It also seemed good to me, since I have carefully investigated everything from the very first, to write to you in an orderly sequence, most honorable Theophilus,

so that you may know the certainty of the things about which you have been instructed.

“How can I know this?” Zechariah asked the angel. “For I am an old man, and my wife is well along in years.”

Now listen! You will become silent and unable to speak until the day these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their proper time.”

“The Lord has done this for me. He has looked with favor in these days to take away my disgrace among the people.”

“I am the Lord’s slave,” said Mary. “May it be done to me according to your word.” Then the angel left her.

How could this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?

For you see, when the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby leaped for joy inside me!

And Mary said:

My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,

and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior,

because He has looked with favor
on the humble condition of His slave.
Surely, from now on all generations
will call me blessed,

because the Mighty One
has done great things for me,
and His name is holy.

For my eyes have seen Your salvation.

and a sword will pierce your own soul—that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.”

“Why were you searching for Me?” He asked them. “Didn’t you know that I had to be in My Father’s house?”

and the Holy Spirit descended on Him in a physical appearance like a dove. And a voice came from heaven:

You are My beloved Son.
I take delight in You!

The Devil said to Him, “I will give You their splendor and all this authority, because it has been given over to me, and I can give it to anyone I want.

If You, then, will worship me, all will be Yours.”

The Spirit of the Lord is on Me,
because He has anointed Me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent Me
to proclaim freedom to the captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to set free the oppressed,

Then He said to them, “No doubt you will quote this proverb to Me: ‘Doctor, heal yourself. So all we’ve heard that took place in Capernaum, do here in Your hometown also.’”

When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me, because I’m a sinful man, Lord!”

While He was in one of the towns, a man was there who had a serious skin disease all over him. He saw Jesus, fell facedown, and begged Him: “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.”

But so you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—He told the paralyzed man, “I tell you: Get up, pick up your mat, and go home.”

After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the tax office, and He said to him, “Follow Me!”

Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take out the speck that is in your eye,’ when you yourself don’t see the log in your eye? Hypocrite! First take the log out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to take out the speck in your brother’s eye.

“Why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and don’t do the things I say?

I will show you what someone is like who comes to Me, hears My words, and acts on them:

Jesus went with them, and when He was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to tell Him, “Lord, don’t trouble Yourself, since I am not worthy to have You come under my roof.

That is why I didn’t even consider myself worthy to come to You. But say the word, and my servant will be cured.

For I too am a man placed under authority, having soldiers under my command. I say to this one, ‘Go!’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come!’ and he comes; and to my slave, ‘Do this!’ and he does it.”

And anyone who is not offended because of Me is blessed.”

This is the one it is written about:

Look, I am sending My messenger
ahead of You;
he will prepare Your way before You.

Turning to the woman, He said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave Me no water for My feet, but she, with her tears, has washed My feet and wiped them with her hair.

You gave Me no kiss, but she hasn’t stopped kissing My feet since I came in.

You didn’t anoint My head with olive oil, but she has anointed My feet with fragrant oil.

So He said, “The secrets of the kingdom of God have been given for you to know, but to the rest it is in parables, so that

Looking they may not see,
and hearing they may not understand.

The seed along the path are those who have heard and then the Devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved.

“No one, after lighting a lamp, covers it with a basket or puts it under a bed, but puts it on a lampstand so that those who come in may see its light.

But He replied to them, “My mother and My brothers are those who hear and do the word of God.”

When he saw Jesus, he cried out, fell down before Him, and said in a loud voice, “What do You have to do with me, Jesus, You Son of the Most High God? I beg You, don’t torment me!”

“Who touched Me?” Jesus asked.

When they all denied it, Peter said, “Master, the crowds are hemming You in and pressing against You.”

“Someone did touch Me,” said Jesus. “I know that power has gone out from Me.”

Then He said to them all, “If anyone wants to come with Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow Me.

For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of Me will save it.

For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when He comes in His glory and that of the Father and the holy angels.

Then a voice came from the cloud, saying:

This is My Son, the Chosen One;
listen to Him!

Just then a man from the crowd cried out, “Teacher, I beg You to look at my son, because he’s my only child.

He told them, “Whoever welcomes this little child in My name welcomes Me. And whoever welcomes Me welcomes Him who sent Me. For whoever is least among you—this one is great.”

Then He said to another, “Follow Me.”

“Lord,” he said, “first let me go bury my father.”

Another also said, “I will follow You, Lord, but first let me go and say good-bye to those at my house.”

Now go; I’m sending you out like lambs among wolves.

Whoever listens to you listens to Me. Whoever rejects you rejects Me. And whoever rejects Me rejects the One who sent Me.”

All things have been entrusted to Me by My Father. No one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son desires to reveal Him.”

But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

But Martha was distracted by her many tasks, and she came up and asked, “Lord, don’t You care that my sister has left me to serve alone? So tell her to give me a hand.”

He also said to them: “Suppose one of you has a friend and goes to him at midnight and says to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread,

because a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I don’t have anything to offer him.’

Then he will answer from inside and say, ‘Don’t bother me! The door is already locked, and my children and I have gone to bed. I can’t get up to give you anything.’

Anyone who is not with Me is against Me, and anyone who does not gather with Me scatters.

“When an unclean spirit comes out of a man, it roams through waterless places looking for rest, and not finding rest, it then says, ‘I’ll go back to my house where I came from.’

“No one lights a lamp and puts it in the cellar or under a basket, but on a lampstand, so that those who come in may see its light.

so that this generation may be held responsible for the blood of all the prophets shed since the foundation of the world—

“And I say to you, My friends, don’t fear those who kill the body, and after that can do nothing more.

“And I say to you, anyone who acknowledges Me before men, the Son of Man will also acknowledge him before the angels of God,

but whoever denies Me before men will be denied before the angels of God.

Someone from the crowd said to Him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”

“Friend,” He said to him, “who appointed Me a judge or arbitrator over you?”

He thought to himself, ‘What should I do, since I don’t have anywhere to store my crops?

I will do this,’ he said. ‘I’ll tear down my barns and build bigger ones and store all my grain and my goods there.

But if that slave says in his heart, ‘My master is delaying his coming,’ and starts to beat the male and female slaves, and to eat and drink and get drunk,

But I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how it consumes Me until it is finished!

But He will say, ‘I tell you, I don’t know you or where you’re from. Get away from Me, all you workers of unrighteousness!’

He said to them, “Go tell that fox, ‘Look! I’m driving out demons and performing healings today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will complete My work.’

See, your house is abandoned to you. And I tell you, you will not see Me until the time comes when you say, ‘He who comes in the name of the Lord is the blessed One’!”

“When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, don’t recline at the best place, because a more distinguished person than you may have been invited by your host.

The one who invited both of you may come and say to you, ‘Give your place to this man,’ and then in humiliation, you will proceed to take the lowest place.

“But without exception they all began to make excuses. The first one said to him, ‘I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it. I ask you to excuse me.’

“Another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I’m going to try them out. I ask you to excuse me.’

“And another said, ‘I just got married, and therefore I’m unable to come.’

“Then the master told the slave, ‘Go out into the highways and lanes and make them come in, so that my house may be filled.

For I tell you, not one of those men who were invited will enjoy my banquet!’”

“If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his own father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, and even his own life—he cannot be My disciple.

Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.

In the same way, therefore, every one of you who does not say good-bye to all his possessions cannot be My disciple.

and coming home, he calls his friends and neighbors together, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, because I have found my lost sheep!’

When she finds it, she calls her women friends and neighbors together, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, because I have found the silver coin I lost!’

The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the estate I have coming to me.’ So he distributed the assets to them.

When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired hands have more than enough food, and here I am dying of hunger!

I’ll get up, go to my father, and say to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight.

I’m no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired hands.’

The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight. I’m no longer worthy to be called your son.’

But he replied to his father, ‘Look, I have been slaving many years for you, and I have never disobeyed your orders, yet you never gave me a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends.

“‘Son,’ he said to him, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours.

So he called the manager in and asked, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your management, because you can no longer be my manager.’

“Then the manager said to himself, ‘What should I do, since my master is taking the management away from me? I’m not strong enough to dig; I’m ashamed to beg.

I know what I’ll do so that when I’m removed from management, people will welcome me into their homes.’

“So he summoned each one of his master’s debtors. ‘How much do you owe my master?’ he asked the first one.

And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of the unrighteous money so that when it fails, they may welcome you into eternal dwellings.

‘Father Abraham!’ he called out, ‘Have mercy on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this flame!’

“‘Father,’ he said, ‘then I beg you to send him to my father’s house—