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 angel replied, "I am Gabriel, I stand before God; I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news.

But you will be silent and unable to speak till the day this happens, because you have not believed what I told you; it will be accomplished, for all that, in due time."

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

At this she was startled; she thought to herself, whatever can this greeting mean?

"How can this be?" said Mary to the angel, "I have no husband."

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

All who heard of it bore it in mind; they said, "Whatever will this child become?" For the hand of the Lord was indeed with him.

(This was the first census, and it took place when Quirinius was governor of Syria.)

but the angel said to them, "Have no fear. This is good news I am bringing you, news of a great joy that is meant for all the People.

Now when the angels had left them and gone away to heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let us be off to Bethlehem to see this thing that the Lord has told us of."

When they saw this they told people about the word which had been spoken to them about the child;

but Symeon blessed them, and to his mother Mary he said, "This child is destined for the downfall as well as for the rise of many a one in Israel; destined to be a Sign for man's attack ??35 to bring out the secret aims of many a heart. And your own soul will be pierced by a spear."

After spending the full number of days they came back, but the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents did not know of this;

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!"

The devil said to him, "If you are God's son, tell this stone to become a loaf."

Then he brought him to Jerusalem and placing him on the pinnacle of the temple said to him, "If you are God's son, throw yourself down from this;

and he proceeded to tell them that "To-day, this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."

All spoke well of him and marvelled at the gracious words that came from his lips; they said, "Is this not Joseph's son?"

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.'"

When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage;

Then amazement came over them all; they talked it over among themselves, saying, "What does this mean? He orders the unclean spirits with authority and power, and they come out!"

Then the scribes and Pharisees began to argue, "Who is this blasphemer? Who can forgive sins, who but God alone?"

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

This filled them with fury, and they discussed what they could do to Jesus.

Now there was an army-captain who had a servant ill whom he valued very highly. This man was at the point of death;

When they reached Jesus they asked him earnestly to do this. "He deserves to have this favour from you," they said,

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."

When Jesus heard this he marvelled at him, and turning to the crowd that followed he said, "I tell you, I have never met faith like this anywhere even in Israel."

And this story of Jesus spread through the whole of Judaea and all the surrounding country.

John's disciples reported all this to him.

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

(On hearing this all the people and the taxgatherers acknowledged the justice of God, as they had been baptized with the baptism of John;

"To what then shall I compare the men of this generation? What are they like?

When his host the Pharisee noticed this, he said to himself, "If he was a prophet he would know what sort of a woman this is who is touching him; for she is a sinner."

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;

His fellow guests began to say to themselves, "Who is this, to forgive even sins?"

some other seed fell on sound soil, and springing up bore a crop, a hundredfold." When he said this he called out, "He who has an ear, let him listen to this."

This is what the parable means. The seed is the word of God.

Herod said, "John I beheaded. But who is this, of whom I hear such tales?" And he made efforts to see him.

but the crowds learned this and followed him. He welcomed them, spoke to them of the Reign of God, and cured those who needed to be healed.

He said to them, "Give them some food yourselves." They said, "We have only got five loaves and two fish. Unless ??are we to go and buy food for the whole of this people?"

Then he forbade them strictly to tell this to anyone.

It was about eight days after he said this, when he took Peter, John, and James, and went up the hillside to pray.

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

And all were astounded at this grand display of God. But while all marvelled at all he did, he said to his disciples,

But they did not understand this saying ??indeed it was kept a secret from them, to prevent them from fathoming it ??and they were afraid to ask him about this saying.

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."

So when the disciples James and John saw this, they said, "Lord, will you have us bid fire come down from heaven and consume them?"

Whatever house you enter, first say, 'Peace be to this household!'

'The very dust of your town that clings to us, we wipe off from our feet as a protest. But mark this, the Reign of God is near!'

He thrilled with joy at that hour in the holy Spirit, saying, "I praise thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for concealing this from the wise and learned and revealing it to the simple-minded; yes, Father, I praise thee that such was thy chosen purpose." Then turning to the disciples he said,

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.'

While he was saying this, a woman shouted to him out of the crowd, "Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts you sucked!"

As the crowds were thronging to him, he proceeded to say, "This is an evil generation: it demands a Sign, but no Sign will be given to it except the Sign of Jonah;

for as Jonah was a Sign to the Ninivites, so shall the Son of man be to this generation.

The queen of the South will rise at the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them; for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to the wisdom of Solomon, and here is One greater than Solomon.

The men of Ninive will rise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for when Jonah preached they did repent, and here is One greater than Jonah.

One of the jurists said to him, "Teacher, when you say this you are insulting us as well."

This is why the Wisdom of God said, 'I will send them prophets and apostles, some they will kill and some they will persecute';

it was that the blood of all the prophets shed from the foundation of the world might be charged upon this generation,

from the blood of Abel down to the blood of Zechariah who was slain between the altar and the House of God ??yes, I tell you, it will all be charged upon this generation.

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.

But God said to him, 'Foolish man, this very night your soul is wanted; and who will get all you have prepared?'

and if you cannot manage even this, why trouble over other things?

Peter said, "Lord, are you telling this parable for us, or is it for all and sundry?"

After this there will be five at issue in one house, three divided against two and two against three,

You hypocrites, you know how to decipher the look of earth and sky; how is it you cannot decipher the meaning of this era?

It was at this time that some people came to tell him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.

But he replied to them, "Do you think, because they suffered this, that these Galileans were worse sinners than the rest of the Galileans?

And he told this parable. "A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; he came in search of fruit on it but he found none.

So he said to the vinedresser, 'Here have I come for three years in search of fruit on this fig tree without finding any; cut it down, why should it take up space?'

But the man replied, 'Leave it for this year, sir, till I dig round about it and put in manure.

And this woman, a daughter of Abraham, bound by Satan for all these eighteen years, was she not to be freed from her bondage on the sabbath?"

As he said this, all his opponents were put to shame, but all the crowd rejoiced over all his splendid doings.

This they could not dispute.

Hearing this, one of his fellow guests said to him, "Blessed is he who feasts in the Realm of God!"

The servant went and reported this to his master. Then the master of the house was enraged, and said to his servant, 'Quick, go out to the streets and lanes of the town and bring in the poor, the maimed, the blind, and the lame.'

saying, 'This fellow started to build but he could not finish it.'

It is no use for either soil or dunghill, it is flung out. He who has an ear let him listen to this."

So he told them this parable,

so, summoning one of the servants, he asked what this meant.

This angered him, and he would not go in. His father came out and tried to appease him,

But as soon as this son of yours arrives, after having wasted your means with harlots, you kill the fatted calf for him!'

He also said to the disciples: "There was a rich man who had a factor, and this factor, he found, was accused of misapplying his property.

So he summoned him and said, 'What is this I hear about you? Hand in your accounts; you cannot be factor any longer.'

Well, the master praised the dishonest factor for looking ahead; for the children of this world look further ahead in dealing with their own generation than the children of Light.

Now the Pharisees who were fond of money heard all this, and they sneered at him.

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

The Lord said, "If you had faith the size of a grain of mustard-seed, you would say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it would obey you.

Was there no one to return and give glory to God except this foreigner?"

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

Listen," said the Lord, "to what this unjust judge says!

When Jesus heard this he said to him, "You lack one thing more; sell all you have, distribute the money among the poor and you will have treasure in heaven; then come and follow me."

who does not receive ever so much more in this present world, and in the world to come life eternal."

However, they did not understand a word of this; indeed the saying was hidden from them, and they did not know what he meant.

Instantly he regained his sight and followed him, glorifying God. And all the people gave praise to God when they saw this.

But when they saw this, everyone began to mutter that he had gone to be the guest of a sinner.

And Jesus said of him, "To-day salvation has come to this house, since Zacchaeus here is a son of Abraham.

He first called his ten servants, giving them each a five-pound note, and telling them, 'Trade with this till I come back.'