He answered, "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 you must love your neighbor as yourself."

The next day, he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, "Take good care of him. If you spend more than that, I'll repay you when I come back.'

Suppose he answers from inside, "Stop bothering me! The door is already locked, and my children are here with us in the bedroom. I can't get up and give you anything!'

I tell you, even though that man doesn't want to get up and give him anything because he is his friend, he will get up and give him whatever he needs because of his persistence.

So if you who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who keep asking him!"

But if I drive out demons by the power of God, then the kingdom of God has come to you.

But he said, "Instead, how blessed are those who hear God's word and obey it!"

"How terrible it will be for you Pharisees! You give a tenth of your mint, spices, and every kind of herb, but you neglect justice and the love of God. These are the things you should have practiced, without neglecting the others.

That is why the Wisdom of God said, "I will send them prophets and apostles. They will kill some of them and persecute others,'

"Five sparrows are sold for two pennies, aren't they? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God.

"But I tell you, the Son of Man will acknowledge before God's angels everyone who acknowledges me before people.

But whoever denies me before people will be denied before God's angels.

Then he told them a parable. He said, "The land of a certain rich man produced good crops.

Then I'll say to myself, "You've stored up plenty of good things for many years. Take it easy, eat, drink, and enjoy yourself."'

But God told him, "You fool! This very night your life will be demanded back from you. Now who will get the things you've accumulated?'

That's how it is with the person who stores up treasures for himself rather than with God."

Consider the crows. They don't plant or harvest, they don't even have a storeroom or barn, yet God feeds them. How much more valuable are you than birds!

Now if that's the way God clothes the grass in the field, which is alive today and thrown into an oven tomorrow, how much more will he clothe you you who have little faith?

"Sell your possessions, and give the money to the poor. Make yourselves wallets that don't wear out a dependable treasure in heaven, where no thief can get close and no moth can destroy anything.

But if that servant says to himself, "My master is taking a long time to come back,' and begins to beat the other servants and to eat, drink, and get drunk,

I tell you, you will never get out of there until you pay back the last penny!"

So he told the gardener, "Look here! For three years I've been coming to look for fruit on this tree but I haven't found any. Cut it down! Why should it waste the soil?'

Maybe next year it will bear fruit. If not, then cut it down.'"

Then he placed his hands on her, and immediately she stood up straight and began praising God.

So Jesus went on to say, "What is the kingdom of God like? What can I compare it to?

Again he said, "To what can I compare the kingdom of God?

But he will tell you, "I don't know where you come from. Get away from me, all you who practice evil!'

In that place there will be crying and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves being driven away on the outside.

People will come from east and west, and from north and south, and will eat in the kingdom of God.

At that hour some Pharisees came and told Jesus, "Leave and get away from here, because Herod wants to kill you!"

Now one of those eating with him heard this and told him, "How blessed is the person who will eat in the kingdom of God!"

Still another said, "I recently got married, so I can't come.'

"Now, salt is good. But if the salt should lose its taste, how can its flavor be restored?

In the same way, I tell you that there is joy in the presence of God's angels over one sinner who repents."

I will get up, go to my father, and say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and you.

"So he got up and went to his father. While he was still far away, his father saw him and was filled with compassion. He ran to his son, threw his arms around him, and kissed him affectionately.

The servant told him, "Your brother has come home, and your father has killed the fattened calf because he got him back safely.'

But he answered his father, "Listen! All these years I've worked like a slave for you. I've never disobeyed a command of yours. Yet you've never given me so much as a young goat for a festival so I could celebrate with my friends.

The man replied, "A hundred jars of olive oil.' The manager told him, "Get your bill. Sit down quickly and write "50."'

Then he asked another debtor, "How much do you owe?' The man replied, "A hundred containers of wheat.' The manager told him, "Get your bill and write "80."'

"No servant can serve two masters, because either he will hate one and love the other, or be loyal to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and wealth!"

So he told them, "You try to justify yourselves in front of people, but God knows your hearts, because what is highly valued by people is detestable to God.

"The Law and the Prophets remained until John. Since then, the good news about the kingdom of God has been proclaimed, and everyone entering it is under attack.

A beggar named Lazarus, who was covered with sores, was brought to his gate.

Of course not. Instead, he would say to him, "Get dinner ready for me, and put on your apron and wait on me until I eat and drink. Then you can eat and drink.'

But one of them, when he saw that he had been healed, came back and praised God with a loud voice.

Except for this foreigner, were any of them found to return and give praise to God?"

Then he told the man, "Get up, and go home! Your faith has made you well."

Once Jesus was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come. He answered them, "The kingdom of God is not coming with a visible display.

People won't be saying, "Look! Here it is!' or "There it is!' because now the kingdom of God is among you."

"The person who is on the housetop that day must not come down to get his belongings out of his house. The person in the field, too, must not turn back to what's left behind.

He said, "In a city there was a judge who didn't fear God or respect people.

For a while the judge refused. But later, he told himself, "I don't fear God or respect people,

Won't God grant his chosen people justice when they cry out to him day and night? Is he slow to help them?

The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed, "O God, I thank you that I'm not like other people thieves, dishonest people, adulterers, or even this tax collector.

"But the tax collector stood at a distance and would not even look up to heaven. Instead, he continued to beat his chest and said, "O God, be merciful to me, the sinner that I am!'

Jesus, however, called for the children and said, "Let the little children come to me, and stop keeping them away, because the kingdom of God belongs to people like these.

I tell all of you with certainty, whoever doesn't receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never get into it at all."

Then an official asked Jesus, "Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?"

"Why do you call me good?" Jesus asked him. "Nobody is good except for one God.

So when Jesus saw how sad he was, he said, "How hard it is for rich people to get into the kingdom of God!

Indeed, it's easier for a camel to squeeze through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to get into the kingdom of God."

Jesus replied, "The things that are impossible for people are possible for God."

Jesus told them, "I tell all of you with certainty, there is no one who has left his home, wife, brothers, parents, or children because of the kingdom of God

The people at the front of the crowd sternly told him to be quiet, but he started shouting even louder, "Son of David, have mercy on me!"

Immediately the man could see again and began to follow Jesus, glorifying God. All the people saw this and gave praise to God.

As they were listening to this, Jesus went on to tell a parable because he was near Jerusalem and because the people thought that the kingdom of God would appear immediately.

The king told him, "Well done, good servant! Because you have been trustworthy in a very small thing, take charge of ten cities.'

He was now approaching the descent from the Mount of Olives. The whole crowd of disciples began to rejoice and to praise God with a loud voice because of all the miracles they had seen.

Some of the Pharisees in the crowd told Jesus, "Teacher, tell your disciples to be quiet."

He replied, "I tell you, if they were quiet, the stones would cry out!"

One day, while Jesus was teaching the people in the Temple and telling them the good news, the high priests and the scribes came with the elders

At the right time he sent a servant to the farmers in order to get his share of the produce of the vineyard. But the farmers beat him and sent him back empty-handed.

so they asked him, "Teacher, we know that you're right in what you say and teach, and that you don't favor any individual, but teach the way of God truthfully.

So he told them, "Then give back to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's."

Nor can they die anymore, because they are like the angels and, since they share in the resurrection, are God's children.

Even Moses demonstrated in the story about the bush that the dead are raised, when he calls the Lord, "the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.'

He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, because he considers all people to be alive to him."

Now while some people were talking about the Temple how it was decorated with beautiful stones and gifts dedicated to God he said,

In the same way, when you see these things taking place, you will know that the kingdom of God is near.

And all the people would get up early in the morning to listen to him in the Temple.

Judas accepted their offer and began to look for a good opportunity to betray Jesus to them when no crowd was present.

Then he will show you a large upstairs room that is furnished. Get things ready for us there."

because I tell all of you, I will never eat it again until it finds its fulfillment in the kingdom of God."

because I tell you, from now on I will never drink the product of the vine until the kingdom of God comes."

Then he told them, "But now whoever has a wallet must take it along, and his traveling bag, too. And the one who has no sword must sell his coat and buy one.

When he got up from prayer, he went to the disciples and found them asleep from sorrow.

He asked them, "Why are you sleeping? Get up and keep on praying that you may not be tempted."

But from now on the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the mighty God."

Then they all asked, "Are you, then, the Son of God?" He answered them, "You said it I AM."

Then the whole crowd got up and took him to Pilate.

Meanwhile, the people stood looking on. The leaders were mocking him by saying, "He saved others. Let him save himself, if he is the Messiah of God, the chosen one!"

But the other criminal rebuked him, "Aren't you afraid of God, since you are suffering the same penalty?

When the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God and said, "This man certainly was righteous!"

Now there was a man named Joseph, a member of the Council, a good and righteous man

he had not voted for their plan and action from the Jewish town of Arimathea; and he was waiting for the kingdom of God.

Then he took it down, wrapped it in a linen cloth, and laid it in a tomb cut in the rock, in which no one had yet been laid.

Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. He stooped down and saw only the linen cloths. Then he went home, wondering about what had happened.

They answered him, "The events involving Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet, mighty in what he said and did before God and all the people, and how our high priests and leaders handed him over to be condemned to death and had him crucified.

They got up right away, went back to Jerusalem, and found the eleven disciples and their companions all together.