers healed? Jesus asked. “So where are the other nine? Didn’t anyone want to come back and praise God except this foreigner?” “Get up and go on your way,” Jesus told him, “Your trust in me has healed you.” The Pharisees came and asked Jesus when God’s kingdom would come. “God’s kingdom doesn’t come with your careful observing, nor will people say ‘look, it’s here’ or ‘look, it’s there,’ because God’s kingdom is in the midst of you.” Then Jesus told the disciples, “The time is coming when you’ll really want to see ‘one of the days of the Son of man,’ but you won’t see it. People will tell you, “Look, there he is,’ or ‘look, here he is,’ but don’t go running off, or follow them. As lightening flashed from one side of the sky to the other, so will be the Son of man in his day. But first he will have to suffer greatly, and be rejected by this generation. Just as it was in Noah’s day, so shall it be in the days of the Son of man. People ate and drank and married and were given in marriage until the day Noah went into the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed everyone. Just the same in Lot’s day—people ate and drank, they bought and sold and planted and built. But the day Lot left Sodom, fire and brimstone rained down from the skies and destroyed everyone. “It will be just like that on the day the Son of man is revealed. Anyone who’s on the roof on that day, don’t get down and go and get your things, and anyone who’s out in the fields, don’t go back home either. Remember Lot’s wife! Anyone who tries to gain life will lose it, but anyone who loses life will keep it. I tell you, that night two will be sleeping in bed, one will be taken, and the other left behind. Two will be grinding grain, one will be taken, and the other left behind.” [Verse 36 is not in the early manuscripts.] “Where, Lord?” they asked. “Vultures gather where the carcass is,” Jesus told them.

Chapter 18
Jesus told them a story to encourage them to pray always, and not to give up. "There was once a judge in a particular town who didn't respect God or man," Jesus said. "A widow in the same town kept on going to him, saying, `Get me justice against my opponent!' For some time he didn't want to do anything, but after a while he said to himself, `Even though I don't respect God or care what people think, because this widow keeps bothering me I will ensure she receives justice so that she doesn't wear me out by her repeated visits.' "Listen to what the unjust judge says," said the Lord. "Don't you think that God will grant justice to his chosen one who cry out to him day and night? Do you think he will keep them waiting? I tell you, he will bring them justice without delay. In spite of that, when the Son of man comes, will he find on earth people who trust? He also told this story to people who trusted in their own self-righteousness, and put everybody else down. "Two men went to the Temple to pray. One was a Pharisee, the other a tax-collector. The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself, `God, I am so thankful to you that I am not like everybody else--swindlers, crooks, adulterers, or like this tax-collector here. I fast in two ways each sabbath, and I pay tithe on everything I receive.' "But the tax-collector stood at a distance and didn't want to raise his eyes towards heaven. Instead he beat himself on the chest and prayed, `God, please be merciful to me because I am a sinful man.' "I tell you, it was this man who went home right in God's eyes rather than the other, for everyone who is exalted will be humbled, and everyone who is humble will be exalted." People were bringing their little children to Jesus so that he could bless them with his touch. When the disciples saw what was going on, they told the people off. But Jesus called them to come to him. "Allow the little children to come to me," he said. "Don't stop them, because God's kingdom belongs to them. Believe me when I tell you that whoever doesn't welcome God's kingdom like a little child will never enter it." One of the leaders came to Jesus and asked, "Good Teacher, what do I need to do in order to receive eternal life?" "Why do you call me good?" Jesus replied. "Nobody's good, except God. You already know what the commandments say: don't commit adultery, don't kill, don't steal, don't commit perjury, honour your father and mother." "I've carefully observed all these from the time I was young," the man responded. When Jesus heard his reply, he told the man, "You still fall short in one thing--go and sell everything you own, and share your money with the poor. You'll have treasure in heaven--then come and follow me! But when the man heard what Jesus said, he became really sad, because he was very wealthy. Seeing his reaction, Jesus said, "How hard it is for the rich to enter God's kingdom! In fact it's easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for someone rich to enter God's kingdom." "So who on earth can be saved?" the people there asked. "Things that are humanly impossible are possible for God," Jesus replied. "Look at us," said Peter, "we abandoned home and family to follow you!" "Believe me," Jesus told them, "There's nobody who leaves behind their home, wife, brothers, parents, or children for the sake of God's kingdom who won't get back so much more in this life, and the eternal life in the world to come. Jesus took the Twelve with him, and told them, "We're going to Jerusalem, and everything the prophesy wrote about the Son of man will be fulfilled. For he will be handed over to the Gentiles; he will be ridiculed, abused, and spat upon. They will lash him and kill him. But on the third day he will rise again!" But they didn't comprehend anything Jesus told them--it was hidden from them and they didn't understand what was said. As Jesus approached Jericho there was a blind man who was sitting at the roadside begging. Hearing a crowd passing by, he asked what was happening. They told him, "Jesus of Nazareth is going by." He shouted out, "Jesus, son of David, please have mercy on me!" Those at the front told him off, saying he should keep quiet, but he only shout even louder, "Son of David, have mercy on me!" So Jesus stopped, and told them to bring the blind man to him. As he approached, Jesus asked him, "What do you want me to do for you?" "Lord, please, let me see again," he pleaded. "See again!" Jesus told him. "Your trust in me has healed you." Immediately the man could see again, and followed Jesus, praising God. Everyone there who saw what happened praised God too.

Chapter 19
Jesus entered Jericho and was walking through the town. A man called Zacchaeus was there, a chief tax-collector who was very rich. He was trying to see who Jesus was, but he couldn’t because of the crowd and the fact that he was short. So he ran on ahead, and climbed up a sycamore tree to see Jesus, because he was going to come that way. When Jesus got there, he looked up and said, “Zacchaeus, hurry, come down, because I must stay at your house today.” Zacchaeus climbed down quickly and took Jesus home with him, very happy. When the people saw this they complained loudly. “He’s gone to stay with an out-and-out sinner!” they said. But Zacchaeus got up and said, “Look, Lord, I’m giving half of all I own to the poor, and if I’ve cheated anybody, I’ll repay them four times!” “Salvation has come to this house today, because this man has proved himself to be a son of Abraham,” said Jesus. “The son of Man came to search for and to save those who are lost.” While they were listening, Jesus told them a story, because they were close to Jerusalem and the people were thinking that God’s kingdom was about to become visible. “There once was a nobleman who left home to go to a distant country to be made king there, and then return. He called ten of his servants, and divided among them ten mina’s worth of cash, and told them “Invest this money in business until I return.” But his subjects hated him, and sent a messenger after him. ‘We won’t have this man as king over us,’ they said. Well, when the king returned after taking charge of the other kingdom, he ordered that his servants be brought to him. He wanted to know what they had gained by investing the money he had given them. The first servant came and said, ‘Lord, your one mina has earned ten.’ “‘Well done, you’re a good servant,’ said the nobleman, ‘and because you were faithful in this small way, now I’m putting you in charge of ten cities.’ “The second servant came and said, ‘Lord, your one mina has earned five.’ “‘I’m putting you in charge of five cities,’ said the nobleman. “Another servant came, and said, ‘Lord, look, here’s your mina, which I kept safe, wrapped in a cloth. I was afraid of you, because you’re a harsh man—you take what doesn’t belong to you, and you harvest what you didn’t sow.’ “‘I’ll judge you by your own words,’ replied the nobleman. “You say you know I’m a harsh man, “who takes what doesn’t belong to you, and harvest what you didn’t sow.’ If that’s the case, why didn’t you at least deposit my money in the bank, so that when I came back I could at least have had my money with interest?’ “The nobleman told his attendants, ‘Take the mina away from him, and give it to the one who has ten.’ “But Lord, he already has ten,” they replied. “‘I tell you, that to whoever that has, it will be given; but from whoever does not have, even what they have shall be taken away. As for my enemies, those who didn’t want me to be king over them—bring them here and kill them in front of me.’” After he’d told them this, Jesus went towards Jerusalem, walking on ahead. As he got close to Bethphage and Bethany, by the Mount of Olives, he sent two disciples, telling them: “Go on the village up ahead, and as you enter you’ll find a colt that no one has ridden. Untie the colt, and bring it here. If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ just say, ‘The Lord needs it.’” So the two disciples went on their way and discovered that everything was just as Jesus said. As they were untying the colt, its owners asked, ‘Why are you untying the colt?’ ‘The Lord needs it,’ the disciples replied. They led the colt to Jesus, and threw their cloaks over it, and sat Jesus on top. As he went along, they spread their cloaks on the road. As he reached the place where the road descends the Mount of Olives, the all the followers were shouting loud praises to God for all the great things they had seen. “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord; peace in heaven and glory in the highest,” they cried. Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, tell your disciples to stop saying that.” But Jesus answered them, “I tell you that if they say nothing then the stones will shout aloud!” As he got closer, Jesus saw the city and cried over it. “If you had realized, yes, you Jerusalem, what really leads to peace!” he said. “But now they are hidden from your sight. For the time is coming when your enemies will besiege you, and build attack ramps, and encircle you and shut you in from every direction. They will raze you to the ground with your children within, and they will not leave one stone on another, because you refused to accept the time of divine visitation. Jesus went into the Temple and started throwing out all the people selling sacrificial animals. “It is written,” he told them, “my house will be a house of prayer, but you’ve turned into a robber’s den.” He taught every day in the Temple. But the chief priests and the religious teachers and the civic leaders kept on trying to find a way to get rid of him. However they didn’t find any way to do it because everyone was listening attentively to what he told them.

Chapter 20
One time when Jesus was teaching the people in the Temple, telling them the good news, some of the chief priests and religious teachers came with the elders and asked him, “Tell us—what authority do you claim for what you’re doing? Who gave you the right to do this?” “I’ll also ask you a question,” Jesus replied. “Tell me, the baptism of John—did it come from heaven, or was it just human?” They discussed this among themselves. “If we say it was from heaven, he’ll ask ‘so why didn’t you believe him?’ And if we say it was just human, then all the people will stone us, because they’re convinced John was a prophet,” they concluded. “We don’t know where it came from,” they answered. “In that case I’m not telling you by whose authority I act,” Jesus told them. Then he began telling them a story. “Once there was a man who planted a vineyard and leased it to farmers, and traveled away from home for a long time. At harvest-time he sent a servant to the tenant farmers to get the crop they owed him, but the farmers beat the servant and sent him away with nothing. So the owner sent another servant, but they beat him too and treated him badly, and sent him away with nothing. Then he sent a third servant, but they wounded him and threw him out. “The owner of the vineyard wondered, ‘What shall I do? I know, I’ll send my son, the one I love—they will surely respect him.’ But when they saw him coming, the farmers talked among themselves and decided, ‘This is the owner’s heir—let’s kill him so we can take his inheritance.’ They threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. So what will the owner of the vineyard do to them? He will come and kill these farmers and lease the vineyard to others.” When they heard the story, they said, “That’s really bad—it shouldn’t happen like that!” But Jesus looked at them and told them, “Why then does it say in the scriptures, ‘The stone the builders rejected is now used as the chief cornerstone’? Everyone who falls on that stone will be dashed to pieces, but whoever it falls on will be ground to dust.” Right then the religious teachers and the chief priests tried to arrest Jesus. They realized that Jesus had told this story about them, and they were afraid of what the people might do. So they watched him and sent spies who pretended to be sincere people, to try and find something in what Jesus said so they could hand him over to the governor to be put on trial. They asked Jesus, “Teacher, we know that speak and teach correctly, and that you don’t care what others think. You teach the truth about God’s way. So is it right for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?” But Jesus saw through their trick question, and said to them, “Show me a denarius coin. Whose picture and title is on it?” “Caesar’s,” they replied. “So then give back to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and to God what belongs to God,” he told them. They weren’t able to catch him out in what he said publicly. They were amazed at his response, and kept quiet. Then some Sadducees came to him. They don’t believe in the resurrection. They asked him this question: “Teacher, Moses instructed us that if a married man dies childless, then his brother should marry his widow and have children for his dead brother. Well, there were once seven brothers. The first had a wife, and died childless. The second brother, and then the third, married her too. In fact all seven married her, but had no children. Eventually the wife died too. In the resurrection whose wife will she be, because she was married to all seven brothers?” “People here in this world marry and are given in marriage,” Jesus told them. “But those who are considered worthy of the world to come, and the resurrection from the dead—they don’t marry or are given in marriage. They can’t die any more, and they are like the angels. They are children of God, and they are children of the resurrection. Regarding the issue of whether the dead are raised—even Moses proved this at the burning bush, when he spoke of the Lord, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for to him everyone is alive. “Good answer, teacher,” said some of the religious teachers. No one was brave enough to ask him any more questions. “Why do people say that Christ is the son of David?” he asked them. “David himself says in the book of Psalms, ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit down on my right until I make all your enemies like a footstool for your feet.”’ If David calls him Lord, how can he be David’s son?” While everyone was listening, he told his disciples, “Watch out for the religious leaders, who love to walk around in long robes, and who like to be acknowledged in the markets, to get the best seats in the synagogues, and to have places of honor at banquets. They are the ones who exploit the property of widows, and to cover up their actions they pray long prayers. They will receive the greatest condemnation in the judgment.”

Chapter 21
As Jesus looked around, he noticed that rich people were putting their gifts into the treasury collection box. He also saw a very poor widow put in two small lepta coins. “I guarantee that this poor widow put in more than everyone else. For all these people gave from their excess, while she gave from her poverty everything she had to live on. Some people there were speaking about the Temple—how wonderful the stonework was, and how beautiful the gift-offerings to God… “As for these things you’re preoccupied with looking at,” Jesus commented. “The time is coming when not one stone will be left on top of another; everything will be demolished!” “Teacher, when will this happen?” they asked him. “And what will be the sign that this is going to take place? “Watch out that you’re not deceived,” Jesus warned them. “Many people will come in my name, saying ‘Here I am!’ and ‘It’s time!’—don’t run after them. When you hear of wars and revolutions, don’t be scared, because such things have to come first, but that’s not the end.” “Nation will fight against nation, and kingdom against kingdom,” he told them. “There’ll be massive earthquakes, famines and epidemics in many places, terrifying things happening and great signs in the sky. But before all this happens, they will seize you and drag you into the synagogues and throw you into prison, and put you on trial before kings and governors because of me. This means you will be able to tell them what you believe. So don’t worry thinking in your heads about what to say to defend yourselves, because I will give you words to speak, and wisdom that your enemies won’t be able to oppose or to contradict. You will be betrayed even by parents, brothers, relatives, and friends, and they will kill some of you. You will be hated by everyone because of me. Yet not a single hair of your head will be destroyed. Through your endurance you will save your lives. “But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by legions of soldiers, you can be sure that the destruction of the city will soon occur. Those who live in Judea should run away to the mountains, and those who are living in Jerusalem should leave, and whoever’s in the countryside don’t go into the city. Because these are days of punishment, so that everything written in prophecy should be fulfilled. “How sad for those who are pregnant or nursing at that time! For there will be terrible disaster in the land and anger against this people. They will be cut down by the sword and taken away as prisoners into all the nations. Jerusalem will be trodden underfoot by the heathen nations until their time is completed. “There will be miraculous signs in the sun, moon, and stars, and on the earth the nations will be in agony, bewildered by the crashing of the sea and its surging waves. People will be fainting away because of fear, terrified about what is going to happen to the world, for the powers of heaven will shake to and fro. Then they’ll see the Son of man coming on a cloud, accompanied with power and brilliant glory. But when these things start to happen, stand up, look up, because your liberation is near. Then he gave them an illustration. “Look at the fig tree, and all the trees. When they start growing new leaves, you can tell—in fact you can be sure—that summer is near. In the same way, when you see these things happening, you can be sure that God’s kingdom is near. Believe me when I tell you, this generation won’t be gone before all this happens. Heaven and earth can disappear, but my word won’t disappear. “Watch out! Make sure you don’t get preoccupied with partying or drinking or the worries of this life, so that that day will suddenly catch you out. For that day will come to everyone who lives on the face of the earth. Keep watch at all times, and pray, so that you may be able to escape all that’s going to happen, and to be able to stand before the Son of man.” Every day Jesus taught in the Temple, and every night he left to stay on the Mount of Olives. Everyone came early in the morning to hear him in the Temple.

Chapter 22
The Festival of Unleavened Bread, also called the Passover, was approaching. The chief priests and religious teachers were trying to find a way to kill Jesus, fearing what the people might do. Satan entered into Judas, the one called Iscariot, one of the Twelve, and he went and spoke to the chief priests and guard officers as to how he might betray Jesus. They were delighted, and offered to pay him. He agreed, and started looking for a good time to betray him when there weren’t a lot of people around. The Day of Unleavened Bread arrived, when the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. Jesus sent Peter and John, telling them, “Go and prepare the Passover meal for us, so we can eat it together.” “Where do you want us to prepare the meal?” they asked him, “When you go into the city you’ll meet a man carrying a water pot. Follow him and go into the house he enters, and tell the house-owner, ‘The Teacher asks you, “Where is the dining room where I can eat the Passover with my disciples?”’ He’ll show you a large upstairs room with a table set—prepare the meal there.” They went and found everything just as he had told them, and they prepared the Passover meal there. When the time came, he sat down with his apostles. He told them, “I’ve been really longing to eating this Passover meal with you before I have to suffer. I tell you I won’t eat it again until what it means is fulfilled in God’s kingdom.” He picked up the cup, and after saying grace, he said, “Take this and share it among yourselves. I tell you that I won’t drink from the fruit of the vine until God’s kingdom comes.” He picked up some unleavened bread, and after saying grace, he broke it into pieces and gave it to them. “This is my body given for you; remember me by doing this,” Jesus told them. After supper, in the same way he picked up the cup, and said, “This cup is the new agreement in my blood which is being poured out for you.” “But notice that the hand of the one betraying me is with me here at the table. For the Son of man will leave this life as planned, but how terrible it will be for the man who betrays him!” They began to argue among themselves as to who of them would do this. At the same time they were also disputing which of them would be the greatest. “Heathen kings rule over their subjects, and those having power are even called ‘benefactors,’” he told them. “But you’re not to be like that! Whoever is great among you should be the lowest, and the leader should be like a servant. Who’s greater—the one sitting at the table, or the one serving? Isn’t it the one sitting at the table? But I’m sitting here in the middle of you as a servant. You’re the ones who stayed with me throughout all my trials of life, and I grant to you the kingdom, just as my Father granted it to me, so that you can eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, where you will sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to have you to sift like wheat, but I prayed for you that your trust in me might not fail. Once you return [to the truth], encourage your brothers.” “Lord, I’m ready to go with you, to prison and to death!” Peter told Jesus. “I’m telling you, Peter,” Jesus replied, “the cock won’t crow today until you’ve denied knowing me three times.” “When I sent you our without money, without backpack, and without sandals, did you need anything?” Jesus asked them. “No, nothing,” they replied. “But now, let whoever has a money-bag take it, and the same with a backpack. And if you don’t have a sword, sell your cloak, and buy one. I’m telling you that this will fulfill what was written about me, ‘He was considered to be an outlaw.’ What was prophesied about me is now being fulfilled. “Look, Lord, here are two swords,” they said. “That’s enough,” he replied. Jesus left and went as usual to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples followed too. When he got there, he told them, “Pray that you don’t yield to temptation.” He left them and went about a stone’s throw away, where he knelt down and prayed. “Father,” he said, “if you’re willing please take this cup of suffering away from me. But what happens should be what you want, not what I want. Then an angel appeared from heaven to strengthen him. In agony, Jesus prayed even harder, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling onto the ground. When he got up from praying he went over to the disciples and found them asleep, worn out from grief. “Why are you sleeping?” he asked them. “Get up and pray that you don’t give in to temptation.” While he was still speaking, a crowd arrived, led by Judas, one of the Twelve. Judas went up to Jesus to kiss him. But Jesus asked Judas, “Are you going to betray the Son of man with a kiss?” Those with Jesus asked him, “Shall we attack with our swords?” And one of them struck the high priest’s servant and chopped off his right ear. “That’s enough!” Jesus said in response. He touched the man’s ear, and healed him. Then Jesus spoke to the chief priests, and the officers of the temple guard, and the elders. “Did you need to come out with swords and clubs as if you were coming after a criminal?” he asked. “When I was with you every day in the Temple, you didn’t arrest me. But this is your time now, and the power of darkness. They grabbed him and led him away, and brought him to the chief priest’s house. Peter followed at a distance. They lit a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat around it. Peter sat there with them. A servant girl noticed him as he sat there in the firelight, and stared at him. “This man was with him,” she declared. But Peter denied it. “I don’t know him!” he replied. A little while later someone else looked at him, and said, “You’re one of them too.” But Peter said, “No, I’m not!” About an hour later, another person insisted, “I’m absolutely sure he was with him too—he’s a Galilean.” But Peter replied, “I don’t know what you’re talking about!” And straight away, while he was still speaking, the cock crowed. The Lord turned around, and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the Lord’s statement, how he’d told him “before the cock crows today you’ll deny me three times.” Peter went out and cried, completely miserable. The men holding Jesus prisoner mocked him and beat him up. The put a blindfold on him, and asked him, “So tell us if you’re a prophet—who just hit you?” They shouted many other insults at him. At dawn the elder’s council gathered, chief priests and religious teachers. They dragged him before the council, and demanded, “If you really are the Messiah, then tell us!” “If I were to tell you, you wouldn’t believe me anyway,” Jesus replied. “And if I were to ask you, you wouldn’t answer. But from now on the Son of man will sit on the right hand of the mighty God.” “Are you the son of God, then,” they all asked. “You’re saying that I am,” Jesus told them. “Why do we need any more evidence from others?” they said. “We’ve heard for ourselves from his own mouth!”

Chapter 23
The whole council got up, and took him to Pilate. There they were accusing him. “We discovered this man subverting our nation, refusing to pay taxes to Caesar, and saying he is Messiah the king,” they said. “Are you the King of the Jews?” Pilate asked him. “So you say,” replied Jesus. “I don’t find this man guilty of anything,” Pilate told the chief priests and the crowds. But they became more insistent, saying, “He incites the people with his teachings throughout Judea, right from Galilee to here.” When he heard this Pilate asked if Jesus was a Galilean. When he realized that Jesus came under Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent him to Herod who was also in Jerusalem at this time. Herod was very happy when he saw Jesus because he had been looking forward to see him for a long time. He had heard a lot about Jesus and hoped to see him perform a miracle. So he questioned him for a long time, but Jesus did not reply at all. The chief priests and religious teachers stood there, accusing him in heated terms. Herod and his bodyguards humiliated and mocked Jesus, dressed him in royal clothes, and then sent him back to Pilate. From that day on Herod and Pilate because friends with each other. Before that there had been animosity between them. Pilate summoned the chief priests, rulers, and the people, and told them, “You brought this man before me, accusing him of inciting the people. Look, I’ve interrogated him, and don’t find him guilty of the charges you lay against him. Herod didn’t find him guilty either, because he sent him back to us. He has done nothing worthy of the death penalty. So I’ll have him flogged and then I’ll let him go.” [Now he was meant to release one prisoner to them at the festival] *not in most early manuscripts. But they all cried out with one voice, “Execute this man, and release Barabbas to us.” (He was a man who because of his part in a rebellion in the city, and because of murder, had been imprisoned.) Pilate spoke to them again, wanting to release Jesus. But they went on shouting, “Crucify, crucify him.” For the third time Pilate asked them, “Why—what has he done wrong? I don’t find him worthy of a death sentence! So I’ll have him flogged and let him go.” But they continued insisting, with loud voices demanding that he be crucified. Their loud demands prevailed, and Pilate pronounced sentence as they asked. He released the man imprisoned for rebellion and murder, while he handed over Jesus to them, to do what they wanted with him. As they led him away, they grabbed hold of a man called Simon of Cyrene, who had come in from the countryside, and placed the cross on him to carry it, walking behind Jesus. A large crowd of people followed him, as well as women mourning and lamenting him. But Jesus turned to them, and said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, don’t cry for me. Cry for yourselves and your children. Because the time is coming when people will say, ‘How happy are those who are childless, and those that never had babies, and those who never nursed them.’ Then they’ll be telling the mountains, ‘Fall down on us,’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us up.’ For if these things happen when the tree is still alive, what will happen when it’s withered?” They also took two other criminals with him to be executed. When they came to the place called the Skull they crucified him together with the criminals, one on his right, the other on his left. Jesus said, “Father, please forgive them. They don’t know what they’re doing.” They divided his clothes and threw dice for them. The people stood there watching, while the leaders ridiculed Jesus. “He saved other people, so let him save himself, if he is really God’s Messiah, the chosen one,” they scoffed. The soldiers also mocked him, coming to him and offering him wine vinegar. “If you’re the King of the Jews, then save yourself,” they jeered. Above Jesus was a sign that read, “This is the King of the Jews.” One of the criminals hanging there insulted Jesus. “Aren’t you the Messiah? If you really are then save yourself, and us too!” But the other one answered and told him off. “Don’t you even fear God when your condemned to die? And in our case the sentence is correct because we’re receiving punishment for what we did, but this man didn’t do anything wrong,” he said. “Jesus, please remember me when you come into your kingdom,” he asked. “I promise you today you will be with me in paradise,” Jesus told him. By now it was about noon and it became dark over the whole land until three in the afternoon. The sun stopped shining, and the temple veil was torn right in the middle. Jesus shouted out in a loud voice, “Father, I place my spirit into your hands.” He said this and breathed his last. [*spirit and breath are the same in the Greek] When the centurion saw what happened he praised God and said, “There’s no doubt this man was innocent.” And all the crowds that had come to watch, when they saw what happened went back beating their chests with grief. But all Jesus’ friends and the women who’d followed him from Galilee, watched from a distance. A man called Joseph was there. He was a council member, a good and honest man. He hadn’t agreed to the plan and actions of the council. He was from the Jewish town of Arimathaea, and was looking forward to God’s kingdom. Joseph went to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body. Once he’d lifted it down, he wrapped it in linen. He laid Jesus in a stone tomb that hadn’t been used before. It was preparation day [Friday] and the Sabbath would soon arrive. The women who had come with Jesus from Galilee had followed and taken note of the tomb and where Jesus’ body had been laid. They went back home and prepared burial spices and ointments. But on the Sabbath they rested in accordance with the commandment.

Chapter 24
While still very early the first day from the sabbath, the women went to the tomb, carrying the spices they'd prepared. They discovered that the stone had been rolled away from the tomb entrance. So they went in but they didn't find the body of the Lord Jesus. As they were wondering what was going on, two men in dazzling clothes suddenly appeared. The women were terrified and bowed down with their faces on the ground.They said to the women, "Why are you looking for the living among the dead? He's not here, but risen from the dead. Remember what he told you while he was still in Galilee, `The Son of man must be betrayed into the hands of evil men, be crucified, and rise again on the third day.'" Then they remembered what Jesus had said. They returned from the tomb, and reported everything to the Eleven, and all the others. (It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told the apostles what had happened). But it looked like a lot of nonsense and they didn't believe them. However Peter stood up and ran to the tomb. He bent down and looked in. He saw only the linen grave-clothes. So he went back home, puzzled at what had happened. The same day two of the disciples were going to a village called Emmaus, which was about seven miles from Jerusalem. They were discussing with each other everything that happened. As they talked things over and wondered what they meant, Jesus joined them and walked together with them. But their eyes were held back from recognizing him. "What are you talking about, arguing to and fro, as you walk along?" he asked them. They stopped in their tracks, faces gloomy. One of them, called Cleopas, answered, "Are you just a visitor to Jerusalem? You must be the only person not to know what's happened there lately." "What's happened?" Jesus asked them. "It's all about Jesus of Nazareth," they replied, "He was a prophet who spoke and acted for God before all the people. Our high priests and leaders betrayed him and had him condemned to death, and they crucified him. But we were hoping he was the one who was going to rescue Israel. But it's now three days since all this happened." "On top of that, some of the women in our group surprised us. They went at dawn to the tomb and didn't find his body there. The came back saying they'd also seen angels, who'd appeared to them and told them he's alive. Some of those with us went to the tomb, and found it just as the women said, but they didn't see him. "How dull you are, and how slow to trust in all that the prophets said!" he told them. "Wasn't it necessary for the Messiah to suffer, and only then to enter into his glory?" And starting with Moses and all the prophets, he carefully explained to them everything in scripture about himself. As they approached the village they were going to, he acted as if he was going further. But they urged him, "Please stay with us, because it's evening and the day is almost over." He went in to stay with them. When he sat down to eat with them, he took the bread and blessed it, broke it, and gave it to them. Their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. Then he vanished. "Didn't our hearts light up inside as he spoke to us, as he opened up scripture to us?" they said to each other. They jumped up straight away and went back to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven, and the others with them, meeting together, Who said, "The Lord is really risen again, and has appeared to Simon." Then the two told the other disciples explained what had happened on their journey, and how they recognized him when he broke bread. While they were speaking, Jesus himself appeared standing among them, and told them, "Peace to you!" Startled and afraid, they thought they were seeing a ghost. "Why are you scared, and why do you doubt?" he asked them. "Look at my hands and my feet--you can see it's me. Touch me, and feel me, because a spirit doesn't have flesh and bones, as you can see I have." When he'd said this, he showed them his hands and feet. Since they still refused to believe out of joy and amazement, he asked them, "Have you got anything to eat?" They gave him a piece of cooked fish, which he took and ate in front of them. "This what I told you while I was still with you--that everything that was written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms, has to be fulfilled," he told them. Then he opened their minds so they could understand the scriptures. He told them, "It was written that the Messiah had to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that in his name repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be preached to all nations, beginning in Jerusalem. You are witness of this. Look, I'm sending you what my Father promised you--but wait in the city until you receive power from heaven." He led them until they were near Bethany, and lifting up his hands, he blessed them, While he was blessing them, he left them, and was taken up to heaven. They bowed in worship of him, and then returned to Jerusalem with great joy. There they were praising God all the time in the temple.