It happened that while Jesus was praying in a certain place, after He finished, one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray just as John also taught his disciples.”

He said to them,

“When you pray, say:
‘Father, hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come.

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

But some of them said, “He drives out demons by [the power of] Beelzebul (Satan), the ruler of the demons.”

But He, well aware of their thoughts and purpose, said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is doomed to destruction; and a house divided against itself falls.

Now while Jesus was saying these things, one of the women in the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, “Blessed (happy, favored by God) is the womb that gave birth to You and the breasts at which You nursed!”

But He said, “On the contrary, blessed (happy, favored by God) are those who hear the word of God and continually observe it.”

But the Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and plate [as required by tradition]; but inside you are full of greed and wickedness.

But He said, “Woe to you lawyers as well, because you weigh men down with burdens [man-made rules, unreasonable requirements] which are hard to bear, and you yourselves will not even touch the burdens with one of your fingers [to lighten the load].

For this reason also the wisdom of God said [in the Scriptures], ‘I will send them prophets and apostles, some of whom they will put to death and some they will persecute,

When He left there, the scribes and the Pharisees began to be very hostile [toward Him] and to interrogate Him on many subjects,

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

Then He said to them, “Watch out and guard yourselves against every form of greed; for not even when one has an overflowing abundance does his life consist of nor is it derived from his possessions.”

Then he said, ‘This is what I will do: I will tear down my storehouses and build larger ones, and I will store all my grain and my goods there.

But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own all the things you have prepared?’

Jesus said to His disciples, “For this reason I tell you, do not worry about your life, as to what you will eat; or about your body, as to what you will wear.

Peter said, “Lord, are You addressing this parable to us [disciples], or to everyone else as well?”

The Lord said, “Who then is the faithful and wise steward [of the estate], whom his master will put in charge over his household, to give his servants their portion of food at the proper time?

I assure you and most solemnly say to you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions.

He also said to the crowds, “When you see a cloud rising in the west, you immediately say, ‘It is going to rain,’ and that is how it turns out.

so he said to the vineyard-keeper, ‘For three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree and have found none. Cut it down! Why does it even use up the ground [depleting the soil and blocking the sunlight]?’

When Jesus saw her, He called her over and said to her, “Woman, you are released from your illness.”

But the leader of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, began saying to the crowd in response, “There are six days in which work ought to be done; so come on those days and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day.”

As He was saying this, all His opponents were being humiliated; and the entire crowd was rejoicing over all the glorious things that were being done by Him.

It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his own garden; and it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the sky found shelter and nested in its branches.”

And again He said, “To what shall I compare the kingdom of God?

And someone asked Him, “Lord, will only a few be saved [from the penalties of the last judgment]?” And He said to them,

And people will come from east and west, and from north and south, and they will sit down [and feast at the table] in the kingdom of God.

At that very hour some Pharisees came up and said to Him, “Leave and go away from here, because Herod [Antipas] wants to kill You.”

And He said to them, “Go and tell that fox [that sly, cowardly man], ‘Listen carefully: I cast out demons and perform healings today and tomorrow, and on the third day I reach My goal.’

Then He said to them, “Which one of you, having a son or an ox that falls into a well, will not immediately pull him out on the Sabbath day?”

“When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not sit down [to eat] at the place of honor, since a more distinguished person than you may have been invited by the host,

But when you are invited, go and sit down [to eat] at the last place, so that when your host comes, he will say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher’; and then you will be honored in the presence of all who are at the table with you.

Jesus also went on to say to the one who had invited Him, “When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or wealthy neighbors, otherwise they may also invite you in return and that will be your repayment.

When one of those who were reclining at the table with Him heard this, he said to Him, “Blessed (happy, prosperous, to be admired) is he who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!”

But Jesus said to him, “A man was giving a big dinner, and he invited many guests;

But they all alike began to make excuses. The first one said to him, ‘I have purchased a piece of land and I have to go out and see it; please consider me excused.’

Another one said, ‘I have purchased five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out; please consider me excused.’

And another said, ‘I have [recently] married a wife, and for that reason I am unable to come.’

So the servant came back and reported this to his master. Then [his master,] the head of the household, became angry [at the rejections of his invitation] and said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and the lanes of the city and bring in here the poor and the disabled and the blind and the lame.’

And the servant [after returning] said, ‘Sir, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.’

Then the master told the servant, ‘Go out into the highways and along the hedges, and compel them to come in, so that my house may be filled [with guests].

Now large crowds were going along with Jesus; and He turned and said to them,

For which one of you, when he wants to build a watchtower [for his guards], does not first sit down and calculate the cost, to see if he has enough to finish it?

Or what king, when he sets out to meet another king in battle, will not first sit down and consider whether he is strong enough with ten thousand men to encounter the one who is coming against him with twenty thousand?

Then He said, “A certain man had two sons.

The younger of them [inappropriately] said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the property that falls to me.’ So he divided the estate between them.

But when he [finally] came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired men have more than enough food, while I am dying here of hunger!

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

And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’

But the father said to his servants, ‘Quickly bring out the best robe [for the guest of honor] and put it on him; and give him a ring for his hand, and sandals for his feet.

And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has received him back safe and sound.’

The father said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours.

Now Jesus was also saying to the disciples, “There was a certain rich man who had a manager [of his estate], and accusations [against this man] were brought to him, that this man was squandering his [master’s] possessions.

So he called him and said to him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give an accounting of your management [of my affairs], for you can no longer be [my] manager.’

The manager [of the estate] said to himself, ‘What will I do, since my master is taking the management away from me? I am not strong enough to dig [for a living], and I am ashamed to beg.

So he summoned his master’s debtors one by one, and he said to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’

He said, ‘A hundred measures of [olive] oil.’ And he said to him, ‘Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.’

Then he said to another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ He said, ‘A hundred measures of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and write eighty.’

So He said to them, “You are the ones who declare yourselves just and upright in the sight of men, but God knows your hearts [your thoughts, your desires, your secrets]; for that which is highly esteemed among men is detestable in the sight of God.

And he cried out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus so that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in severe agony in this flame.’

But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things [all the comforts and delights], and Lazarus likewise bad things [all the discomforts and distresses]; but now he is comforted here [in paradise], while you are in severe agony.

So the rich man said, ‘Then, father [Abraham], I beg you to send Lazarus to my father’s house—

But Abraham said, ‘They have [the Scriptures given by] Moses and the [writings of the] Prophets; let them listen to them.’

And he said to him, ‘If they do not listen to [the messages of] Moses and the Prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.’”

Jesus said to His disciples, “Stumbling blocks [temptations and traps set to lure one to sin] are sure to come, but woe (judgment is coming) to him through whom they come!

The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith [our ability to confidently trust in God and in His power].”

And the Lord said, “If you have [confident, abiding] faith in God [even as small] as a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree [which has very strong roots], ‘Be pulled up by the roots and be planted in the sea’; and [if the request was in agreement with the will of God] it would have obeyed you.

When He saw them, He said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were [miraculously] healed and made clean.

Jesus said to him, “Get up and go [on your way]. Your faith [your personal trust in Me and your confidence in God’s power] has restored you to health.”

Then He said to the disciples, “The time will come when you will long to see [even] one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it.

And they asked Him, “Where, Lord?” He answered, “Where the corpse is, there the vultures will be gathered.”

saying, “In a certain city there was a judge who did not fear God and had no respect for man.

For a time he would not; but later he said to himself, ‘Even though I do not fear God nor respect man,

Then the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says!

Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is [essentially and morally] good except God alone.

When Jesus heard this, He said to him, “You still lack one thing; sell everything that you have and distribute the money to the poor, and you will have [abundant] treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me [becoming My disciple, believing and trusting in Me and walking the same path of life that I walk].”

Jesus looked at him and said, “How difficult it is for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God!

And those who heard it said, “Then who can be saved?”

But He said, “The things that are impossible with people are possible with God.”

Peter said, “Look, we have left all [things—homes, families, businesses] and followed You.”

And He said to them, “I assure you and most solemnly say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God,

Then taking the twelve [disciples] aside, He said to them, “Listen carefully: we are going up to Jerusalem, and all things that have been written through the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled and completed.

“What do you want Me to do for you?” He said, “Lord, let me regain my sight!”

Jesus said to him, “Regain your sight; your [personal trust and confident] faith [in Me] has made you well.”

Immediately he regained his sight and began following Jesus, glorifying and praising and honoring God. And all the people, when they saw it, praised God.

When Jesus reached the place, He looked up and said to him, “Zaccheus, hurry and come down, for today I must stay at your house.”

Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this household, because he, too, is a [spiritual] son of Abraham;

So He said, “A nobleman went to a distant country to obtain for himself a kingdom, and [then] to return.

So he called ten of his servants, and gave them ten minas [one apiece, each equal to about a hundred days’ wages] and said to them, ‘Do business [with this] until I return.’

The first one came before him and said, ‘Lord, your mina has made ten more minas.’

And he said to him, ‘Well done, good servant! Because you proved yourself faithful and trustworthy in a very little thing, you shall [now] have authority over ten cities [in my kingdom].’

The second one came and said, ‘Lord, your mina has made five minas.’

And he said to him also, ‘And you shall take charge over five cities.’

Then another came and said, ‘Lord, here is your mina, which I have kept laid up in a handkerchief [for safekeeping].

He said to the servant, ‘I will judge and condemn you by your own words, you worthless servant! Did you [really] know that I was a stern man, picking up what I did not lay down and reaping what I did not sow?

Then he said to the bystanders, ‘Take the mina away from him and give it to the one who has the ten minas.’

And they said to him, ‘Lord, he has ten minas already!’

[Jesus explained,] ‘I tell you that to everyone who has [because he valued his gifts from God and has used them wisely], more will be given; but from the one who does not have [because he disregarded his gifts from God], even what he has will be taken away.’

saying, “Go into the village ahead of you; there, as you enter, you will find a [donkey’s] colt tied, on which no one has ever sat. Untie it and bring it here.