For if you love [only] those who love you, what reward will you get for that? Do not even the publicans [Note: These were people with a bad reputation for their dishonest tax collecting activities] do that much?

And if you greet [cordially] your brothers only, what are you doing more than other people? Do not even the [unconverted] Gentiles do that much?

If then you know how to give good gifts to your children, even though you are sinful [human beings], how much more [likely] is it that your Father in heaven will give good things to those who ask Him?

A disciple is doing well if he can be [as good] as his teacher, and the slave [as good] as his master. If they have called the master of the house [i.e., Jesus] Beelzebub [i.e., the chief of evil spirits. See Mark 3:22], how much more [likely] will they call members of his household [i.e., the disciples] the same thing!

So, do not be afraid, for you are [much] more valuable than many sparrows.

Why did you go out [to the desert]? To see a prophet? Yes, I should say [he was], and much more than a prophet.

Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep? Therefore, it is permissible by the law of Moses to do what is good on a Sabbath day."

And other seed fell on rocky ground where there was not much soil and immediately it sprouted up because the soil was so shallow.

And [still] other seed fell onto fertile soil, where some of it produced a crop of one hundred, some sixty and some thirty times [as much as was planted].

But the person who was sown on the fertile soil is the one who hears the message and understands it. Truly, he produces a crop that yields one hundred, sixty or thirty times [as much as was planted]."

When he began figuring, one of his servants, who owed him a huge sum of money [Note: The amount is variously estimated to be as much as $50,000,000 in 1994], was brought to him.

And every person who has left his house, or brothers, or sisters, or father, or mother, or children or property, for my name's sake [i.e., to become a servant of the Lord], will receive [back] a hundred times as much [in this life] and will [also] inherit never ending life.

But Jesus answered them, "You are mistaken [in your reasoning], not knowing [what] the Scriptures [teach] or [how much] power God has.

No one was able to answer [Jesus' reasoning] with [so much as] a word, and no one dared to ask Him any more questions from that day onward.

and said, "What would you give me if I turned Jesus over to you?" And they weighed out thirty silver coins [Note: This amount was equivalent to about five months of a farm laborer's wages, or approximately $7,000 in 1994], and promised [See Mark 14:11] to give him that much money.