Read the Gospels in 40 Days
Jesus sends out 72 disciples
10 After this, Jesus chose another 72 disciples. He sent them out two by two, to every town and village that he would visit soon. 2 Before they went, he said to them, ‘Many people are ready to believe God's message. They are like crops in a field at harvest time. But there are very few workers to bring in the crops. So pray to God to send out workers. The field and the plants belong to him.’[a]
3 Jesus then said, ‘I am sending you out, so go! But listen! You will be like young sheep among wild animals. 4 Do not carry a purse or a bag. Do not take extra shoes. When you meet other people on the road, do not stop to say “hello”.[b]
5 In each town, when you go into a house, first say to the people who live there, “We pray that all will be well with you!” 6 Someone in the house may accept what you say. If they do, God will bless them. But if nobody accepts your kind words, God will bless you instead of them. 7 Stay in the same house there until you leave that town. Accept the food and drink that the people in the house give to you. You are working to help them. So they should give you what you need to live. Do not visit different houses to get food. 8 The people may accept you well when you go into a town. Then eat the food that those people give to you. 9 Make the sick people well who are there. Give this message to all the people there: “The kingdom of God has now come near to you.” 10 Sometimes when you go into a town, the people will not accept you. You should then go into the streets of that town and you should say to the people, 11 “There is dirt from your town on our feet. We will clean it off to show that you have not accepted us. God is not happy with you. But listen! You should know that the kingdom of God has come very near.” 12 One day God will punish the people from that town. Yes, he will punish them more than the people who lived in Sodom long ago.’[c]
Some towns where people did not believe
13 Jesus then said, ‘You people in Chorazin, things will be bad for you! And things will be bad for you, people in Bethsaida. I have done great and powerful things in your cities. If I had done such great things in Tyre and in Sidon, the people there would have changed how they lived. They would have shown that they were sorry for their sins. They would have put on rough clothes. They would also have put ashes on their heads. 14 Yes, when God judges everyone, he will punish the people of Tyre and Sidon. But he will punish even more you people from Chorazin and Bethsaida. 15 And what will happen to you people in Capernaum? You think that God will lift you up to heaven, do you? No! He will throw you down to Hades, the place for dead people!’[d]
16 Jesus then said to his disciples, ‘Whoever listens to you is also listening to me. Whoever does not accept you does not accept me. And whoever does not accept me does not accept my Father God, who sent me.’
The 72 disciples return
17 Later, the 72 disciples that Jesus had sent out returned to him. They were very happy. ‘Master,’ they said, ‘even bad spirits obey us. When we use your name, they do what we say.’
18 Jesus replied, ‘I saw the Devil himself fall from heaven like lightning. 19 Listen! I have given power to you. You will even stand on dangerous snakes and insects and you will have authority over all the power of the Devil. Nothing will hurt you. 20 But do not be happy because you have authority over bad spirits. God has written your names in his book in heaven. That is why you should be happy.’
Jesus is very happy
21 At this moment, the Holy Spirit made Jesus very happy. He said, ‘Father, you rule over everything in heaven and on the earth! People that do not know many things now can understand your message. I thank you for this. But you have hidden these things from other people. Those people think that they understand everything. They think that they are wise. Yes, Father, this is how you wanted it to happen.’
22 Jesus then said, ‘My Father has given me authority over all things. Only the Father knows who I am, his Son. Only I know who the Father is, because I am his Son. I also choose to tell some people about him. Then they also know him.’
23 Then Jesus turned and he spoke only to his disciples. He said to them, ‘Be happy because of the things that you are now able to see and understand. 24 I tell you this: Many prophets and kings from a long time ago wanted to see these things. But they did not see the things that you are seeing. They wanted to hear the message that you are hearing. But they did not hear it.’
A story about a good man from Samaria
25 A teacher of God's Law stood up. He wanted to see how Jesus would answer his question. So he asked Jesus, ‘Teacher, what must I do so that I can live with God for ever?’
26 ‘What does God's Law say?’ Jesus asked. ‘What do you understand when you read it?’
27 The man replied, ‘It says that we must love the Lord our God with all our mind and with all our strength. We must love him with all that we are and in all that we think. It also says that we must love other people as much as we love ourselves.’[e]
28 ‘You have told me the right answer,’ Jesus said. ‘If you do this, you will have true life with God.’
29 But the man wanted to show that he had been right to ask a question. So he asked, ‘Who are the people near to me that I must love?’
30 Jesus answered him with a story: ‘A man was going down the road from Jerusalem to Jericho town. On the way, some men attacked him. They took away all his clothes and they hit him with sticks. He was almost dead when they left him. 31 But it happened that a priest from the temple was going down that road. He saw the man, who was lying there. But he walked past him on the other side of the road. 32 A Levite was also going down the road. He came to the place where the man was lying. He saw him. But he also walked past on the other side of the road.[f]
33 But then a man from Samaria was also travelling along the road. And he came to the place where the man was lying. When he saw him, he felt very sorry for him. 34 He went across to him. He poured oil and wine on the places where he was bleeding.[g] Then he tied those places with clean cloths. After that, he put the man on his own donkey to carry him. They arrived at a small hotel. He took the man in there and he was kind to him.[h]
35 The next day, the man from Samaria took out two silver coins from his purse.[i] He gave the money to the man that was taking care of the hotel. “Be kind to this man for me,” he said. “This money may not be enough. When I return, I will pay you for any more that you have spent on him.” ’
36 Then Jesus asked the teacher of God's Law a question. He said, ‘Three men saw the man that was lying on the road. Which of them showed love to him, like a real friend?’
37 The teacher answered, ‘It was the man who was kind to him.’
Then Jesus said to him, ‘Yes. So you should go and do the same for other people.’
Jesus visits the home of Martha and Mary
38 Jesus and his disciples continued their journey. They arrived at a certain village. There, a woman called Martha asked Jesus to come into her home.[j] 39 Martha had a sister called Mary. Mary sat down near Jesus. She was listening to the things that he was teaching. 40 But Martha was thinking to herself, ‘I cannot do all this work alone.’ So she went to Jesus. She said, ‘Master, my sister is not helping me with the work. She has left me to do it alone. You surely do not think that this is right! Tell her that she should help me!’
41 The Lord Jesus replied, ‘Martha, Martha, you have troubles in your mind about many things. 42 But only one thing is really important. That is what Mary has chosen to do. Nobody will take it away from her.’[k]
Jesus teaches his disciples how to pray
11 One day, Jesus was praying in a certain place. He finished praying. Then, one of his disciples said to him, ‘Master, John taught his disciples how to pray. Please teach us as he did.’
2 Jesus replied, ‘When you pray, you should say this:
“God, our Father, we want people to give honour to you.
We want the day when you rule everyone to come soon.
3 Please give to us the food that we need each day.
4 Forgive us for our sins,
because we also forgive everyone who has done wrong things against us.
And do not let us agree to do wrong things.” ’
5 Jesus then told a story to teach them how to pray. He said, ‘Let me tell you about someone who goes to a friend's home at midnight. “My friend,” he says, “please give me three loaves of bread. 6 A friend of mine is on a journey and he has arrived at my house. But I have no food to give him.” 7 But his friend answers from inside his house. He says, “Do not cause problems for me! I have locked my door. My children and I have gone to bed. So I cannot get up and give you any bread.” ’
8 Then Jesus said, ‘I will tell you what will happen. Perhaps your friend will not give you anything just because you are good friends. But if you continue to knock and ask for bread, your friend will get up. He will give you bread, as much as you need.
9 So I tell you this. Continue to ask God for what you need. Then God will give it to you. Continue to look for what you need. Then you will find it. Continue to knock at the door and God will open it for you. 10 Everyone that asks for something will receive it. Everyone that looks for something will find it. God will open the door for everyone that knocks on it. 11 Some of you are fathers. If your son asks you for a fish, you would not give him a snake instead. 12 If he asks you for an egg, you would not give him something dangerous. 13 You are bad. But even you know how to give good things to your children. Your Father in heaven knows much better than you do how to give good things to his children. So he will give the Holy Spirit to everyone who asks him.’[l]
Jesus teaches about the Devil
14 One day, Jesus was telling a bad spirit to go out of a man. Because of the bad spirit, the man could not speak. But after it had gone out of him, the man could speak again. All the people that were watching were surprised at this. 15 But some people in the crowd were not happy with Jesus and they said, ‘This man can send bad spirits out of people because Beelzebul gives him authority.[m] That is Satan, the one who rules all the bad spirits.’
16 Some other people wanted to test Jesus to see what he would do. So they asked him, ‘Do something powerful for us to see. Then we will know that God has really sent you.’[n]
17 But Jesus knew what those people were thinking. He said to them, ‘If armies in a country start to fight each other, they will destroy their own country. If people in one family fight against each other, they will destroy their own family. 18 So Satan would not fight against himself. If he did that, it would be the end of his kingdom. But you say that Beelzebul helps me to destroy bad spirits. 19 If that is true, what do you say about your own disciples? They also send bad spirits out of people. You would not say that it is Satan's power that helps them. So your own people show that you are wrong about this. 20 When I send bad spirits out of people, I use the power of God. This shows that God has come to rule among you.
21 When a strong man has all the weapons he needs to fight with, he can take care of his own house. Nobody will be able to rob him of the things inside his house. 22 But someone may come who is stronger than he is. That man will attack him and beat him. The strong man believed his weapons would keep him safe. But the stronger man will take his weapons away. He will take the strong man's things and give them to other people.[o]
23 If someone does not agree to help me, he is working against me. You should work with me to bring people to me for help. If you do not do that, you are making people run away from me.’[p]
24 Jesus then said, ‘When a bad spirit goes out of a person, it travels through dry places. It looks for a new place to live. But maybe it does not find anywhere. So it says to itself, “I will return to the place where I lived before.” 25 Then it goes back to that person. It finds that the place is empty. Everything there is now good and clean. 26 So the bad spirit goes out and it brings back seven other spirits. They are even worse than itself. They all go into the person and they live there. Now the person's life is even worse than it was before.’[q]
27 While Jesus was saying this, a woman in the crowd shouted out. ‘How happy is the woman that gave birth to you! How happy is the woman that fed you from her breasts!’
28 Jesus replied, ‘It is the people who hear God's message who are happy. They are happy if they obey it.’
Jesus talks about Jonah
29 The crowd around Jesus was growing very large, so he began to speak to them. ‘The people that are alive today are very bad,’ he said. ‘They want God to show them something powerful. But God will not do this for them. They will only see the same powerful thing that God did for Jonah.[r] 30 Jonah showed God's power to the people who lived in Nineveh. They knew that God had sent him. In the same way the Son of Man will show God's power to the people that are living today. Then they will know that God has sent me.
31 Also, the queen of Sheba travelled a long way to see King Solomon. She wanted to hear his wise words. When God judges everyone, she will stand up. She will speak against you who are alive today. She will show that you are bad people. She listened to King Solomon. But look! There is someone here now who is greater than Solomon was.[s]
32 When God judges everyone, the people who lived in Nineveh will be there. They will stand up and they will speak against you. They will show that the people who are alive today are bad. When Jonah spoke to the people in Nineveh long ago, they stopped doing bad things. But look! There is someone here now who is greater than Jonah was.’
Jesus talks about light
33 Then Jesus said, ‘When someone lights a lamp, he does not hide it. Nor does he put it under a pot. Instead, he puts it in a high place. Then other people who come into the room can see the light from the lamp. 34 Your eyes are like lamps and your body is like a room. Be careful that your eyes are like a clean lamp, then your whole body will have light. But if your eyes are dirty, your whole body will be completely in the dark. 35 So you must be careful. Be sure that you really have light in you. Be sure that you are not still in the dark. 36 Your whole body needs to have lots of light. Nothing dark should be there. It will be as if a lamp is shining its bright light on you.’[t]
Jesus warns some Pharisees
37 While Jesus was speaking, a Pharisee asked him to eat a meal with him. So Jesus went to the Pharisee's house and he sat down at the table. 38 Jesus did not wash his hands before he ate the meal. This surprised the Pharisee. 39 So the Lord Jesus said to him, ‘You Pharisees are like someone who only cleans the outside of his cup and his plate. You only clean the part that people can see. But inside, your mind is full of bad thoughts.[u] You like to take things from other people. 40 What fools you are! God made the inside of you as well as the outside. He knows all about you. 41 So be ready to give things to poor people. Then you will be really clean, on the inside as well as the outside.
42 It will be very bad for you Pharisees! When you grow spices to cook with food, you give a tenth part of these small things to God. You are right to obey this rule. But you do not do the most important things. You do not help people in a good way. You do not really love God. You should have done the important things as well as the other little things.
43 Yes, it will be very bad for you Pharisees! You like to sit in the best seats in the meeting place. And you like people to praise you in the market place.
44 It will be very bad for you. You want to seem good to other people, but you are bad on the inside. You are like a grave that has nothing to show that it is there. People walk on that place because they do not know that there is a dead person there.’[v]
45 Then a teacher of God's Law spoke out. ‘Teacher,’ he said, ‘when you say these things, you are also saying bad things about us.’
46 Jesus replied, ‘It will be very bad for you as well, teachers of God's Law. You give rules to people to obey. Those rules are like things that are too heavy for people to carry.[w] You do not even help people to carry them. Not even with one finger do you help them!
47 Yes, it will be very bad for you! A long time ago, your ancestors killed God's prophets. Now, you build up beautiful stones to show the place where they buried them. 48 You know that your ancestors killed the prophets. Now you build up the places where they buried them. So you show that you agree with your ancestors. You agree with what they did. 49 God is wise. Because you do not obey what is true, he said, “I will send my prophets and apostles to go to them. But they will kill some of my servants. They will hurt others of them.” 50 Since the beginning of the world, people have killed God's prophets. But God will punish the people who are alive today for all those murders. 51 Abel was the first to die like this and Zechariah was the last. They even killed Zechariah in the yard of the temple, near the altar.[x] Yes, God will punish the people who are alive today for all those murders.
52 It will be very bad for you teachers of God's Law! You have studied God's message. But you do not then accept it. You have also stopped people who really wanted to know God's message. Then they could not go on to accept it and go into God's kingdom.’
53 Then Jesus left that place. The Pharisees and the teachers of God's Law were angry against Jesus. They were asking him many difficult questions. 54 They wanted to make him say something wrong. Then they could take hold of him.
Jesus tells the people to be careful how they live
12 While all this was happening, many thousands of people had come together near that place. The crowd was so big that people were almost walking over each other. Jesus began to talk first to his disciples. He said, ‘Be careful! Do not accept the yeast of the Pharisees.[y] Do not be hypocrites like they are.
2 Some people hide the things that they do. But there will be a time when other people will see those things clearly. Everyone will know all their secrets. 3 You may have said things secretly, in the dark of the night. But one day, people will hear those things in the light of day. You may have said things quietly into someone's ear, behind a door that you have shut. But one day, people will shout out those secrets loudly from the tops of the houses.
4 You are my friends, so I tell you this: do not be afraid of those people who can kill only your body. After that, they can do nothing worse to you. 5 But I tell you, it is God that you should be afraid of. He has the power to kill people and then to throw them into hell. Yes, I am telling you, be very afraid of him.
6 Think about this. People sell five birds for two small coins. But each little bird is valuable to God. He knows about them all and takes care of them. 7 God even knows how many hairs there are on your head. So do not be afraid of those people who are against you. You are more valuable to God than many little birds.
8 I tell you this. You should say clearly to other people, “I believe in Jesus.” If you do this, I, the Son of Man, will say to the angels of God, “This is someone who is my disciple.” 9 But if you say to other people, “I do not believe in Jesus,” I will say to the angels of God, “I do not know this person. He is not one of my disciples.”
10 Somebody may speak against me, the Son of Man, and God will forgive him. But if somebody says bad things against the Holy Spirit, God will not forgive that person.[z]
11 People will take you into their meeting places. They will make you stand in front of rulers and other people that have authority. They will want to show that you have done bad things. But do not be afraid of them. Do not worry about what you should say. 12 At that time, the Holy Spirit will teach you. He will tell you what words you should say.’
A story about a rich fool
13 Someone in the crowd said to Jesus, ‘Teacher, I have a problem with my brother. Our father has died. Tell my brother to give me my part of the things that our father left us.’[aa]
14 Jesus replied, ‘It is not my job to say which of you is right or wrong. And it is not my job to say how much each of you should have.’ 15 Then he said to all the people, ‘Be very careful! Do not want more things than you really need. A person's life is worth more than the things that he has, even if he is very rich.’
16 Jesus then told them a story: ‘A man had some very good ground, where he planted seeds. The plants grew very well. When they became ripe, he had much more than he planted. 17 He thought about how much he would soon have. “I have nowhere to store all the food from my plants,” he said to himself. 18 But then he decided what to do. He thought, “I will pull down the building where I now store my food. Then I will build a bigger place to store it all, as well as everything else that is mine. 19 Then I will say to myself, ‘You have plenty of things stored safely. These will be enough for you for many years. Now you can live an easy life. Eat and drink as much as you want. Enjoy yourself.’ ”
20 But then God said to the man, “You are a fool! Tonight you will die. You will have to leave everything behind that you have stored. Somebody else will have them, but you will not!” ’
21 Then Jesus said, ‘Some people think only about having many things for themselves. This story shows how those people live. But God says about them, “They have nothing of value at all.” ’
Do not have troubles in your mind
22 Jesus said to his disciples, ‘I tell you this: You should not worry about how to stay alive. Do not worry about the food that you need to stay alive. Do not worry about the clothes that you need to wear. 23 Your life is more important than the food that you eat. Your body is more important than your clothes.
24 Think about the birds. They do not plant seeds in the ground. They do not cut down plants to eat. They have no buildings to store food. But God gives them food to eat. You are much more valuable than the birds. 25 Even if you always worry about your life, you cannot make it as much as one hour longer! 26 No, you cannot even do a small thing like that. So, if you are always worrying about the things that you need, will that really help you?
27 Think about how the wild flowers grow. They do not do work or make clothes for themselves. But I tell you this about them: Even one wild flower is more beautiful than King Solomon was. And King Solomon wore the most beautiful clothes. 28 It is God that gives beautiful clothes even to the grass. One day the grass is growing in the field, but the next day people will cut it and burn it.[ab] God will certainly take care of you, much more than he takes care of the grass. You should trust him more than you do!
29 Do not always be thinking about the food and drink that you need. Do not worry about things like that. 30 People who do not know God are always trying to get these things. But as for you, your Father God knows that you need them. 31 Instead, always think about the things that are important in the kingdom of God. Then God will also give you the things that you need each day.
32 You are only a small group of people, but do not be afraid. Your Father God has given his kingdom to you. He is happy to do that. 33 So sell what you have and give the money to poor people. Then you will have valuable things in heaven. That is like keeping your money in a bag that will never have any holes in it. There, the value of your things will never become less. There, nobody can take them from you. Insects cannot destroy them. 34 If you do that, you will be thinking a lot about heaven. That is where you will have stored your valuable things.’
Be ready for Jesus to return
35 Jesus said, ‘Always be ready for my return. Be like people that are ready to start work at any time. They have put on their clothes so that they are ready for work.[ac] And they have lit their lamps. 36 You must be like servants that are waiting for their master to arrive. When he returns home from the marriage party, he will knock on the door. His servants should be ready to open it for him immediately. 37 Those servants will be very happy if their master finds them awake. I tell you this: The master will dress himself to give them food. He will say to them, “Sit at the table. I will come to serve you.”
38 The master may arrive in the middle of the night. He may even arrive just before the sun rises. But, if the master finds them awake and ready, the servants will be happy.
39 You can be sure about this. The master of a house does not know when a man might come to rob him. If he knew the time, he would keep awake. He would not let the robber come into his house and take away his things.
40 You also must be ready. The Son of Man will come at a time when you are not thinking about it.’[ad]
Be a good servant
41 Peter asked Jesus, ‘Master, are you only telling this story to us, your disciples? Or is this story for everyone to hear?’
42 Jesus replied, ‘Be a wise servant. Be someone that the master can trust. The master will choose a man like that. He will say to him, “I want you to rule my house and the other servants. Give them the food that they need at the right time.” 43 That servant will be very happy when his master comes home. His master will see that he has done everything well. 44 Let me tell you what will happen. The master will give that servant authority to rule over everything in his house. 45 But another servant might say to himself, “My master is very late. He will not come yet.” Then he begins to hit the other servants, both the men and the women. He eats too much, and he drinks too much. He even becomes drunk. 46 Then the master of that servant will come home and he will surprise the servant. He did not think that his master would come home on that day or at that time. Then the master will punish that servant a lot. He will put the servant with those people that do not obey him.
47 A servant may know what his master wants him to do. Then he should prepare himself and do that. If he does not, his master will punish him very much. He will hit him a lot. 48 But another servant perhaps does not know what his master wants him to do. So he does wrong things. The master will punish him because he did those wrong things. But he will not hit him as much. If God gives a lot to somebody, he will want a lot back in return. And God will want much more from the person to whom he has given authority over much more.
49 I came to start a fire on earth. I would be happy if that fire were already burning. 50 I have a baptism of pain to receive. I cannot rest until this has happened.[ae]
51 I did not come into the world so that everyone will agree with each other. No, I tell you. I came to put people against one another. 52 From now on, because of me, five people in a family will be against each other. Two people will be against the other three. Three of them will be against the other two. 53 They will not agree together. The father will be against his son and the son will be against his father. The mother will be against her daughter and the daughter will be against her mother. The mother will be against her son's wife. And the son's wife will be against her husband's mother.’[af]
54 Then Jesus said to the crowd, ‘If you see a cloud that is rising in the west, immediately you say, “It will rain.” And the rain does come. 55 Sometimes you see that the south wind is blowing. So you say, “It will be very hot weather.” And the hot weather does come. 56 You are hypocrites! You look at the earth and the sky, and you know what weather will come. So look at the special things that are happening near you now. They show you what will soon happen. But you do not understand what they are showing you. Why not?[ag]
57 You should know what is right. And you should do it. 58 This may happen to you: Someone says, “You have done something wrong against me.” So he takes hold of you to go to the judge.[ah] Before you arrive at the office of the judge, try to agree with this man how to make things right again. If you do not agree together about the problem, it may be bad for you. The judge will give you to his officer. The officer will put you in prison. 59 I tell you. You will remain in prison until you have paid all the money, even the last small coin.’[ai]
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