013:011 where a woman was present who for eighteen years had been
a confirmed invalid: she was bent double, and was unable
to lift herself to her full height.
013:012 But Jesus saw her, and calling to her, He said to her, "Woman,
you are free from your weakness."
013:013 And He put His hands on her, and she immediately stood upright
and began to give glory to God.
013:014 Then the Warden of the Synagogue, indignant that Jesus
had cured her on a Sabbath, said to the crowd, "There are
six days in the week on which people ought to work.
On those days therefore come and get yourselves cured,
and not on the Sabbath day."
013:015 But the Lord's reply to him was, "Hypocrites, does not each of you
on the Sabbath untie his bullock or his ass from the stall
and lead him to water?
013:016 And this woman, daughter of Abraham as she is, whom Satan
had bound for no less than eighteen years, was she not to be
loosed from this chain because it is the Sabbath day?"
013:017 When He had said this, all His opponents were ashamed,
while the whole multitude was delighted at the many glorious
things continually done by Him.
013:018 This prompted Him to say, "What is the Kingdom of God like?
and to what shall I compare it?
013:019 It is like a mustard seed which a man drops into the soil
in his garden, and it grows and becomes a tree in whose
branches the birds roost."
013:020 And again He said, "To what shall I compare the Kingdom of God?
013:021 It is like yeast which a woman takes and buries in a bushel
of flour, to work there till the whole is leavened."
013:022 He was passing through town after town and village after village,
steadily proceeding towards Jerusalem,
013:023 when some one asked Him, "Sir, are there but few who are
to be saved?"
013:024 "Strain every nerve to force your way in through the narrow gate,"
He answered; "for multitudes, I tell you, will endeavour
to find a way in and will not succeed.
013:025 As soon as the Master of the house shall have risen and shut the door,
and you have begun to stand outside and knock at the door
and say, "`Sir, open the door for us'--"`I do not know you,'
He answers; `you are no friends of mine.'
013:026 "Then you will plead, "`We have eaten and drunk in your company
and you have taught in our streets.'
013:027 "But He will reply, "`I tell you that you are no friends of mine.
Begone from me, all of you, wrongdoers that you are.'
013:028 "There will be the weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see
Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the Prophets in the Kingdom
of God, and yourselves being driven far away.
013:029 They will come from east and west, from north and south,
and will sit down at the banquet in the Kingdom of God.
013:030 And I tell you that some now last will then be first,
and some now first will then be last."
013:031 Just at that time there came some Pharisees who warned Him,
saying, "Leave this place and continue your journey;
Herod means to kill you."
013:032 "Go," He replied, "and take this message to that fox:
"`See, to-day and to-morrow I am driving out demons and
effecting cures, and on the third day I finish my course.'
013:033 "Yet I must continue my journey to-day and to-morrow and
the day following; for it is not conceivable that a Prophet
should perish outside of Jerusalem.
013:034 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou who murderest the Prophets
and stonest those who have been sent to thee, how often
have I desired to gather thy children just as a hen gathers
her brood under her wings, and you would not come!
013:035 See, your house is left to you. But I tell you that you will
never see me again until you say, `Blessed is He who comes
in the name of the Lord!'"
014:001 One day--it was a Sabbath--He was taking a meal at the house
of one of the Rulers of the Pharisee party, while they were
closely watching Him.
014:002 In front of Him was a man suffering from dropsy.
014:003 This led Jesus to ask the lawyers and Pharisees, "Is it
allowable to cure people on the Sabbath?"
014:004 They gave Him no answer; so He took hold of the man, cured him,
and sent him away.
014:005 Then He turned to them and said, "Which of you shall have
a child or an ox fall into a well on the Sabbath day,
and will not immediately lift him out?"
014:006 To this they could make no reply.
014:007 Then, when He noticed that the invited guests chose the best seats,
He used this as an illustration and said to them,
014:008 "When any one invites you to a wedding banquet, do not take
the best seat, lest perhaps some more honoured guest than you
may have been asked,
014:009 and the man who invited you both will come and will say to you,
`Make room for this guest,' and then you, ashamed, will move
to the lowest place.
014:010 On the contrary, when you are invited go and take the lowest place,
that when your host comes round he may say to you, `My friend,
come up higher.' This will be doing you honour in the presence
of all the other guests.
014:011 For whoever uplifts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles
himself will be uplifted.
014:012 Also to His host, who had invited Him, He said, "When you
give a breakfast or a dinner, do not invite your friends
or brothers or relatives or rich neighbours, lest perhaps
they should invite you in return and a requital be made you.
014:013 But when you entertain, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame,
and the blind;
014:014 and you will be blessed, because they have no means of requiting you,
but there will be requital for you at the Resurrection
of the righteous."
014:015 After listening to this teaching, one of His fellow guests said
to Him, "Blessed is he who shall feast in God's Kingdom."
014:016 "A man once gave a great dinner," replied Jesus, "to which
he invited a large number of guests.
014:017 At dinner-time he sent his servant to announce to those who had
been invited, "`Come, for things are now ready.'
014:018 "But they all without exception began to excuse themselves.
The first told him, "`I have purchased a piece of land,
and must of necessity go and look at it. Pray hold me excused.'
014:019 "A second pleaded, "`I have bought five yoke of oxen, and am
on my way to try them. Pray hold me excused.'
014:020 "Another said, "`I am just married. It is impossible for
me to come.'
014:021 "So the servant came and brought these answers to his master,
and they stirred his anger. "`Go out quickly,' he said,
`into the streets of the city--the wide ones and the narrow.
You will see poor men, and crippled, blind, lame: fetch them
all in here.'
014:022 "Soon the servant reported the result, saying, "`Sir, what you
ordered is done, and there is room still.'
014:023 "`Go out,' replied the master, `to the high roads and hedge-rows,
and compel the people to come in, so that my house may be filled.
014:024 For I tell you that not one of those who were invited shall
taste my dinner.'"
014:025 On His journey vast crowds attended Him, towards whom He
turned and said,
014:026 "If any one is coming to me who does not hate his father
and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters,
yes and his own life also, he cannot be a disciple of mine.
014:027 No one who does not carry his own cross and come after me can
be a disciple of mine.
014:028 "Which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not sit down
first and calculate the cost, asking if he has the means
to finish it?--
014:029 lest perhaps, when he has laid the foundation and is unable
to finish, all who see it shall begin to jeer at him,