Read the Gospels in 40 Days
17 Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Some bad things in this world will make other people do wrong things. You can be sure about that. But God will punish anyone who makes these bad things happen. 2 These other people may not seem to be important.[a] But you must not make them do wrong things. Do not do that! It would be better if someone tied a big stone round your neck, and then he threw you into the sea.[b]
3 Be careful how you live. If your Christian brother does something wrong, speak to him. Tell him that he has done a bad thing. He may say, “I am sorry for what I did. I will not do it again.” If he says that, you must forgive him. 4 Your brother may do a bad thing to you seven times in one day. He may turn to you each time and say, “I am sorry for what I did. I will not do it again.” If he does that, you must forgive him every time.’
5 The apostles said to the Lord Jesus, ‘Help us to believe more and more in God.’
6 The Lord replied, ‘You may believe in God only a very little bit, like a very small seed. Even if you only believe that little bit, you could say to this tree, “Pull yourself out of the ground and plant yourself in the sea.” Then the tree would obey you.
7 Think about this. You may have a servant that is ploughing your land. Or you may have a servant that is taking care of your sheep. When he comes in from his work in the evening, you would not say to him, “Sit down and eat.” 8 No, you would not say that. You would say to your servant, “Prepare my meal for me. Dress yourself properly and bring the food to me. I will eat and drink first. You can eat when I have finished.” 9 Servants should do what their masters tell them to do. When they do that, their masters do not need to thank them. 10 It is the same with you. The Master tells you what you should do. So when you have done all of it, you should say, “We are not special servants. We have only done what we should do.” ’
Ten men that had a bad disease of the skin
11 On his journey to Jerusalem, Jesus was travelling along the border between Samaria and Galilee. 12 When he was going into a village, ten men came towards him. These men had a bad disease of the skin. They stopped and stood a long way away from Jesus. 13 They shouted, ‘Jesus, Master, please be kind to us.’
14 Jesus saw them and said to them, ‘Go and show yourselves to the priests.’
While they were going on their way, they became well again. 15 One of these ten men saw that Jesus had made him well. He turned back and he praised God in a loud voice. 16 He went down on his knees in front of Jesus and thanked him. This man was from Samaria.
17 Then Jesus said, ‘I made ten men well again, didn't I? There should be another nine men somewhere! 18 But only this one man came back to thank God. And he is a foreign man from Samaria!’
19 Then Jesus spoke to the man. ‘Stand up and go on your way. You believed in me, so now you are really well.’
Jesus talks about the time when God will rule
20 Then some Pharisees asked Jesus a question. ‘When will the kingdom of God begin here?’
Jesus replied, ‘When God begins to rule here, people will not see it with their eyes. 21 Nobody will say, “Look everyone! God is ruling here,” or “Look! God is ruling over there.” No, it is not like that. God is already ruling in the lives of his people.’
22 Jesus said to his disciples, ‘The time will come when you will very much want to see me, the Son of Man, return to the earth. But you will not see that day. 23 People may say to you, “Look, there he is!” or “Here he is!” But do not go out with them to look. 24 When lightning shines, it quickly makes the whole of the sky light from one side to the other. It will be like that on the day when the Son of Man returns.[c] 25 But before this happens, the people of today will refuse to accept me. And I will feel much pain.
26 Remember what happened when Noah was alive.[d] It will be like that at the time when the Son of Man returns to the earth. 27 In Noah's time, people were eating their meals every day. Men and women continued to marry. They continued to do all this until the day when Noah went into his boat. Then it rained for a long time and there was deep water everywhere. The water killed all the people.
28 The same kind of thing happened when Lot was alive.[e] People in the city of Sodom were eating their meals every day. They were buying and selling things. They were planting their seeds and they were building their houses. 29 But one day Lot went away from Sodom. On that same day, God caused it to rain fire and burning stones from the sky. This killed all the people in Sodom.
30 It will happen quickly like that, on the day when I, the Son of Man, show myself clearly. 31 On that day, a person who is up on the roof of his house must not go back down into the house. He must not get his things that are inside the house to take with him. In the same way, people that are working outside in their fields must not go back to their homes. 32 Remember what happened to Lot's wife.[f]
33 Whoever wants to keep his own life safe will lose it. But whoever gives his life to serve me will have true life. 34 I tell you this. At that time, two men will be sleeping in one bed. God will take one of them away but he will leave the other man behind. 35-36 Two women will be preparing food together in the same place. God will take one of them away but he will leave the other one behind.’
37 Jesus' disciples asked him, ‘Where will this happen?’ Jesus replied, ‘If a dead body is lying somewhere, vultures will come together in that place.’[g]
Jesus talks about how to pray
18 Then Jesus told his disciples a story. He wanted to teach them that they must go on praying always. They must not get tired. 2 He said to them, ‘In a certain city, there was a judge.[h] He was not afraid of God. He did not respect people.
3 A woman lived in that same city. Her husband had died. She came to the judge many times with a problem. “Somebody is doing bad things against me. Please keep me safe from that person,” she was saying. 4 For a long time, the judge would not do anything to help her. Later, he thought, “I am not afraid of God. Nor do I respect people. 5 But this woman causes me trouble. If I do not do anything for her, she will continue to come to me again and again. She will make me ill. So I will help her to be safe. I will say that she is right.” ’
6 Jesus then said, ‘This judge was not a good man. But you should think about what he said. He helped the woman because she caused him trouble. 7 But as for God, he always helps those that he has chosen to be his children. When they continue to ask him for help, in the day and in the night, he will answer them. He will not wait. 8 I tell you this. He will show that they are right. He will help them quickly. I, the Son of Man, will return to earth. But will I find many people that still believe in me then, or not?’
Jesus tells a story about two men who were praying
9 Jesus told a story to teach other people. These people thought that they were very good in front of God. They thought that they were much better than other people.
10 Jesus said, ‘One day, two men went into the temple to pray. One man was a Pharisee. The other man took taxes from people. 11 The Pharisee stood there by himself. He prayed like this: “Thank you, God, that I am different from all these other people. They are bad people. They rob other people. They have sex with women who are not their wife. Thank you, God, that I am not like this man who takes taxes on behalf of the government. 12 I fast for two days of each week. I give to you one tenth of all the things and money that I receive.”
13 But the other man stood far away. He would not even look up towards heaven. He was hitting his body with his hands to show how sorry he was. He prayed like this: “Please, God, be kind to me. I have done many bad things.” ’
14 Jesus then said, ‘Let me tell you about these men when they went home. The man that took taxes from people was now right with God. But the Pharisee was still guilty. Some people lift themselves up to be important. But God will bring all of them down low. Other people are humble. God will lift up those people to a good place.’
Little children come to Jesus
15 People were also bringing babies to Jesus. They wanted him to put his hands on each child's head. But Jesus' disciples did not like this. They told the people that they should not do it.
16 Then Jesus told the children to come to him. He said to his disciples, ‘Let the children come to me. Do not try to stop them. People must become like these children so that God can rule their lives. That is what the kingdom of God is like. 17 I tell you this: A person must become like a little child for God to rule in his life. If he does not become like a child, he will not come into the kingdom of God.’
Jesus meets a rich ruler
18 A Jewish ruler came to Jesus and asked him, ‘Good Teacher, what must I do so that I can live with God for ever?’
19 Jesus asked him, ‘Why do you say that I am good? Only God is good. Nobody else. 20 You know God's rules: “Do not have sex with anyone who is not your wife. Do not kill anyone. Do not rob anyone. Do not say things that are not true about people. Love your father and your mother, and obey them.” ’
21 The man replied, ‘I have obeyed all these laws since I was a young man.’
22 Jesus heard what he said and he replied, ‘There is still just one thing that you must do. You must sell everything that you have. Then give the money to poor people. If you do that, you will have many valuable things in heaven. Then come back and be my disciple.’
23 When the ruler heard this, he became very sad. This was because he was a very rich man.
24 Jesus saw that the ruler had become sad. He said, ‘It is very difficult for rich people to let God rule in their lives. 25 The hole in a needle is very small. A camel cannot go through it! But it is even more difficult than that for a rich person to let God rule in their life.’
26 The people who were listening to Jesus said, ‘So perhaps God will not save anyone!’ 27 Jesus replied, ‘God can do things that are impossible for people to do.’
28 Peter then said to Jesus, ‘Look! We have left everything that we had. Now we are your disciples.’
29 Jesus said to them, ‘I tell you this: Some people have left their homes. Or they may have left their wife or their brothers. Or they may have left their parents or their children. They have done this to work for the kingdom of God. 30 Now, in this world, God will give these people many more things than they have left behind. And in the future world they will live for ever with God.’
31 Jesus took the 12 disciples away from the other people. ‘Listen!’ he said to them. ‘We are going to Jerusalem. There, many bad things will happen to me. All the things that God's prophets wrote down long ago about the Son of Man will now happen to me. 32 The Jewish leaders will deliver me to people that are not Jews. They will laugh at me. They will say bad things against me. They will spit at me. 33 They will hit me with whips and then they will kill me. But after three days, I will become alive again.’
34 The 12 disciples did not understand any of these things. What Jesus said did not mean anything to them. So they did not know what Jesus was talking about.
Jesus makes a blind man well
35 When Jesus was getting near to Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the side of the road. He was asking people to give him money. 36 Then he heard a large crowd of people as they went along the road. So he asked the people near him what was happening. 37 They told him, ‘Jesus from Nazareth is walking past.’
38 The man began to shout out. ‘Jesus! Son of David! Please be kind to me and help me.’ 39 The people who were walking at the front of the crowd were angry with him. They told him that he should be quiet. But he started to shout even louder, ‘Son of David! Please help me!’
40 Then Jesus stopped. He said to the people, ‘Bring that man to me.’ When the man came near, Jesus asked him, 41 ‘What do you want me to do for you?’ ‘Sir,’ the blind man replied, ‘I want to see again.’
42 Jesus said to him, ‘See again! You are well now because you believed in me.’ 43 Immediately, the man could see again. He started to follow Jesus along the road. He was praising God.
Many people saw what had happened. They also praised God.
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