GENERAL EDITOR ANGELA SCHEFF

Transcription

1 GENERAL EDITOR ANGELA SCHEFF

2 NIV Bile for Women Copyright 2015 y Zondervn All rights reserved The Holy Bile, New Interntionl Version, NIV Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 y Bilic, Inc. Used y Permission. All rights reserved worldwide. Pulished y Zondervn Grnd Rpids, Michign, USA New Interntionl Version nd NIV re registered trdemrks of Bilic, Inc. Used y permission. Pulished in ssocition with ChristopherFereee.com, Attorney nd Literry Agent. Lirry of Congress Ctlog Crd Numer The NIV text my e quoted in ny form (written, visul, electronic or udio), up to nd inclusive of five hundred (500) verses without the express written permission of the pulisher, providing the verses quoted do not mount to complete ook of the Bile nor do the verses quoted ccount for twenty-five percent (25%) or more of the totl text of the work in which they re quoted. Notice of copyright must pper on the title or copyright pge s follows: Scripture quottions tken from The Holy Bile, New Interntionl Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 y Bilic, Inc. Used y permission. All rights reserved worldwide. The NIV nd New Interntionl Version re trdemrks registered in the United Sttes Ptent nd Trdemrk Office y Bilic, Inc. When quottions from the NIV text re used y locl church in non-slele medi such s church ulletins, orders of service, posters, overhed trnsprencies, or similr mterils, complete copyright notice is not required, ut the initils (NIV ) must pper t the end of ech quottion. Any commentry or other ilicl reference work produced for commercil sle, tht uses the NIV text must otin written permission for use of the NIV text. Permission requests for commercil use within the USA nd Cnd tht exceeds the ove guidelines must e directed to nd pproved in writing y Zondervn, 3900 Sprks Drive SE, Grnd Rpids, MI 49546, USA. Permission requests for commercil use within the UK, EU nd EFTA tht exceeds the ove guidelines must e directed to nd pproved in writing y Hodder & Stoughton Limited, 338 Euston Rod, London NW1 3BH, United Kingdom. Permission requests for non-commercil use tht exceeds the ove guidelines must e directed to nd pproved in writing y Bilic US, Inc., 1820 Jet Strem Drive, Colordo Springs, CO 80921, USA. Any Internet ddresses (wesites, logs, etc.) nd telephone numers in this Bile re offered s resource. They re not intended in ny wy to e or imply n endorsement y Zondervn, nor does Zondervn vouch for the content of these sites nd numers for the life of the Bile. All rights reserved. Printed in Chin N /DSC/ A portion of the purchse price of your NIV Bile is provided to Bilic so together we support the mission of Trnsforming lives through God s Word. Bilic provides God s Word to people through trnsltion, pulishing nd Bile enggement in Afric, Asi Pcific, Europe, Ltin Americ, Middle Est, nd North Americ. Through its worldwide rech, Bilic engges people with God s Word so tht their lives re trnsformed through reltionship with Jesus Christ.

3 TABLE OF CONTENTS Foreword...vii Welcome to the NIV Bile for Women... ix Prefce to the NIV... xi Genesis...1 Exodus Leviticus Numers Deuteronomy Joshu Judges Ruth Smuel Smuel Kings Kings Chronicles Chronicles Ezr Nehemih Esther Jo Pslms Provers Mtthew Mrk Luke John Acts Romns Corinthins Corinthins Gltins Ephesins Philippins Colossins Thesslonins Thesslonins The Old Testment The New Testment Ecclesistes Song of Songs Isih Jeremih Lmenttions Ezekiel Dniel Hose Joel Amos Odih Jonh Mich Nhum Hkkuk Zephnih Hggi Zechrih Mlchi Timothy Timothy Titus Philemon Herews Jmes Peter Peter John John John Jude Reveltion Tle of Weights nd Mesures Acknowledgments Index Contriutor Biogrphies Topicl Index

4 MATTHEW The Genelogy of Jesus the Messih 1 This is the ge ne l o gy of Jesus the Messi h the son of D vid, the son of Arhm: 2 Ar hm ws the f ther of Isc, Isc the f ther of J co, J co the f ther of Ju dh nd his roth ers, 3 Ju dh the f ther of Pe rez nd Ze rh, whose moth er ws T mr, Pe rez the f ther of Hez ron, Hez ron the f ther of Rm, 4 Rm the f ther of Am min d, Am min d the f ther of Nh shon, Nh shon the f ther of Sl mon, 5 Sl mon the f ther of Boz, whose moth er ws R h, Boz the f ther of Oed, whose moth er ws Ruth, Oed the f ther of Jes se, 6 nd Jes se the f ther of King D vid. D vid ws the f ther of Sol o mon, whose moth er hd een Uri h s wife, 7 Sol o mon the f ther of Re ho o m, Re ho o m the f ther of Ai jh, Ai jh the f ther of As, 8 As the f ther of Je hosh pht, Je hosh pht the f ther of Je ho rm, Je ho rm the f ther of Uz zi h, 9 Uz zi h the f ther of Jo thm, Jo thm the f ther of Ahz, Ahz the f ther of Hez e ki h, 10 Hez e ki h the f ther of M ns seh, M ns seh the f ther of Amon, Amon the f ther of Jo si h, 11 nd Jo si h the f ther of Jec o ni h c nd his roth ers t the time of the ex ile to B ylon. 12 Af ter the ex ile to B ylon: Jec o ni h ws the f ther of She l ti el, She l ti el the f ther of Ze ru el, 13 Ze ru el the f ther of Ai hud, Ai hud the f ther of Eli kim, Eli kim the f ther of Azor, 14 Azor the f ther of Z dok, Z dok the f ther of Akim, Akim the f ther of Eli hud, 15 Eli hud the f ther of El e zr, El e zr the f ther of Mt thn, Mt thn the f ther of J co, 16 nd J co the f ther of Jo seph, the hus nd of Mry, nd Mry ws the moth er of Jesus who is clled the Mes si h. 17 Thus there were four teen gen er tions in ll from Ar hm to D vid, four teen from D vid to the ex ile to B ylon, nd four teen from the ex ile to the Mes si h. Joseph Accepts Jesus s His Son 18 This is how the irth of Jesus the Mes si h cme out d : His moth er Mry ws pledged to e mr ried to Jo seph, ut e fore they cme to geth er, she ws found to e preg nnt through the Holy Spir it. 19 Be cuse Jo seph her hus nd ws fith ful to the lw, nd yet e did not wnt to ex pose her to pu lic dis grce, he hd in mind to di vorce her qui et ly. 20 But f ter he hd con sid ered this, n ngel of the Lord p pered to him in drem nd sid, Jo seph son of D vid, do not e frid to tke Mry home s your wife, ecuse wht is con ceived in her is from the Holy Spir it. 21 She will give irth to son, nd you re to give him the nme Jesus, f e cuse he will sve his peo ple from their sins. 22 All this took plce to ful fill wht the Lord hd sid through the proph et: 23 The vir gin will con ceive nd give irth to son, nd they will cll him Im mn u el g (which mens God with us ). 24 When Jo seph woke up, he did wht the 1 Or is n ccount of the origin 1 Or Jesus Christ. Messih (Herew) nd Christ (Greek) oth men Anointed One; lso in verse 18. c 11 Tht is, Jehoichin; lso in verse 12 d 18 Or The origin of Jesus the Messih ws like this e 19 Or ws righteous mn nd f 21 Jesus is the Greek form of Joshu, which mens the LORD sves. g 23 Isih 7:14

5 1298 MATTHEW 1:25 MATTHEW 3: n gel of the Lord hd com mnd ed him nd took Mry home s his wife. 25 But he did not con sum mte their mr rige un til she gve irth to son. And he gve him the nme Jesus. The Mgi Visit the Messih 2 Af ter Jesus ws orn in Beth le hem in Ju de, dur ing the time of King Her od, Mgi from the est cme to Je ru s lem 2 nd sked, Where is the one who hs een orn king of the Jews? We sw his str when it rose nd hve come to wor ship him. 3 When King Her od herd this he ws distured, nd ll Je ru s lem with him. 4 When he hd clled to geth er ll the peo ple s chief priests nd tech ers of the lw, he sked them where the Mes si h ws to e orn. 5 In Beth le hem in Ju de, they re plied, for this is wht the proph et hs writ ten: 6 But you, Bethlehem, in the lnd of Judh, re y no mens lest mong the rulers of Judh; for out of you will come ruler who will shepherd my people Isrel. 7 Then Her od clled the Mgi se cret ly nd found out from them the ex ct time the str hd p pered. 8 He sent them to Beth le hem nd sid, Go nd serch cre ful ly for the child. As soon s you find him, re port to me, so tht I too my go nd wor ship him. 9 Af ter they hd herd the king, they went on their wy, nd the str they hd seen when it rose went hed of them un til it stopped over the plce where the child ws. 10 When they sw the str, they were overjoyed. 11 On com ing to the house, they sw the child with his moth er Mry, nd they owed down nd wor shiped him. Then they opened their tre sures nd pre sent ed him with gifts of gold, frnk in cense nd myrrh. 12 And hv ing een wrned in drem not to go ck to Her od, they re turned to their coun try y n oth er route. The Escpe to Egypt 13 When they hd gone, n n gel of the Lord p pered to Jo seph in drem. Get up, he sid, tke the child nd his mother nd es cpe to Egypt. Sty there un til I tell you, for Her od is go ing to serch for the child to kill him. 14 So he got up, took the child nd his moth er dur ing the night nd left for Egypt, 15 where he styed un til the deth of Her od. And so ws ful filled wht the Lord hd sid through the proph et: Out of Egypt I clled my son. c 16 When Her od re l ized tht he hd een out wit ted y the Mgi, he ws fu ri ous, nd he gve or ders to kill ll the oys in Beth lehem nd its vi cin i ty who were two yers old nd un der, in c cor dnce with the time he hd lerned from the Mgi. 17 Then wht ws sid through the proph et Jer e mi h ws fulfilled: 18 A voice is herd in Rmh, weeping nd gret mourning, Rchel weeping for her children nd refusing to e comforted, ecuse they re no more. d The Return to Nzreth 19 Af ter Her od died, n n gel of the Lord p pered in drem to Jo seph in Egypt 20 nd sid, Get up, tke the child nd his moth er nd go to the lnd of Is r el, for those who were try ing to tke the child s life re ded. 21 So he got up, took the child nd his moth er nd went to the lnd of Is r el. 22 But when he herd tht Ar che l us ws reigning in Ju de in plce of his f ther Her od, he ws frid to go there. Hv ing een wrned in drem, he with drew to the dis trict of Gl i lee, 23 nd he went nd lived in town clled Nz reth. So ws ful filled wht ws sid through the proph ets, tht he would e clled Nz rene. John the Bptist Prepres the Wy 3 In those dys John the Bp tist cme, prech ing in the wil der ness of Ju de 2 nd sy ing, Re pent, for the king dom of hev en hs come ner. 3 This is he who ws spo ken of through the proph et Is ih: A voice of one clling in the wilderness, Prepre the wy for the Lord, mke stright pths for him. e 4 John s clothes were mde of cm el s hir, nd he hd leth er elt round his wist. 1 Trditionlly wise men 6 Mich 5:2,4 c 15 Hose 11:1 d 18 Jer. 31:15 e 3 Isih 40:3

6 1299 MATTHEW 3:5 MATTHEW 4: His food ws lo custs nd wild hon ey. 5 People went out to him from Je ru s lem nd ll Ju de nd the whole re gion of the Jor dn. 6 Con fess ing their sins, they were p tized y him in the Jor dn Riv er. 7 But when he sw mny of the Phr i sees nd Sd du cees com ing to where he ws ptiz ing, he sid to them: You rood of vi pers! Who wrned you to flee from the com ing wrth? 8 Pro duce fruit in keep ing with repen tnce. 9 And do not think you cn sy to your selves, We hve Ar hm s our fther. I tell you tht out of these stones God cn rise up chil dren for Ar hm. 10 The x is l redy t the root of the trees, nd ev ery tree tht does not pro duce good fruit will e cut down nd thrown into the fire. 11 I p tize you with w ter for re pentnce. But f ter me comes one who is more pow er ful thn I, whose sn dls I m not wor thy to cr ry. He will p tize you with the Holy Spir it nd fire. 12 His win nowing fork is in his hnd, nd he will cler his thresh ing floor, gth er ing his whet into the rn nd urn ing up the chff with unquench le fire. The Bptism of Jesus 13 Then Jesus cme from Gl i lee to the Jordn to e p tized y John. 14 But John tried to de ter him, sy ing, I need to e p tized y you, nd do you come to me? 15 Jesus re plied, Let it e so now; it is prop er for us to do this to ful fill ll righteous ness. Then John con sent ed. 16 As soon s Jesus ws p tized, he went up out of the w ter. At tht mo ment hev en ws opened, nd he sw the Spir it of God de scend ing like dove nd light ing on him. 17 And voice from hev en sid, This is my Son, whom I love; with him I m well plesed. Jesus Is Tested in the Wilderness 4 Then Jesus ws led y the Spir it into the wil der ness to e tempt ed y the dev il. 2 Af ter fst ing for ty dys nd for ty nights, he ws hun gry. 3 The tempt er cme to him nd sid, If you re the Son of God, tell these stones to e come red. 4 Jesus n swered, It is writ ten: Mn shll not live on red lone, ut on ev ery word tht comes from the mouth of God. c 5 Then the dev il took him to the holy city nd hd him stnd on the high est point of the tem ple. 6 If you re the Son of God, he sid, throw your self down. For it is writ ten: He will commnd his ngels concerning you, nd they will lift you up in their hnds, so tht you will not strike your foot ginst stone. d 7 Jesus n swered him, It is lso writ ten: Do not put the Lord your God to the test. e 8 Agin, the dev il took him to very high moun tin nd showed him ll the king doms of the world nd their splen dor. 9 All this I will give you, he sid, if you will ow down nd wor ship me. 10 Jesus sid to him, Awy from me, S tn! For it is writ ten: Wor ship the Lord your God, nd serve him only. f 11 Then the dev il left him, nd n gels cme nd t tend ed him. Jesus Begins to Prech 12 When Jesus herd tht John hd een put in pris on, he with drew to Gl i lee. 13 Lev ing Nz reth, he went nd lived in Cper n um, which ws y the lke in the re of Ze u lun nd Nph t li 14 to ful fill wht ws sid through the proph et Is ih: 15 Lnd of Zeulun nd lnd of Nphtli, the Wy of the Se, eyond the Jordn, Glilee of the Gentiles 16 the people living in drkness hve seen gret light; on those living in the lnd of the shdow of deth light hs dwned. g 17 From tht time on Jesus e gn to prech, Re pent, for the king dom of hev en hs come ner. Jesus Clls His First Disciples 18 As Jesus ws wlk ing e side the Se of Gl i lee, he sw two roth ers, Si mon clled Pe ter nd his roth er An drew. They were cst ing net into the lke, for they were fisher men. 19 Come, fol low me, Jesus sid, nd 11 Or in 1 The Greek for tempted cn lso men tested. c 4 Deut. 8:3 d 6 Pslm 91:11,12 e 7 Deut. 6:16 f 10 Deut. 6:13 g 16 Isih 9:1,2

7 Becuse You re Worth It DEVO 186 MATTHEW 3:13 17 Mrgot Struck Though I typiclly eschew most nything relted to the domestic rts cooking, clening, nd so on I do nest. Before my dughter ws orn, I pinted furniture in jzzy yellows nd ple lues for her nursery. When her younger rother rrived, I redecorted lundry room to welcome him into our lives. And while witing to dopt our third child from Indi, son, I stitched together colorful ptchwork lnket in which I d one dy emrce him. Nesting, in other words, is relly just the gentle wy of sying ordering one s living spce efore unridled chos reks loose. So the summer my husnd left our home, I nested. In the wke of his sence I redecorted the lrge edroom nd office spce we d shred, pinting second-hnd rmoire, This nnouncement of upholstering n old ottomn nd glening two eutiful edside Jesus chosenness, s pper lnterns. And the pièce de résistnce, which I could see in my Messih, nd lso his mind s eye efore I ever locted its components t retil crft store, elovedness ws sered were tll white wooden letters spelling out single word on the in Jesus hert s the ple lue wll ove my new ed: Beloved. fundmentlly true story Tht I would e so rzen to mount the seven letters like of his identity. common theter mrquee when evidence seemed to prove I ws otherwise ws no mistke. Rther, s one who s een joined with Jesus in ptism, I ve come to elieve it s the formtive story out him, out me nd out you tht is deeply nd irrevocly true. When Jesus exploded up from the wters of the Jordn fter his ptism, voice from heven nnounced tht this wet one ws God s eloved. And though the grvity of the Hllmrk sentiment is mostly lost to the modern er, to first-century Jew the ringing endorsement ws unmistkle. This is my Son, echoed the words God hd spoken over specilly chosen King Dvid. Beloved resonted with the enderment God hd used for Solomon nd Benjmin. And in the ffirmtion tht God ws well plesed, listeners would hve herd strins from Isih s prophecy of the One who ws to come. This nnouncement of Jesus chosenness, s Messih, nd lso his elovedness ws sered in Jesus hert s the fundmentlly true story of his identity

8 Susequently, the words of tht nnouncement would hve echoed in Jesus hert when his experience shouted otherwise. Fcing the deceiver in the wilderness, Jesus chose for the truth of his elovedness. The divine endorsement uoyed him when his prents friends kvetched, He isn t God s son! He s just Mry nd Joe s oy. Tht he elonged to his Fther sustined him in his finl, excruciting dys. Jesus elovedness identified him to the core of his eing. Me too. Though I m pretty cler tht I m not Messih, Jesus told his disciples the love God hd for him ws the sme love he hd for them. Sme stuff. In his ook The Inner Voice of Love spiritul guide Henri Nouwen remindes us tht living into the truth of our identity, climing our elovedness, requires rel choice. The root choice is to trust t ll times tht God is with you nd will give you wht you most need... God sys to you, I love you, I m with you... This is the voice to listen to. Predictly, the enemy cpitlizes off our humn experience of sin nd rokenness to plnt lies in our herts. When my irthprents relinquished me for doption s n infnt, quiet voice hissed into my deep plces, You re not worth showing up for. When my fther left our home when I ws six, nd when my stepdd left when I ws fifteen, the sinister voice whispered, You re not worth sticking round for. The evidence-sed story ws n esy one to elieve! And in my drkest dys, I did. But surrounded y the truth-telling ody of Christ, recognizing the lying hiss of the deceiver, I tipped my er towrd the voice tht is true. This is the voice tht sys, I m with you. I m for you. You re worth loving. You re my eloved. Tody, in the wke of sence, the choice is mine to listen to the voice tht is true. It s yours s well. How hs your experience seemed to offer the flse evidence tht you re not, in fct, eloved? Tht you will reject ny lies suggesting you re not worth loving Tht you will continue to choose for the relity of your inherent elovedness Tht you will shre with others the good news of their elovedness ccording to God himself For the next devotion, go to pge For the next myth, go to pge 1326.

9 1302 MATTHEW 4:20 MATTHEW 5: I will send you out to fish for peo ple. 20 At once they left their nets nd fol lowed him. 21 Go ing on from there, he sw two other roth ers, Jmes son of Ze e dee nd his roth er John. They were in ot with their f ther Ze e dee, pre pr ing their nets. Jesus clled them, 22 nd im me di te ly they left the ot nd their f ther nd fol lowed him. Jesus Hels the Sick 23 Jesus went through out Gl i lee, tech ing in their syn gogues, pro clim ing the good news of the king dom, nd hel ing ev ery disese nd sick ness mong the peo ple. 24 News out him spred ll over Syr i, nd peo ple rought to him ll who were ill with vr i ous dis es es, those suf fer ing se vere pin, the demon-pos sessed, those hv ing sei zures, nd the pr lyzed; nd he heled them. 25 Lrge crowds from Gl i lee, the De cp o lis, Je ru slem, Ju de nd the re gion cross the Jor dn fol lowed him. Introduction to the Sermon on the Mount 5 Now when Jesus sw the crowds, he went up on moun tin side nd st down. His dis ci ples cme to him, 2 nd he e gn to tech them. The Betitudes He sid: 3 Blessed re the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heven. 4 Blessed re those who mourn, for they will e comforted. 5 Blessed re the meek, for they will inherit the erth. 6 Blessed re those who hunger nd thirst for righteousness, for they will e filled. 7 Blessed re the merciful, for they will e shown mercy. 8 Blessed re the pure in hert, for they will see God. 9 Blessed re the pecemkers, for they will e clled children of God. 10 Blessed re those who re persecuted ecuse of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heven. 11 Blessed re you when peo ple in sult you, per se cute you nd flse ly sy ll kinds of evil ginst you e cuse of me. 12 Re joice nd e gld, e cuse gret is your re wrd in hev en, for in the sme wy they per se cut ed the proph ets who were e fore you. Slt nd Light 13 You re the slt of the erth. But if the slt los es its slt i ness, how cn it e mde slty gin? It is no lon ger good for ny thing, ex cept to e thrown out nd trm pled under foot. 14 You re the light of the world. A town uilt on hill cn not e hid den. 15 Nei ther do peo ple light lmp nd put it un der owl. In sted they put it on its stnd, nd it gives light to ev ery one in the house. 16 In the sme wy, let your light shine e fore oth ers, tht they my see your good deeds nd glo ri fy your F ther in hev en. The Fulfillment of the Lw 17 Do not think tht I hve come to ol ish the Lw or the Proph ets; I hve not come to ol ish them ut to ful fill them. 18 For tru ly I tell you, un til hev en nd erth dis p per, not the smll est let ter, not the lest stroke of pen, will y ny mens dis p per from the Lw un til ev ery thing is c com plished. 19 There fore ny one who sets side one of the lest of these com mnds nd tech es oth ers c cord ing ly will e clled lest in the king dom of hev en, ut who ev er prc tic es nd tech es these com mnds will e clled gret in the king dom of hev en. 20 For I tell you tht un less your righ teous ness sur psses tht of the Phr i sees nd the tech ers of the lw, you will cer tin ly not en ter the kingdom of hev en. Murder 21 You hve herd tht it ws sid to the peo ple long go, You shll not mur der, nd ny one who mur ders will e su ject to judgment. 22 But I tell you tht ny one who is ngry with roth er or sis ter c, d will e su ject to judg ment. Agin, ny one who sys to roth er or sis ter, Rc, e is n swer le to the court. And ny one who sys, You fool! will e in dn ger of the fire of hell. 25 Tht is, the Ten Cities 21 Exodus 20:13 c 22 The Greek word for rother or sister (delphos) refers here to fellow disciple, whether mn or womn; lso in verse 23. d 22 Some mnuscripts rother or sister without cuse e 22 An Armic term of contempt

10 1303 MATTHEW 5:23 MATTHEW 6: There fore, if you re of fer ing your gift t the l tr nd there re mem er tht your roth er or sis ter hs some thing ginst you, 24 leve your gift there in front of the l tr. First go nd e rec on ciled to them; then come nd of fer your gift. 25 Set tle mt ters quick ly with your d versry who is tk ing you to court. Do it while you re still to geth er on the wy, or your dver sry my hnd you over to the judge, nd the judge my hnd you over to the of fi cer, nd you my e thrown into pris on. 26 Tru ly I tell you, you will not get out un til you hve pid the lst pen ny. Adultery 27 You hve herd tht it ws sid, You shll not com mit dul tery. 28 But I tell you tht ny one who looks t wom n lust fully hs l redy com mit ted dul tery with her in his hert. 29 If your right eye cus es you to stum le, gouge it out nd throw it wy. It is et ter for you to lose one prt of your ody thn for your whole ody to e thrown into hell. 30 And if your right hnd cus es you to stum le, cut it off nd throw it wy. It is etter for you to lose one prt of your ody thn for your whole ody to go into hell. Divorce 31 It hs een sid, Any one who di vorces his wife must give her cer tif i cte of divorce. 32 But I tell you tht ny one who di vorc es his wife, ex cept for sex u l im morl i ty, mkes her the vic tim of dul tery, nd ny one who mr ries di vorced wom n com mits dul tery. Oths 33 Agin, you hve herd tht it ws sid to the peo ple long go, Do not rek your oth, ut ful fill to the Lord the vows you hve mde. 34 But I tell you, do not swer n oth t ll: ei ther y hev en, for it is God s throne; 35 or y the erth, for it is his foot stool; or y Je ru s lem, for it is the city of the Gret King. 36 And do not swer y your hed, for you cn not mke even one hir white or lck. 37 All you need to sy is sim ply Yes or No ; ny thing e yond this comes from the evil one. c Eye for Eye 38 You hve herd tht it ws sid, Eye for eye, nd tooth for tooth. d 39 But I tell you, do not re sist n evil per son. If ny one slps you on the right cheek, turn to them the oth er cheek lso. 40 And if ny one wnts to sue you nd tke your shirt, hnd over your cot s well. 41 If ny one forc es you to go one mile, go with them two miles. 42 Give to the one who sks you, nd do not turn wy from the one who wnts to or row from you. Love for Enemies 43 You hve herd tht it ws sid, Love your neigh or e nd hte your en e my. 44 But I tell you, love your en e mies nd pry for those who per se cute you, 45 tht you my e chil dren of your F ther in hev en. He cus es his sun to rise on the evil nd the good, nd sends rin on the righ teous nd the un righteous. 46 If you love those who love you, wht re wrd will you get? Are not even the tx collec tors do ing tht? 47 And if you greet only your own peo ple, wht re you do ing more thn oth ers? Do not even p gns do tht? 48 Be per fect, there fore, s your hev en ly Fther is per fect. Giving to the Needy 6 Be cre ful not to prc tice your righteous ness in front of oth ers to e seen y them. If you do, you will hve no re wrd from your F ther in hev en. 2 So when you give to the needy, do not n nounce it with trum pets, s the hypo crites do in the syn gogues nd on the streets, to e hon ored y oth ers. Tru ly I tell you, they hve re ceived their re wrd in full. 3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hnd know wht your right hnd is do ing, 4 so tht your giv ing my e in se cret. Then your F ther, who sees wht is done in se cret, will re wrd you. Pryer 5 And when you pry, do not e like the hyp o crites, for they love to pry stnd ing in the syn gogues nd on the street cor ners to e seen y oth ers. Tru ly I tell you, they hve re ceived their re wrd in full. 6 But when you pry, go into your room, close the door nd 27 Exodus 20:14 31 Deut. 24:1 c 37 Or from evil d 38 Exodus 21:24; Lev. 24:20; Deut. 19:21 e 43 Lev. 19:18

11 DEVO 187 MATTHEW 5:4 Leen Tnkersley Brvery in the Fce of Loss In 2006 my life intersected with womn nmed My. She ws strnger, ut I met her in n incredily vulnerle moment, which tends to connect people in wy tht is trnscendent. My husnd, Steve, is Nvy SEAL, nd in wrtime, SEALs re clled on to do nything nd everything. But he never expected this ssignment. Steve ws sent y the Nvy to e with My right fter she ws notified tht her husnd, Mrc, hd een killed in Rmdie. He ws the first SEAL killed in Irq. I see now tht prt of the shock of this loss then nd even still tody is ecuse these men the men in his pltoon nd troop were elieved to e indestructile. Hero-gods. Then Mrc ws lost. Then others. Steve escorted My ck to Sn Diego nd st eside her t Mrc s funerl nd memoril I just elieve tht when service. I st few rows ck t oth services, trying to rethe. we choose to prticipte Feeling like there weren t enough words in the world to ssuge one in cknowledging the second of this loss. Huge pictures of this gorgeous young mn were everywhere. Uniforms. Bgpipes. losses, we open up A 25-yer-old widow. Since we first met My, we ve some spce for comfort seen her occsionlly. We sw her recently t uilding dediction to rrive in ll shpes t the SEAL complex where huge fcility hs een nmed in nd sizes. Mrc s honor. She ws rdint nd grcious, s lwys. And every yer on the nniversry of Mrc s deth or on Memoril Dy or when I her out nother wrtime widow, I think of My. I think of the extrordinry courge required to fce the grief she hs endured. Loss is not nmeless nd fceless. Loss is the most personl nd intimte of humn experiences. If you ve wtched someone mourn or if you hve mourned grief this priml, then you know. The Scriptures sy tht those who mourn re lessed ecuse they will e comforted. The ct of letting go nd letting down delivers gifts of comfort tht coping nd sucking it up never will. I hve der friend, Rickelle, who lost her unorn son when she ws 25 weeks pregnnt, her first y. He ws there, nd then he ws gone. In her grief, she would

12 go out to her grge in hoodie nd snd old furniture with power snder while she listened to regge. Tht ws how she put one foot in front of the other. I don t think there s ny instruction mnul for grieving. I just elieve tht when we choose to prticipte in cknowledging the losses, we open up some spce for comfort to rrive in ll shpes nd sizes. We llow mel to e delivered. We llow friend to sit quietly next to us. We llow God to touch us. My heroes re those who hve wlked the worn pth of grief. I m in we of My nd Rickelle women who let themselves come prt, let themselves feel the wful mess, let themselves mourn. I elieve they hve een comforted in some of the most unexpected nd eutiful wys. And I know they hve, in turn, een gret comfort to others going through similr loss. I m the kind of person who would rther e strong in the fce of pin. I d rther e doing fine, thnks thn flling prt. But I ve seen tht the comfort does not come to those intent on coping. The comfort rrives for those who re willing to spill open. God, e ner the heroes mong us tody, those who re rvely grieving. Meet them on the rod of sdness nd suffering nd offer them your gifts of presence nd pece. Amen. Do you need to grieve loss in your life insted of denying it? Tht you will elieve God will fithfully comfort you s you grieve Tht you will feel surrounded even s you wlk through your loss Tht you will know you re doing holy work For the next devotion, go to pge For the next myth, go to pge 1326.

13 1306 MATTHEW 6:7 MATTHEW 7: pry to your F ther, who is un seen. Then your F ther, who sees wht is done in se cret, will re wrd you. 7 And when you pry, do not keep on ling like p gns, for they think they will e herd e cuse of their mny words. 8 Do not e like them, for your F ther knows wht you need e fore you sk him. 9 This, then, is how you should pry: Our Fther in heven, hllowed e your nme, 10 your kingdom come, your will e done, on erth s it is in heven. 11 Give us tody our dily red. 12 And forgive us our dets, s we lso hve forgiven our detors. 13 And led us not into tempttion, ut deliver us from the evil one. 14 For if you for give oth er peo ple when they sin ginst you, your hev en ly F ther will lso for give you. 15 But if you do not for give oth ers their sins, your F ther will not for give your sins. Fsting 16 When you fst, do not look som er s the hyp o crites do, for they dis fig ure their fc es to show oth ers they re fst ing. Tru ly I tell you, they hve re ceived their re wrd in full. 17 But when you fst, put oil on your hed nd wsh your fce, 18 so tht it will not e o vi ous to oth ers tht you re fst ing, ut only to your F ther, who is un seen; nd your F ther, who sees wht is done in se cret, will re wrd you. Tresures in Heven 19 Do not store up for your selves tre sures on erth, where moths nd ver min de stroy, nd where thieves rek in nd stel. 20 But store up for your selves tre sures in hev en, where moths nd ver min do not de stroy, nd where thieves do not rek in nd stel. 21 For where your tre sure is, there your hert will e lso. 22 The eye is the lmp of the ody. If your eyes re helthy, c your whole ody will e full of light. 23 But if your eyes re un helthy, d your whole ody will e full of drk ness. If then the light with in you is drk ness, how gret is tht drk ness! 24 No one cn serve two ms ters. Ei ther you will hte the one nd love the oth er, or you will e de vot ed to the one nd de spise the oth er. You cn not serve oth God nd mon ey. Do Not Worry 25 There fore I tell you, do not wor ry out your life, wht you will et or drink; or out your ody, wht you will wer. Is not life more thn food, nd the ody more thn clothes? 26 Look t the irds of the ir; they do not sow or rep or store wy in rns, nd yet your hev en ly F ther feeds them. Are you not much more vlu le thn they? 27 Cn ny one of you y wor ry ing dd single hour to your life e? 28 And why do you wor ry out clothes? See how the flow ers of the field grow. They do not l or or spin. 29 Yet I tell you tht not even Sol o mon in ll his splen dor ws dressed like one of these. 30 If tht is how God clothes the grss of the field, which is here to dy nd to mor row is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you you of lit tle fith? 31 So do not wor ry, sy ing, Wht shll we et? or Wht shll we drink? or Wht shll we wer? 32 For the p gns run f ter ll these things, nd your hev en ly Fther knows tht you need them. 33 But seek first his king dom nd his righ teous ness, nd ll these things will e giv en to you s well. 34 There fore do not wor ry out to mor row, for to mor row will wor ry out it self. Ech dy hs enough trou le of its own. Judging Others 7 Do not judge, or you too will e judged. 2 For in the sme wy you judge oth ers, you will e judged, nd with the me sure you use, it will e me sured to you. 3 Why do you look t the speck of sw dust in your roth er s eye nd py no t ten tion to the plnk in your own eye? 4 How cn you sy to your roth er, Let me tke the speck out of your eye, when ll the time there is plnk in your own eye? 5 You hyp o crite, first tke the plnk out of your own eye, nd then 13 The Greek for tempttion cn lso men testing. 13 Or from evil ; some lte mnuscripts one, / for yours is the kingdom nd the power nd the glory forever. Amen. c 22 The Greek for helthy here implies generous. d 23 The Greek for unhelthy here implies stingy. e 27 Or single cuit to your height

14 1307 MATTHEW 7:6 MATTHEW 8: you will see cler ly to re move the speck from your roth er s eye. 6 Do not give dogs wht is s cred; do not throw your perls to pigs. If you do, they my trm ple them un der their feet, nd turn nd ter you to piec es. Ask, Seek, Knock 7 Ask nd it will e giv en to you; seek nd you will find; knock nd the door will e opened to you. 8 For ev ery one who sks receives; the one who seeks finds; nd to the one who knocks, the door will e opened. 9 Which of you, if your son sks for red, will give him stone? 10 Or if he sks for fish, will give him snke? 11 If you, then, though you re evil, know how to give good gifts to your chil dren, how much more will your F ther in hev en give good gifts to those who sk him! 12 So in ev ery thing, do to oth ers wht you would hve them do to you, for this sums up the Lw nd the Proph ets. The Nrrow nd Wide Gtes 13 En ter through the nr row gte. For wide is the gte nd rod is the rod tht leds to de struc tion, nd mny en ter through it. 14 But smll is the gte nd nrrow the rod tht leds to life, nd only few find it. True nd Flse Prophets 15 Wtch out for flse proph ets. They come to you in sheep s cloth ing, ut in wrdly they re fe ro cious wolves. 16 By their fruit you will rec og nize them. Do peo ple pick grpes from thorn ush es, or figs from thistles? 17 Like wise, ev ery good tree ers good fruit, ut d tree ers d fruit. 18 A good tree cn not er d fruit, nd d tree cn not er good fruit. 19 Ev ery tree tht does not er good fruit is cut down nd thrown into the fire. 20 Thus, y their fruit you will rec og nize them. mons nd in your nme per form mny mir - cles? 23 Then I will tell them plin ly, I nev er knew you. Awy from me, you evil do ers! The Wise nd Foolish Builders 24 There fore ev ery one who hers these words of mine nd puts them into prc tice is like wise mn who uilt his house on the rock. 25 The rin cme down, the strems rose, nd the winds lew nd et ginst tht house; yet it did not fll, e cuse it hd its foun d tion on the rock. 26 But ev ery one who hers these words of mine nd does not put them into prc tice is like fool ish mn who uilt his house on snd. 27 The rin cme down, the strems rose, nd the winds lew nd et ginst tht house, nd it fell with gret crsh. 28 When Jesus hd fin ished sy ing these things, the crowds were mzed t his teching, 29 e cuse he tught s one who hd uthor i ty, nd not s their tech ers of the lw. Jesus Hels Mn With Leprosy 8 When Jesus cme down from the mountin side, lrge crowds fol lowed him. 2 A mn with lep ro sy cme nd knelt e fore him nd sid, Lord, if you re will ing, you cn mke me clen. 3 Jesus reched out his hnd nd touched the mn. I m will ing, he sid. Be clen! Im me di te ly he ws clensed of his lep ro sy. 4 Then Jesus sid to him, See tht you don t tell ny one. But go, show your self to the priest nd of fer the gift Mo ses com mnd ed, s tes ti mo ny to them. The Fith of the Centurion 5 When Jesus hd en tered C per n um, cen tu ri on cme to him, sk ing for help. 6 Lord, he sid, my ser vnt lies t home pr lyzed, suf fer ing ter ri ly. 7 Jesus sid to him, Shll I come nd hel him? 8 The cen tu ri on re plied, Lord, I do not deserve to hve you come un der my roof. But just sy the word, nd my ser vnt will e heled. 9 For I my self m mn un der uthor i ty, with sol diers un der me. I tell this one, Go, nd he goes; nd tht one, Come, nd he comes. I sy to my ser vnt, Do this, nd he does it. True nd Flse Disciples 21 Not ev ery one who sys to me, Lord, Lord, will en ter the king dom of hev en, ut only the one who does the will of my F ther who is in hev en. 22 Mny will sy to me on tht dy, Lord, Lord, did we not proph e sy in your nme nd in your nme drive out de 2 The Greek word trditionlly trnslted leprosy ws used for vrious diseses ffecting the skin.

15 DEVO 188 MATTHEW 6:25 34 Shun Niequist Hve You Cultivted Sense of Enough? Something extrordinry hppened to me tody. I found out der friend is pregnnt. Tht s not the extrordinry prt. Everyone I know is pregnnt. You think I m exggerting, ut I hve 17 pregnnt friends nd 9 friends with ies orn since Septemer. Not just Fceook friends or cquintnces, either rel see-them-t-church, go-to-their-showers, send-them-y-lnkets friends. It s n epidemic, nd I sometimes think I might e t the center of it like if you re my friend, you re 883,584 times more likely to get pregnnt thn if you re not. I m like n incredily successful fertility drug. Trying to conceive? I m your ticket. It works for you... ut it doesn t seem to e working for me. My son, Henry, will e five this yer, nd since his first irthdy, we ve een trying to hve nother y: seeing doctors, prying, longing. I ve miscrried twice. After miscrrying twins lst Ferury, I wnt to cultivte deep I ws feeling so tender nd rw out it tht t dinner with my sense of grtitude, of fmily, I nnounced, If ny of you re pregnnt, I just need you groundedness, of enough, to tell me now. I sid this to my lmost 60-yer-old prents nd my even while I m longing for single rother. They stred t me with confusion, ut t tht point, something more. nothing would hve surprised me. In essence, I ecme the person tht people don t wnt to tell if they re pregnnt. A friend told me her hppy, fntstic news, nd just second lter she urst out crying, frid for how this would mke me feel. I hte tht. I work relly hrd to rrnge my fce in such wy tht pproximtes uncomplicted glee. And I m hppy for them, of course. But sometimes just fter the hppiness is the despertion. Some dys re esier thn others. At one point I told my husnd tht if I found out I wsn t pregnnt tht month, I d rek something glss, just to feel it shtter. I ws counting the dys ll the time, recounting, hoping. And then I found out tht I wsn t pregnnt. Agin. I didn t rek nything, ut it seems tht something roke inside me. Something crcked, nd ll the energy nd fer nd roiling nger drined out. I felt clm nd empty. I felt sd ut not devstted. I egn to think out it in terms of yer, out wnting to hve y this yer, nd less out this month, this month!

16 I ws exhusted nd couldn t crry it nymore. It hd reched fever pitch consuming, osessive, frntic. Unsustinle. It ws like n ddiction nd tht moment ws like getting soer: rw, silent, cler-eyed, the solute stillness fter storm. This morning, when I herd the news out my friend, I felt wht I ve wnted to feel ll long ut couldn t locte: uncomplicted nd deep hppiness. I felt hppy for her. Very, very hppy. And I feel so thnkful for tht feeling, for eing le to e uncomplictedly hppy for the people I love. It could ll chnge gin next month I know tht. I ve een round this lock for yers now: esier nd hrder, more complicted nd less. I m ll serene nd hppy right now, ut I could e ck to throwing glsswre next month. This morning, though, I ll tke wht I cn get. The word tht cme to my mind this morning ws enough. Enough: I don t wnt to live like tht nymore. And enough: I hve enough. I hve more thn I need, more thn I could sk for. I hve son who delights me every single dy. A husnd I dore. A fmily tht wlks with me well, nd friends tht mke the world feel rich. I do work I cre out no smll thing. It s not wrong to wnt nother y, ut there s fine line in there, nd I feel I ve crossed it few times this yer, nd crossed over into tht terrile territory where you cn t e hppy unless you hve just tht thing you wnt, no mtter wht else you hve. Tht s not how I wnt to live. Tht s not who I wnt to e. I wnt to cultivte deep sense of grtitude, of groundedness, of enough, even while I m longing for something more. The longing nd the grtitude, oth. I m prcticing elieving tht God knows more thn I know, tht he sees wht I cn t, tht he s weving future I cn t even imgine from where I sit this morning. Extrordinry, indeed. More thn enough. How cn you cultivte sense of enough in your own life? Tht you lern to trust God s perfect pln Tht you develop sense of grtitude for wht you do hve Tht you will relese your worry For the next devotion, go to pge For the next myth, go to pge 1326.

17 1310 MATTHEW 8:10 MATTHEW 9: When Jesus herd this, he ws mzed nd sid to those fol low ing him, Tru ly I tell you, I hve not found ny one in Is rel with such gret fith. 11 I sy to you tht mny will come from the est nd the west, nd will tke their plc es t the fest with Ar hm, Isc nd J co in the king dom of hev en. 12 But the su jects of the king dom will e thrown out side, into the drk ness, where there will e weep ing nd gnsh ing of teeth. 13 Then Jesus sid to the cen tu ri on, Go! Let it e done just s you e lieved it would. And his ser vnt ws heled t tht mo ment. Jesus Hels Mny 14 When Jesus cme into Pe ter s house, he sw Pe ter s moth er-in-lw ly ing in ed with fe ver. 15 He touched her hnd nd the fe ver left her, nd she got up nd e gn to wit on him. 16 When eve ning cme, mny who were de mon-pos sessed were rought to him, nd he drove out the spir its with word nd heled ll the sick. 17 This ws to ful fill wht ws spo ken through the proph et Is ih: He took up our infirmities nd ore our diseses. The Cost of Following Jesus 18 When Jesus sw the crowd round him, he gve or ders to cross to the oth er side of the lke. 19 Then tech er of the lw cme to him nd sid, Tech er, I will fol low you wher ever you go. 20 Jesus re plied, Fox es hve dens nd irds hve nests, ut the Son of Mn hs no plce to ly his hed. 21 An oth er dis ci ple sid to him, Lord, first let me go nd ury my f ther. 22 But Jesus told him, Fol low me, nd let the ded ury their own ded. Jesus Clms the Storm 23 Then he got into the ot nd his disci ples fol lowed him. 24 Sud den ly fu ri ous storm cme up on the lke, so tht the wves swept over the ot. But Jesus ws sleep ing. 25 The dis ci ples went nd woke him, sy ing, Lord, sve us! We re go ing to drown! 26 He re plied, You of lit tle fith, why re you so frid? Then he got up nd re uked the winds nd the wves, nd it ws complete ly clm. 27 The men were mzed nd sked, Wht kind of mn is this? Even the winds nd the wves oey him! Jesus Restores Two Demon-Possessed Men 28 When he r rived t the oth er side in the re gion of the Gd renes, two de mon-possessed men com ing from the toms met him. They were so vi o lent tht no one could pss tht wy. 29 Wht do you wnt with us, Son of God? they shout ed. Hve you come here to tor ture us e fore the p point ed time? 30 Some dis tnce from them lrge herd of pigs ws feed ing. 31 The de mons egged Jesus, If you drive us out, send us into the herd of pigs. 32 He sid to them, Go! So they cme out nd went into the pigs, nd the whole herd rushed down the steep nk into the lke nd died in the w ter. 33 Those tend ing the pigs rn off, went into the town nd re port ed ll this, in clud ing wht hd hp pened to the de mon-pos sessed men. 34 Then the whole town went out to meet Jesus. And when they sw him, they pled ed with him to leve their re gion. Jesus Forgives nd Hels Prlyzed Mn 9 Jesus stepped into ot, crossed over nd cme to his own town. 2 Some men rought to him pr lyzed mn, ly ing on mt. When Jesus sw their fith, he sid to the mn, Tke hert, son; your sins re forgiv en. 3 At this, some of the tech ers of the lw sid to them selves, This fel low is lsphem ing! 4 Know ing their thoughts, Jesus sid, Why do you en ter tin evil thoughts in your herts? 5 Which is es i er: to sy, Your sins re for giv en, or to sy, Get up nd wlk? 6 But I wnt you to know tht the Son of Mn hs u thor i ty on erth to for give sins. So he sid to the pr lyzed mn, Get up, tke your mt nd go home. 7 Then the mn got up nd went home. 8 When the crowd sw this, they were filled with we; nd they prised God, who hd giv en such u thor i ty to mn. 17 Isih 53:4 (see Septugint) 28 Some mnuscripts Gergesenes; other mnuscripts Gersenes

18 1311 MATTHEW 9:9 MATTHEW 10: The Clling of Mtthew 9 As Jesus went on from there, he sw mn nmed Mt thew sit ting t the tx collec tor s ooth. Fol low me, he told him, nd Mt thew got up nd fol lowed him. 10 While Jesus ws hv ing din ner t Mtthew s house, mny tx col lec tors nd sinners cme nd te with him nd his dis ciples. 11 When the Phr i sees sw this, they sked his dis ci ples, Why does your tech er et with tx col lec tors nd sin ners? 12 On her ing this, Jesus sid, It is not the helthy who need doc tor, ut the sick. 13 But go nd lern wht this mens: I de sire mer cy, not sc ri fice. For I hve not come to cll the righ teous, ut sin ners. Jesus Questioned Aout Fsting 14 Then John s dis ci ples cme nd sked him, How is it tht we nd the Phr i sees fst of ten, ut your dis ci ples do not fst? 15 Jesus n swered, How cn the guests of the ride groom mourn while he is with them? The time will come when the ridegroom will e tk en from them; then they will fst. 16 No one sews ptch of un shrunk cloth on n old gr ment, for the ptch will pull wy from the gr ment, mk ing the ter worse. 17 Nei ther do peo ple pour new wine into old wine skins. If they do, the skins will urst; the wine will run out nd the wineskins will e ru ined. No, they pour new wine into new wine skins, nd oth re preserved. Jesus Rises Ded Girl nd Hels Sick Womn 18 While he ws sy ing this, syn gogue led er cme nd knelt e fore him nd sid, My dugh ter hs just died. But come nd put your hnd on her, nd she will live. 19 Jesus got up nd went with him, nd so did his dis ci ples. 20 Just then wom n who hd een suject to leed ing for twelve yers cme up ehind him nd touched the edge of his clok. 21 She sid to her self, If I only touch his clok, I will e heled. 22 Jesus turned nd sw her. Tke hert, dugh ter, he sid, your fith hs heled you. And the wom n ws heled t tht moment. 23 When Jesus en tered the syn gogue led er s house nd sw the noisy crowd nd peo ple ply ing pipes, 24 he sid, Go wy. The girl is not ded ut sleep. But they lughed t him. 25 Af ter the crowd hd een put out side, he went in nd took the girl y the hnd, nd she got up. 26 News of this spred through ll tht re gion. Jesus Hels the Blind nd the Mute 27 As Jesus went on from there, two lind men fol lowed him, cll ing out, Hve mer cy on us, Son of D vid! 28 When he hd gone in doors, the lind men cme to him, nd he sked them, Do you e lieve tht I m le to do this? Yes, Lord, they re plied. 29 Then he touched their eyes nd sid, Ac cord ing to your fith let it e done to you ; 30 nd their sight ws re stored. Jesus wrned them stern ly, See tht no one knows out this. 31 But they went out nd spred the news out him ll over tht re gion. 32 While they were go ing out, mn who ws de mon-pos sessed nd could not tlk ws rought to Jesus. 33 And when the demon ws driv en out, the mn who hd een mute spoke. The crowd ws mzed nd sid, Noth ing like this hs ever een seen in Is r el. 34 But the Phr i sees sid, It is y the prince of de mons tht he drives out de mons. The Workers Are Few 35 Jesus went through ll the towns nd vil lg es, tech ing in their syn gogues, proclim ing the good news of the king dom nd hel ing ev ery dis ese nd sick ness. 36 When he sw the crowds, he hd com ps sion on them, e cuse they were h rssed nd helpless, like sheep with out shep herd. 37 Then he sid to his dis ci ples, The hr vest is plenti ful ut the work ers re few. 38 Ask the Lord of the hr vest, there fore, to send out work ers into his hr vest field. Jesus Sends Out the Twelve Jesus clled his twelve dis ci ples to 10 him nd gve them u thor i ty to drive out im pure spir its nd to hel ev ery dis ese nd sick ness. 2 These re the nmes of the twelve postles: first, Si mon (who is clled Pe ter) nd 13 Hose 6:6

19 1312 MATTHEW 10:3 MATTHEW 10: his roth er An drew; Jmes son of Ze e dee, nd his roth er John; 3 Phil ip nd Br thol o- mew; Thom s nd Mt thew the tx col lector; Jmes son of Al phe us, nd Thd de us; 4 Si mon the Zel ot nd Ju ds Is cr i ot, who e tryed him. 5 These twelve Jesus sent out with the follow ing in struc tions: Do not go mong the Gen tiles or en ter ny town of the S mri tns. 6 Go rth er to the lost sheep of Is rel. 7 As you go, pro clim this mes sge: The king dom of hev en hs come ner. 8 Hel the sick, rise the ded, clense those who hve lep ro sy, drive out de mons. Free ly you hve re ceived; free ly give. 9 Do not get ny gold or sil ver or cop per to tke with you in your elts 10 no g for the jour ney or ex tr shirt or sn dls or stff, for the work er is worth his keep. 11 Wht ever town or vil lge you en ter, serch there for some wor thy per son nd sty t their house un til you leve. 12 As you en ter the home, give it your greet ing. 13 If the home is de serv ing, let your pece rest on it; if it is not, let your pece re turn to you. 14 If ny one will not welcome you or lis ten to your words, leve tht home or town nd shke the dust off your feet. 15 Tru ly I tell you, it will e more erle for Sod om nd Go mor rh on the dy of judg ment thn for tht town. 16 I m send ing you out like sheep mong wolves. There fore e s shrewd s snkes nd s in no cent s doves. 17 Be on your gurd; you will e hnd ed over to the lo cl coun cils nd e flogged in the syn gogues. 18 On my c count you will e rought e fore gov er nors nd kings s wit ness es to them nd to the Gen tiles. 19 But when they r rest you, do not wor ry out wht to sy or how to sy it. At tht time you will e giv en wht to sy, 20 for it will not e you spek ing, ut the Spir it of your F ther spek ing through you. 21 Broth er will e try roth er to deth, nd f ther his child; chil dren will re el ginst their pr ents nd hve them put to deth. 22 You will e hted y ev ery one ecuse of me, ut the one who stnds firm to the end will e sved. 23 When you re perse cut ed in one plce, flee to n oth er. Tru ly I tell you, you will not fin ish go ing through the towns of Is r el e fore the Son of Mn comes. 24 The stu dent is not ove the tech er, nor ser vnt ove his ms ter. 25 It is enough for stu dents to e like their tech ers, nd servnts like their ms ters. If the hed of the house hs een clled Be el ze ul, how much more the mem ers of his house hold! 26 So do not e frid of them, for there is noth ing con celed tht will not e disclosed, or hid den tht will not e mde known. 27 Wht I tell you in the drk, spek in the dy light; wht is whis pered in your er, pro clim from the roofs. 28 Do not e frid of those who kill the ody ut cnnot kill the soul. Rth er, e frid of the One who cn de stroy oth soul nd ody in hell. 29 Are not two spr rows sold for pen ny? Yet not one of them will fll to the ground outside your F ther s cre. 30 And even the very hirs of your hed re ll num ered. 31 So don t e frid; you re worth more thn mny spr rows. 32 Who ev er c knowl edg es me e fore others, I will lso c knowl edge e fore my Fther in hev en. 33 But who ev er dis owns me e fore others, I will dis own e fore my F ther in hev en. 34 Do not sup pose tht I hve come to ring pece to the erth. I did not come to ring pece, ut sword. 35 For I hve come to turn mn ginst his fther, dughter ginst her mother, dughter-in-lw ginst her motherin-lw 36 mn s enemies will e the memers of his own household. c 37 Any one who loves their f ther or mother more thn me is not wor thy of me; ny one who loves their son or dugh ter more thn me is not wor thy of me. 38 Who ev er does not tke up their cross nd fol low me is not worthy of me. 39 Who ev er finds their life will lose it, nd who ev er los es their life for my ske will find it. 40 Any one who wel comes you wel comes me, nd ny one who wel comes me welcomes the one who sent me. 41 Who ev er welcomes proph et s proph et will re ceive proph et s re wrd, nd who ev er wel comes righ teous per son s righ teous per son will re ceive righ teous per son s re wrd. 42 And if 8 The Greek word trditionlly trnslted leprosy ws used for vrious diseses ffecting the skin. 29 Or will; or knowledge c 36 Mich 7:6

20 1313 MATTHEW 11:1 MATTHEW 12: ny one gives even cup of cold w ter to one of these lit tle ones who is my dis ci ple, tru ly I tell you, tht per son will cer tin ly not lose their re wrd. Jesus nd John the Bptist Af ter Jesus hd fin ished in struct ing 11 his twelve dis ci ples, he went on from there to tech nd prech in the towns of Gl i lee. 2 When John, who ws in pris on, herd out the deeds of the Mes si h, he sent his dis ci ples 3 to sk him, Are you the one who is to come, or should we ex pect some one else? 4 Jesus re plied, Go ck nd re port to John wht you her nd see: 5 The lind receive sight, the lme wlk, those who hve lep ro sy re clensed, the def her, the ded re rised, nd the good news is proclimed to the poor. 6 Blessed is ny one who does not stum le on c count of me. 7 As John s dis ci ples were lev ing, Jesus e gn to spek to the crowd out John: Wht did you go out into the wil der ness to see? A reed swyed y the wind? 8 If not, wht did you go out to see? A mn dressed in fine clothes? No, those who wer fine clothes re in kings pl c es. 9 Then wht did you go out to see? A proph et? Yes, I tell you, nd more thn proph et. 10 This is the one out whom it is writ ten: I will send my messenger hed of you, who will prepre your wy efore you. c 11 Tru ly I tell you, mong those orn of women there hs not ris en ny one gret er thn John the Bp tist; yet who ev er is lest in the king dom of hev en is gret er thn he. 12 From the dys of John the Bp tist un til now, the king dom of hev en hs een suject ed to vi o lence, d nd vi o lent peo ple hve een rid ing it. 13 For ll the Proph ets nd the Lw proph e sied un til John. 14 And if you re will ing to c cept it, he is the Eli jh who ws to come. 15 Who ev er hs ers, let them her. 16 To wht cn I com pre this gen er tion? They re like chil dren sit ting in the mr ketplc es nd cll ing out to oth ers: 17 We plyed the pipe for you, nd you did not dnce; we sng dirge, nd you did not mourn. 18 For John cme nei ther et ing nor drinking, nd they sy, He hs de mon. 19 The Son of Mn cme et ing nd drink ing, nd they sy, Here is glut ton nd drunk rd, friend of tx col lec tors nd sin ners. But wisdom is proved right y her deeds. Woe on Unrepentnt Towns 20 Then Jesus e gn to de nounce the towns in which most of his mir cles hd een per formed, e cuse they did not repent. 21 Woe to you, Cho r zin! Woe to you, Beth s i d! For if the mir cles tht were performed in you hd een per formed in Tyre nd Si don, they would hve re pent ed long go in sck cloth nd sh es. 22 But I tell you, it will e more er le for Tyre nd Si don on the dy of judg ment thn for you. 23 And you, C per n um, will you e lift ed to the hevens? No, you will go down to Hdes. e For if the mir cles tht were per formed in you hd een per formed in Sod om, it would hve re mined to this dy. 24 But I tell you tht it will e more er le for Sod om on the dy of judg ment thn for you. The Fther Reveled in the Son 25 At tht time Jesus sid, I prise you, F ther, Lord of hev en nd erth, e cuse you hve hid den these things from the wise nd lerned, nd re veled them to lit tle children. 26 Yes, F ther, for this is wht you were plesed to do. 27 All things hve een com mit ted to me y my F ther. No one knows the Son ex cept the F ther, nd no one knows the F ther ex cept the Son nd those to whom the Son choos es to re vel him. 28 Come to me, ll you who re we ry nd ur dened, nd I will give you rest. 29 Tke my yoke upon you nd lern from me, for I m gen tle nd hum le in hert, nd you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is esy nd my ur den is light. Jesus Is Lord of the Sth At tht time Jesus went through the 12 grin fields on the S th. His disci ples were hun gry nd e gn to pick some heds of grin nd et them. 2 When the 1 Greek in their towns 5 The Greek word trditionlly trnslted leprosy ws used for vrious diseses ffecting the skin. c 10 Ml. 3:1 d 12 Or een forcefully dvncing e 23 Tht is, the relm of the ded

21 No Appointment Needed DEVO 189 MATTHEW 11:28 Addie Ziermn Come stright from your ed with your morning reth nd your swetpnts. Come with your crzy hir nd your unwshed fce nd lst night s dishes still sitting out on the counter. Come s soon s the lrm goes off, or fter three or four smcks t the snooze utton. Or mye morning s not your thing, ut you keep trying to muster yourself up to it ecuse once someone told you this ws the est wy. Tht morning is the est time, tht you need to strt your dy right, with God. (I wnt to tell you tht there is no est time. There is you, your prticulr, individul hert nd there is God, his love like deep-flowing river. And it doesn t mtter when you step into the river, love. All tht mtters is tht you come.) Come with your mind skittering thousnd different directions. Come with your insurmountle to-do list, nd don t feel it guilty when you keep drifting ck to the dy s demnds. Just notice it, nd then mke your wy ck to the quiet. Strt with Jesus, who There will e so mny trips ck nd forth while you re here... welcomes the from worry to plnning to pryer nd then ck round gin. Tht s just prt of it. overwhelmed. The But mye you don t know tht. Mye you ve herd hundred under-wed. The hopeful. sermons out tht night in the Grden of Gethsemne, when The hopeless. Jesus pryed deep nd long nd his disciples fell sleep. You know tht verse y hert, where he sys, Couldn t you men keep wtch with me for one hour? (Mtthew 26:40) nd the very next one tht sys, The spirit is willing, ut the flesh is wek. (Here s wht I think out ll tht: this ws never ment s cll to do etter, to e etter, to come perfect nd focused nd spiritully strong. I think Jesus ws simply telling us the truth out ourselves, here in the midnight grden tht thing tht we who cn hndle it ll never truly elieve: You re wek. You re wery. It s oky. I m enough.) Mye ll this time you ve een trying to come perfect; you ve een trying to come wide wke when you re exhusted. Mye you ve een trying to work up the fith when your hert is sunk deep in dout. You don t hve to hustle for pprovl here. Come wery. Come eloved

22 Come reluctntly or expectntly. Come hlf sleep or hlf live or roken into ten thousnd pieces. Stre lnkly into your fluorescent sunlmp in the cold, drk morning nd sy nothing. Or sy everything. Rnt nd rve nd whine nd cry nd re it ll your whole ferful, jelous, ngry hert. Both of these things re kind of pryer, nd neither is etter or more honest thn the other. Sy the truth you need to sy even if the words sound unholy. God cn hndle your impoliteness, your wildness, your temper tntrums, your ters. Come with hert stone-cold in its silence. Come itter. Come distnt. Red the Bile, or don t. Write it out in lined journl, or don t. Red it of liturgy nd feel yourself connected to thousnd other roken pieces of humnity, ll trying to figure it out. (Or don t. There is no right wy to come. There is only the honesty of showing up entirely yourself in the plce you re now.) Mye you won t feel nything. Just the winter drk pressing in nd the cold seeping in under the ptio door nd wery dred for the mundne tsks of nother dy. Another week. Another yer. Come nywy. Come even if you re not one it sure out this God usiness t ll. Strt here, with these open rms, the ones tht re welcoming the wery. Strt with God who invites the imperfect: The md-t-their-kids. The ticked-t-their-osses. The one who sits in trffic, feeling rge she cnnot understnd. The one who cn t stop crying. The one who s full to the rim with hppiness. Strt with Jesus, who welcomes the overwhelmed. The under-wed. The hopeful. The hopeless. He is looking t you who don t hve one scrp of it together, nd there s not how-to or est-prctices just him. Just you. Just the river. Just one word: Come. The first step. Relly, the only step. The one you keep tking every wery, hevylden, joyous, hopeful, norml, verge, dish-filled, noisy dy of your life. When do you come to Jesus? Tht you will mke time on regulr sis to tlk to Jesus Tht you will experience his grce, pece nd comfort For the next devotion, go to pge For the next myth, go to pge 1326.

23 1316 MATTHEW 12:3 MATTHEW 12: Phr i sees sw this, they sid to him, Look! Your dis ci ples re do ing wht is un lw ful on the S th. 3 He n swered, Hven t you red wht D vid did when he nd his com pn ions were hun gry? 4 He en tered the house of God, nd he nd his com pn ions te the con se crt ed red which ws not lw ful for them to do, ut only for the priests. 5 Or hven t you red in the Lw tht the priests on S th duty in the tem ple des e crte the S th nd yet re in no cent? 6 I tell you tht some thing gret er thn the tem ple is here. 7 If you hd known wht these words men, I de sire mer cy, not sc ri fice, you would not hve con demned the in no cent. 8 For the Son of Mn is Lord of the S th. 9 Go ing on from tht plce, he went into their syn gogue, 10 nd mn with shriveled hnd ws there. Look ing for re son to ring chrges ginst Jesus, they sked him, Is it lw ful to hel on the S th? 11 He sid to them, If ny of you hs sheep nd it flls into pit on the S th, will you not tke hold of it nd lift it out? 12 How much more vlu le is per son thn sheep! There fore it is lw ful to do good on the S th. 13 Then he sid to the mn, Stretch out your hnd. So he stretched it out nd it ws com plete ly re stored, just s sound s the oth er. 14 But the Phr i sees went out nd plotted how they might kill Jesus. God s Chosen Servnt 15 Awre of this, Jesus with drew from tht plce. A lrge crowd fol lowed him, nd he heled ll who were ill. 16 He wrned them not to tell oth ers out him. 17 This ws to ful fill wht ws spo ken through the prophet Is ih: 18 Here is my servnt whom I hve chosen, the one I love, in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him, nd he will proclim justice to the ntions. 19 He will not qurrel or cry out; no one will her his voice in the streets. 20 A ruised reed he will not rek, nd smoldering wick he will not snuff out, till he hs rought justice through to victory. 21 In his nme the ntions will put their hope. Jesus nd Beelzeul 22 Then they rought him de mon-possessed mn who ws lind nd mute, nd Jesus heled him, so tht he could oth tlk nd see. 23 All the peo ple were s ton ished nd sid, Could this e the Son of D vid? 24 But when the Phr i sees herd this, they sid, It is only y Be el ze ul, the prince of de mons, tht this fel low drives out de mons. 25 Jesus knew their thoughts nd sid to them, Ev ery king dom di vid ed ginst it self will e ru ined, nd ev ery city or house hold di vid ed ginst it self will not stnd. 26 If Stn drives out S tn, he is di vid ed ginst him self. How then cn his king dom stnd? 27 And if I drive out de mons y Be el ze ul, y whom do your peo ple drive them out? So then, they will e your judg es. 28 But if it is y the Spir it of God tht I drive out demons, then the king dom of God hs come upon you. 29 Or gin, how cn ny one en ter strong mn s house nd cr ry off his pos sessions un less he first ties up the strong mn? Then he cn plun der his house. 30 Who ev er is not with me is ginst me, nd who ev er does not gth er with me sctters. 31 And so I tell you, ev ery kind of sin nd slnder cn e for giv en, ut ls phemy ginst the Spir it will not e for giv en. 32 Any one who speks word ginst the Son of Mn will e for giv en, ut ny one who speks ginst the Holy Spir it will not e for giv en, ei ther in this ge or in the ge to come. 33 Mke tree good nd its fruit will e good, or mke tree d nd its fruit will e d, for tree is rec og nized y its fruit. 34 You rood of vi pers, how cn you who re evil sy ny thing good? For the mouth speks wht the hert is full of. 35 A good mn rings good things out of the good stored up in him, nd n evil mn rings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. 36 But I tell you tht every one will hve to give c count on the dy of judg ment for ev ery emp ty word they hve spo ken. 37 For y your words you will 7 Hose 6:6 21 Isih 42:1-4

24 1317 MATTHEW 12:38 MATTHEW 13: e c quit ted, nd y your words you will e con demned. The Sign of Jonh 38 Then some of the Phr i sees nd techers of the lw sid to him, Tech er, we wnt to see sign from you. 39 He n swered, A wick ed nd dul terous gen er tion sks for sign! But none will e giv en it ex cept the sign of the proph et Jonh. 40 For s Jo nh ws three dys nd three nights in the el ly of huge fish, so the Son of Mn will e three dys nd three nights in the hert of the erth. 41 The men of Nin e veh will stnd up t the judg ment with this gener tion nd con demn it; for they re pent ed t the prech ing of Jo nh, nd now some thing gret er thn Jo nh is here. 42 The Queen of the South will rise t the judg ment with this gen er tion nd con demn it; for she cme from the ends of the erth to lis ten to Sol o- mon s wis dom, nd now some thing gret er thn Sol o mon is here. 43 When n im pure spir it comes out of per son, it goes through rid plc es seek ing rest nd does not find it. 44 Then it sys, I will re turn to the house I left. When it r rives, it finds the house un oc cu pied, swept clen nd put in or der. 45 Then it goes nd tkes with it sev en oth er spir its more wick ed thn it self, nd they go in nd live there. And the fi nl con di tion of tht per son is worse thn the first. Tht is how it will e with this wicked gen er tion. Jesus Mother nd Brothers 46 While Jesus ws still tlk ing to the crowd, his moth er nd roth ers stood outside, wnt ing to spek to him. 47 Some one told him, Your moth er nd roth ers re stnd ing out side, wnt ing to spek to you. 48 He re plied to him, Who is my moth er, nd who re my roth ers? 49 Point ing to his dis ci ples, he sid, Here re my moth er nd my roth ers. 50 For who ev er does the will of my F ther in hev en is my roth er nd sis ter nd moth er. The Prle of the Sower Tht sme dy Jesus went out of the house nd st y the lke. 2 Such Isih 6:9,10 (see Septugint) lrge crowds gth ered round him tht he got into ot nd st in it, while ll the people stood on the shore. 3 Then he told them mny things in pr les, sy ing: A frm er went out to sow his seed. 4 As he ws sct tering the seed, some fell long the pth, nd the irds cme nd te it up. 5 Some fell on rocky plc es, where it did not hve much soil. It sprng up quick ly, e cuse the soil ws shl low. 6 But when the sun cme up, the plnts were scorched, nd they with ered e cuse they hd no root. 7 Oth er seed fell mong thorns, which grew up nd choked the plnts. 8 Still oth er seed fell on good soil, where it pro duced crop hun dred, sixty or thir ty times wht ws sown. 9 Who ev er hs ers, let them her. 10 The dis ci ples cme to him nd sked, Why do you spek to the peo ple in pr - les? 11 He re plied, Be cuse the knowl edge of the se crets of the king dom of hev en hs een giv en to you, ut not to them. 12 Whoever hs will e giv en more, nd they will hve n un dnce. Who ever does not hve, even wht they hve will e tk en from them. 13 This is why I spek to them in pr les: Though seeing, they do not see; though hering, they do not her or understnd. 14 In them is ful filled the proph e cy of Is ih: You will e ever hering ut never understnding; you will e ever seeing ut never perceiving. 15 For this people s hert hs ecome clloused; they hrdly her with their ers, nd they hve closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, her with their ers, understnd with their herts nd turn, nd I would hel them. 16 But lessed re your eyes e cuse they see, nd your ers e cuse they her. 17 For tru ly I tell you, mny proph ets nd righ teous people longed to see wht you see ut did not see it, nd to her wht you her ut did not her it.

25 1318 MATTHEW 13:18 MATTHEW 13: Lis ten then to wht the pr le of the sow er mens: 19 When ny one hers the mes sge out the king dom nd does not un der stnd it, the evil one comes nd sntch es wy wht ws sown in their hert. This is the seed sown long the pth. 20 The seed fll ing on rocky ground re fers to someone who hers the word nd t once re ceives it with joy. 21 But since they hve no root, they lst only short time. When trou le or perse cu tion comes e cuse of the word, they quick ly fll wy. 22 The seed fll ing mong the thorns re fers to some one who hers the word, ut the wor ries of this life nd the deceit ful ness of welth choke the word, mking it un fruit ful. 23 But the seed fll ing on good soil re fers to some one who hers the word nd un der stnds it. This is the one who pro duces crop, yield ing hun dred, six ty or thir ty times wht ws sown. The Prle of the Weeds 24 Jesus told them n oth er pr le: The king dom of hev en is like mn who sowed good seed in his field. 25 But while ev ery one ws sleep ing, his en e my cme nd sowed weeds mong the whet, nd went wy. 26 When the whet sprout ed nd formed heds, then the weeds lso p pered. 27 The own er s ser vnts cme to him nd sid, Sir, didn t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from? 28 An en e my did this, he re plied. The ser vnts sked him, Do you wnt us to go nd pull them up? 29 No, he n swered, e cuse while you re pull ing the weeds, you my up root the whet with them. 30 Let oth grow to geth er un til the hr vest. At tht time I will tell the hr vest ers: First col lect the weeds nd tie them in un dles to e urned; then gth er the whet nd ring it into my rn. The Prles of the Mustrd Seed nd the Yest 31 He told them n oth er pr le: The king dom of hev en is like mus trd seed, which mn took nd plnt ed in his field. 32 Though it is the smll est of ll seeds, yet when it grows, it is the lrg est of gr den plnts nd e comes tree, so tht the irds come nd perch in its rnch es. 33 He told them still n oth er pr le: The king dom of hev en is like yest tht wom n took nd mixed into out six ty pounds of flour un til it worked ll through the dough. 34 Jesus spoke ll these things to the crowd in pr les; he did not sy ny thing to them with out us ing pr le. 35 So ws ful filled wht ws spo ken through the proph et: I will open my mouth in prles, I will utter things hidden since the cretion of the world. The Prle of the Weeds Explined 36 Then he left the crowd nd went into the house. His dis ci ples cme to him nd sid, Ex plin to us the pr le of the weeds in the field. 37 He n swered, The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Mn. 38 The field is the world, nd the good seed stnds for the peo ple of the king dom. The weeds re the peo ple of the evil one, 39 nd the en e my who sows them is the dev il. The hr vest is the end of the ge, nd the hr vest ers re n gels. 40 As the weeds re pulled up nd urned in the fire, so it will e t the end of the ge. 41 The Son of Mn will send out his n gels, nd they will weed out of his king dom every thing tht cus es sin nd ll who do evil. 42 They will throw them into the lz ing fur nce, where there will e weep ing nd gnsh ing of teeth. 43 Then the righ teous will shine like the sun in the king dom of their Fther. Who ev er hs ers, let them her. The Prles of the Hidden Tresure nd the Perl 44 The king dom of hev en is like tre sure hid den in field. When mn found it, he hid it gin, nd then in his joy went nd sold ll he hd nd ought tht field. 45 Agin, the king dom of hev en is like mer chnt look ing for fine perls. 46 When he found one of gret vl ue, he went wy nd sold ev ery thing he hd nd ought it. The Prle of the Net 47 Once gin, the king dom of hev en is like net tht ws let down into the lke nd cught ll kinds of fish. 48 When it ws full, the fish er men pulled it up on the shore. Then they st down nd col lect ed the good 33 Or out 27 kilogrms 35 Pslm 78:2

26 1319 MATTHEW 13:49 MATTHEW 14: fish in s kets, ut threw the d wy. 49 This is how it will e t the end of the ge. The n gels will come nd sep rte the wicked from the righ teous 50 nd throw them into the lz ing fur nce, where there will e weep ing nd gnsh ing of teeth. 51 Hve you un der stood ll these things? Jesus sked. Yes, they re plied. 52 He sid to them, There fore ev ery techer of the lw who hs e come dis ci ple in the king dom of hev en is like the own er of house who rings out of his store room new tre sures s well s old. A Prophet Without Honor 53 When Jesus hd fin ished these pr - les, he moved on from there. 54 Com ing to his home town, he e gn tech ing the peo ple in their syn gogue, nd they were mzed. Where did this mn get this wis dom nd these mi rc u lous pow ers? they sked. 55 Isn t this the cr pen ter s son? Isn t his moth er s nme Mry, nd ren t his roth ers Jmes, Jo seph, Si mon nd Ju ds? 56 Aren t ll his sis ters with us? Where then did this mn get ll these things? 57 And they took of fense t him. But Jesus sid to them, A proph et is not with out hon or except in his own town nd in his own home. 58 And he did not do mny mir cles there e cuse of their lck of fith. John the Bptist Beheded At tht time Her od the te trrch herd 14 the re ports out Jesus, 2 nd he sid to his t ten dnts, This is John the Bp tist; he hs ris en from the ded! Tht is why mirc u lous pow ers re t work in him. 3 Now Her od hd r rest ed John nd ound him nd put him in pris on e cuse of He rodi s, his roth er Phil ip s wife, 4 for John hd een sy ing to him: It is not lw ful for you to hve her. 5 Her od wnt ed to kill John, ut he ws frid of the peo ple, e cuse they consid ered John proph et. 6 On Her od s irth dy the dugh ter of Hero di s dnced for the guests nd plesed Her od so much 7 tht he prom ised with n oth to give her wht ev er she sked. 8 Prompt ed y her moth er, she sid, Give me here on plt ter the hed of John the Bptist. 9 The king ws dis tressed, ut e cuse of his oths nd his din ner guests, he ordered tht her re quest e grnt ed 10 nd hd John e hed ed in the pris on. 11 His hed ws rought in on plt ter nd giv en to the girl, who cr ried it to her moth er. 12 John s dis ciples cme nd took his ody nd ur ied it. Then they went nd told Jesus. Jesus Feeds the Five Thousnd 13 When Jesus herd wht hd hp pened, he with drew y ot pri vte ly to sol i try plce. Her ing of this, the crowds fol lowed him on foot from the towns. 14 When Jesus lnd ed nd sw lrge crowd, he hd comps sion on them nd heled their sick. 15 As eve ning p proched, the dis ci ples cme to him nd sid, This is re mote plce, nd it s l redy get ting lte. Send the crowds wy, so they cn go to the vil lg es nd uy them selves some food. 16 Jesus re plied, They do not need to go wy. You give them some thing to et. 17 We hve here only five loves of red nd two fish, they n swered. 18 Bring them here to me, he sid. 19 And he di rect ed the peo ple to sit down on the grss. Tk ing the five loves nd the two fish nd look ing up to hev en, he gve thnks nd roke the loves. Then he gve them to the dis ci ples, nd the dis ci ples gve them to the peo ple. 20 They ll te nd were st isfied, nd the dis ci ples picked up twelve sket fuls of ro ken piec es tht were left over. 21 The num er of those who te ws out five thou snd men, e sides wom en nd children. Jesus Wlks on the Wter 22 Im me di te ly Jesus mde the dis ci ples get into the ot nd go on hed of him to the oth er side, while he dis missed the crowd. 23 Af ter he hd dis missed them, he went up on moun tin side y him self to pry. Lter tht night, he ws there lone, 24 nd the ot ws l redy con sid er le dis tnce from lnd, uf fet ed y the wves e cuse the wind ws ginst it. 25 Short ly e fore dwn Jesus went out to them, wlk ing on the lke. 26 When the dis ciples sw him wlk ing on the lke, they were ter ri fied. It s ghost, they sid, nd cried out in fer. 27 But Jesus im me di te ly sid to them: Tke cour ge! It is I. Don t e frid.

27 1320 MATTHEW 14:28 MATTHEW 15: Lord, if it s you, Pe ter re plied, tell me to come to you on the w ter. 29 Come, he sid. Then Pe ter got down out of the ot, wlked on the w ter nd cme to wrd Jesus. 30 But when he sw the wind, he ws frid nd, e gin ning to sink, cried out, Lord, sve me! 31 Im me di te ly Jesus reched out his hnd nd cught him. You of lit tle fith, he sid, why did you dout? 32 And when they climed into the ot, the wind died down. 33 Then those who were in the ot wor shiped him, sy ing, Tru ly you re the Son of God. 34 When they hd crossed over, they lnded t Gen nes ret. 35 And when the men of tht plce rec og nized Jesus, they sent word to ll the sur round ing coun try. Peo ple rought ll their sick to him 36 nd egged him to let the sick just touch the edge of his clok, nd ll who touched it were heled. Tht Which Defiles Then some Phr i sees nd tech ers of 15 the lw cme to Jesus from Je ru s lem nd sked, 2 Why do your dis ci ples rek the tr di tion of the el ders? They don t wsh their hnds e fore they et! 3 Jesus re plied, And why do you rek the com mnd of God for the ske of your tr dition? 4 For God sid, Hon or your f ther nd moth er nd Any one who curs es their fther or moth er is to e put to deth. 5 But you sy tht if ny one de clres tht wht might hve een used to help their f ther or moth er is de vot ed to God, 6 they re not to hon or their f ther or moth er with it. Thus you nul li fy the word of God for the ske of your tr di tion. 7 You hyp o crites! Is ih ws right when he proph e sied out you: 8 These people honor me with their lips, ut their herts re fr from me. 9 They worship me in vin; their techings re merely humn rules. c 10 Jesus clled the crowd to him nd sid, Lis ten nd un der stnd. 11 Wht goes into some one s mouth does not de file them, ut wht comes out of their mouth, tht is wht de files them. 12 Then the dis ci ples cme to him nd sked, Do you know tht the Phr i sees were of fend ed when they herd this? 13 He re plied, Ev ery plnt tht my heven ly F ther hs not plnt ed will e pulled up y the roots. 14 Leve them; they re lind guides. d If the lind led the lind, oth will fll into pit. 15 Pe ter sid, Ex plin the pr le to us. 16 Are you still so dull? Jesus sked them. 17 Don t you see tht wht ev er en ters the mouth goes into the stom ch nd then out of the ody? 18 But the things tht come out of per son s mouth come from the hert, nd these de file them. 19 For out of the hert come evil thoughts mur der, dul tery, sexu l im mo rl i ty, theft, flse tes ti mo ny, slnder. 20 These re wht de file per son; ut et ing with un wshed hnds does not de file them. The Fith of Cnnite Womn 21 Lev ing tht plce, Jesus with drew to the re gion of Tyre nd Si don. 22 A C nn ite wom n from tht vi cin i ty cme to him, crying out, Lord, Son of D vid, hve mer cy on me! My dugh ter is de mon-pos sessed nd suf fer ing ter ri ly. 23 Jesus did not n swer word. So his disci ples cme to him nd urged him, Send her wy, for she keeps cry ing out f ter us. 24 He n swered, I ws sent only to the lost sheep of Is r el. 25 The wom n cme nd knelt e fore him. Lord, help me! she sid. 26 He re plied, It is not right to tke the chil dren s red nd toss it to the dogs. 27 Yes it is, Lord, she sid. Even the dogs et the crums tht fll from their ms ter s t le. 28 Then Jesus sid to her, Wom n, you hve gret fith! Your re quest is grnt ed. And her dugh ter ws heled t tht moment. Jesus Feeds the Four Thousnd 29 Jesus left there nd went long the Se of Gl i lee. Then he went up on moun tinside nd st down. 30 Gret crowds cme to 4 Exodus 20:12; Deut. 5:16 4 Exodus 21:17; Lev. 20:9 c 9 Isih 29:13 d 14 Some mnuscripts lind guides of the lind

28 1321 MATTHEW 15:31 MATTHEW 16: him, ring ing the lme, the lind, the crippled, the mute nd mny oth ers, nd lid them t his feet; nd he heled them. 31 The peo ple were mzed when they sw the mute spek ing, the crip pled mde well, the lme wlk ing nd the lind see ing. And they prised the God of Is r el. 32 Jesus clled his dis ci ples to him nd sid, I hve com ps sion for these peo ple; they hve l redy een with me three dys nd hve noth ing to et. I do not wnt to send them wy hun gry, or they my collpse on the wy. 33 His dis ci ples n swered, Where could we get enough red in this re mote plce to feed such crowd? 34 How mny loves do you hve? Jesus sked. Sev en, they re plied, nd few smll fish. 35 He told the crowd to sit down on the ground. 36 Then he took the sev en loves nd the fish, nd when he hd giv en thnks, he roke them nd gve them to the dis ci ples, nd they in turn to the peo ple. 37 They ll te nd were st is fied. Af ter wrd the dis ciples picked up sev en s ket fuls of ro ken piec es tht were left over. 38 The num er of those who te ws four thou snd men, esides wom en nd chil dren. 39 Af ter Jesus hd sent the crowd wy, he got into the ot nd went to the vi cin i ty of Mg dn. The Demnd for Sign The Phr i sees nd Sd du cees cme 16 to Jesus nd test ed him y sk ing him to show them sign from hev en. 2 He re plied, When eve ning comes, you sy, It will e fir weth er, for the sky is red, 3 nd in the morn ing, To dy it will e stormy, for the sky is red nd over cst. You know how to in ter pret the p per nce of the sky, ut you cn not in ter pret the signs of the times. 4 A wick ed nd dul ter ous gen er tion looks for sign, ut none will e giv en it except the sign of Jo nh. Jesus then left them nd went wy. The Yest of the Phrisees nd Sdducees 5 When they went cross the lke, the disci ples for got to tke red. 6 Be cre ful, Jesus sid to them. Be on your gurd ginst the yest of the Phr i sees nd Sd du cees. 7 They dis cussed this mong them selves nd sid, It is e cuse we didn t ring ny red. 8 Awre of their dis cus sion, Jesus sked, You of lit tle fith, why re you tlk ing mong your selves out hv ing no red? 9 Do you still not un der stnd? Don t you remem er the five loves for the five thou snd, nd how mny s ket fuls you gth ered? 10 Or the sev en loves for the four thou snd, nd how mny s ket fuls you gth ered? 11 How is it you don t un der stnd tht I ws not tlking to you out red? But e on your gurd ginst the yest of the Phr i sees nd Sddu cees. 12 Then they un der stood tht he ws not tell ing them to gurd ginst the yest used in red, ut ginst the tech ing of the Phr i sees nd Sd du cees. Peter Declres Tht Jesus Is the Messih 13 When Jesus cme to the re gion of Ces - re Phi lip pi, he sked his dis ci ples, Who do peo ple sy the Son of Mn is? 14 They re plied, Some sy John the Bptist; oth ers sy Eli jh; nd still oth ers, Jer e- mi h or one of the proph ets. 15 But wht out you? he sked. Who do you sy I m? 16 Si mon Pe ter n swered, You re the Mes si h, the Son of the liv ing God. 17 Jesus re plied, Blessed re you, Si mon son of Jo nh, for this ws not re veled to you y flesh nd lood, ut y my F ther in heven. 18 And I tell you tht you re Pe ter, nd on this rock I will uild my church, nd the gtes of Hdes c will not over come it. 19 I will give you the keys of the king dom of hev en; wht ev er you ind on erth will e d ound in hev en, nd wht ev er you loose on erth will e d loosed in hev en. 20 Then he ordered his dis ci ples not to tell ny one tht he ws the Mes si h. Jesus Predicts His Deth 21 From tht time on Jesus e gn to explin to his dis ci ples tht he must go to Je rus lem nd suf fer mny things t the hnds of the el ders, the chief priests nd the tech ers 2,3 Some erly mnuscripts do not hve When evening comes... of the times. 18 The Greek word for Peter mens rock. c 18 Tht is, the relm of the ded d 19 Or will hve een

29 DEVO 190 MATTHEW 14:22 33 Annie F. Downs When Jesus Throws You Life Ring I don t like the ocen. In fct, I ve only hd two pnic ttcks in my life (to dte) nd they hve oth involved the ocen or ocenic cretures. One hppened over corl reef in Hwii tht I ws certin housed shrk, nd the second ws prnk gone wrong involving smll ded shrk in thtu t the ech. The pnic. You cn t imgine. (Neither could my friends who pulled the prnk. The pologies were plentiful.) But it s not just shrks tht keep me out of the deep lue se. It s the endless wter. There s just something out not eing le to see clerly through it. It s the depth of it, the unknown tht lives elow wht I cn see. I red the story of Jesus wlking on wter, nd it sounds terrifying to me. Not only ws he stnding over the deep wter, ut it ws efore dwn, in those drkest moments of the dy. The wind ws lowing, the wves were growing. Sounds like ll the puzzle pieces to mke me pnic. I sk Jesus to sve me, And yet. It ws Jesus. It s like he loves to show up in the plces where I would e most even s I feel like frid. And then he sks me to e rve enough to stnd out in the middle of it with him. I m sinking. I sk him I never plnned to e n uthor nd speker. I didn t drem of to gr me, to hold me, it s child nd pursue it for my whole life. Aout six yers go, to rescue me. doors strted opening nd drems strted growing. God strted moving in my life, nd now here I sit, smll usiness owner, pulished uthor, pulic speker. I rememer the dy Jesus sked me to step out of the ot of my comfortle life s n elementry school techer nd to wlk on the choppy wters of new, unstle creer. I thought tht first step would e the most chllenging. It wsn t. It isn t. It s fter few steps, when the ot is out of rech, the wter is getting drker elow you, the wind is lowing nd you strt to sink. When it is hrd to py the ills. When you get more nos thn yeses. When flights re delyed nd connections re missed. When the Internet gets nsty. When you feel unsfe outside of the ot

30 When the wves feel igger thn your ility to stnd on them. When Jesus feels few more steps wy thn you cn possily tke ut so is the sfety of the ot. Those re the moments when I strt to sink. Just like Peter does in this story, I look down. I look t my circumstnces, insted of the One who clled me out of the ot in the first plce. I m ttempting to mke new hit in my life. Every morning, efore the dy relly gets strted for me, I picture myself stnding on the wves. I look t them, I see the white fom of the reking wter, I feel the wind low with force nd I think of ll the things tht could low into my life tht dy, wves tht could discourge me or try to sink me. And then I look up. And I sk Jesus to sve me, even s I feel like I m sinking. I sk him to gr me, to hold me, to rescue me. Where do you feel Jesus clling you out of the ot? Tht Jesus will give you the courge to step out of the ot Tht you will rech out for Jesus when you feel yourself strt to sink For the next devotion, go to pge For the next myth, go to pge 1326.

31 1324 MATTHEW 16:22 MATTHEW 17: of the lw, nd tht he must e killed nd on the third dy e rised to life. 22 Pe ter took him side nd e gn to reuke him. Nev er, Lord! he sid. This shll nev er hp pen to you! 23 Jesus turned nd sid to Pe ter, Get ehind me, S tn! You re stum ling lock to me; you do not hve in mind the con cerns of God, ut mere ly hu mn con cerns. 24 Then Jesus sid to his dis ci ples, Whoever wnts to e my dis ci ple must deny them selves nd tke up their cross nd follow me. 25 For who ev er wnts to sve their life will lose it, ut who ev er los es their life for me will find it. 26 Wht good will it e for some one to gin the whole world, yet for feit their soul? Or wht cn ny one give in exchnge for their soul? 27 For the Son of Mn is go ing to come in his F ther s glo ry with his n gels, nd then he will re wrd ech per son c cord ing to wht they hve done. 28 Tru ly I tell you, some who re stnd ing here will not tste deth e fore they see the Son of Mn com ing in his king dom. The Trnsfigurtion Af ter six dys Jesus took with him 17 Pe ter, Jmes nd John the roth er of Jmes, nd led them up high moun tin y them selves. 2 There he ws trns fig ured efore them. His fce shone like the sun, nd his clothes e cme s white s the light. 3 Just then there p pered e fore them Moses nd Eli jh, tlk ing with Jesus. 4 Pe ter sid to Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to e here. If you wish, I will put up three shel ters one for you, one for Mo ses nd one for Eli jh. 5 While he ws still spek ing, right cloud cov ered them, nd voice from the cloud sid, This is my Son, whom I love; with him I m well plesed. Lis ten to him! 6 When the dis ci ples herd this, they fell fce down to the ground, ter ri fied. 7 But Jesus cme nd touched them. Get up, he sid. Don t e frid. 8 When they looked up, they sw no one ex cept Jesus. 9 As they were com ing down the mountin, Jesus in struct ed them, Don t tell nyone wht you hve seen, un til the Son of Mn hs een rised from the ded. 10 The dis ci ples sked him, Why then do the tech ers of the lw sy tht Eli jh must come first? 11 Jesus re plied, To e sure, Eli jh comes nd will re store ll things. 12 But I tell you, Eli jh hs l redy come, nd they did not rec og nize him, ut hve done to him every thing they wished. In the sme wy the Son of Mn is go ing to suf fer t their hnds. 13 Then the dis ci ples un der stood tht he ws tlk ing to them out John the Bp tist. Jesus Hels Demon-Possessed Boy 14 When they cme to the crowd, mn p proched Jesus nd knelt e fore him. 15 Lord, hve mer cy on my son, he sid. He hs sei zures nd is suf fer ing gret ly. He of ten flls into the fire or into the w ter. 16 I rought him to your dis ci ples, ut they could not hel him. 17 You un e liev ing nd per verse gen er tion, Jesus re plied, how long shll I sty with you? How long shll I put up with you? Bring the oy here to me. 18 Jesus re uked the de mon, nd it cme out of the oy, nd he ws heled t tht mo ment. 19 Then the dis ci ples cme to Jesus in privte nd sked, Why couldn t we drive it out? 20 He re plied, Be cuse you hve so little fith. Tru ly I tell you, if you hve fith s smll s mus trd seed, you cn sy to this moun tin, Move from here to there, nd it will move. Noth ing will e im pos si le for you. [21] Jesus Predicts His Deth Second Time 22 When they cme to geth er in Gl i lee, he sid to them, The Son of Mn is go ing to e de liv ered in to the hnds of men. 23 They will kill him, nd on the third dy he will e rised to life. And the dis ci ples were filled with grief. The Temple Tx 24 Af ter Jesus nd his dis ci ples r rived in C per n um, the col lec tors of the two-drchm tem ple tx cme to Pe ter nd sked, Doesn t your tech er py the tem ple tx? 25 Yes, he does, he re plied. 25 The Greek word mens either life or soul ; lso in verse 26. words similr to Mrk 9: Some mnuscripts include here

32 1325 MATTHEW 17:26 MATTHEW 18: When Pe ter cme into the house, Jesus ws the first to spek. Wht do you think, Si mon? he sked. From whom do the kings of the erth col lect duty nd tx es from their own chil dren or from oth ers? 26 From oth ers, Pe ter n swered. Then the chil dren re ex empt, Jesus sid to him. 27 But so tht we my not cuse offense, go to the lke nd throw out your line. Tke the first fish you ctch; open its mouth nd you will find four-drch m coin. Tke it nd give it to them for my tx nd yours. The Gretest in the Kingdom of Heven At tht time the dis ci ples cme to 18 Jesus nd sked, Who, then, is the gret est in the king dom of hev en? 2 He clled lit tle child to him, nd plced the child mong them. 3 And he sid: Tru ly I tell you, un less you chnge nd e come like lit tle chil dren, you will nev er en ter the kingdom of hev en. 4 There fore, who ev er tkes the low ly po si tion of this child is the gretest in the king dom of hev en. 5 And who ev er wel comes one such child in my nme welcomes me. Cusing to Stumle 6 If ny one cus es one of these lit tle ones those who e lieve in me to stumle, it would e et ter for them to hve lrge mill stone hung round their neck nd to e drowned in the depths of the se. 7 Woe to the world e cuse of the things tht cuse peo ple to stum le! Such things must come, ut woe to the per son through whom they come! 8 If your hnd or your foot cus es you to stum le, cut it off nd throw it wy. It is et ter for you to en ter life mimed or crippled thn to hve two hnds or two feet nd e thrown into eter nl fire. 9 And if your eye cus es you to stum le, gouge it out nd throw it wy. It is et ter for you to en ter life with one eye thn to hve two eyes nd e thrown into the fire of hell. The Prle of the Wndering Sheep 10 See tht you do not de spise one of these lit tle ones. For I tell you tht their n gels in hev en l wys see the fce of my F ther in hev en. [11] 12 Wht do you think? If mn owns hun dred sheep, nd one of them wn ders wy, will he not leve the nine ty-nine on the hills nd go to look for the one tht wndered off? 13 And if he finds it, tru ly I tell you, he is hp pi er out tht one sheep thn out the nine ty-nine tht did not wn der off. 14 In the sme wy your F ther in heven is not will ing tht ny of these lit tle ones should per ish. Deling With Sin in the Church 15 If your roth er or sis ter sins, c go nd point out their fult, just e tween the two of you. If they lis ten to you, you hve won them over. 16 But if they will not lis ten, tke one or two oth ers long, so tht ev ery mt ter my e es t lished y the tes ti mo ny of two or three wit ness es. d 17 If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; nd if they refuse to lis ten even to the church, tret them s you would p gn or tx col lec tor. 18 Tru ly I tell you, wht ev er you ind on erth will e e ound in hev en, nd whtev er you loose on erth will e e loosed in hev en. 19 Agin, tru ly I tell you tht if two of you on erth gree out ny thing they sk for, it will e done for them y my F ther in heven. 20 For where two or three gth er in my nme, there m I with them. The Prle of the Unmerciful Servnt 21 Then Pe ter cme to Jesus nd sked, Lord, how mny times shll I for give my roth er or sis ter who sins ginst me? Up to sev en times? 22 Jesus n swered, I tell you, not sev en times, ut sev en ty-sev en times. f 23 There fore, the king dom of hev en is like king who wnt ed to set tle c counts with his ser vnts. 24 As he e gn the set tlement, mn who owed him ten thou snd gs of gold g ws rought to him. 25 Since he ws not le to py, the ms ter or dered tht he nd his wife nd his chil dren nd ll tht he hd e sold to re py the det. 11 Some mnuscripts include here the words of Luke 19: The Greek word for rother or sister (delphos) refers here to fellow disciple, whether mn or womn; lso in verses 21 nd 35. c 15 Some mnuscripts sins ginst you d 16 Deut. 19:15 e 18 Or will hve een f 22 Or seventy times seven g 24 Greek ten thousnd tlents; tlent ws worth out 20 yers of dy lorer s wges.

33 I NEED TO MAINTAIN A CERTAIN LIFESTYLE. How do they do it? sked my husnd, Dniel. He tossed his keys down nd slumped into his old, forest green recliner, relic from his chelor dys tht he d insisted we keep when we got mrried. They must hve inherited money. Honestly, do you think they mke tht much more thn we do? I sighed. We d just gotten home from prty t friend s house. We hd this converstion, or versions of it, ll the time. I guess it ll strted when we got involved in our church s young mrrieds group. The people were very nice nd extremely successful. Although we were ll in our twenties, I couldn t elieve my eyes when I sw one couple s lkeside home. They hd ll the toys ot nd Jet Ski in the othouse (nerly s ig s our house t the time) nd threecr grge with his cr nd her cr nd one to spre. Once Dniel nd I strted spending time with our new, ffluent friends, our life didn t seem ll tht gret nymore. Our three-edroom rnch felt crmped. Our used Hond looked chep. Our lst vction ws to visit reltives. So every time we strted to feel the pressure to do more with our friends, we spent good hour or so rguing. You know tht etween our mortgge nd our student lons we rely mke it through ech month. And the cr needs work gin. We cn t fford to go on this ski trip, I snpped t Dniel. We oth mke good money, Mddie, Dniel shot ck. We cn put the trip on credit crd nd py it off next month. And so we did. And when our new friends wnted to tke wine tsting trip, we did tht too. And I joined the gym where ll the women were memers. And Dniel took up golf nd strted shopping for electronic toys ecuse his old phone nd devices were old. Before we knew it, we were mxing out our credit crds, nd we couldn t mke our monthly pyments. If I cn get rise this yer, we ll e fine, ut right now, we fll short ech month. We re fitting in with our friends lifestyles, ut we cn t seem to keep up the pce. Mddie

34 Wht should Christins do with their money? No dout, money either the lck of it or its undnce influences our lifestyle choices. The tempttion is to think tht we re not successful until we hve lrge home, drive nice cr, tke exciting vctions nd keep up with our friends purchsing ehvior. Sdly, mny of us re willing to risk our future well-eing nd finncil freedom in order to e hppy tody, t ny price. The Bile sys the world clmors nd runs fter ll it cn gr in this life (see Luke 12:29 30). Women who re committed to Jesus hve to mke counterculturl choices in their lifestyles. Emulting Jesus lifestyle does not necessrily men pursuing poverty (s if y it one is inherently more spiritul). It mens internlly identifying with the overrching themes of his life. Consider the themes of Jesus life: Contentment Outrgeous generosity Impenetrle joy Unselfishness These chrcteristics, not dollr signs, re the primry distinctions etween Jesus lifestyle nd the wy the world lives. Deciding you re not going to live like the rest of the world even if you cn fford it is tht much more difficult when you relize tht Jesus is tlking out chnge of hert. Trding in new BMW for used Hond is much esier thn tking relistic look ehind wht is driving your lifestyle choices. Your ttitude towrd money, not wht s in your grge, is one of the quickest indictors of your inwrd commitment. The shre of twenty-five-yer-olds with student det hs incresed from just 25 percent in 2003 to 43 percent in Further, the verge student lon lnce mong those twenty-five-yer-olds with student det grew y 91 percent over the period, from $10,649 in 2003 to $20,326 in Met Brown nd Sydnee Cldwell Keep your lives free from the love of money nd e content with wht you hve, ecuse God hs sid, Never will I leve you; never will I forske you. Herews 13:5 SEE ALSO: Deuteronomy 8:10 18 Mtthew 19: Corinthins 3:12 13 For the next devotion, go to pge For the next myth, go to pge For more on Mterilism, see the suject index strting on pge

35 1328 MATTHEW 18:26 MATTHEW 19: At this the ser vnt fell on his knees efore him. Be p tient with me, he egged, nd I will py ck ev ery thing. 27 The servnt s ms ter took pity on him, cn celed the det nd let him go. 28 But when tht ser vnt went out, he found one of his fel low ser vnts who owed him hun dred sil ver coins. He gred him nd e gn to choke him. Py ck wht you owe me! he de mnd ed. 29 His fel low ser vnt fell to his knees nd egged him, Be p tient with me, nd I will py it ck. 30 But he re fused. In sted, he went off nd hd the mn thrown into pris on until he could py the det. 31 When the oth er ser vnts sw wht hd hp pened, they were out rged nd went nd told their ms ter every thing tht hd hp pened. 32 Then the ms ter clled the ser vnt in. You wick ed ser vnt, he sid, I cn celed ll tht det of yours e cuse you egged me to. 33 Shouldn t you hve hd mer cy on your fellow ser vnt just s I hd on you? 34 In n ger his ms ter hnd ed him over to the jil ers to e tor tured, un til he should py ck ll he owed. 35 This is how my hev en ly F ther will tret ech of you un less you for give your roth er or sis ter from your hert. Divorce When Jesus hd fin ished sy ing 19 these things, he left Gl i lee nd went into the re gion of Ju de to the oth er side of the Jor dn. 2 Lrge crowds fol lowed him, nd he heled them there. 3 Some Phr i sees cme to him to test him. They sked, Is it lw ful for mn to di vorce his wife for ny nd ev ery re son? 4 Hven t you red, he re plied, tht t the e gin ning the Cre tor mde them mle nd fe mle, 5 nd sid, For this re son mn will leve his f ther nd moth er nd e unit ed to his wife, nd the two will e come one flesh c? 6 So they re no lon ger two, ut one flesh. There fore wht God hs joined togeth er, let no one sep rte. 7 Why then, they sked, did Mo ses commnd tht mn give his wife cer tif i cte of di vorce nd send her wy? 8 Jesus re plied, Mo ses per mit ted you to di vorce your wives e cuse your herts were hrd. But it ws not this wy from the e ginning. 9 I tell you tht ny one who di vorc es his wife, ex cept for sex u l im mo rl i ty, nd mrries n oth er wom n com mits dul tery. 10 The dis ci ples sid to him, If this is the sit u tion e tween hus nd nd wife, it is et ter not to mr ry. 11 Jesus re plied, Not ev ery one cn c cept this word, ut only those to whom it hs een giv en. 12 For there re eu nuchs who were orn tht wy, nd there re eu nuchs who hve een mde eu nuchs y others nd there re those who choose to live like eunuchs for the ske of the king dom of heven. The one who cn c cept this should ccept it. The Little Children nd Jesus 13 Then peo ple rought lit tle chil dren to Jesus for him to plce his hnds on them nd pry for them. But the dis ci ples re uked them. 14 Jesus sid, Let the lit tle chil dren come to me, nd do not hin der them, for the kingdom of hev en e longs to such s these. 15 When he hd plced his hnds on them, he went on from there. The Rich nd the Kingdom of God 16 Just then mn cme up to Jesus nd sked, Tech er, wht good thing must I do to get eter nl life? 17 Why do you sk me out wht is good? Jesus re plied. There is only One who is good. If you wnt to en ter life, keep the com mnd ments. 18 Which ones? he in quired. Jesus re plied, You shll not mur der, you shll not com mit dul tery, you shll not stel, you shll not give flse tes ti mo ny, 19 hon or your f ther nd moth er, d nd love your neigh or s your self. e 20 All these I hve kept, the young mn sid. Wht do I still lck? 21 Jesus n swered, If you wnt to e perfect, go, sell your pos ses sions nd give to the poor, nd you will hve tre sure in hev en. Then come, fol low me. 22 When the young mn herd this, he went wy sd, e cuse he hd gret welth. 28 Greek hundred denrii; denrius ws the usul dily wge of dy lorer (see 20:2). 4 Gen. 1:27 c 5 Gen. 2:24 d 19 Exodus 20:12-16; Deut. 5:16-20 e 19 Lev. 19:18

36 1329 MATTHEW 19:23 MATTHEW 20: Then Jesus sid to his dis ci ples, Tru ly I tell you, it is hrd for some one who is rich to en ter the king dom of hev en. 24 Agin I tell you, it is es i er for cm el to go through the eye of nee dle thn for some one who is rich to en ter the king dom of God. 25 When the dis ci ples herd this, they were gret ly s ton ished nd sked, Who then cn e sved? 26 Jesus looked t them nd sid, With mn this is im pos si le, ut with God ll things re pos si le. 27 Pe ter n swered him, We hve left every thing to fol low you! Wht then will there e for us? 28 Jesus sid to them, Tru ly I tell you, t the re new l of ll things, when the Son of Mn sits on his glo ri ous throne, you who hve fol lowed me will lso sit on twelve thrones, judg ing the twelve tries of Is r el. 29 And every one who hs left hous es or roth ers or sisters or f ther or moth er or wife or chil dren or fields for my ske will re ceive hun dred times s much nd will in her it eter nl life. 30 But mny who re first will e lst, nd mny who re lst will e first. The Prle of the Workers in the Vineyrd 20 For the king dom of hev en is like lnd own er who went out er ly in the morn ing to hire work ers for his vine yrd. 2 He greed to py them de nr i us for the dy nd sent them into his vine yrd. 3 Aout nine in the morn ing he went out nd sw oth ers stnd ing in the mr ket plce do ing noth ing. 4 He told them, You lso go nd work in my vine yrd, nd I will py you wht ev er is right. 5 So they went. He went out gin out noon nd out three in the f ter noon nd did the sme thing. 6 Aout five in the f ter noon he went out nd found still oth ers stnd ing round. He sked them, Why hve you een stnding here ll dy long do ing noth ing? 7 Be cuse no one hs hired us, they nswered. He sid to them, You lso go nd work in my vine yrd. 8 When eve ning cme, the own er of the vine yrd sid to his fore mn, Cll the workers nd py them their wg es, e gin ning with the lst ones hired nd go ing on to the first. 9 The work ers who were hired out five in the f ter noon cme nd ech re ceived de nr i us. 10 So when those cme who were hired first, they ex pect ed to re ceive more. But ech one of them lso re ceived de nri us. 11 When they re ceived it, they e gn to grum le ginst the lnd own er. 12 These who were hired lst worked only one hour, they sid, nd you hve mde them equl to us who hve orne the ur den of the work nd the het of the dy. 13 But he n swered one of them, I m not e ing un fir to you, friend. Didn t you gree to work for de nr i us? 14 Tke your py nd go. I wnt to give the one who ws hired lst the sme s I gve you. 15 Don t I hve the right to do wht I wnt with my own mon ey? Or re you en vi ous e cuse I m gen er ous? 16 So the lst will e first, nd the first will e lst. Jesus Predicts His Deth Third Time 17 Now Jesus ws go ing up to Je ru s lem. On the wy, he took the Twelve side nd sid to them, 18 We re go ing up to Je ru slem, nd the Son of Mn will e de liv ered over to the chief priests nd the tech ers of the lw. They will con demn him to deth 19 nd will hnd him over to the Gen tiles to e mocked nd flogged nd cru ci fied. On the third dy he will e rised to life! A Mother s Request 20 Then the moth er of Ze e dee s sons cme to Jesus with her sons nd, kneel ing down, sked f vor of him. 21 Wht is it you wnt? he sked. She sid, Grnt tht one of these two sons of mine my sit t your right nd the oth er t your left in your king dom. 22 You don t know wht you re sk ing, Jesus sid to them. Cn you drink the cup I m go ing to drink? We cn, they n swered. 23 Jesus sid to them, You will in deed drink from my cup, ut to sit t my right or left is not for me to grnt. These plc es elong to those for whom they hve een prepred y my F ther. 29 Some mnuscripts do not hve or wife. 2 A denrius ws the usul dily wge of dy lorer.

37 1330 MATTHEW 20:24 MATTHEW 21: When the ten herd out this, they were in dig nnt with the two roth ers. 25 Jesus clled them to geth er nd sid, You know tht the rul ers of the Gen tiles lord it over them, nd their high of fi cils ex ercise u thor i ty over them. 26 Not so with you. In sted, who ev er wnts to e come gret mong you must e your ser vnt, 27 nd whoev er wnts to e first must e your slve 28 just s the Son of Mn did not come to e served, ut to serve, nd to give his life s rn som for mny. Two Blind Men Receive Sight 29 As Jesus nd his dis ci ples were lev ing Jer i cho, lrge crowd fol lowed him. 30 Two lind men were sit ting y the rod side, nd when they herd tht Jesus ws go ing y, they shout ed, Lord, Son of D vid, hve mercy on us! 31 The crowd re uked them nd told them to e qui et, ut they shout ed ll the loud er, Lord, Son of D vid, hve mer cy on us! 32 Jesus stopped nd clled them. Wht do you wnt me to do for you? he sked. 33 Lord, they n swered, we wnt our sight. 34 Jesus hd com ps sion on them nd touched their eyes. Im me di te ly they received their sight nd fol lowed him. Jesus Comes to Jeruslem s King As they p proched Je ru s lem nd 21 cme to Beth ph ge on the Mount of Ol ives, Jesus sent two dis ci ples, 2 sy ing to them, Go to the vil lge hed of you, nd t once you will find don key tied there, with her colt y her. Un tie them nd ring them to me. 3 If ny one sys ny thing to you, sy tht the Lord needs them, nd he will send them right wy. 4 This took plce to ful fill wht ws spo ken through the proph et: 5 Sy to Dughter Zion, See, your king comes to you, gentle nd riding on donkey, nd on colt, the fol of donkey. 6 The dis ci ples went nd did s Jesus hd in struct ed them. 7 They rought the donkey nd the colt nd plced their cloks on them for Jesus to sit on. 8 A very lrge crowd spred their cloks on the rod, while oth ers cut rnch es from the trees nd spred them on the rod. 9 The crowds tht went hed of him nd those tht fol lowed shout ed, Hosnn to the Son of Dvid! Blessed is he who comes in the nme of the Lord! c Hosnn in the highest heven! 10 When Jesus en tered Je ru s lem, the whole city ws stirred nd sked, Who is this? 11 The crowds n swered, This is Jesus, the proph et from Nz reth in Gl i lee. Jesus t the Temple 12 Jesus en tered the tem ple courts nd drove out ll who were uy ing nd sell ing there. He over turned the t les of the money chng ers nd the ench es of those sell ing doves. 13 It is writ ten, he sid to them, My house will e clled house of pryer, d ut you re mk ing it den of ro ers. e 14 The lind nd the lme cme to him t the tem ple, nd he heled them. 15 But when the chief priests nd the tech ers of the lw sw the won der ful things he did nd the chil dren shout ing in the tem ple courts, Hosn n to the Son of D vid, they were in dignnt. 16 Do you her wht these chil dren re sy ing? they sked him. Yes, re plied Jesus, hve you nev er red, From the lips of children nd infnts you, Lord, hve clled forth your prise f? 17 And he left them nd went out of the city to Beth ny, where he spent the night. Jesus Curses Fig Tree 18 Er ly in the morn ing, s Jesus ws on his wy ck to the city, he ws hun gry. 19 Seeing fig tree y the rod, he went up to it ut found noth ing on it ex cept leves. Then he sid to it, My you nev er er fruit gin! Im me di te ly the tree with ered. 20 When the dis ci ples sw this, they were mzed. How did the fig tree with er so quick ly? they sked. 5 Zech. 9:9 9 A Herew expression mening Sve! which ecme n exclmtion of prise; lso in verse 15 c 9 Pslm 118:25,26 d 13 Isih 56:7 e 13 Jer. 7:11 f 16 Pslm 8:2 (see Septugint)

38 1331 MATTHEW 21:21 MATTHEW 22: Jesus re plied, Tru ly I tell you, if you hve fith nd do not dout, not only cn you do wht ws done to the fig tree, ut lso you cn sy to this moun tin, Go, throw your self into the se, nd it will e done. 22 If you elieve, you will re ceive wht ev er you sk for in pryer. The Authority of Jesus Questioned 23 Jesus en tered the tem ple courts, nd, while he ws tech ing, the chief priests nd the el ders of the peo ple cme to him. By wht u thor i ty re you do ing these things? they sked. And who gve you this u thor i ty? 24 Jesus re plied, I will lso sk you one ques tion. If you n swer me, I will tell you y wht u thor i ty I m do ing these things. 25 John s p tism where did it come from? Ws it from hev en, or of hu mn or i gin? They dis cussed it mong them selves nd sid, If we sy, From hev en, he will sk, Then why didn t you e lieve him? 26 But if we sy, Of hu mn or i gin we re frid of the peo ple, for they ll hold tht John ws proph et. 27 So they n swered Jesus, We don t know. Then he sid, Nei ther will I tell you y wht u thor i ty I m do ing these things. The Prle of the Two Sons 28 Wht do you think? There ws mn who hd two sons. He went to the first nd sid, Son, go nd work to dy in the vine yrd. 29 I will not, he n swered, ut lt er he chnged his mind nd went. 30 Then the f ther went to the oth er son nd sid the sme thing. He n swered, I will, sir, ut he did not go. 31 Which of the two did wht his f ther wnt ed? The first, they n swered. Jesus sid to them, Tru ly I tell you, the tx col lec tors nd the pros ti tutes re en tering the king dom of God hed of you. 32 For John cme to you to show you the wy of righ teous ness, nd you did not e lieve him, ut the tx col lec tors nd the pros ti tutes did. And even f ter you sw this, you did not repent nd e lieve him. The Prle of the Tennts 33 Lis ten to n oth er pr le: There ws lnd own er who plnt ed vine yrd. He put wll round it, dug wine press in it nd uilt wtch tow er. Then he rent ed the vineyrd to some frm ers nd moved to n oth er plce. 34 When the hr vest time p proched, he sent his ser vnts to the ten nts to col lect his fruit. 35 The ten nts seized his ser vnts; they et one, killed n oth er, nd stoned third. 36 Then he sent oth er ser vnts to them, more thn the first time, nd the ten nts tret ed them the sme wy. 37 Lst of ll, he sent his son to them. They will re spect my son, he sid. 38 But when the ten nts sw the son, they sid to ech oth er, This is the heir. Come, let s kill him nd tke his in her i tnce. 39 So they took him nd threw him out of the vineyrd nd killed him. 40 There fore, when the own er of the vineyrd comes, wht will he do to those ten nts? 41 He will ring those wretch es to wretch ed end, they re plied, nd he will rent the vine yrd to oth er ten nts, who will give him his shre of the crop t hr vest time. 42 Jesus sid to them, Hve you nev er red in the Scrip tures: The stone the uilders rejected hs ecome the cornerstone; the Lord hs done this, nd it is mrvelous in our eyes? 43 There fore I tell you tht the king dom of God will e tk en wy from you nd giv en to peo ple who will pro duce its fruit. 44 Anyone who flls on this stone will e ro ken to piec es; ny one on whom it flls will e crushed. 45 When the chief priests nd the Phri sees herd Jesus pr les, they knew he ws tlk ing out them. 46 They looked for wy to r rest him, ut they were frid of the crowd e cuse the peo ple held tht he ws proph et. The Prle of the Wedding Bnquet Jesus spoke to them gin in pr - 22 les, sy ing: 2 The king dom of heven is like king who pre pred wed ding n quet for his son. 3 He sent his ser vnts to those who hd een in vit ed to the n quet to tell them to come, ut they re fused to come. 42 Pslm 118:22,23 44 Some mnuscripts do not hve verse 44.

39 1332 MATTHEW 22:4 MATTHEW 22: Then he sent some more ser vnts nd sid, Tell those who hve een in vit ed tht I hve pre pred my din ner: My oxen nd ft tened ct tle hve een utch ered, nd ev ery thing is redy. Come to the wed ding n quet. 5 But they pid no t ten tion nd went off one to his field, n oth er to his usiness. 6 The rest seized his ser vnts, mis treted them nd killed them. 7 The king ws enrged. He sent his rmy nd de stroyed those mur der ers nd urned their city. 8 Then he sid to his ser vnts, The wedding n quet is redy, ut those I in vit ed did not de serve to come. 9 So go to the street cor ners nd in vite to the n quet ny one you find. 10 So the ser vnts went out into the streets nd gth ered ll the peo ple they could find, the d s well s the good, nd the wed ding hll ws filled with guests. 11 But when the king cme in to see the guests, he no ticed mn there who ws not wer ing wed ding clothes. 12 He sked, How did you get in here with out wed ding clothes, friend? The mn ws speech less. 13 Then the king told the t ten dnts, Tie him hnd nd foot, nd throw him out side, into the drk ness, where there will e weeping nd gnsh ing of teeth. 14 For mny re in vit ed, ut few re chosen. Pying the Imperil Tx to Cesr 15 Then the Phr i sees went out nd lid plns to trp him in his words. 16 They sent their dis ci ples to him long with the He rodi ns. Tech er, they sid, we know tht you re mn of in teg ri ty nd tht you tech the wy of God in c cor dnce with the truth. You ren t swyed y oth ers, e cuse you py no t ten tion to who they re. 17 Tell us then, wht is your opin ion? Is it right to py the im pe ri l tx to Ce sr or not? 18 But Jesus, know ing their evil in tent, sid, You hyp o crites, why re you try ing to trp me? 19 Show me the coin used for pying the tx. They rought him de nr i us, 20 nd he sked them, Whose im ge is this? And whose in scrip tion? 21 Ce sr s, they re plied. Then he sid to them, So give ck to Cesr wht is Ce sr s, nd to God wht is God s. 22 When they herd this, they were mzed. So they left him nd went wy. Mrrige t the Resurrection 23 Tht sme dy the Sd du cees, who sy there is no res ur rec tion, cme to him with ques tion. 24 Tech er, they sid, Mo ses told us tht if mn dies with out hv ing chil dren, his roth er must mr ry the wid ow nd rise up off spring for him. 25 Now there were sev en roth ers mong us. The first one mr ried nd died, nd since he hd no children, he left his wife to his roth er. 26 The sme thing hp pened to the sec ond nd third roth er, right on down to the sev enth. 27 Fi nl ly, the wom n died. 28 Now then, t the res ur rec tion, whose wife will she e of the sev en, since ll of them were mr ried to her? 29 Jesus re plied, You re in er ror e cuse you do not know the Scrip tures or the power of God. 30 At the res ur rec tion peo ple will nei ther mr ry nor e giv en in mr rige; they will e like the n gels in hev en. 31 But out the res ur rec tion of the ded hve you not red wht God sid to you, 32 I m the God of Ar hm, the God of Isc, nd the God of J co? He is not the God of the ded ut of the liv ing. 33 When the crowds herd this, they were s ton ished t his tech ing. The Gretest Commndment 34 Her ing tht Jesus hd si lenced the Sddu cees, the Phr i sees got to geth er. 35 One of them, n ex pert in the lw, test ed him with this ques tion: 36 Tech er, which is the gretest com mnd ment in the Lw? 37 Jesus re plied: Love the Lord your God with ll your hert nd with ll your soul nd with ll your mind. c 38 This is the first nd gret est com mnd ment. 39 And the second is like it: Love your neigh or s yourself. d 40 All the Lw nd the Proph ets hng on these two com mnd ments. Whose Son Is the Messih? 41 While the Phr i sees were gth ered togeth er, Jesus sked them, 42 Wht do you think out the Mes si h? Whose son is he? The son of D vid, they re plied. 43 He sid to them, How is it then tht 17 A specil tx levied on suject peoples, not on Romn citizens 32 Exodus 3:6 c 37 Deut. 6:5 d 39 Lev. 19:18

40 1333 MATTHEW 22:44 MATTHEW 23: D vid, spek ing y the Spir it, clls him Lord? For he sys, 44 The Lord sid to my Lord: Sit t my right hnd until I put your enemies under your feet. 45 If then D vid clls him Lord, how cn he e his son? 46 No one could sy word in reply, nd from tht dy on no one dred to sk him ny more ques tions. A Wrning Aginst Hypocrisy Then Jesus sid to the crowds nd to 23 his dis ci ples: 2 The tech ers of the lw nd the Phr i sees sit in Mo ses set. 3 So you must e cre ful to do ev ery thing they tell you. But do not do wht they do, for they do not prc tice wht they prech. 4 They tie up hevy, cum er some lods nd put them on oth er peo ple s shoul ders, ut they themselves re not will ing to lift fin ger to move them. 5 Ev ery thing they do is done for peo ple to see: They mke their phy lc ter ies wide nd the ts sels on their gr ments long; 6 they love the plce of hon or t n quets nd the most im por tnt sets in the syn gogues; 7 they love to e greet ed with re spect in the mr ket plc es nd to e clled R i y others. 8 But you re not to e clled R i, for you hve one Tech er, nd you re ll rothers. 9 And do not cll ny one on erth fther, for you hve one F ther, nd he is in hev en. 10 Nor re you to e clled in structors, for you hve one In struc tor, the Messi h. 11 The gret est mong you will e your ser vnt. 12 For those who ex lt them selves will e hum led, nd those who hum le them selves will e ex lt ed. Seven Woes on the Techers of the Lw nd the Phrisees 13 Woe to you, tech ers of the lw nd Phr i sees, you hyp o crites! You shut the door of the king dom of hev en in peo ple s fc es. You your selves do not en ter, nor will you let those en ter who re try ing to. [14] c 15 Woe to you, tech ers of the lw nd Phr i sees, you hyp o crites! You trv el over lnd nd se to win sin gle con vert, nd when you hve suc ceed ed, you mke them twice s much child of hell s you re. 16 Woe to you, lind guides! You sy, If ny one swers y the tem ple, it mens nothing; ut ny one who swers y the gold of the tem ple is ound y tht oth. 17 You lind fools! Which is gret er: the gold, or the tem ple tht mkes the gold s cred? 18 You lso sy, If ny one swers y the l tr, it mens noth ing; ut ny one who swers y the gift on the l tr is ound y tht oth. 19 You lind men! Which is gret er: the gift, or the l tr tht mkes the gift s cred? 20 There fore, ny one who swers y the l tr swers y it nd y ev ery thing on it. 21 And ny one who swers y the tem ple swers y it nd y the one who dwells in it. 22 And nyone who swers y hev en swers y God s throne nd y the one who sits on it. 23 Woe to you, tech ers of the lw nd Phr i sees, you hyp o crites! You give tenth of your spic es mint, dill nd cum in. But you hve ne glect ed the more im por tnt mtters of the lw jus tice, mer cy nd fith fulness. You should hve prc ticed the lt ter, with out ne glect ing the for mer. 24 You lind guides! You strin out gnt ut swl low cm el. 25 Woe to you, tech ers of the lw nd Phr i sees, you hyp o crites! You clen the out side of the cup nd dish, ut in side they re full of greed nd self-in dul gence. 26 Blind Phr i see! First clen the in side of the cup nd dish, nd then the out side lso will e clen. 27 Woe to you, tech ers of the lw nd Phr i sees, you hyp o crites! You re like white wshed toms, which look eu ti ful on the out side ut on the in side re full of the ones of the ded nd ev ery thing un clen. 28 In the sme wy, on the out side you p per to peo ple s righ teous ut on the in side you re full of hy poc ri sy nd wick ed ness. 29 Woe to you, tech ers of the lw nd Phr i sees, you hyp o crites! You uild toms for the proph ets nd dec o rte the grves of the righ teous. 30 And you sy, If we hd lived in the dys of our n ces tors, we would not hve tk en prt with them in shed ding the lood of the proph ets. 31 So you tes ti fy 44 Pslm 110:1 5 Tht is, oxes contining Scripture verses, worn on forehed nd rm c 14 Some mnuscripts include here words similr to Mrk 12:40 nd Luke 20:47.

41 DEVO 191 MATTHEW 22:36 40 Mrgot Struck You Were Mde to Love God nd Others Though I don t red current fshion mgzines, I enjoy looking through old women s mgzines I find on dusty thrift store shelves. My fvorite decdes to peruse re the 1920s, 30s nd 40s. And while I wish I could tell you I m glening retro euty tips or even scouting out timeless fiction, more often thn not I m douled over lughing. In one d, hedline ove lonely girl who didn t use Listerine reds, They tlk out you ehind your ck. In nother, n overwhelmed nd distrcted womn with poor posture toting lod of pckges is shmed ecuse she s lwys losing her undles. An d for must-hve corset reminds women tht, like models from Pris, they must never e less thn perfect. Chnces re the womn who rised you or t lest the one who rised her ws shped y the messge tht women s odies re mde to e consumed y the eyes of others. And though the mrketing strtegies trgeted t women tody lck the ridiculous Jesus couldn t hve een explicit nrrtive, we re still eing omrded with the sme clerer tht loving our fundmentl messge: women s odies re ornmentl nd not neighor is something instrumentl. But Jesus tells nother story. we do with our odies. One dy he ws teching in wy tht stonished the crowds nd Beloved, it s wht infurited the religious the est kind of teching. So the we re mde for. religious Phrisees tested Jesus, hoping to expose him, y sking, Techer, which is the gretest commndment in the Lw? (Mtthew 22:36). They wnted to prove to the crowds tht Jesus ws clerly not orthodox. Without missing et, Jesus offered, Love the Lord your God with ll your hert nd with ll your soul nd with ll your mind. This is the first nd gretest commndment. And the second is like it: Love your neighor s yourself (37 39). Jesus oiled it down for them: wht you re mde for is loving God nd loving people. Though mny of us moderns don t hve n er tht s ttuned to the ncient Scriptures, everyone in ershot of Jesus voice would hve recognized the mndte s the Jewish pryer clled the Shem, which in Herew mens her. It sys, Her,

42 O Isrel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with ll your hert nd with ll your soul nd with ll your strength (Deuteronomy 6:4 5). And the second hlf of Jesus injunction would lso hve echoed in their ers s one, mong mny, of the lws given in Leviticus. Do not seek revenge or er grudge ginst nyone mong your people, ut love your neighor s yourself (Leviticus 19:18). In this fresh juxtposition of ncient texts, Jesus wnted his listeners to her tht, when it s ll oiled down to wht s most importnt, they were mde for two things: loving God nd loving people. Their herts nd souls nd odies were mde to live love. In Luke s telling of this story, the sssy sker, wnting to justify himself, demnds, And who is my neighor? (10:29). So Jesus told story out despised Smritn, proly on his wy to usiness meeting, who loved his unfortunte, proly Jewish, neighor. He hoisted himself off his donkey nd, with his re hnds, ndged the mn s wounds, treting them with oil nd wine. Then he lifted the eten mn up onto his donkey nd took him to n urgent cre helping him into ed. Jesus couldn t hve een clerer tht loving our neighor is something we do with our odies. Beloved, it s wht we re mde for. And though you most likely won t e scooping people up s you ride your donkey to the office this week, know tht odies weren t mde to e viewed. They were mde to love. To serve. To e in reltionship with others. One might hnd over stylish jcket to someone who s cold. Another might feed sick child. Or someone who uses wheelchir, ecuse her own ody doesn t lwys cooperte, might use her ody to extend the presence of friendship to n elderly neighor who s lonely. In the fce of our culture s nughty lie out wht our lives re for, wht our odies re for, Jesus reks it down: Love God. Love people. How does Jesus injunction to love God nd love people guide your thinking out your own ody? Tht the Spirit will expose the lies you ve elieved out your ody s vlue nd purpose Tht you will know you were mde, ove ll else, to live love Tht you will recognize fresh wys to love others For the next devotion, go to pge For the next myth, go to pge 1360.

43 1336 MATTHEW 23:32 MATTHEW 24: ginst your selves tht you re the de scendnts of those who mur dered the proph ets. 32 Go hed, then, nd com plete wht your n ces tors strted! 33 You snkes! You rood of vi pers! How will you es cpe e ing con demned to hell? 34 There fore I m send ing you proph ets nd sges nd tech ers. Some of them you will kill nd cru ci fy; oth ers you will flog in your syn gogues nd pur sue from town to town. 35 And so upon you will come ll the righteous lood tht hs een shed on erth, from the lood of righ teous Ael to the lood of Zech ri h son of Ber e ki h, whom you mur dered e tween the tem ple nd the l tr. 36 Tru ly I tell you, ll this will come on this gen er tion. 37 Je ru s lem, Je ru s lem, you who kill the proph ets nd stone those sent to you, how of ten I hve longed to gth er your chil dren to geth er, s hen gth ers her chicks un der her wings, nd you were not will ing. 38 Look, your house is left to you des o lte. 39 For I tell you, you will not see me gin un til you sy, Blessed is he who comes in the nme of the Lord. The Destruction of the Temple nd Signs of the End Times Jesus left the tem ple nd ws wlking wy when his dis ci ples cme up 24 to him to cll his t ten tion to its uild ings. 2 Do you see ll these things? he sked. Tru ly I tell you, not one stone here will e left on n oth er; ev ery one will e thrown down. 3 As Jesus ws sit ting on the Mount of Olives, the dis ci ples cme to him pri vte ly. Tell us, they sid, when will this hp pen, nd wht will e the sign of your com ing nd of the end of the ge? 4 Jesus n swered: Wtch out tht no one de ceives you. 5 For mny will come in my nme, clim ing, I m the Mes si h, nd will de ceive mny. 6 You will her of wrs nd ru mors of wrs, ut see to it tht you re not lrmed. Such things must hp pen, ut the end is still to come. 7 N tion will rise ginst n tion, nd king dom ginst king dom. There will e fm ines nd erth qukes in vr i ous plc es. 8 All these re the e gin ning of irth pins. 9 Then you will e hnd ed over to e per se cut ed nd put to deth, nd you will e ht ed y ll n tions e cuse of me. 10 At tht time mny will turn wy from the fith nd will e try nd hte ech oth er, 11 nd mny flse proph ets will p per nd de ceive mny peo ple. 12 Be cuse of the increse of wick ed ness, the love of most will grow cold, 13 ut the one who stnds firm to the end will e sved. 14 And this gos pel of the king dom will e preched in the whole world s tes ti mo ny to ll n tions, nd then the end will come. 15 So when you see stnd ing in the holy plce the om i n tion tht cus es des o ltion, spo ken of through the proph et Dniel let the red er un der stnd 16 then let those who re in Ju de flee to the mountins. 17 Let no one on the house top go down to tke ny thing out of the house. 18 Let no one in the field go ck to get their clok. 19 How dred ful it will e in those dys for preg nnt wom en nd nurs ing moth ers! 20 Pry tht your flight will not tke plce in win ter or on the S th. 21 For then there will e gret dis tress, un equled from the e gin ning of the world un til now nd never to e equled gin. 22 If those dys hd not een cut short, no one would sur vive, ut for the ske of the elect those dys will e short ened. 23 At tht time if ny one sys to you, Look, here is the Mes si h! or, There he is! do not e lieve it. 24 For flse mes si hs nd flse proph ets will p per nd per form gret signs nd won ders to de ceive, if pos si le, even the elect. 25 See, I hve told you hed of time. 26 So if ny one tells you, There he is, out in the wil der ness, do not go out; or, Here he is, in the in ner rooms, do not e lieve it. 27 For s light ning tht comes from the est is vis i le even in the west, so will e the coming of the Son of Mn. 28 Wher ev er there is cr css, there the vul tures will gth er. 29 Im me di te ly f ter the dis tress of those dys the sun will e drkened, nd the moon will not give its light; the strs will fll from the sky, nd the hevenly odies will e shken. c 39 Pslm 118:26 15 Dniel 9:27; 11:31; 12:11 c 29 Isih 13:10; 34:4

44 1337 MATTHEW 24:30 MATTHEW 25: Then will p per the sign of the Son of Mn in hev en. And then ll the peo ples of the erth will mourn when they see the Son of Mn com ing on the clouds of hev en, with pow er nd gret glo ry. 31 And he will send his n gels with loud trum pet cll, nd they will gth er his elect from the four winds, from one end of the hev ens to the oth er. 32 Now lern this les son from the fig tree: As soon s its twigs get ten der nd its leves come out, you know tht sum mer is ner. 33 Even so, when you see ll these things, you know tht it c is ner, right t the door. 34 Tru ly I tell you, this gen er tion will cer tin ly not pss wy un til ll these things hve hppened. 35 Hev en nd erth will pss wy, ut my words will nev er pss wy. ed nd sys to him self, My ms ter is sty ing wy long time, 49 nd he then e gins to et his fel low ser vnts nd to et nd drink with drunk rds. 50 The ms ter of tht servnt will come on dy when he does not ex pect him nd t n hour he is not wre of. 51 He will cut him to piec es nd s sign him plce with the hyp o crites, where there will e weep ing nd gnsh ing of teeth. The Prle of the Ten Virgins 25 At tht time the king dom of hev en will e like ten vir gins who took their lmps nd went out to meet the ride groom. 2 Five of them were fool ish nd five were wise. 3 The fool ish ones took their lmps ut did not tke ny oil with them. 4 The wise ones, how ev er, took oil in jrs long with their lmps. 5 The ride groom ws long time in com ing, nd they ll e cme drowsy nd fell sleep. 6 At mid night the cry rng out: Here s the ride groom! Come out to meet him! 7 Then ll the vir gins woke up nd trimmed their lmps. 8 The fool ish ones sid to the wise, Give us some of your oil; our lmps re go ing out. 9 No, they re plied, there my not e enough for oth us nd you. In sted, go to those who sell oil nd uy some for yourselves. 10 But while they were on their wy to uy the oil, the ride groom r rived. The vir gins who were redy went in with him to the wedding n quet. And the door ws shut. 11 Lt er the oth ers lso cme. Lord, Lord, they sid, open the door for us! 12 But he re plied, Tru ly I tell you, I don t know you. 13 There fore keep wtch, e cuse you do not know the dy or the hour. The Prle of the Bgs of Gold 14 Agin, it will e like mn go ing on jour ney, who clled his ser vnts nd en trusted his welth to them. 15 To one he gve five gs of gold, to n oth er two gs, nd to noth er one g, e ech c cord ing to his il i ty. Then he went on his jour ney. 16 The mn who hd re ceived five gs of gold went t once nd put his mon ey to work nd gined five The Dy nd Hour Unknown 36 But out tht dy or hour no one knows, not even the n gels in hev en, nor the Son, d ut only the F ther. 37 As it ws in the dys of Noh, so it will e t the com ing of the Son of Mn. 38 For in the dys e fore the flood, peo ple were et ing nd drink ing, mr ry ing nd giv ing in mr rige, up to the dy Noh en tered the rk; 39 nd they knew noth ing out wht would hp pen un til the flood cme nd took them ll wy. Tht is how it will e t the com ing of the Son of Mn. 40 Two men will e in the field; one will e tk en nd the oth er left. 41 Two wom en will e grind ing with hnd mill; one will e tk en nd the oth er left. 42 There fore keep wtch, e cuse you do not know on wht dy your Lord will come. 43 But un der stnd this: If the own er of the house hd known t wht time of night the thief ws com ing, he would hve kept wtch nd would not hve let his house e ro ken into. 44 So you lso must e redy, e cuse the Son of Mn will come t n hour when you do not ex pect him. 45 Who then is the fith ful nd wise servnt, whom the ms ter hs put in chrge of the ser vnts in his house hold to give them their food t the prop er time? 46 It will e good for tht ser vnt whose ms ter finds him do ing so when he re turns. 47 Tru ly I tell you, he will put him in chrge of ll his posses sions. 48 But sup pose tht ser vnt is wick 30 Or the tries of the lnd 30 See Dniel 7: c 33 Or he d 36 Some mnuscripts do not hve nor the Son. e 15 Greek five tlents... two tlents... one tlent; lso throughout this prle; tlent ws worth out 20 yers of dy lorer s wge.

45 1338 MATTHEW 25:17 MATTHEW 26: gs more. 17 So lso, the one with two gs of gold gined two more. 18 But the mn who hd re ceived one g went off, dug hole in the ground nd hid his ms ter s mon ey. 19 Af ter long time the ms ter of those ser vnts re turned nd set tled c counts with them. 20 The mn who hd re ceived five gs of gold rought the oth er five. Ms ter, he sid, you en trust ed me with five gs of gold. See, I hve gined five more. 21 His ms ter re plied, Well done, good nd fith ful ser vnt! You hve een fith ful with few things; I will put you in chrge of mny things. Come nd shre your ms ter s hp pi ness! 22 The mn with two gs of gold lso cme. Ms ter, he sid, you en trust ed me with two gs of gold; see, I hve gined two more. 23 His ms ter re plied, Well done, good nd fith ful ser vnt! You hve een fith ful with few things; I will put you in chrge of mny things. Come nd shre your ms ter s hp pi ness! 24 Then the mn who hd re ceived one g of gold cme. Ms ter, he sid, I knew tht you re hrd mn, hr vest ing where you hve not sown nd gth er ing where you hve not sct tered seed. 25 So I ws frid nd went out nd hid your gold in the ground. See, here is wht e longs to you. 26 His ms ter re plied, You wick ed, lzy ser vnt! So you knew tht I hr vest where I hve not sown nd gth er where I hve not sct tered seed? 27 Well then, you should hve put my mon ey on de pos it with the nk ers, so tht when I re turned I would hve received it ck with in ter est. 28 So tke the g of gold from him nd give it to the one who hs ten gs. 29 For who ever hs will e giv en more, nd they will hve n un dnce. Who ever does not hve, even wht they hve will e tk en from them. 30 And throw tht worth less ser vnt out side, into the drk ness, where there will e weep ing nd gnsh ing of teeth. The Sheep nd the Gots 31 When the Son of Mn comes in his glory, nd ll the n gels with him, he will sit on his glo ri ous throne. 32 All the n tions will e gth ered e fore him, nd he will sep rte the peo ple one from n oth er s shep herd sep rtes the sheep from the gots. 33 He will put the sheep on his right nd the gots on his left. 34 Then the King will sy to those on his right, Come, you who re lessed y my Fther; tke your in her i tnce, the king dom pre pred for you since the cre tion of the world. 35 For I ws hun gry nd you gve me some thing to et, I ws thirsty nd you gve me some thing to drink, I ws strng er nd you in vit ed me in, 36 I need ed clothes nd you clothed me, I ws sick nd you looked f ter me, I ws in pris on nd you cme to vis it me. 37 Then the righ teous will n swer him, Lord, when did we see you hun gry nd feed you, or thirsty nd give you some thing to drink? 38 When did we see you strng er nd in vite you in, or need ing clothes nd clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in pris on nd go to vis it you? 40 The King will re ply, Tru ly I tell you, wht ev er you did for one of the lest of these roth ers nd sis ters of mine, you did for me. 41 Then he will sy to those on his left, De prt from me, you who re cursed, into the eter nl fire pre pred for the dev il nd his n gels. 42 For I ws hun gry nd you gve me noth ing to et, I ws thirsty nd you gve me noth ing to drink, 43 I ws strng er nd you did not in vite me in, I need ed clothes nd you did not clothe me, I ws sick nd in prison nd you did not look f ter me. 44 They lso will n swer, Lord, when did we see you hun gry or thirsty or strng er or need ing clothes or sick or in pris on, nd did not help you? 45 He will re ply, Tru ly I tell you, wht ev er you did not do for one of the lest of these, you did not do for me. 46 Then they will go wy to eter nl punish ment, ut the righ teous to eter nl life. The Plot Aginst Jesus When Jesus hd fin ished sy ing ll 26 these things, he sid to his dis ciples, 2 As you know, the Pss over is two dys wy nd the Son of Mn will e hnd ed over to e cru ci fied. 3 Then the chief priests nd the el ders of the peo ple s sem led in the pl ce of the high priest, whose nme ws C i phs, 4 nd they schemed to r rest Jesus se cret ly nd kill him. 5 But not dur ing the fes ti vl, they sid, or there my e riot mong the peo ple.

46 1339 MATTHEW 26:6 MATTHEW 26: Jesus Anointed t Bethny 6 While Jesus ws in Beth ny in the home of Si mon the Lep er, 7 wom n cme to him with n l s ter jr of very ex pen sive perfume, which she poured on his hed s he ws re clin ing t the t le. 8 When the dis ci ples sw this, they were in dig nnt. Why this wste? they sked. 9 This per fume could hve een sold t high price nd the mon ey giv en to the poor. 10 Awre of this, Jesus sid to them, Why re you oth er ing this wom n? She hs done eu ti ful thing to me. 11 The poor you will l wys hve with you, ut you will not lwys hve me. 12 When she poured this perfume on my ody, she did it to pre pre me for uri l. 13 Tru ly I tell you, wher ev er this gos pel is preched through out the world, wht she hs done will lso e told, in memo ry of her. Juds Agrees to Betry Jesus 14 Then one of the Twelve the one clled Ju ds Is cr i ot went to the chief priests 15 nd sked, Wht re you will ing to give me if I de liv er him over to you? So they count ed out for him thir ty piec es of sil ver. 16 From then on Ju ds wtched for n op portu ni ty to hnd him over. trys the Son of Mn! It would e et ter for him if he hd not een orn. 25 Then Ju ds, the one who would e try him, sid, Sure ly you don t men me, Ri? Jesus n swered, You hve sid so. 26 While they were et ing, Jesus took red, nd when he hd giv en thnks, he roke it nd gve it to his dis ci ples, sy ing, Tke nd et; this is my ody. 27 Then he took cup, nd when he hd giv en thnks, he gve it to them, sy ing, Drink from it, ll of you. 28 This is my lood of the cov ennt, which is poured out for mny for the for give ness of sins. 29 I tell you, I will not drink from this fruit of the vine from now on un til tht dy when I drink it new with you in my F ther s king dom. 30 When they hd sung hymn, they went out to the Mount of Ol ives. Jesus Predicts Peter s Denil 31 Then Jesus told them, This very night you will ll fll wy on c count of me, for it is writ ten: I will strike the shepherd, nd the sheep of the flock will e scttered. c 32 But f ter I hve ris en, I will go hed of you into Gl i lee. 33 Pe ter re plied, Even if ll fll wy on c count of you, I nev er will. 34 Tru ly I tell you, Jesus n swered, this very night, e fore the roost er crows, you will dis own me three times. 35 But Pe ter de clred, Even if I hve to die with you, I will nev er dis own you. And ll the oth er dis ci ples sid the sme. Gethsemne 36 Then Jesus went with his dis ci ples to plce clled Geth sem ne, nd he sid to them, Sit here while I go over there nd pry. 37 He took Pe ter nd the two sons of Ze e dee long with him, nd he e gn to e sor row ful nd trou led. 38 Then he sid to them, My soul is over whelmed with sorrow to the point of deth. Sty here nd keep wtch with me. 39 Go ing lit tle fr ther, he fell with his fce to the ground nd pryed, My F ther, if it is The Lst Supper 17 On the first dy of the Fes ti vl of Un levened Bred, the dis ci ples cme to Jesus nd sked, Where do you wnt us to mke prep r tions for you to et the Pss over? 18 He re plied, Go into the city to certin mn nd tell him, The Tech er sys: My p point ed time is ner. I m go ing to cel e- rte the Pss over with my dis ci ples t your house. 19 So the dis ci ples did s Jesus hd di rect ed them nd pre pred the Pss over. 20 When eve ning cme, Jesus ws re clining t the t le with the Twelve. 21 And while they were et ing, he sid, Tru ly I tell you, one of you will e try me. 22 They were very sd nd e gn to sy to him one f ter the oth er, Sure ly you don t men me, Lord? 23 Jesus re plied, The one who hs dipped his hnd into the owl with me will e try me. 24 The Son of Mn will go just s it is written out him. But woe to tht mn who e 11 See Deut. 15: Some mnuscripts the new c 31 Zech. 13:7

47 DEVO 192 MATTHEW 25:34 40 Lesley Miller There Is No Excuse for Turning Awy When I think out Chin, I see gry wether nd tht womn in the suwy exit ner Tinnmen Squre with her fce flt on the cement. She hd young toddler with her. After I collected myself from lmost tripping on them, I looked down on the precious womn living in country with gender preferences. For moment I elieved lie lerned long the wy: Ignore them. Giving ttention only encourges the prolem. So I kept wlking. It wsn t my first experience with poverty, which is why my hert still hurts ll these yers lter. I should hve known etter. I grew up in eutiful smll town in southern Cliforni where the homeless weren t welcome on neighorhood streets. It ws wonderful plce to grow up, ut I ws sheltered from relity. I moved to Snt Women living on the Brr nother eutiful smll town for college. There the street still mke me very homeless lined Stte Street looking for dontions. I knew the Bile uncomfortle. And I ve sys to cre for the hungry, ut I couldn t help everyone in need. relized tht s exctly Plus, I ws worried tht helping these strngers would jeoprdize how I should feel. my own sfety. Do I smile nd sy God less you? Do I throw qurter to everyone I pss? Do I uy one person hmurger? Or do I void eye contct ltogether? Depending on the dy (nd whether my wllet ws full), I threw uck here nd dime there nd tried not to think out it too much. I cn t exctly rememer wht chllenged me to think out women nd poverty differently, ut few yers fter returning from Chin I discovered these words: There is no excuse for ignoring women nd children with n evident need for food or shelter. The words were not novel, yet their luntness convicted me of truth I d ignored. Jesus sys to tke cre of those in need. And mny sisters in Christ need our help. As womn, I ve een schooled on how to engge with the homeless. Don t put your own sfety t risk. Try not to encourge the prolem. Never enle n ddiction. While helpful, I worry tht our fers my outweigh our clls to mercy

48 When I think ck to tht muggy dy in Chin with mm trying so despertely to provide for her child, I relize tht I ws following humn rules insted of looking t humn fces. Beutiful women creted y Fther who loves them just s much s he loves me. Tht dy would e the lst time I kept wlking. While I still cn t finncilly help every person I come cross, my eyes re now open wide to the vulnerle women nd children on our streets. I pry for the right words to sy, nd I never turn my eyes in the other direction. We keep wter nd sncks in our cr to offer. I stop nd sk how I cn help get them shelter for the night. I m lerning how to sfely discern if they re eing trfficked or living in dnger, nd who to cll for help. I m not usully their solution, ut I try to e ridge to get them to sfer plce. Women living on the street still mke me very uncomfortle. And I ve relized tht s exctly how I should feel. Wht s rule you ve een tught out poverty tht ws mde up y humns, not y God? Tht your hert will e softened towrd people in your own community nd round the world who need food, wter, clothes or shelter Tht your hnds will e willing to serve Tht you will hve deep discernment to determine when someone in need requires your help or when the sitution my e unsfe nd whom you cn contct to step in For the next devotion, go to pge For the next myth, go to pge 1360.