Teach Us to Pray

Then he said to them, “Suppose one of you goes to a friend at midnight and tells him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, since a friend of mine has come to me from a journey, and I have nothing to set in front of him.’ And suppose he answers from inside the house, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is shut now, and my children are in bed with me. I can’t get up and give it to you.’ I tell you, even if the man inside won’t get up and give him the bread just because they are friends, he will still get up and give him as many as he needs, because of his persistence.

“I tell you, keep asking, and it will be given to you. Keep looking, and you will find. Keep knocking, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives. Whoever looks finds. And to whoever knocks, it will be opened.

“Which of you fathers, if your son asks for bread, would give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, would you hand him a snake instead? And if he asks for an egg, would you give him a scorpion? Evil as you are, you know how to give good gifts to your children. So how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?”

The Lord said to him, “You Pharisees wash the outside of the cup and the platter, but on the inside you are full of wickedness and of taking from others by force or threats. You fools! Didn’t the maker of the outside make the inside as well? But give what is inside as gifts to people in need, and look, everything will be clean for you.

“But woe to you Pharisees! You tithe mint and rue and every herb, but you pass over justice and God’s love. You should have done those, and not left the tithing undone.

“Woe to you Pharisees! You love the best seats in the synagogues and being greeted in the marketplaces.

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You are like graves that no one can see, and people walk on them and never know it.”

Jesus said, “Woe to you lawyers too! You weigh people down with loads that are hard to carry, and you yourselves won’t lift even one finger to help carry them.

“Woe to you! You build the tombs of the prophets, and your ancestors killed them. So you are witnesses to your ancestors’ deeds, and you go along with them. They killed the prophets, and you build their tombs.

“This is also why the wisdom of God said, ‘I will send prophets and apostles to them, and they will kill and persecute some of them. So this generation will have to answer for the blood of all the prophets spilled since the world was made, from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zachariah, who died between the altar and the sanctuary.’ Yes, I tell you, it is this generation that will have to answer for it.

“Woe to you lawyers! You took away the key of knowledge. You haven’t gone in yourselves, and you have stood in the way of those who were going in.”

As he was saying these things to them, the scribes and the Pharisees grew furious and began trying to get him to talk about many things. They lay in wait for him, trying to catch him in something he might say, so that they could accuse him.

“But nothing is covered up that won’t be brought out into the open, and nothing is hidden that won’t be known. So whatever you have said in the darkness will be heard in the light. What you have said into someone’s ear in the inner rooms will be announced on the housetops.

“I tell you, my friends, don’t be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can’t do anything more. But I will warn you whom you should fear. Fear the one who, after he has killed, has power to throw people into Gehenna. Yes, I tell you, fear him.

“Aren’t five sparrows sold for two small copper coins? Not one of them is forgotten by God. But the very hairs of your head are all counted. So don’t be afraid. You are of more value than many sparrows.” Each of those coins was worth about an hour’s wages for a farm worker.

“I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me in front of people will also be acknowledged by the Son of Man in front of the angels of God. But anyone who denies me in front of people will be denied in front of God’s angels. Everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but those who blaspheme against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.

“When they bring you before the synagogues, the rulers and the authorities, don’t worry about how you will answer, or what you will answer, or what you will say, because the Holy Spirit will teach you in that same hour what you must say.”

But Jesus said to the man, “Who made me a judge over you, or the one to divide things between you?”

Then he said to them, “Be careful! Keep yourselves from greed, because a person’s life doesn’t consist of how much he owns.”

He told them a parable. “There was a rich man whose land produced a huge harvest. He thought it over: ‘What am I going to do? I don’t have room to store my crops.’ He said, ‘This is what I will do. I’ll pull my barns down and build bigger ones, and I’ll store all my grain and my goods there. I’ll tell my soul, “Soul, you have plenty of good things put away for many years. Rest, eat, drink, and be merry.”’

“But God said to him, ‘You foolish man! Tonight your soul is demanded from you. And all you have prepared, whose will it be then?’ It’s the same for anyone who saves up treasure for himself and isn’t rich toward God.”

“Think about the ravens. They don’t plant, they don’t harvest, they have no warehouse or barn, and God feeds them. How much more are you worth than birds!

“Which of you can add a cubit to your height by worrying?” A cubit is about eighteen inches. “If you can’t do even the smallest things, why are you worrying about the rest?

“Think about the lilies, how they grow. They don’t work hard, and they don’t spin yarn. Yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory wasn’t dressed like one of these. The grass in the field is there today and tossed into the oven tomorrow. If this is how God clothes it, how much more will he clothe you, people of little faith?

“Don’t chase after what you will eat or what you will drink, and don’t worry. The nations of the world chase after all these things, but your Father knows you need them. But seek God’s Kingdom, and all these things will be added to you.

“Don’t be afraid, little flock, because it pleases your Father to give you the Kingdom. Sell what you have and give to people in need. Make yourselves purses that don’t grow old, a treasure in the heavens that never runs out, where no thief can come close and no moth can spoil it. Where your treasure is, that’s where your heart will be too.”

“The servants whom the master finds watching when he comes are blessed. I tell you for certain, he will tuck his robe into his belt, seat them at the table, and come and wait on them. They will be blessed if he comes in the second watch of the night, or the third, and finds them like that.

“But know this: if the master of the house had known what time the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and not allowed his house to be broken into. So be ready as well, because the Son of Man is coming at a time when you don’t expect him.”

Peter said to him, “Lord, are you telling this parable to us, or to everybody?”

The Lord said, “Who, then, is the faithful and wise steward, whom his master will put in charge of his household, to give them their share of food at the right times? When his master comes and finds him doing so, that servant is blessed. I tell you truly, the master will put him in charge of everything he has.

“But what if that servant thinks, ‘My master is slow in coming,’ and starts to beat the serving men and serving women, and to eat and drink and get drunk? Then his master will come on a day when the servant isn’t expecting him, at an hour he doesn’t know. The master will cut him in two and give him his place with the unfaithful.

“The servant who knew what his master wished, but didn’t get ready or do what he wanted, will be beaten many times. But a servant who didn’t know, and did things that deserve a beating, will be beaten a few times. Whoever is given much will have much required of him, and whoever was trusted with much will be asked for more.”

“Do you think that I have come to give peace on the earth? I tell you, no: division instead. From now on, five people in one house will be split, three against two, and two against three. They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against her mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.”

To the crowds he also said, “When you see a cloud rising from the west, you say right away, ‘A shower is coming,’ and so it happens. When a south wind blows, you say, ‘It will be scorching hot,’ and it happens.

“You hypocrites! You know how to read the look of the earth and the sky. But how is it that you don’t read the time you are living in?

“Why don’t you judge for yourselves what is right? When you and your opponent are going before the magistrate, do all you can on the way to be free of him. If you don’t, he may drag you to the judge, the judge may hand you to the officer, and the officer may throw you into prison. I tell you, you won’t get out of there until you have paid the very last tiny coin.” That coin was worth less than a hundredth of a farm worker’s pay for a day.