Zechariah said to the angel, "But how am I to be sure of this? I am an old man myself, and my wife is advanced in years."

"The Lord has done this for me," she said, "he has now deigned to remove my reproach among men."

What have I done to have the mother of my Lord come to me?

Why, as soon as the sound of your salutation reached my ears, the babe leapt for joy within my womb.

Then Mary said "My soul magnifies the Lord,

My spirit has joy in God my Saviour:

for he has considered the humiliation of his servant. From this time forth all generations will call me blessed,

for He who is Mighty has done great things for me. His name is holy,

And you, my child, shall be called a prophet of the Most High; for you shall go in front of the Lord to make his ways ready,

When his parents saw him they were astounded, and his mother said to him, "My son, why have you behaved like this to us? Here have your father and I been looking for you anxiously!"

"Why did you look for me?" he said, "Did you not know I had to be at my Father's house?"

John said to them all, "I baptize you with water, but after me one who is mightier will come, and I am not fit to untie the string of his sandals; he will baptize you with the holy Spirit and fire.

and the holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove upon him; and a voice came from heaven, "Thou art my son, the Beloved, to-day have I become thy father."

and the devil said to him, "I will give you all their power and grandeur, for it has been made over to me and I can give it to anyone I choose.

If you will worship before me, then it shall all be yours."

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me: for he has consecrated me to preach the gospel to the poor, he has sent me to proclaim release for captives and recovery of sight for the blind, to set free the oppressed,

So he said to them, "No doubt you will repeat to me this proverb, 'Doctor, cure yourself!' 'Do here in your own country all we have heard you did in Capharnahum.'"

But when Simon Peter saw it he fell at the knees of Jesus, crying, "Lord, leave me; I am a sinful man."

When he was in one of their towns, there was a man full of leprosy who, on seeing Jesus, fell on his face and besought him, "If you only choose, sir, you can cleanse me."

On going outside after this he noticed a taxgatherer called Levi sitting at the tax-office and said to him, "Follow me";

I tell you, my hearers, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you:

How dare you say to your brother, 'Brother, let me take out the splinter that is in your eye,' and you never notice the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite! take the plank out of your own eye first, and then you will see properly to take out the splinter in your brother's eye.

Why call me, 'Lord, Lord!' and obey me not?

Everyone who comes to me and listens to my words and acts upon them, I will show you whom he is like.

So Jesus went with them. But he was not far from the house when the captain sent some friends to tell him, "Do not trouble yourself, sir, I am not fit to have you under my roof,

and so I did not consider myself fit even to come to you. Just say the word, and let my servant be cured.

For though I am a man under authority myself, I have soldiers under me; I tell one man to go, and he goes, I tell another to come, and he comes, I tell my servant, 'Do this,' and he does it."

And blessed is he who is repelled by nothing in me!"

This is he of whom it is written, Here I send my messenger before your face, to prepare the way for you.

As they were unable to pay, he freely forgave them both. Tell me, now, which of them will love him most?"

Then turning to the woman he said to Simon, "You see this woman? When I came into your house, you never gave me water for my feet, while she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair;

you never gave me a kiss, while ever since she came in she has kept pressing kisses on my feet;

you never anointed my head with oil, while she has anointed my feet with perfume.

so he said, "It is granted you to understand the open secrets of the Reign of God, but the others get it in parables, so that for all their seeing they may not see, and for all their hearing they may not understand.

Those 'on the road' are people who hear; but then the devil comes and carries off the word from their heart, that they may not believe and be saved.

But he answered, "My mother and brothers are those who listen to the word of God and obey it."

On catching sight of Jesus he shrieked aloud and prayed him with a loud cry, "Jesus, son of God most High, what business have you with me? Do not torture me, I beg of you."

Jesus said, "Who touched me?" As everyone denied it, Peter and his companions said, "Master, the crowds are all round you pressing hard!"

Jesus said, "Somebody did touch me, for I felt power had passed from me."

He said to all, "If anyone wishes to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross day after day, and so follow me;

for whoever wants to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake, he will save it.

For whoever is ashamed of me and my words, of him will the Son of man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.

but a voice came from the cloud, "This is my Son, my Chosen one; listen to him."

"Teacher," shouted a man from the crowd, "look at my son, I beg of you, for he is my only boy,

then he said to them, "Whoever receives this little child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me. For it is the lowliest of you all who is great."

He said to another man, "Follow me"; but he said, "Let me go and bury my father first of all."

Another man also said to him, "I will follow you, Lord. But let me first say good-bye to my people at home."

He who listens to you listens to me, he who rejects you rejects me, and he who rejects me rejects him who sent me."

"All has been handed over to me by my Father: and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son, and he to whom the Son chooses to reveal him."

Anxious to make an excuse for himself, however, he said to Jesus, "But who is my neighbour?"

Next morning he took out a couple of shillings and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, 'Attend to him, and if you are put to any extra expense I will refund you on my way back.'

Now Martha was so busy attending to them that she grew worried; she came up and said, "Lord, is it all one to you that my sister has left me to do all the work alone? Come, tell her to lend me a hand."

And he said to them, "Suppose one of you has a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say to him, 'Friend, let me have three loaves;

for a friend of mine travelling has come to my house and I have nothing to set before him.'

And suppose he answers from the inside, 'Don't bother me; the door is locked by this time, and my children are in bed with me. I can't get up and give you anything.'

He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters.

I tell you, my friends, have no fear of those who kill the body but after that can do no more;

I tell you, whoever acknowledges me before men, the Son of man will acknowledge him before the angels of God;

and he who disowns me before men will be disowned before the angels of God.

A man out of the crowd said to him, "Teacher, tell my brother to give me my share of our inheritance";

but he said to him, "Man, who made me a judge or arbitrator over your affairs?"

So he debated, 'What am I to do? I have no room to store my crops.'

And he said, 'This is what I will do. I will pull down my granaries and build larger ones, where I can store all my produce and my goods.

And I will say to my soul, "Soul, you have ample stores laid up for many a year; take your ease, eat, drink and be merry."'

But if that servant says to himself, 'My lord and master is long of arriving,' and if he starts to beat the menservants and maidservants, to eat and drink and get drunk,

Then it may bear fruit next year. If not, you can have it cut down.'"

once the master of the House has got up and closed the door. You may stand outside and knock at the door, crying, 'Lord, open for us,' but he will answer you, 'I do not know where you come from.'

"Go and tell that fox," he replied, "I cast out daemons and perform cures to-day and to-morrow, and on the third day I complete my task!

See, your House is left to yourselves. I tell you, you will never see me till the day comes when you say, Blessed be he who comes in the Lord's name."

No, when you are invited, go and recline in the lowest place, so that when your host comes in he will tell you, 'Move higher up, my friend.' Then you will be honoured before your fellow guests.

But they all alike proceeded to decline. The first said to him, 'I have bought a farm and I am obliged to go and look at it. Pray consider me excused.'

The second said, 'I have bought five pair of oxen and I am going to try them. Pray consider me excused.'

the master said to the servant, 'Go out to the roads and hedges and make people come in, to fill up my house.

For I tell you that not one of those who were invited shall taste my supper.'"

"If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, aye and his own life, he cannot be a disciple of mine;

whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me, he cannot be a disciple of mine.

and when he gets home he gathers his friends and neighbours: 'Rejoice with me,' he says to them, 'for I have found the sheep I lost.'

And when she finds it she gathers her women-friends and neighbours, saying, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found the shilling I lost.'

and the younger said to his father, 'Father, give me the share of the property that falls to me.' So he divided his means among them.

But when he came to his senses he said, 'How many hired men of my father have more than enough to eat, and here am I perishing of hunger!

I will be up and off to my father, and I will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you;

I don't deserve to be called your son any more; only make me like one of your hired men."'

for my son here was dead and he has come to life, he was lost and he is found.' So they began to make merry.

but he replied, 'Look at all the years I have been serving you! I have never neglected any of your orders, and yet you have never given me so much as a kid, to let me make merry with my friends.

The father said to him, 'My son, you and I are always together, all I have is yours.

The factor said to himself, 'What am I to do, now that my master is taking the factorship away from me? I am too weak to dig, I am ashamed to beg.

Ah, I know what I will do, so that people will welcome me to their houses when I am deposed from the factorship.'

So he summoned every single one of his master's debtors. He asked the first, 'How much are you owing to my master?'

And I tell you, use mammon, dishonest as it is, to make friends for yourselves, so that when you die they may welcome you to the eternal abodes.

so he called out, 'Father Abraham, take pity on me, send Lazarus to dip his fingertip in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in these flames.'

But Abraham said, 'Remember, my son, you got all the bliss when you were alive, just as Lazarus got the ills of life; he is in comfort now, and you are in anguish.

Then he said, 'Well, father, I beg you to send him to my father's house,

for I have five brothers; let him bear testimony to them, that they may not come to this place of torture as well.'

Will the man not rather say to him, 'Get some thing ready for my supper; gird yourself and wait on me till I eat and drink; then you can eat and drink yourself'?

And in that town there was a widow who used to go and appeal to him for 'Justice against my opponent!'

still, as this widow is bothering me, I will see justice done to her ??not to have her for ever coming and pestering me.'

Twice a week I fast; on all my income I pay tithes.'

But the taxgatherer stood far away and would not lift even his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, 'O God, have mercy on me for my sins!'

but Jesus called for the infants. "Let the children come to me," he said, "do not stop them: the Realm of God belongs to such as these.

Jesus said to him, "Why call me 'good'? No one is good, no one but God.