Bible Reading Plan – Day 295

₁One Sabbath Jesus went to eat a meal at the home of one of the leading Pharisees; and people were watching Jesus closely. ₂A man whose legs and arms were swollen came to Jesus, ₃and Jesus asked the teachers of the Law and the Pharisees, “Does our Law allow healing on the Sabbath or not?”

₄But they would not say anything. Jesus took the man, healed him, and sent him away. ₅Then he said to them, “If any one of you had a son or an ox that happened to fall in a well on a Sabbath, would you not pull them out at once on the Sabbath itself?”

₆But they were not able to answer him about this.

₇Jesus noticed how some of the guests were choosing the best places, so he told this parable to all of them: ₈“When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not sit down in the best place. It could happen that someone more important than you has been invited, ₉and your host, who invited both of you, would have to come and say to you, ‘Let him have this place.’ Then you would be embarrassed and have to sit in the lowest place. ₁₀Instead, when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that your host will come to you and say, ‘Come on up, my friend, to a better place.’ This will bring you honour in the presence of all the other guests. ₁₁For all those who make themselves great will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be made great.”

₁₂Then Jesus said to his host, “When you give a lunch or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or your rich neighbours — for they will invite you back, and in this way you will be paid for what you did. ₁₃When you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind; ₁₄and you will be blessed, because they are not able to pay you back. God will repay you on the day the good people rise from death.”

₁₅When one of the men sitting at table heard this, he said to Jesus, “How happy are those who will sit down at the feast in the Kingdom of God!”

₁₆Jesus said to him, “There was once a man who was giving a great feast to which he invited many people. ₁₇When it was time for the feast, he sent his servant to tell his guests, ‘Come, everything is ready!’ ₁₈But they all began, one after another, to make excuses. The first one told the servant, ‘I have bought a field and must go and look at it; please accept my apologies.’ ₁₉Another one said, ‘I have bought five pairs of oxen and am on my way to try them out; please accept my apologies.’ ₂₀Another one said, ‘I have just got married, and for that reason I cannot come.’

₂₁“The servant went back and told all this to his master. The master was furious and said to his servant, ‘Hurry out to the streets and alleys of the town, and bring back the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.’ ₂₂Soon the servant said, ‘Your order has been carried out, sir, but there is room for more.’ ₂₃So the master said to the servant, ‘Go out to the country roads and lanes and make people come in, so that my house will be full. ₂₄I tell you all that none of those who were invited will taste my dinner!’ ”

₂₅Once when large crowds of people were going along with Jesus, he turned and said to them, ₂₆“Those who come to me cannot be my disciples unless they love me more than they love father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and themselves as well. ₂₇Those who do not carry their own cross and come after me cannot be my disciples.

₂₈“If one of you is planning to build a tower, you sit down first and work out what it will cost, to see if you have enough money to finish the job. ₂₉If you don't, you will not be able to finish the tower after laying the foundation; and all who see what happened will laugh at you. ₃₀‘This man began to build but can't finish the job!’ they will say.

₃₁“If a king goes out with 10,000 men to fight another king who comes against him with 20,000 men, he will sit down first and decide if he is strong enough to face that other king. ₃₂If he isn't, he will send messengers to meet the other king, to ask for terms of peace while he is still a long way off. ₃₃In the same way,” concluded Jesus, “none of you can be my disciple unless you give up everything you have.

₃₄“Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, there is no way to make it salty again. ₃₅It is no good for the soil or for the manure heap; it is thrown away. Listen, then, if you have ears!”

₁One day when many tax collectors and other outcasts came to listen to Jesus, ₂the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law started grumbling, “This man welcomes outcasts and even eats with them!” ₃So Jesus told them this parable:

₄“Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them — what do you do? You leave the other 99 sheep in the pasture and go looking for the one that got lost until you find it. ₅When you find it, you are so happy that you put it on your shoulders ₆and carry it back home. Then you call your friends and neighbours together and say to them, ‘I am so happy I found my lost sheep. Let us celebrate!’ ₇In the same way, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 respectable people who do not need to repent.

₈“Or suppose a woman who has ten silver coins loses one of them — what does she do? She lights a lamp, sweeps her house, and looks carefully everywhere until she finds it. ₉When she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbours together, and says to them, ‘I am so happy I found the coin I lost. Let us celebrate!’ ₁₀In the same way, I tell you, the angels of God rejoice over one sinner who repents.”

₁₁Jesus went on to say, “There was once a man who had two sons. ₁₂The younger one said to him, ‘Father, give me my share of the property now.’ So the man divided his property between his two sons. ₁₃After a few days the younger son sold his part of the property and left home with the money. He went to a country far away, where he wasted his money in reckless living. ₁₄He spent everything he had. Then a severe famine spread over that country, and he was left without a thing. ₁₅So he went to work for one of the citizens of that country, who sent him out to his farm to take care of the pigs. ₁₆He wished he could fill himself with the bean pods the pigs ate, but no one gave him anything to eat. ₁₇At last he came to his senses and said, ‘All my father's hired workers have more than they can eat, and here I am about to starve! ₁₈I will get up and go to my father and say, Father, I have sinned against God and against you. ₁₉I am no longer fit to be called your son; treat me as one of your hired workers.’ ₂₀So he got up and started back to his father.

“He was still a long way from home when his father saw him; his heart was filled with pity, and he ran, threw his arms round his son, and kissed him. ₂₁‘Father,’ the son said, ‘I have sinned against God and against you. I am no longer fit to be called your son.’ ₂₂But the father called his servants. ‘Hurry!’ he said. ‘Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and shoes on his feet. ₂₃Then go and get the prize calf and kill it, and let us celebrate with a feast! ₂₄For this son of mine was dead, but now he is alive; he was lost, but now he has been found.’ And so the feasting began.

₂₅“In the meantime the elder son was out in the field. On his way back, when he came close to the house, he heard the music and dancing. ₂₆So he called one of the servants and asked him, ‘What's going on?’ ₂₇‘Your brother has come back home,’ the servant answered, ‘and your father has killed the prize calf, because he got him back safe and sound.’

₂₈“The elder brother was so angry that he would not go into the house; so his father came out and begged him to come in. ₂₉But he answered his father, ‘Look, all these years I have worked for you like a slave, and I have never disobeyed your orders. What have you given me? Not even a goat for me to have a feast with my friends! ₃₀But this son of yours wasted all your property on prostitutes, and when he comes back home, you kill the prize calf for him!’ ₃₁‘My son,’ the father answered, ‘you are always here with me, and everything I have is yours. ₃₂But we had to celebrate and be happy, because your brother was dead, but now he is alive; he was lost, but now he has been found.’ ”

₁Jesus said to his disciples, “There was once a rich man who had a servant who managed his property. The rich man was told that the manager was wasting his master's money, ₂so he called him in and said, ‘What is this I hear about you? Hand in a complete account of your handling of my property, because you cannot be my manager any longer.’ ₃The servant said to himself, ‘My master is going to dismiss me from my job. What shall I do? I am not strong enough to dig ditches, and I am ashamed to beg. ₄Now I know what I will do! Then when my job is gone, I shall have friends who will welcome me in their homes.’

₅“So he called in all the people who were in debt to his master. He asked the first one, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ ₆‘100 barrels of olive oil,’ he answered. ‘Here is your account,’ the manager told him; ‘sit down and write fifty.’ ₇Then he asked another one, ‘And you — how much do you owe?’ ‘A thousand sacks of wheat,’ he answered. ‘Here is your account,’ the manager told him; ‘write 800.’

₈“As a result the master of this dishonest manager praised him for doing such a shrewd thing; because the people of this world are much more shrewd in handling their affairs than the people who belong to the light.”

₉And Jesus went on to say, “And so I tell you: make friends for yourselves with worldly wealth, so that when it gives out, you will be welcomed in the eternal home. ₁₀Whoever is faithful in small matters will be faithful in large ones; whoever is dishonest in small matters will be dishonest in large ones. ₁₁If, then, you have not been faithful in handling worldly wealth, how can you be trusted with true wealth? ₁₂And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to someone else, who will give you what belongs to you?

₁₃“No servant can be the slave of two masters; such a servant will hate one and love the other or will be loyal to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”

₁₄When the Pharisees heard all this, they sneered at Jesus, because they loved money. ₁₅Jesus said to them, “You are the ones who make yourselves look right in other people's sight, but God knows your hearts. For the things that are considered of great value by human beings are worth nothing in God's sight.

₁₆“The Law of Moses and the writings of the prophets were in effect up to the time of John the Baptist; since then the Good News about the Kingdom of God is being told, and everyone forces their way in. ₁₇But it is easier for heaven and earth to disappear than for the smallest detail of the Law to be done away with.

₁₈“Any man who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery; and the man who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

₁₉“There was once a rich man who dressed in the most expensive clothes and lived in great luxury every day. ₂₀There was also a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who used to be brought to the rich man's door, ₂₁hoping to eat the bits of food that fell from the rich man's table. Even the dogs would come and lick his sores.

₂₂“The poor man died and was carried by the angels to sit beside Abraham at the feast in heaven. The rich man died and was buried, ₂₃and in Hades, where he was in great pain, he looked up and saw Abraham, far away, with Lazarus at his side. ₂₄So he called out, ‘Father Abraham! Take pity on me, and send Lazarus to dip his finger in some water and cool my tongue, because I am in great pain in this fire!’

₂₅“But Abraham said, ‘Remember, my son, that in your lifetime you were given all the good things, while Lazarus got all the bad things. But now he is enjoying himself here, while you are in pain. ₂₆Besides all that, there is a deep pit lying between us, so that those who want to cross over from here to you cannot do so, nor can anyone cross over to us from where you are.’ ₂₇The rich man said, ‘Then I beg you, father Abraham, send Lazarus to my father's house, ₂₈where I have five brothers. Let him go and warn them so that they, at least, will not come to this place of pain.’

₂₉“Abraham said, ‘Your brothers have Moses and the prophets to warn them; your brothers should listen to what they say.’ ₃₀The rich man answered, ‘That is not enough, father Abraham! But if someone were to rise from death and go to them, then they would turn from their sins.’ ₃₁But Abraham said, ‘If they will not listen to Moses and the prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone were to rise from death.’ ”