Knights of Columbus Beaver Valley Chapter Electronic Books

The New Jerusalem Bible with Apocrypha
The Gospel According to Luke

Luke''s gospel is very warm and human, concentrating on Jesus' mercy and forgiveness, his call especially to the poor and underprivileged, inviting both Jew and gentile to salvation. Luke writes a more sophisticated Greek than the other evangelists, giving the impression that he is providing a history for the civilised Greek reader. Perhaps for this reason much of his special material consists of teaching on points of individual morality, especially the danger of material possessions and misuse of wealth. Luke also brings out the importance of individual spiritual qualities, especially prayer, joy and praise of God, and the essential part played by the Holy Spirit in the Christian life. But in spite of his attention to Greek readers, Luke is very much aware that Jesus is the completion of the OT: the stories of Jesus' infancy, especially, are shot through with reminiscences of the OT. Many of these emphases occur also in Acts, which once formed the second part of a single two-volume work. The turning-point is Jerusalem, for Luke begins and ends the gospel in Jerusalem, much of Jesus' instruction being brought together in the great final journey up to Jerusalem (section IV); the resurrection appearances are in and around Jerusalem, and it is from Jerusalem that the faith spreads in Acts.

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Chapter 1

¹Seeing that many others have undertaken to draw up accounts of the events that have reached their fulfilment among us, ²as these were handed down to us by those who from the outset were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word, ³I in my turn, after carefully going over the whole story from the beginning, have decided to write an ordered account for you, Theophilus, ⁴so that your Excellency may learn how well founded the teaching is that you have received.

I: THE BIRTH AND HIDDEN LIFE OF JOHN THE BAPTIST AND OF JESUS
The birth of John the Baptist foretold

⁵In the days of King Herod of Judaea there lived a priest called Zechariah who belonged to the Abijah section of the priesthood, and he had a wife, Elizabeth by name, who was a descendant of Aaron. ⁶Both were upright in the sight of God and impeccably carried out all the commandments and observances of the Lord. ⁷But they were childless: Elizabeth was barren and they were both advanced in years. ⁸Now it happened that it was the turn of his section to serve, and he was exercising his priestly office before God ⁹when it fell to him by lot, as the priestly custom was, to enter the Lord's sanctuary and burn incense there. ¹⁰And at the hour of incense all the people were outside, praying. ¹¹Then there appeared to him the angel of the Lord, standing on the right of the altar of incense. ¹²The sight disturbed Zechariah and he was overcome with fear. ¹³But the angel said to him, 'Zechariah, do not be afraid, for your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth is to bear you a son and you shall name him John. ¹⁴He will be your joy and delight and many will rejoice at his birth, ¹⁵for he will be great in the sight of the Lord; he must drink no wine, no strong drink; ^{*[cf. Nb 6:2-3]} even from his mother's womb he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, ¹⁶and he will bring back many of the Israelites to the Lord their God. ¹⁷With the spirit and power of Elijah, he will go before him to reconcile fathers to their children ^{*[Ml 3:23-24]} and the disobedient to the good sense of the upright, preparing for the Lord a people fit for him.' ¹⁸Zechariah said to the angel, 'How can I know this? ^{*[Gn 15:8]} I am an old man and my wife is getting on in years.' ¹⁹The angel replied, 'I am Gabriel, who stand in God's presence, and I have been sent to speak to you and bring you this good news. ²⁰Look! Since you did not believe my words, which will come true at their appointed time, you will be silenced and have no power of speech until this has happened.' ²¹Meanwhile the people were waiting for Zechariah and were surprised that he stayed in the sanctuary so long. ²²When he came out he could not speak to them, and they realised that he had seen a vision in the sanctuary. But he could only make signs to them and remained dumb. ²³When his time of service came to an end he returned home. ²⁴Some time later his wife Elizabeth conceived and for five months she kept to herself, saying, ²⁵'The Lord has done this for me, now that it has pleased him to take away the humiliation I suffered in public.'

The annunciation

²⁶In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, ²⁷to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the House of David; and the virgin's name was Mary. ²⁸He went in and said to her, 'Rejoice, you who enjoy God's favour! The Lord is with you.' ²⁹She was deeply disturbed by these words and asked herself what this greeting could mean, ³⁰but the angel said to her, 'Mary, do not be afraid; you have won God's favour. ³¹Look! You are to conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you must name him Jesus. ³²He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David; ³³he will rule over the House of Jacob for ever and his reign will have no end.' ^{*[cf. 2 S 7:12-16] 34}Mary said to the angel, 'But how can this come about, since I have no knowledge of man?' ³⁵The angel answered, 'The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will cover you with its shadow. And so the child will be holy and will be called Son of God. ³⁶And I tell you this too: your cousin Elizabeth also, in her old age, has conceived a son, and she whom people called barren is now in her sixth month, ³⁷for nothing is impossible to God.' ^{*[Gn 18:14] 38}Mary said, 'You see before you the Lord's servant, let it happen to me as you have said.' And the angel left her.

The visitation

³⁹Mary set out at that time and went as quickly as she could into the hill country to a town in Judah. ⁴⁰She went into Zechariah's house and greeted Elizabeth. ⁴¹Now it happened that as soon as Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the child leapt in her womb and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. ⁴²She gave a loud cry and said, 'Of all women you are the most blessed, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. ⁴³Why should I be honoured with a visit from the mother of my Lord? ⁴⁴Look, the moment your greeting reached my ears, the child in my womb leapt for joy. ⁴⁵Yes, blessed is she who believed that the promise made her by the Lord would be fulfilled.'

The Magnificat
^{*[Mary's canticle echoes Hannah's 1 S 2:1-10, and also 1 S 1:11; Ps 103:17; 111:9; Jb 5:11; 12:19; Ps 98:2; 107:9; Is 41:8-9]}

⁴⁶And Mary said: My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord ⁴⁷and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour; ⁴⁸because he has looked upon the humiliation of his servant. Yes, from now onwards all generations will call me blessed, ⁴⁹for the Almighty has done great things for me. Holy is his name, ⁵⁰and his faithful love extends age after age to those who fear him. ⁵¹He has used the power of his arm, he has routed the arrogant of heart. ⁵²He has pulled down princes from their thrones and raised high the lowly. ⁵³He has filled the starving with good things, sent the rich away empty. ⁵⁴He has come to the help of Israel his servant, mindful of his faithful love ⁵⁵-according to the promise he made to our ancestors-of his mercy to Abraham and to his descendants for ever. ⁵⁶Mary stayed with her some three months and then went home.

The birth of John the Baptist and visit of the neighbours

⁵⁷The time came for Elizabeth to have her child, and she gave birth to a son; ⁵⁸and when her neighbours and relations heard that the Lord had lavished on her his faithful love, they shared her joy.

The circumcision of John the Baptist

⁵⁹Now it happened that on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child; they were going to call him Zechariah after his father,⁶⁰but his mother spoke up. 'No,' she said, 'he is to be called John.'⁶¹They said to her, 'But no one in your family has that name,'⁶²and made signs to his father to find out what he wanted him called.⁶³The father asked for a writing-tablet and wrote, 'His name is John.' And they were all astonished.⁶⁴At that instant his power of speech returned and he spoke and praised God.⁶⁵All their neighbours were filled with awe and the whole affair was talked about throughout the hill country of Judaea.⁶⁶All those who heard of it treasured it in their hearts. 'What will this child turn out to be?' they wondered. And indeed the hand of the Lord was with him.

The Benedictus
^{*[The canticle uses Ps 41:13; 111:9; Lv 26:42; Is 9:1.]}

⁶⁷His father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke this prophecy:⁶⁸Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, for he has visited his people, he has set them free,⁶⁹and he has established for us a saving power in the House of his servant David,⁷⁰just as he proclaimed, by the mouth of his holy prophets from ancient times,⁷¹that he would save us from our enemies and from the hands of all those who hate us,⁷²and show faithful love to our ancestors, and so keep in mind his holy covenant.⁷³This was the oath he swore to our father Abraham,⁷⁴that he would grant us, free from fear, to be delivered from the hands of our enemies,⁷⁵to serve him in holiness and uprightness in his presence, all our days.⁷⁶And you, little child, you shall be called Prophet of the Most High, for you will go before the Lord to prepare a way for him,⁷⁷to give his people knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins,⁷⁸because of the faithful love of our God in which the rising Sun has come from on high to visit us,⁷⁹to give light to those who live in darkness and the shadow dark as death, and to guide our feet into the way of peace.

The hidden life of John the Baptist

⁸⁰Meanwhile the child grew up and his spirit grew strong. And he lived in the desert until the day he appeared openly to Israel.

The birth of Jesus and visit of the shepherds

²Now it happened that at this time Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be made of the whole inhabited world. ²This census-the first-took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria, ³and everyone went to be registered, each to his own town. ⁴So Joseph set out from the town of Nazareth in Galilee for Judaea, to David's town called Bethlehem, since he was of David's House and line, ⁵in order to be registered together with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. ⁶Now it happened that, while they were there, the time came for her to have her child, ⁷and she gave birth to a son, her first-born. She wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger because there was no room for them in the living-space. ⁸In the countryside close by there were shepherds out in the fields keeping guard over their sheep during the watches of the night. ⁹An angel of the Lord stood over them and the glory of the Lord shone round them. They were terrified, ¹⁰but the angel said, 'Do not be afraid. Look, I bring you news of great joy, a joy to be shared by the whole people. ¹¹Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. ¹²And here is a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.' ¹³And all at once with the angel there was a great throng of the hosts of heaven, praising God with the words: ¹⁴Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace for those he favours. ¹⁵Now it happened that when the angels had gone from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, 'Let us go to Bethlehem and see this event which the Lord has made known to us.' ¹⁶So they hurried away and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in the manger. ¹⁷When they saw the child they repeated what they had been told about him, ¹⁸and everyone who heard it was astonished at what the shepherds said to them. ¹⁹As for Mary, she treasured all these things and pondered them in her heart. ²⁰And the shepherds went back glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, just as they had been told.

The circumcision of Jesus

²¹When the eighth day came and the child was to be circumcised, they gave him the name Jesus, the name the angel had given him before his conception.

Jesus is presented in the Temple

²²And when the day came for them to be purified in keeping with the Law of Moses, they took him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord- ²³observing what is written in the Law of the Lord: Every first-born male must be consecrated to the Lord- ^{*[Ex 13:2] 24}and also to offer in sacrifice, in accordance with what is prescribed in the Law of the Lord, a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons. ^{*[Lv 5:7] 25}Now in Jerusalem there was a man named Simeon. He was an upright and devout man; he looked forward to the restoration of Israel and the Holy Spirit rested on him. ²⁶It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death until he had set eyes on the Christ of the Lord. ²⁷Prompted by the Spirit he came to the Temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the Law required, ²⁸he took him into his arms and blessed God; and he said:

The Nunc Dimittis

²⁹Now, Master, you are letting your servant go in peace as you promised; ³⁰for my eyes have seen the salvation ³¹which you have made ready in the sight of the nations; ³²a light of revelation for the gentiles and glory for your people Israel.

The prophecy of Simeon

³³As the child's father and mother were wondering at the things that were being said about him, ³⁴Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, 'Look, he is destined for the fall and for the rise of many in Israel, destined to be a sign that is opposed- ³⁵and a sword will pierce your soul too-so that the secret thoughts of many may be laid bare.'

The prophecy of Anna

³⁶There was a prophetess, too, Anna the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was well on in years. Her days of girlhood over, she had been married for seven years ³⁷before becoming a widow. She was now eighty-four years old and never left the Temple, serving God night and day with fasting and prayer. ³⁸She came up just at that moment and began to praise God; and she spoke of the child to all who looked forward to the deliverance of Jerusalem.

The hidden life of Jesus at Nazareth

³⁹When they had done everything the Law of the Lord required, they went back to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. ⁴⁰And as the child grew to maturity, he was filled with wisdom; and God's favour was with him.

Jesus among the doctors of the Law

⁴¹Every year his parents used to go to Jerusalem for the feast of the Passover. ⁴²When he was twelve years old, they went up for the feast as usual. ⁴³When the days of the feast were over and they set off home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem without his parents knowing it. ⁴⁴They assumed he was somewhere in the party, and it was only after a day's journey that they went to look for him among their relations and acquaintances. ⁴⁵When they failed to find him they went back to Jerusalem looking for him everywhere. ⁴⁶It happened that, three days later, they found him in the Temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them, and asking them questions; ⁴⁷and all those who heard him were astounded at his intelligence and his replies. ⁴⁸They were overcome when they saw him, and his mother said to him, 'My child, why have you done this to us? See how worried your father and I have been, looking for you.' ⁴⁹He replied, 'Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?' ⁵⁰But they did not understand what he meant.

The hidden life at Nazareth resumed

⁵¹He went down with them then and came to Nazareth and lived under their authority. His mother stored up all these things in her heart. ⁵²And Jesus increased in wisdom, in stature, and in favour with God and with people.

II: PRELUDE TO THE PUBLIC MINISTRY OF JESUS
The proclamation of John the Baptist

³In the fifteenth year of Tiberius Caesar's reign, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judaea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of the territories of Ituraea and Trachonitis, Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, ²and while the high-priesthood was held by Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah, in the desert. ³He went through the whole Jordan area proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, ⁴as it is written in the book of the sayings of Isaiah the prophet: A voice of one that cries in the desert: Prepare a way for the Lord, make his paths straight! ⁵Let every valley be filled in, every mountain and hill be levelled, winding ways be straightened and rough roads made smooth, ⁶and all humanity will see the salvation of God. ^{*[Is 40:3-5] 7}He said, therefore, to the crowds who came to be baptised by him, 'Brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the coming retribution? ⁸Produce fruit in keeping with repentance, and do not start telling yourselves, "We have Abraham as our father," because, I tell you, God can raise children for Abraham from these stones. ⁹Yes, even now the axe is being laid to the root of the trees, so that any tree failing to produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown on the fire.' ¹⁰When all the people asked him, 'What must we do, then?' ¹¹he answered, 'Anyone who has two tunics must share with the one who has none, and anyone with something to eat must do the same.' ¹²There were tax collectors, too, who came for baptism, and these said to him, 'Master, what must we do?' ¹³He said to them, 'Exact no more than the appointed rate.' ¹⁴Some soldiers asked him in their turn, 'What about us? What must we do?' He said to them, 'No intimidation! No extortion! Be content with your pay!' ¹⁵A feeling of expectancy had grown among the people, who were beginning to wonder whether John might be the Christ, ¹⁶so John declared before them all, 'I baptise you with water, but someone is coming, who is more powerful than me, and I am not fit to undo the strap of his sandals; he will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and fire. ¹⁷His winnowing-fan is in his hand, to clear his threshing-floor and to gather the wheat into his barn; but the chaff he will burn in a fire that will never go out.' ¹⁸And he proclaimed the good news to the people with many other exhortations too.

John the Baptist imprisoned

¹⁹But Herod the tetrarch, censured by John for his relations with his brother's wife Herodias and for all the other crimes he had committed,²⁰added a further crime to all the rest by shutting John up in prison.

Jesus is baptised

²¹Now it happened that when all the people had been baptised and while Jesus after his own baptism was at prayer, heaven opened ²²and the Holy Spirit descended on him in a physical form, like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, 'You are my Son; today have I fathered you.' ^{*[Ps 2:7]}

The ancestry of Jesus

²³When he began, Jesus was about thirty years old, being the son, as it was thought, of Joseph son of Heli, ²⁴son of Matthat, son of Levi, son of Melchi, son of Jannai, son of Joseph, ²⁵son of Mattathias, son of Amos, son of Nahum, son of Esli, son of Naggai, ²⁶son of Maath, son of Mattathias, son of Semein, son of Josech, son of Joda, ²⁷son of Joanan, son of Rhesa, son of Zerubbabel, son of Shealtiel, son of Neri, ²⁸son of Melchi, son of Addi, son of Cosam, son of Elmadam, son of Er, ²⁹son of Jesus, son of Eliezer, son of Jorim, son of Matthat, son of Levi, ³⁰son of Symeon, son of Judah, son of Joseph, son of Jonam, son of Eliakim, ³¹son of Melea, son of Menna, son of Mattatha, son of Nathan, son of David, ³²son of Jesse, son of Obed, son of Boaz, son of Sala, son of Nahshon, ³³son of Amminadab, son of Admin, son of Arni, son of Hezron, son of Perez, son of Judah, ³⁴son of Jacob, son of Isaac, son of Abraham, son of Terah, son of Nahor, ³⁵son of Serug, son of Reu, son of Peleg, son of Eber, son of Shelah, ³⁶son of Cainan, son of Arphaxad, son of Shem, son of Noah, son of Lamech, ³⁷son of Methuselah, son of Enoch, son of Jared, son of Mahalaleel, son of Cainan, ³⁸son of Enos, son of Seth, son of Adam, son of God.

Testing in the desert

⁴Filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the desert, ²for forty days being put to the test by the devil. During that time he ate nothing and at the end he was hungry. ³Then the devil said to him, 'If you are Son of God, tell this stone to turn into a loaf.' ⁴But Jesus replied, 'Scripture says: Human beings live not on bread alone.' ^{* [Dt 8:3] 5}Then leading him to a height, the devil showed him in a moment of time all the kingdoms of the world ⁶and said to him, 'I will give you all this power and their splendour, for it has been handed over to me, for me to give it to anyone I choose. ⁷Do homage, then, to me, and it shall all be yours.' ⁸But Jesus answered him, 'Scripture says: You must do homage to the Lord your God, him alone you must serve.' ^{*[Dt 6:13] 9}Then he led him to Jerusalem and set him on the parapet of the Temple. 'If you are Son of God,' he said to him, 'throw yourself down from here, ¹⁰for scripture says: He has given his angels orders about you, to guard you, and again: ¹¹They will carry you in their arms in case you trip over a stone.' ^{*[Ps 91:11-12] 12}But Jesus answered him, 'Scripture says: Do not put the Lord your God to the test.' ^{*[Dt 6:16] 13}Having exhausted every way of putting him to the test, the devil left him, until the opportune moment.

III: THE GALILEAN MINISTRY
Jesus begins to preach

¹⁴Jesus, with the power of the Spirit in him, returned to Galilee; and his reputation spread throughout the countryside. ¹⁵He taught in their synagogues and everyone glorified him.

Jesus at Nazareth

¹⁶He came to Nazara, where he had been brought up, and went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day as he usually did. He stood up to read, ¹⁷and they handed him the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. Unrolling the scroll he found the place where it is written: ¹⁸The spirit of the Lord is on me, for he has anointed me to bring the good news to the afflicted. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives, sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, ¹⁹to proclaim a year of favour from the Lord. ^{*[Is 61:1-2] 20}He then rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the assistant and sat down. And all eyes in the synagogue were fixed on him. ²¹Then he began to speak to them, 'This text is being fulfilled today even while you are listening.' ²²And he won the approval of all, and they were astonished by the gracious words that came from his lips. They said, 'This is Joseph's son, surely?' ²³But he replied, 'No doubt you will quote me the saying, "Physician, heal yourself," and tell me, "We have heard all that happened in Capernaum, do the same here in your own country." ' ²⁴And he went on, 'In truth I tell you, no prophet is ever accepted in his own country. ²⁵'There were many widows in Israel, I can assure you, in Elijah's day, when heaven remained shut for three years and six months and a great famine raged throughout the land, ²⁶but Elijah was not sent to any one of these: he was sent to a widow at Zarephath, a town in Sidonia. ^{*[1 K 17:9] 27}And in the prophet Elisha's time there were many suffering from virulent skin-diseases in Israel, but none of these was cured-only Naaman the Syrian.' ^{*[2 K 5:14] 28}When they heard this everyone in the synagogue was enraged. ²⁹They sprang to their feet and hustled him out of the town; and they took him up to the brow of the hill their town was built on, intending to throw him off the cliff, ³⁰but he passed straight through the crowd and walked away.

Jesus teaches in Capernaum and cures a demoniac

³¹He went down to Capernaum, a town in Galilee, and taught them on the Sabbath. ³²And his teaching made a deep impression on them because his word carried authority. ³³In the synagogue there was a man possessed by the spirit of an unclean devil, and he shouted at the top of his voice, ³⁴'Ha! What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are: the Holy One of God.' ³⁵But Jesus rebuked it, saying, 'Be quiet! Come out of him!' And the devil, throwing the man into the middle, went out of him without hurting him at all. ³⁶Astonishment seized them and they were all saying to one another, 'What is it in his words? He gives orders to unclean spirits with authority and power and they come out.' ³⁷And the news of him travelled all through the surrounding countryside.

Cure of Simon's mother-in-law

³⁸Leaving the synagogue he went to Simon's house. Now Simon's mother-in-law was in the grip of a high fever and they asked him to do something for her. ³⁹Standing over her he rebuked the fever and it left her. And she immediately got up and began to serve them.

A number of cures

⁴⁰At sunset all those who had friends suffering from diseases of one kind or another brought them to him, and laying his hands on each he cured them. ⁴¹Devils too came out of many people, shouting, 'You are the Son of God.' But he warned them and would not allow them to speak because they knew that he was the Christ.

Dawn departure from Capernaum and travels through Judaea

⁴²When daylight came he left the house and made his way to a lonely place. The crowds went to look for him, and when they had caught up with him they wanted to prevent him leaving them, ⁴³but he answered, 'I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns too, because that is what I was sent to do.' ⁴⁴And he continued his proclamation in the synagogues of Judaea.

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Chapter 5

The first four disciples are called

^5:1Now it happened that he was standing one day by the Lake of Gennesaret, with the crowd pressing round him listening to the word of God, ²when he caught sight of two boats at the water's edge. The fishermen had got out of them and were washing their nets. ³He got into one of the boats-it was Simon's-and asked him to put out a little from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. ⁴When he had finished speaking he said to Simon, 'Put out into deep water and pay out your nets for a catch.' ⁵Simon replied, 'Master, we worked hard all night long and caught nothing, but if you say so, I will pay out the nets.' ⁶And when they had done this they netted such a huge number of fish that their nets began to tear, ⁷so they signalled to their companions in the other boat to come and help them; when these came, they filled both boats to sinking point. ⁸When Simon Peter saw this he fell at the knees of Jesus saying, 'Leave me, Lord; I am a sinful man.' ⁹For he and all his companions were completely awestruck at the catch they had made; ¹⁰so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were Simon's partners. But Jesus said to Simon, 'Do not be afraid; from now on it is people you will be catching.' ¹¹Then, bringing their boats back to land they left everything and followed him.

Cure of a man suffering from a virulent skin-disease

¹²Now it happened that Jesus was in one of the towns when suddenly a man appeared, covered with a skin-disease. Seeing Jesus he fell on his face and implored him saying, 'Sir, if you are willing you can cleanse me.' ¹³He stretched out his hand, and touched him saying, 'I am willing. Be cleansed.' At once the skin-disease left him. ¹⁴He ordered him to tell no one, 'But go and show yourself to the priest and make the offering for your cleansing just as Moses prescribed, as evidence to them.' ¹⁵But the news of him kept spreading, and large crowds would gather to hear him and to have their illnesses cured, ¹⁶but he would go off to some deserted place and pray.

Cure of a paralytic

¹⁷Now it happened that he was teaching one day, and Pharisees and teachers of the Law, who had come from every village in Galilee, from Judaea and from Jerusalem, were sitting there. And the power of the Lord was there so that he should heal. ¹⁸And now some men appeared, bringing on a bed a paralysed man whom they were trying to bring in and lay down in front of him. ¹⁹But as they could find no way of getting the man through the crowd, they went up onto the top of the house and lowered him and his stretcher down through the tiles into the middle of the gathering, in front of Jesus. ²⁰Seeing their faith he said, 'My friend, your sins are forgiven you.' ²¹The scribes and the Pharisees began to think this over. 'Who is this man, talking blasphemy? Who but God alone can forgive sins?' ²²But Jesus, aware of their thoughts, made them this reply, 'What are these thoughts you have in your hearts? ²³Which of these is easier: to say, "Your sins are forgiven you," or to say, "Get up and walk"? ²⁴But to prove to you that the Son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins,'-he said to the paralysed man-'I order you: get up, and pick up your stretcher and go home.' ²⁵And immediately before their very eyes he got up, picked up what he had been lying on and went home praising God. ²⁶They were all astounded and praised God and were filled with awe, saying, 'We have seen strange things today.'

The call of Levi

²⁷When he went out after this, he noticed a tax collector, Levi by name, sitting at the tax office, and said to him, 'Follow me.' ²⁸And leaving everything Levi got up and followed him.

Eating with sinners in Levi's house

²⁹In his honour Levi held a great reception in his house, and with them at table was a large gathering of tax collectors and others. ³⁰The Pharisees and their scribes complained to his disciples and said, 'Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?' ³¹Jesus said to them in reply, 'It is not those that are well who need the doctor, but the sick. ³²I have come to call not the upright but sinners to repentance.'

Discussion on fasting

³³They then said to him, 'John's disciples are always fasting and saying prayers, and the disciples of the Pharisees, too, but yours go on eating and drinking.' ³⁴Jesus replied, 'Surely you cannot make the bridegroom's attendants fast while the bridegroom is still with them? ³⁵But the time will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them; then, in those days, they will fast.' ³⁶He also told them a parable, 'No one tears a piece from a new cloak to put it on an old cloak; otherwise, not only will the new one be torn, but the piece taken from the new will not match the old. ³⁷'And nobody puts new wine in old wineskins; otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins and run to waste, and the skins will be ruined. ³⁸No; new wine must be put in fresh skins. ³⁹And nobody who has been drinking old wine wants new. "The old is good," he says.'

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Chapter 6

Picking corn on the Sabbath

^6:1It happened that one Sabbath he was walking through the cornfields, and his disciples were picking ears of corn, rubbing them in their hands and eating them. ²Some of the Pharisees said, 'Why are you doing something that is forbidden on the Sabbath day?' ³Jesus answered them, 'So you have not read what David did ^{*[1 S 21:2-7]} when he and his followers were hungry- ⁴how he went into the house of God and took the loaves of the offering and ate them and gave them to his followers, loaves which the priests alone are allowed to eat?' ⁵And he said to them, 'The Son of man is master of the Sabbath.'

Cure of the man with a withered hand

⁶Now on another Sabbath he went into the synagogue and began to teach, and a man was present, and his right hand was withered. ⁷The scribes and the Pharisees were watching him to see if he would cure somebody on the Sabbath, hoping to find something to charge him with. ⁸But he knew their thoughts; and he said to the man with the withered hand, 'Get up and stand out in the middle!' And he came forward and stood there. ⁹Then Jesus said to them, 'I put it to you: is it permitted on the Sabbath to do good, or to do evil; to save life, or to destroy it?' ¹⁰Then he looked round at them all and said to the man, 'Stretch out your hand.' He did so, and his hand was restored. ¹¹But they were furious and began to discuss the best way of dealing with Jesus.

The choice of the Twelve

¹²Now it happened in those days that he went onto the mountain to pray; and he spent the whole night in prayer to God. ¹³When day came he summoned his disciples and picked out twelve of them; he called them 'apostles': ¹⁴Simon whom he called Peter, and his brother Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, ¹⁵Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Simon called the Zealot, ¹⁶Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot who became a traitor.

The crowds follow Jesus

¹⁷He then came down with them and stopped at a piece of level ground where there was a large gathering of his disciples, with a great crowd of people from all parts of Judaea and Jerusalem and the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon ¹⁸who had come to hear him and to be cured of their diseases. People tormented by unclean spirits were also cured, ¹⁹and everyone in the crowd was trying to touch him because power came out of him that cured them all.

The first sermon. The Beatitudes
^{*[Mt 5:1]}

²⁰Then fixing his eyes on his disciples he said: How blessed are you who are poor: the kingdom of God is yours. ²¹Blessed are you who are hungry now: you shall have your fill. Blessed are you who are weeping now: you shall laugh. ²²'Blessed are you when people hate you, drive you out, abuse you, denounce your name as criminal, on account of the Son of man. ²³Rejoice when that day comes and dance for joy, look!-your reward will be great in heaven. This was the way their ancestors treated the prophets.

The curses

²⁴But alas for you who are rich: you are having your consolation now. ²⁵Alas for you who have plenty to eat now: you shall go hungry. Alas for you who are laughing now: you shall mourn and weep. ²⁶'Alas for you when everyone speaks well of you! This was the way their ancestors treated the false prophets.

Love of enemies

²⁷'But I say this to you who are listening: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, ²⁸bless those who curse you, pray for those who treat you badly. ²⁹To anyone who slaps you on one cheek, present the other cheek as well; to anyone who takes your cloak from you, do not refuse your tunic. ³⁰Give to everyone who asks you, and do not ask for your property back from someone who takes it. ³¹Treat others as you would like people to treat you. ³²If you love those who love you, what credit can you expect? Even sinners love those who love them. ³³And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit can you expect? For even sinners do that much. ³⁴And if you lend to those from whom you hope to get money back, what credit can you expect? Even sinners lend to sinners to get back the same amount. ³⁵Instead, love your enemies and do good to them, and lend without any hope of return. You will have a great reward, and you will be children of the Most High, for he himself is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.

Compassion and generosity

³⁶'Be compassionate just as your Father is compassionate. ³⁷Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven. ³⁸Give, and there will be gifts for you: a full measure, pressed down, shaken together, and overflowing, will be poured into your lap; because the standard you use will be the standard used for you.'

Integrity

³⁹He also told them a parable, 'Can one blind person guide another? Surely both will fall into a pit? ⁴⁰Disciple is not superior to teacher; but fully trained disciple will be like teacher. ⁴¹Why do you observe the splinter in your brother's eye and never notice the great log in your own? ⁴²How can you say to your brother, "Brother, let me take out that splinter in your eye," when you cannot see the great log in your own? Hypocrite! Take the log out of your own eye first, and then you will see clearly enough to take out the splinter in your brother's eye. ⁴³'There is no sound tree that produces rotten fruit, nor again a rotten tree that produces sound fruit. ⁴⁴Every tree can be told by its own fruit: people do not pick figs from thorns, nor gather grapes from brambles. ⁴⁵Good people draw what is good from the store of goodness in their hearts; bad people draw what is bad from the store of badness. For the words of the mouth flow out of what fills the heart.

The true disciple

⁴⁶'Why do you call me, "Lord, Lord" and not do what I say? ⁴⁷'Everyone who comes to me and listens to my words and acts on them-I will show you what such a person is like. ⁴⁸Such a person is like the man who, when he built a house, dug, and dug deep, and laid the foundations on rock; when the river was in flood it bore down on that house but could not shake it, it was so well built. ⁴⁹But someone who listens and does nothing is like the man who built a house on soil, with no foundations; as soon as the river bore down on it, it collapsed; and what a ruin that house became!'

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Chapter 7

Cure of the centurion's servant

^7:1When he had come to the end of all he wanted the people to hear, he went into Capernaum. ²A centurion there had a servant, a favourite of his, who was sick and near death. ³Having heard about Jesus he sent some Jewish elders to him to ask him to come and heal his servant. ⁴When they came to Jesus they pleaded earnestly with him saying, 'He deserves this of you, ⁵because he is well disposed towards our people; he built us our synagogue himself.' ⁶So Jesus went with them, and was not very far from the house when the centurion sent word to him by some friends to say to him, 'Sir, do not put yourself to any trouble because I am not worthy to have you under my roof; ⁷and that is why I did not presume to come to you myself; let my boy be cured by your giving the word. ⁸For I am under authority myself, and have soldiers under me; and I say to one man, "Go," and he goes; to another, "Come here," and he comes; to my servant, "Do this," and he does it.' ⁹When Jesus heard these words he was astonished at him and, turning round, said to the crowd following him, 'I tell you, not even in Israel have I found faith as great as this.' ¹⁰And when the messengers got back to the house they found the servant in perfect health.

The son of the widow of Nain restored to life

¹¹It happened that soon afterwards he went to a town called Nain, accompanied by his disciples and a great number of people. ¹²Now when he was near the gate of the town there was a dead man being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. And a considerable number of the townspeople was with her. ¹³When the Lord saw her he felt sorry for her and said to her, 'Don't cry.' ¹⁴Then he went up and touched the bier and the bearers stood still, and he said, 'Young man, I tell you: get up.' ¹⁵And the dead man sat up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him to his mother. ^{*[1 K 17:23] 16}Everyone was filled with awe and glorified God saying, 'A great prophet has risen up among us; God has visited his people.' ¹⁷And this view of him spread throughout Judaea and all over the countryside.

The Baptist's question
Jesus commends him

¹⁸The disciples of John gave him all this news, and John, summoning two of his disciples, ¹⁹sent them to the Lord to ask, 'Are you the one who is to come, or are we to expect someone else?' ²⁰When the men reached Jesus they said, 'John the Baptist has sent us to you to ask, "Are you the one who is to come or are we to expect someone else?" ' ²¹At that very time he cured many people of diseases and afflictions and of evil spirits, and gave the gift of sight to many who were blind. ²²Then he gave the messengers their answer, 'Go back and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind see again, the lame walk, those suffering from virulent skin-diseases are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life, the good news is proclaimed to the poor; ²³and blessed is anyone who does not find me a cause of falling.' ²⁴When John's messengers had gone he began to talk to the people about John, ²⁵'What did you go out into the desert to see? A reed swaying in the breeze? No! Then what did you go out to see? A man dressed in fine clothes? Look, those who go in magnificent clothes and live luxuriously are to be found at royal courts! ²⁶Then what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and much more than a prophet: ²⁷he is the one of whom scripture says: Look, I am going to send my messenger in front of you to prepare your way before you. ^{*[M1 3:1] 28}'I tell you, of all the children born to women, there is no one greater than John; yet the least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.' ²⁹All the people who heard him, and the tax collectors too, acknowledged God's saving justice by accepting baptism from John; ³⁰but by refusing baptism from him the Pharisees and the lawyers thwarted God's plan for them.

Jesus condemns his contemporaries

³¹'What comparison, then, can I find for the people of this generation? What are they like? ³²They are like children shouting to one another while they sit in the market place: We played the pipes for you, and you wouldn't dance; we sang dirges, and you wouldn't cry. ³³'For John the Baptist has come, not eating bread, not drinking wine, and you say, "He is possessed." ³⁴The Son of man has come, eating and drinking, and you say, "Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners." ³⁵Yet wisdom is justified by all her children.'

The woman who was a sinner

³⁶One of the Pharisees invited him to a meal. When he arrived at the Pharisee's house and took his place at table, ³⁷suddenly a woman came in, who had a bad name in the town. She had heard he was dining with the Pharisee and had brought with her an alabaster jar of ointment. ³⁸She waited behind him at his feet, weeping, and her tears fell on his feet, and she wiped them away with her hair; then she covered his feet with kisses and anointed them with the ointment. ³⁹When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, 'If this man were a prophet, he would know who this woman is and what sort of person it is who is touching him and what a bad name she has.' ⁴⁰Then Jesus took him up and said, 'Simon, I have something to say to you.' He replied, 'Say on, Master.' ⁴¹'There was once a creditor who had two men in his debt; one owed him five hundred denarii, the other fifty. ⁴²They were unable to pay, so he let them both off. Which of them will love him more?' ⁴³Simon answered, 'The one who was let off more, I suppose.' Jesus said, 'You are right.' ⁴⁴Then he turned to the woman and said to Simon, 'You see this woman? I came into your house, and you poured no water over my feet, but she has poured out her tears over my feet and wiped them away with her hair. ⁴⁵You gave me no kiss, but she has been covering my feet with kisses ever since I came in. ⁴⁶You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. ⁴⁷For this reason I tell you that her sins, many as they are, have been forgiven her, because she has shown such great love. ^{*[In most of the story love wins forgiveness, but in vv. 40- 43 and 47a, forgiveness nourishes love.]} It is someone who is forgiven little who shows little love.' ⁴⁸Then he said to her, 'Your sins are forgiven.' ⁴⁹Those who were with him at table began to say to themselves, 'Who is this man, that even forgives sins?' ⁵⁰But he said to the woman, 'Your faith has saved you; go in peace.'

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Chapter 8

The women accompanying Jesus

^8:1Now it happened that after this he made his way through towns and villages preaching and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. With him went the Twelve, ²as well as certain women who had been cured of evil spirits and ailments: Mary surnamed the Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, ³Joanna the wife of Herod's steward Chuza, Susanna, and many others who provided for them out of their own resources.

Parable of the sower

⁴With a large crowd gathering and people from every town finding their way to him, he told this parable: ⁵'A sower went out to sow his seed. Now as he sowed, some fell on the edge of the path and was trampled on; and the birds of the air ate it up. ⁶Some seed fell on rock, and when it came up it withered away, having no moisture. ⁷Some seed fell in the middle of thorns and the thorns grew with it and choked it. ⁸And some seed fell into good soil and grew and produced its crop a hundredfold.' Saying this he cried, 'Anyone who has ears for listening should listen!'

Why Jesus speaks in parables

⁹His disciples asked him what this parable might mean, ¹⁰and he said, 'To you is granted to understand the secrets of the kingdom of God; for the rest it remains in parables, so that they may look but not perceive, listen but not understand. ^{*[Is 6:9]}

The parable of the sower explained

¹¹'This, then, is what the parable means: the seed is the word of God. ¹²Those on the edge of the path are people who have heard it, and then the devil comes and carries away the word from their hearts in case they should believe and be saved. ¹³Those on the rock are people who, when they first hear it, welcome the word with joy. But these have no root; they believe for a while, and in time of trial they give up. ¹⁴As for the part that fell into thorns, this is people who have heard, but as they go on their way they are choked by the worries and riches and pleasures of life and never produce any crops. ¹⁵As for the part in the rich soil, this is people with a noble and generous heart who have heard the word and take it to themselves and yield a harvest through their perseverance.

Parable of the lamp

¹⁶'No one lights a lamp to cover it with a bowl or to put it under a bed. No, it is put on a lamp-stand so that people may see the light when they come in. ¹⁷For nothing is hidden but it will be made clear, nothing secret but it will be made known and brought to light. ¹⁸So take care how you listen; anyone who has, will be given more; anyone who has not, will be deprived even of what he thinks he has.'

The true family of Jesus

¹⁹His mother and his brothers came looking for him, but they could not get to him because of the crowd. ²⁰He was told, 'Your mother and brothers are standing outside and want to see you.' ²¹But he said in answer, 'My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and put it into practice.'

The calming of the storm

²²It happened that one day he got into a boat with his disciples and said to them, 'Let us cross over to the other side of the lake.' So they set out, ²³and as they sailed he fell asleep. When a squall of wind came down on the lake the boat started shipping water and they found themselves in danger. ²⁴So they went to rouse him saying, 'Master! Master! We are lost!' Then he woke up and rebuked the wind and the rough water; and they subsided and it was calm again. ²⁵He said to them, 'Where is your faith?' They were awestruck and astounded and said to one another, 'Who can this be, that gives orders even to winds and waves and they obey him?'

The Gerasene demoniac

²⁶They came to land in the territory of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee. ²⁷He was stepping ashore when a man from the city who was possessed by devils came towards him; for a long time the man had been living with no clothes on, not in a house, but in the tombs. ²⁸Catching sight of Jesus he gave a shout, fell at his feet and cried out at the top of his voice, 'What do you want with me, Jesus, son of the Most High God? I implore you, do not torture me.' ²⁹For Jesus had been telling the unclean spirit to come out of the man. It had seized on him a great many times, and then they used to secure him with chains and fetters to restrain him, but he would always break the fastenings, and the devil would drive him out into the wilds. ³⁰Jesus asked him, 'What is your name?' He said, 'Legion'-because many devils had gone into him. ³¹And these begged him not to order them to depart into the Abyss. ³²Now there was a large herd of pigs feeding there on the mountain, and the devils begged him to let them go into these. So he gave them leave. ³³The devils came out of the man and went into the pigs, and the herd charged down the cliff into the lake and was drowned. ³⁴When the swineherds saw what had happened they ran off and told their story in the city and in the country round about; ³⁵and the people went out to see what had happened. When they came to Jesus they found the man from whom the devils had gone out sitting at the feet of Jesus, wearing clothes and in his right mind; and they were afraid. ³⁶Those who had witnessed it told them how the man who had been possessed came to be saved. ³⁷The entire population of the Gerasene territory was in great fear and asked Jesus to leave them. So he got into the boat and went back. ³⁸The man from whom the devils had gone out asked to be allowed to stay with him, but he sent him away saying, ³⁹'Go back home and report all that God has done for you.' So the man went off and proclaimed throughout the city all that Jesus had done for him.

Cure of the woman with a haemorrhage
Jairus' daughter raised to life

⁴⁰On his return Jesus was welcomed by the crowd, for they were all there waiting for him. ⁴¹And suddenly there came a man named Jairus, who was president of the synagogue. He fell at Jesus' feet and pleaded with him to come to his house, ⁴²because he had an only daughter about twelve years old, who was dying. And the crowds were almost stifling Jesus as he went. ⁴³Now there was a woman suffering from a haemorrhage for the past twelve years, whom no one had been able to cure. ⁴⁴She came up behind him and touched the fringe of his cloak; and the haemorrhage stopped at that very moment. ⁴⁵Jesus said, 'Who was it that touched me?' When they all denied it, Peter said, 'Master, it is the crowds round you, pushing.' ⁴⁶But Jesus said, 'Somebody touched me. I felt that power had gone out from me.' ⁴⁷Seeing herself discovered, the woman came forward trembling, and falling at his feet explained in front of all the people why she had touched him and how she had been cured at that very moment. ⁴⁸'My daughter,' he said, 'your faith has saved you; go in peace.' ⁴⁹While he was still speaking, someone arrived from the house of the president of the synagogue to say, 'Your daughter has died. Do not trouble the Master any further.' ⁵⁰But Jesus heard this, and he spoke to the man, 'Do not be afraid, only have faith and she will be saved.' ⁵¹When he came to the house he allowed no one to go in with him except Peter and John and James, and the child's father and mother. ⁵²They were all crying and mourning for her, but Jesus said, 'Stop crying; she is not dead, but asleep.' ⁵³But they ridiculed him, knowing she was dead.⁵⁴But taking her by the hand himself he spoke to her, 'Child, get up.' ⁵⁵And her spirit returned and she got up at that very moment. Then he told them to give her something to eat. ⁵⁶Her parents were astonished, but he ordered them not to tell anyone what had happened.

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Chapter 9

The mission of the Twelve

^9:1He called the Twelve together and gave them power and authority over all devils and to cure diseases, ²and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal. ³He said to them, 'Take nothing for the journey: neither staff, nor haversack, nor bread, nor money; and do not have a spare tunic. ⁴Whatever house you enter, stay there; and when you leave let your departure be from there. ⁵As for those who do not welcome you, when you leave their town shake the dust from your feet as evidence against them.' ⁶So they set out and went from village to village proclaiming the good news and healing everywhere.

Herod and Jesus

⁷Meanwhile Herod the tetrarch had heard about all that was going on; and he was puzzled, because some people were saying that John had risen from the dead, ⁸others that Elijah had reappeared, still others that one of the ancient prophets had come back to life. ⁹But Herod said, 'John? I beheaded him. So who is this I hear such reports about?' And he was anxious to see him.

The return of the apostles
Miracle of the loaves

¹⁰On their return the apostles gave him an account of all they had done. Then he took them with him and withdrew towards a town called Bethsaida where they could be by themselves. ¹¹But the crowds got to know and they went after him. He made them welcome and talked to them about the kingdom of God; and he cured those who were in need of healing. ¹²It was late afternoon when the Twelve came up to him and said, 'Send the people away, and they can go to the villages and farms round about to find lodging and food; for we are in a lonely place here.' ¹³He replied, 'Give them something to eat yourselves.' But they said, 'We have no more than five loaves and two fish, unless we are to go ourselves and buy food for all these people.' ¹⁴For there were about five thousand men. But he said to his disciples, 'Get them to sit down in parties of about fifty.' ¹⁵They did so and made them all sit down. ¹⁶Then he took the five loaves and the two fish, raised his eyes to heaven, and said the blessing over them; then he broke them and handed them to his disciples to distribute among the crowd. ¹⁷They all ate as much as they wanted, and when the scraps left over were collected they filled twelve baskets.

Peter's profession of faith

¹⁸Now it happened that he was praying alone, and his disciples came to him and he put this question to them, 'Who do the crowds say I am?'¹⁹And they answered, 'Some say John the Baptist; others Elijah; others again one of the ancient prophets come back to life.'²⁰'But you,' he said to them, 'who do you say I am?' It was Peter who spoke up. 'The Christ of God,' he said.²¹But he gave them strict orders and charged them not to say this to anyone.

First prophecy of the Passion

²²He said, 'The Son of man is destined to suffer grievously, to be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes and to be put to death, and to be raised up on the third day.'

The condition of following Christ

²³Then, speaking to all, he said, 'If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross every day and follow me.²⁴Anyone who wants to save his life will lose it; but anyone who loses his life for my sake, will save it.²⁵What benefit is it to anyone to win the whole world and forfeit or lose his very self?²⁶For if anyone is ashamed of me and of my words, of him the Son of man will be ashamed when he comes in his own glory and in the glory of the Father and the holy angels.

The kingdom will come soon

²⁷'I tell you truly, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God.'

The transfiguration

²⁸Now about eight days after this had been said, he took with him Peter, John and James and went up the mountain to pray.²⁹And it happened that, as he was praying, the aspect of his face was changed and his clothing became sparkling white.³⁰And suddenly there were two men talking to him; they were Moses and Elijah³¹appearing in glory, and they were speaking of his passing which he was to accomplish in Jerusalem.³²Peter and his companions were heavy with sleep, but they woke up and saw his glory and the two men standing with him.³³As these were leaving him, Peter said to Jesus, 'Master, it is wonderful for us to be here; so let us make three shelters, one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.' He did not know what he was saying.³⁴As he was saying this, a cloud came and covered them with shadow; and when they went into the cloud the disciples were afraid.³⁵And a voice came from the cloud saying, 'This is my Son, the Chosen One. Listen to him.' ^{* [Dt 18:15, 19; Is 42:1.] 36}And after the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. The disciples kept silence and, at that time, told no one what they had seen.

The epileptic demoniac

³⁷Now it happened that on the following day when they were coming down from the mountain a large crowd came to meet him.³⁸And suddenly a man in the crowd cried out. 'Master,' he said, 'I implore you to look at my son: he is my only child.³⁹A spirit will suddenly take hold of him, and all at once it gives a sudden cry and throws the boy into convulsions with foaming at the mouth; it is slow to leave him, but when it does, it leaves the boy worn out.⁴⁰I begged your disciples to drive it out, and they could not.'⁴¹In reply Jesus said, 'Faithless and perverse generation! How much longer must I be among you and put up with you? Bring your son here.'⁴²Even while the boy was coming, the devil threw him to the ground in convulsions. But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit and cured the boy and gave him back to his father,⁴³and everyone was awestruck by the greatness of God.

Second prophecy of the Passion

But while everyone was full of admiration for all he did, he said to his disciples,⁴⁴'For your part, you must have these words constantly in mind: The Son of man is going to be delivered into the power of men.'⁴⁵But they did not understand what he said; it was hidden from them so that they should not see the meaning of it, and they were afraid to ask him about it.

Who is the greatest?

⁴⁶An argument started between them about which of them was the greatest.⁴⁷Jesus knew what thoughts were going through their minds, and he took a little child whom he set by his side⁴⁸and then he said to them, 'Anyone who welcomes this little child in my name welcomes me; and anyone who welcomes me, welcomes the one who sent me. The least among you all is the one who is the greatest.'

On using the name of Jesus

⁴⁹John spoke up. 'Master,' he said, 'we saw someone driving out devils in your name, and because he is not with us we tried to stop him.'⁵⁰But Jesus said to him, 'You must not stop him: anyone who is not against you is for you.'

IV: THE JOURNEY TO JERUSALEM
A Samaritan village is inhospitable

⁵¹Now it happened that as the time drew near for him to be taken up, he resolutely turned his face towards Jerusalem ⁵²and sent messengers ahead of him. These set out, and they went into a Samaritan village to make preparations for him, ⁵³but the people would not receive him because he was making for Jerusalem. ⁵⁴Seeing this, the disciples James and John said, 'Lord, do you want us to call down fire from heaven to burn them up?' ⁵⁵But he turned and rebuked them, ⁵⁶and they went on to another village.

Hardships of the apostolic calling

⁵⁷As they travelled along they met a man on the road who said to him, 'I will follow you wherever you go.'⁵⁸Jesus answered, 'Foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head.'⁵⁹Another to whom he said, 'Follow me,' replied, 'Let me go and bury my father first.'⁶⁰But he answered, 'Leave the dead to bury their dead; your duty is to go and spread the news of the kingdom of God.'⁶¹Another said, 'I will follow you, sir, but first let me go and say good-bye to my people at home.'⁶²Jesus said to him, 'Once the hand is laid on the plough, no one who looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.'

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Chapter 10

The mission of the seventy-two disciples

^10:1After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them out ahead of him in pairs, to all the towns and places he himself would be visiting. ²And he said to them, 'The harvest is rich but the labourers are few, so ask the Lord of the harvest to send labourers to do his harvesting. ³Start off now, but look, I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. ⁴Take no purse with you, no haversack, no sandals. Salute no one on the road. ⁵Whatever house you enter, let your first words be, "Peace to this house!" ⁶And if a man of peace lives there, your peace will go and rest on him; if not, it will come back to you. ⁷Stay in the same house, taking what food and drink they have to offer, for the labourer deserves his wages; do not move from house to house. ⁸Whenever you go into a town where they make you welcome, eat what is put before you. ⁹Cure those in it who are sick, and say, "The kingdom of God is very near to you." ¹⁰But whenever you enter a town and they do not make you welcome, go out into its streets and say, ¹¹"We wipe off the very dust of your town that clings to our feet, and leave it with you. Yet be sure of this: the kingdom of God is very near." ¹²I tell you, on the great Day it will be more bearable for Sodom than for that town. ¹³'Alas for you, Chorazin! Alas for you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. ¹⁴And still, it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon at the Judgement than for you. ¹⁵And as for you, Capernaum, did you want to be raised high as heaven? You shall be flung down to hell. ^{*[Is 14:13-15] 16}'Anyone who listens to you listens to me; anyone who rejects you rejects me, and those who reject me reject the one who sent me.'

True cause for the apostles to rejoice

¹⁷The seventy-two came back rejoicing. 'Lord,' they said, 'even the devils submit to us when we use your name.'¹⁸He said to them, 'I watched Satan fall like lightning from heaven.¹⁹Look, I have given you power to tread down serpents and scorpions and the whole strength of the enemy; nothing shall ever hurt you.²⁰Yet do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you; rejoice instead that your names are written in heaven.'

The good news revealed to the simple
The Father and the Son

²¹Just at this time, filled with joy by the Holy Spirit, he said, 'I bless you, Father, Lord of heaven and of earth, for hiding these things from the learned and the clever and revealing them to little children. Yes, Father, for that is what it has pleased you to do. ²²Everything has been entrusted to me by my Father; and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.'

The privilege of the disciples

²³Then turning to his disciples he spoke to them by themselves, 'Blessed are the eyes that see what you see, ²⁴for I tell you that many prophets and kings wanted to see what you see, and never saw it; to hear what you hear, and never heard it.'

The great commandment

²⁵And now a lawyer stood up and, to test him, asked, 'Master, what must I do to inherit eternal life?' ²⁶He said to him, 'What is written in the Law? What is your reading of it?' ²⁷He replied, 'You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbour as yourself.' ^{*[Dt 6:5 and Lv 19:18] 28}Jesus said to him, 'You have answered right, do this and life is yours.'

Parable of the good Samaritan

²⁹But the man was anxious to justify himself and said to Jesus, 'And who is my neighbour?'³⁰In answer Jesus said, 'A man was once on his way down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell into the hands of bandits; they stripped him, beat him and then made off, leaving him half dead.³¹Now a priest happened to be travelling down the same road, but when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side.³²In the same way a Levite who came to the place saw him, and passed by on the other side.³³But a Samaritan traveller who came on him was moved with compassion when he saw him.³⁴He went up to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them. He then lifted him onto his own mount and took him to an inn and looked after him.³⁵Next day, he took out two denarii and handed them to the innkeeper and said, "Look after him, and on my way back I will make good any extra expense you have."³⁶Which of these three, do you think, proved himself a neighbour to the man who fell into the bandits' hands?'³⁷He replied, 'The one who showed pity towards him.' Jesus said to him, 'Go, and do the same yourself.'

Martha and Mary

³⁸In the course of their journey he came to a village, and a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house.³⁹She had a sister called Mary, who sat down at the Lord's feet and listened to him speaking.⁴⁰Now Martha, who was distracted with all the serving, came to him and said, 'Lord, do you not care that my sister is leaving me to do the serving all by myself? Please tell her to help me.'⁴¹But the Lord answered, 'Martha, Martha,' he said, 'you worry and fret about so many things,⁴²and yet few are needed, indeed only one. It is Mary who has chosen the better part, and it is not to be taken from her.'

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Chapter 11

The Lord's prayer

¹¹Now it happened that he was in a certain place praying, and when he had finished, one of his disciples said, 'Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.' ²He said to them, 'When you pray, this is what to say: Father, may your name be held holy, your kingdom come; ³give us each day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins, ⁴for we ourselves forgive each one who is in debt to us. And do not put us to the test.' ^{*[Mt 6:9-13]}

The importunate friend

⁵He also said to them, 'Suppose one of you has a friend and goes to him in the middle of the night to say, "My friend, lend me three loaves,⁶because a friend of mine on his travels has just arrived at my house and I have nothing to offer him;"⁷and the man answers from inside the house, "Do not bother me. The door is bolted now, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot get up to give it to you."⁸I tell you, if the man does not get up and give it to him for friendship's sake, persistence will make him get up and give his friend all he wants.

Effective prayer

⁹'So I say to you: Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you.¹⁰For everyone who asks receives; everyone who searches finds; everyone who knocks will have the door opened.¹¹What father among you, if his son asked for a fish, would hand him a snake?¹²Or if he asked for an egg, hand him a scorpion?¹³If you then, evil as you are, know how to give your children what is good, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!'

Jesus and Beelzebul

¹⁴He was driving out a devil and it was dumb; and it happened that when the devil had gone out the dumb man spoke, and the people were amazed.¹⁵But some of them said, 'It is through Beelzebul, the prince of devils, that he drives devils out.'¹⁶Others asked him, as a test, for a sign from heaven;¹⁷but, knowing what they were thinking, he said to them, 'Any kingdom which is divided against itself is heading for ruin, and house collapses against house.¹⁸So, too, with Satan: if he is divided against himself, how can his kingdom last?-since you claim that it is through Beelzebul that I drive devils out.¹⁹Now if it is through Beelzebul that I drive devils out, through whom do your own sons drive them out? They shall be your judges, then.²⁰But if it is through the finger of God that I drive devils out, then the kingdom of God has indeed caught you unawares.²¹So long as a strong man fully armed guards his own home, his goods are undisturbed;²²but when someone stronger than himself attacks and defeats him, the stronger man takes away all the weapons he relied on and shares out his spoil.

No compromise

²³'Anyone who is not with me is against me; and anyone who does not gather in with me throws away.

Return of the unclean spirit

²⁴'When an unclean spirit goes out of someone it wanders through waterless country looking for a place to rest, and not finding one it says, "I will go back to the home I came from."²⁵But on arrival, finding it swept and tidied,²⁶it then goes off and brings seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and set up house there, and so that person ends up worse off than before.'

The truly blessed

²⁷It happened that as he was speaking, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said, 'Blessed the womb that bore you and the breasts that fed you!'²⁸But he replied, 'More blessed still are those who hear the word of God and keep it!'

The sign of Jonah

²⁹The crowds got even bigger and he addressed them, 'This is an evil generation; it is asking for a sign. The only sign it will be given is the sign of Jonah.³⁰For just as Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh, so will the Son of man be a sign to this generation.³¹On Judgement Day the Queen of the South will stand up against the people of this generation and be their condemnation, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; ^{* [1 K 10:1-10.]} and, look, there is something greater than Solomon here.³²On Judgement Day the men of Nineveh will appear against this generation and be its condemnation, because when Jonah preached they repented; and, look, there is something greater than Jonah here.

The parable of the lamp repeated

³³'No one lights a lamp and puts it in some hidden place or under a tub; they put it on the lamp-stand so that people may see the light when they come in.³⁴The lamp of the body is your eye. When your eye is clear, your whole body, too, is filled with light; but when it is diseased your body, too, will be darkened.³⁵See to it then that the light inside you is not darkness.³⁶If, therefore, your whole body is filled with light, and not darkened at all, it will be light entirely, as when the lamp shines on you with its rays.'

The Pharisees and the lawyers attacked

³⁷He had just finished speaking when a Pharisee invited him to dine at his house. He went in and sat down at table.³⁸The Pharisee saw this and was surprised that he had not first washed before the meal.³⁹But the Lord said to him, 'You Pharisees! You clean the outside of cup and plate, while inside yourselves you are filled with extortion and wickedness.⁴⁰Fools! Did not he who made the outside make the inside too?⁴¹Instead, give alms from what you have and, look, everything will be clean for you.⁴²But alas for you Pharisees, because you pay your tithe of mint and rue and all sorts of garden herbs and neglect justice and the love of God! These you should have practised, without neglecting the others.⁴³Alas for you Pharisees, because you like to take the seats of honour in the synagogues and to be greeted respectfully in the market squares!⁴⁴Alas for you, because you are like the unmarked tombs that people walk on without knowing it!'⁴⁵A lawyer then spoke up. 'Master,' he said, 'when you speak like this you insult us too.'⁴⁶But he said, 'Alas for you lawyers as well, because you load on people burdens that are unendurable, burdens that you yourselves do not touch with your fingertips.⁴⁷'Alas for you because you build tombs for the prophets, the people your ancestors killed!⁴⁸In this way you both witness to what your ancestors did and approve it; they did the killing, you do the building.⁴⁹'And that is why the Wisdom of God said, "I will send them prophets and apostles; some they will slaughter and persecute,⁵⁰so that this generation will have to answer for every prophet's blood that has been shed since the foundation of the world,⁵¹from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who perished between the altar and the Temple." Yes, I tell you, this generation will have to answer for it all.⁵²'Alas for you lawyers who have taken away the key of knowledge! You have not gone in yourselves and have prevented others from going in who wanted to.'⁵³When he left there, the scribes and the Pharisees began a furious attack on him and tried to force answers from him on innumerable questions,⁵⁴lying in wait to catch him out in something he might say.

Open and fearless speech

¹²Meanwhile the people had gathered in their thousands so that they were treading on one another. And he began to speak, first of all to his disciples. 'Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees-their hypocrisy.²Everything now covered up will be uncovered, and everything now hidden will be made clear.³For this reason, whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in hidden places will be proclaimed from the housetops.⁴'To you my friends I say: Do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more.⁵I will tell you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has the power to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, he is the one to fear.⁶Can you not buy five sparrows for two pennies? And yet not one is forgotten in God's sight.⁷Why, every hair on your head has been counted. There is no need to be afraid: you are worth more than many sparrows.⁸'I tell you, if anyone openly declares himself for me in the presence of human beings, the Son of man will declare himself for him in the presence of God's angels.⁹But anyone who disowns me in the presence of human beings will be disowned in the presence of God's angels.¹⁰'Everyone who says a word against the Son of man will be forgiven, but no one who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will be forgiven.¹¹'When they take you before synagogues and magistrates and authorities, do not worry about how to defend yourselves or what to say,¹²because when the time comes, the Holy Spirit will teach you what you should say.'

On hoarding possessions

¹³A man in the crowd said to him, 'Master, tell my brother to give me a share of our inheritance.'¹⁴He said to him, 'My friend, who appointed me your judge, or the arbitrator of your claims?'¹⁵Then he said to them, 'Watch, and be on your guard against avarice of any kind, for life does not consist in possessions, even when someone has more than he needs.'¹⁶Then he told them a parable, 'There was once a rich man who, having had a good harvest from his land,¹⁷thought to himself, "What am I to do? I have not enough room to store my crops."¹⁸Then he said, "This is what I will do: I will pull down my barns and build bigger ones, and store all my grain and my goods in them,¹⁹and I will say to my soul: My soul, you have plenty of good things laid by for many years to come; take things easy, eat, drink, have a good time."²⁰But God said to him, "Fool! This very night the demand will be made for your soul; and this hoard of yours, whose will it be then?"²¹So it is when someone stores up treasure for himself instead of becoming rich in the sight of God.'

Trust in Providence

²²Then he said to his disciples, 'That is why I am telling you not to worry about your life and what you are to eat, nor about your body and how you are to clothe it.²³For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing.²⁴Think of the ravens. They do not sow or reap; they have no storehouses and no barns; yet God feeds them. And how much more you are worth than the birds!²⁵Can any of you, however much you worry, add a single cubit to your span of life?²⁶If a very small thing is beyond your powers, why worry about the rest?²⁷Think how the flowers grow; they never have to spin or weave; yet, I assure you, not even Solomon in all his royal robes was clothed like one of them.²⁸Now if that is how God clothes a flower which is growing wild today and is thrown into the furnace tomorrow, how much more will he look after you, who have so little faith!²⁹But you must not set your hearts on things to eat and things to drink; nor must you worry.³⁰It is the gentiles of this world who set their hearts on all these things. Your Father well knows you need them.³¹No; set your hearts on his kingdom, and these other things will be given you as well.³²'There is no need to be afraid, little flock, for it has pleased your Father to give you the kingdom.

On almsgiving

³³'Sell your possessions and give to those in need. Get yourselves purses that do not wear out, treasure that will not fail you, in heaven where no thief can reach it and no moth destroy it.³⁴For wherever your treasure is, that is where your heart will be too.

On being ready for the Master's return

³⁵'See that you have your belts done up and your lamps lit.³⁶Be like people waiting for their master to return from the wedding feast, ready to open the door as soon as he comes and knocks.³⁷Blessed those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. In truth I tell you, he will do up his belt, sit them down at table and wait on them.³⁸It may be in the second watch that he comes, or in the third, but blessed are those servants if he finds them ready.³⁹You may be quite sure of this, that if the householder had known at what time the burglar would come, he would not have let anyone break through the wall of his house.⁴⁰You too must stand ready, because the Son of man is coming at an hour you do not expect.'⁴¹Peter said, 'Lord, do you mean this parable for us, or for everyone?'⁴²The Lord replied, 'Who, then, is the wise and trustworthy steward whom the master will place over his household to give them at the proper time their allowance of food?⁴³Blessed that servant if his master's arrival finds him doing exactly that.⁴⁴I tell you truly, he will put him in charge of everything that he owns.⁴⁵But if the servant says to himself, "My master is taking his time coming," and sets about beating the menservants and the servant-girls, and eating and drinking and getting drunk,⁴⁶his master will come on a day he does not expect and at an hour he does not know. The master will cut him off and send him to the same fate as the unfaithful.⁴⁷'The servant who knows what his master wants, but has got nothing ready and done nothing in accord with those wishes, will be given a great many strokes of the lash.⁴⁸The one who did not know, but has acted in such a way that he deserves a beating, will be given fewer strokes. When someone is given a great deal, a great deal will be demanded of that person; when someone is entrusted with a great deal, of that person even more will be expected.

Jesus and his Passion

⁴⁹'I have come to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were blazing already!⁵⁰There is a baptism I must still receive, and what constraint I am under until it is completed!

Jesus the cause of dissension

⁵¹'Do you suppose that I am here to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division.⁵²For from now on, a household of five will be divided: three against two and two against three;⁵³father opposed to son, son to father, mother to daughter, daughter to mother, mother-in-law to daughter-in-law, daughter-in-law to mother-in-law.' ^{* [Mi 7:6.]}

On reading the signs of the times

⁵⁴He said again to the crowds, 'When you see a cloud looming up in the west you say at once that rain is coming, and so it does.⁵⁵And when the wind is from the south you say it's going to be hot, and it is.⁵⁶Hypocrites! You know how to interpret the face of the earth and the sky. How is it you do not know how to interpret these times?⁵⁷'Why not judge for yourselves what is upright?⁵⁸For example: when you are going to court with your opponent, make an effort to settle with him on the way, or he may drag you before the judge and the judge hand you over to the officer and the officer have you thrown into prison.⁵⁹I tell you, you will not get out till you have paid the very last penny.'

Examples inviting repentance

¹³It was just about this time that some people arrived and told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with that of their sacrifices. At this he said to them,²'Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than any others, that this should have happened to them?³They were not, I tell you. No; but unless you repent you will all perish as they did.⁴Or those eighteen on whom the tower at Siloam fell, killing them all? Do you suppose that they were more guilty than all the other people living in Jerusalem?⁵They were not, I tell you. No; but unless you repent you will all perish as they did.'

Parable of the barren fig tree

⁶He told this parable, 'A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came looking for fruit on it but found none.⁷He said to his vinedresser, "For three years now I have been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and finding none. Cut it down: why should it be taking up the ground?"⁸"Sir," the man replied, "leave it one more year and give me time to dig round it and manure it:⁹it may bear fruit next year; if not, then you can cut it down." '

Healing of a crippled woman on the Sabbath

¹⁰One Sabbath day he was teaching in one of the synagogues,¹¹and there before him was a woman who for eighteen years had been possessed by a spirit that crippled her; she was bent double and quite unable to stand upright.¹²When Jesus saw her he called her over and said, 'Woman, you are freed from your disability,'¹³and he laid his hands on her. And at once she straightened up, and she glorified God.¹⁴But the president of the synagogue was indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, and he addressed all those present saying, 'There are six days when work is to be done. Come and be healed on one of those days and not on the Sabbath.'¹⁵But the Lord answered him and said, 'Hypocrites! Is there one of you who does not untie his ox or his donkey from the manger on the Sabbath and take it out for watering?¹⁶And this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan has held bound these eighteen years-was it not right to untie this bond on the Sabbath day?'¹⁷When he said this, all his adversaries were covered with confusion, and all the people were overjoyed at all the wonders he worked.

Parable of the mustard seed

¹⁸He went on to say, 'What is the kingdom of God like? What shall I compare it with?¹⁹It is like a mustard seed which a man took and threw into his garden: it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air sheltered in its branches.'

Parable of the yeast

²⁰Again he said, 'What shall I compare the kingdom of God with?²¹It is like the yeast a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour till it was leavened all through.'

The narrow door; rejection of the Jews, call of the gentiles

²²Through towns and villages he went teaching, making his way to Jerusalem.²³Someone said to him, 'Sir, will there be only a few saved?' He said to them,²⁴'Try your hardest to enter by the narrow door, because, I tell you, many will try to enter and will not succeed.²⁵'Once the master of the house has got up and locked the door, you may find yourself standing outside knocking on the door, saying, "Lord, open to us," but he will answer, "I do not know where you come from."²⁶Then you will start saying, "We once ate and drank in your company; you taught in our streets,"²⁷but he will reply, "I do not know where you come from; away from me, all evil doers!" ^{* [Ps 6:8.] 28}'Then there will be weeping and grinding of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and yourselves thrown out.²⁹And people from east and west, from north and south, will come and sit down at the feast in the kingdom of God.³⁰'Look, there are those now last who will be first, and those now first who will be last.'

Herod the fox

³¹Just at this time some Pharisees came up. 'Go away,' they said. 'Leave this place, because Herod ^{* [Herod Antipas, son of Herod the Great.]} means to kill you.'³²He replied, 'You may go and give that fox this message: Look! Today and tomorrow I drive out devils and heal, and on the third day I attain my end.³³But for today and tomorrow and the next day I must go on, since it would not be right for a prophet to die outside Jerusalem.

Jerusalem admonished

³⁴'Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you that kill the prophets and stone those who are sent to you! How often have I longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you refused!³⁵Look! Your house will be left to you. Yes, I promise you, you shall not see me till the time comes when you are saying: Blessed is he who is coming in the name of the Lord!' ^{* [Ps 118:26.]}

Healing of a dropsical man on the Sabbath

¹⁴Now it happened that on a Sabbath day he had gone to share a meal in the house of one of the leading Pharisees; and they watched him closely.²Now there in front of him was a man with dropsy,³and Jesus addressed the lawyers and Pharisees with the words, 'Is it against the law to cure someone on the Sabbath, or not?'⁴But they remained silent, so he took the man and cured him and sent him away.⁵Then he said to them, 'Which of you here, if his son falls into a well, or his ox, will not pull him out on a Sabbath day without any hesitation?'⁶And to this they could find no answer.

On choosing places at table

⁷He then told the guests a parable, because he had noticed how they picked the places of honour. He said this,⁸'When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not take your seat in the place of honour. A more distinguished person than you may have been invited,⁹and the person who invited you both may come and say, "Give up your place to this man." And then, to your embarrassment, you will have to go and take the lowest place.¹⁰No; when you are a guest, make your way to the lowest place and sit there, so that, when your host comes, he may say, "My friend, move up higher." Then, everyone with you at the table will see you honoured.¹¹For everyone who raises himself up will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be raised up.'

On choosing guests to be invited

¹²Then he said to his host, 'When you give a lunch or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relations or rich neighbours, in case they invite you back and so repay you.¹³No; when you have a party, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind;¹⁴then you will be blessed, for they have no means to repay you and so you will be repaid when the upright rise again.'

The invited guests who made excuses

¹⁵On hearing this, one of those gathered round the table said to him, 'Blessed is anyone who will share the meal in the kingdom of God!'¹⁶But he said to him, 'There was a man who gave a great banquet, and he invited a large number of people.¹⁷When the time for the banquet came, he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited, "Come along: everything is ready now."¹⁸But all alike started to make excuses. The first said, "I have bought a piece of land and must go and see it. Please accept my apologies."¹⁹Another said, "I have bought five yoke of oxen and am on my way to try them out. Please accept my apologies."²⁰Yet another said, "I have just got married and so am unable to come."²¹'The servant returned and reported this to his master. Then the householder, in a rage, said to his servant, "Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in here the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame."²²"Sir," said the servant, "your orders have been carried out and there is still room."²³Then the master said to his servant, "Go to the open roads and the hedgerows and press people to come in, to make sure my house is full;²⁴because, I tell you, not one of those who were invited shall have a taste of my banquet." '

Renouncing all that one holds dear

²⁵Great crowds accompanied him on his way and he turned and spoke to them.²⁶'Anyone who comes to me without hating father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters, yes and his own life too, cannot be my disciple.²⁷No one who does not carry his cross and come after me can be my disciple.

Renouncing possessions

²⁸'And indeed, which of you here, intending to build a tower, would not first sit down and work out the cost to see if he had enough to complete it?²⁹Otherwise, if he laid the foundation and then found himself unable to finish the work, anyone who saw it would start making fun of him and saying,³⁰"Here is someone who started to build and was unable to finish."³¹Or again, what king marching to war against another king would not first sit down and consider whether with ten thousand men he could stand up to the other who was advancing against him with twenty thousand?³²If not, then while the other king was still a long way off, he would send envoys to sue for peace.³³So in the same way, none of you can be my disciple without giving up all that he owns.

On loss of enthusiasm in a disciple

³⁴'Salt is a good thing. But if salt itself loses its taste, what can make it salty again?³⁵It is good for neither soil nor manure heap. People throw it away. Anyone who has ears for listening should listen!'

The three parables of God's mercy

¹⁵The tax collectors and sinners, however, were all crowding round to listen to him,²and the Pharisees and scribes complained saying, 'This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.'³So he told them this parable:

The lost sheep

⁴'Which one of you with a hundred sheep, if he lost one, would fail to leave the ninety-nine in the desert and go after the missing one till he found it?⁵And when he found it, would he not joyfully take it on his shoulders⁶and then, when he got home, call together his friends and neighbours, saying to them, "Rejoice with me, I have found my sheep that was lost."⁷In the same way, I tell you, there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner repenting than over ninety-nine upright people who have no need of repentance.

The lost drachma

⁸'Or again, what woman with ten drachmas would not, if she lost one, light a lamp and sweep out the house and search thoroughly till she found it?⁹And then, when she had found it, call together her friends and neighbours, saying to them, "Rejoice with me, I have found the drachma I lost."¹⁰In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing among the angels of God over one repentant sinner.'

The lost son (the 'prodigal') and the dutiful son

¹¹Then he said, 'There was a man who had two sons.¹²The younger one said to his father, "Father, let me have the share of the estate that will come to me." So the father divided the property between them.¹³A few days later, the younger son got together everything he had and left for a distant country where he squandered his money on a life of debauchery.¹⁴'When he had spent it all, that country experienced a severe famine, and now he began to feel the pinch;¹⁵so he hired himself out to one of the local inhabitants who put him on his farm to feed the pigs.¹⁶And he would willingly have filled himself with the husks the pigs were eating but no one would let him have them.¹⁷Then he came to his senses and said, "How many of my father's hired men have all the food they want and more, and here am I dying of hunger!¹⁸I will leave this place and go to my father and say: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you;¹⁹I no longer deserve to be called your son; treat me as one of your hired men."²⁰So he left the place and went back to his father. 'While he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was moved with pity. He ran to the boy, clasped him in his arms and kissed him.²¹Then his son said, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I no longer deserve to be called your son."²²But the father said to his servants, "Quick! Bring out the best robe and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.²³Bring the calf we have been fattening, and kill it; we will celebrate by having a feast,²⁴because this son of mine was dead and has come back to life; he was lost and is found." And they began to celebrate.²⁵'Now the elder son was out in the fields, and on his way back, as he drew near the house, he could hear music and dancing.²⁶Calling one of the servants he asked what it was all about.²⁷The servant told him, "Your brother has come, and your father has killed the calf we had been fattening because he has got him back safe and sound."²⁸He was angry then and refused to go in, and his father came out and began to urge him to come in;²⁹but he retorted to his father, "All these years I have slaved for you and never once disobeyed any orders of yours, yet you never offered me so much as a kid for me to celebrate with my friends.³⁰But, for this son of yours, when he comes back after swallowing up your property-he and his loose women-you kill the calf we had been fattening."³¹'The father said, "My son, you are with me always and all I have is yours.³²But it was only right we should celebrate and rejoice, because your brother here was dead and has come to life; he