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

The angel answered him, “I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and tell you this good news.

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

But she was deeply troubled by this statement, wondering what kind of greeting this could be.

Mary asked the angel, “How can this be, since I have not been intimate with a man?”

And consider your relative Elizabeth—even she has conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month for her who was called childless.

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

All who heard about him took it to heart, saying, “What then will this child become?” For, indeed, the Lord’s hand was with him.

This first registration took place while Quirinius was governing Syria.

This will be the sign for you: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in cloth and lying in a feeding trough.”

After seeing them, they reported the message they were told about this child,

There was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon. This man was righteous and devout, looking forward to Israel’s consolation, and the Holy Spirit was on him.

Then Simeon blessed them and told His mother Mary: “Indeed, this child is destined to cause the fall and rise of many in Israel and to be a sign that will be opposed—

When His parents saw Him, they were astonished, and His mother said to Him, “Son, why have You treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for You.”

added this to everything else—he locked John up in prison.

The Devil said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.”

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.

He began by saying to them, “Today as you listen, this Scripture has been fulfilled.”

They were all speaking well of Him and were amazed by the gracious words that came from His mouth, yet they said, “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?”

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 they heard this, everyone in the synagogue was enraged.

Amazement came over them all, and they kept saying to one another, “What is this message? For He commands the unclean spirits with authority and power, and they come out!”

But He said to them, “I must proclaim the good news about the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because I was sent for this purpose.”

When they did this, they caught a great number of fish, and their nets began to tear.

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

Then the scribes and the Pharisees began to think: “Who is this man who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

But perceiving their thoughts, Jesus replied to them, “Why are you thinking this in your hearts?

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

“Rejoice in that day and leap for joy! Take note—your reward is great in heaven, for this is the way their ancestors used to treat the prophets.

Woe to you
when all people speak well of you,
for this is the way their ancestors
used to treat the false prophets.

When they reached Jesus, they pleaded with Him earnestly, saying, “He is worthy for You to grant this,

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.”

Jesus heard this and was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd following Him, He said, “I tell you, I have not found so great a faith even in Israel!”

This report about Him went throughout Judea and all the vicinity.

This is the one it is written about:

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

(And when all the people, including the tax collectors, heard this, they acknowledged God’s way of righteousness, because they had been baptized with John’s baptism.

“To what then should I compare the people of this generation, and what are they like?

When the Pharisee who had invited Him saw this, he said to himself, “This man, if He were a prophet, would know who and what kind of woman this is who is touching Him—she’s a sinner!”

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.

Those who were at the table with Him began to say among themselves, “Who is this man who even forgives sins?”

Still other seed fell on good ground; when it sprang up, it produced a crop: 100 times what was sown.” As He said this, He called out, “Anyone who has ears to hear should listen!”

Then His disciples asked Him, “What does this parable mean?”

“This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God.

He said to them, “Where is your faith?”

They were fearful and amazed, asking one another, “Who can this be? He commands even the winds and the waves, and they obey Him!”

“I beheaded John,” Herod said, “but who is this I hear such things about?” And he wanted to see Him.

But He strictly warned and instructed them to tell this to no one,

While he was saying this, a cloud appeared and overshadowed them. They became afraid as they entered the cloud.

Then a voice came from the cloud, saying:

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

But they did not understand this statement; it was concealed from them so that they could not grasp it, and they were afraid to ask Him about it.

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.”

When the disciples James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do You want us to call down fire from heaven to consume them?”

After this, the Lord appointed 70 others, and He sent them ahead of Him in pairs to every town and place where He Himself was about to go.

Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this household.’

‘We are wiping off as a witness against you even the dust of your town that clings to our feet. Know this for certain: The kingdom of God has come near.’

In that same hour He rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, “I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because You have hidden these things from the wise and the learned and have revealed them to infants. Yes, Father, because this was Your good pleasure.

“You’ve answered correctly,” He told him. “Do this and you will live.”

And if I drive out demons by Beelzebul, who is it your sons drive them out by? For this reason they will be your judges.

As the crowds were increasing, He began saying: “This generation is an evil generation. It demands a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.

For just as Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh, so also the Son of Man will be to this generation.

The queen of the south will rise up at the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and look—something greater than Solomon is here!

The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at Jonah’s proclamation, and look—something greater than Jonah is here!

When the Pharisee saw this, he was amazed that He did not first perform the ritual washing before dinner.

Because of this, the wisdom of God said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they will kill and persecute,’

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

from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who perished between the altar and the sanctuary.

“Yes, I tell you, this generation will be held responsible.

But I will show you the One to fear: Fear Him who has authority to throw people into hell after death. Yes, I say to you, this is the One to fear!

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 God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life is demanded of you. And the things you have prepared—whose will they be?’

But know this: If the homeowner had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into.

“Lord,” Peter asked, “are You telling this parable to us or to everyone?”

Hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky, but why don’t you know how to interpret this time?

And He told this parable: “A man had a fig tree that was planted in his vineyard. He came looking for fruit on it and found none.

He told the vineyard worker, ‘Listen, for three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any. Cut it down! Why should it even waste the soil?’

“But he replied to him, ‘Sir, leave it this year also, until I dig around it and fertilize it.

Satan has bound this woman, a daughter of Abraham, for 18 years—shouldn’t she be untied from this bondage on the Sabbath day?”

Note this: Some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.”

To this they could find no answer.

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.

saying, ‘This man started to build and wasn’t able to finish.’

And the Pharisees and scribes were complaining, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them!”

So He told them this parable:

because this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!’ So they began to celebrate.

But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your assets with prostitutes, you slaughtered the fattened calf for him.’

But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”

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.’

“The master praised the unrighteous manager because he had acted astutely. For the sons of this age are more astute than the sons of light in dealing with their own people.

‘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!’

Besides all this, a great chasm has been fixed between us and you, so that those who want to pass over from here to you cannot; neither can those from there cross over to us.’

because I have five brothers—to warn them, so they won’t also come to this place of torment.’

“If you have faith the size of a mustard seed,” the Lord said, “you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you.

Didn’t any return to give glory to God except this foreigner?”

But first He must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.

yet because this widow keeps pestering me, I will give her justice, so she doesn’t wear me out by her persistent coming.’”

He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and looked down on everyone else:

The Pharisee took his stand and was praying like this: ‘God, I thank You that I’m not like other people —greedy, unrighteous, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.

I tell you, this one went down to his house justified rather than the other; because everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

When Jesus heard this, He told him, “You still lack one thing: Sell all that you have and distribute it to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow Me.”

After he heard this, he became extremely sad, because he was very rich.

Those who heard this asked, “Then who can be saved?”

who will not receive many times more at this time, and eternal life in the age to come.”