Prayer and persistence
1 Now it happened that he was in a certain place praying. And when he stopped, one of his disciples said to him, “Master, teach us how to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”
2 “Whenever you pray, say something like this,” Jesus answered. “ ‘Father, may your name be considered sacred, and may your kingdom come! 3 Give us the bread we need each day, 4 and pardon our sins just as we pardon the sins committed against us. Please don’t bring us to trial.’ ”
5 Then Jesus continued: “Which of you would go to see a friend at midnight and say, ‘Friend, I need three loaves of bread, 6 because a travelling friend of mine has arrived and I have nothing to feed him’? 7 Then the one inside will respond, ‘Don’t bother me! The door is locked and my children are here in bed with me. I’m not getting up to give you anything!’ 8 I tell you, though, that while he won’t get up because the person is his friend, he will get up anyway and give him what he needs, because of his sheer audacity!
9 “So I tell you: Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you. 10 For the one who asks is the one who receives, the one who seeks is the one who finds, and the one who knocks is the one to whom the door is opened. 11 What parent among you would give your child a serpent if they ask for a fish? 12 Or who would give your child a scorpion if they asked for an egg? 13 So if you, evil though you are, will give good gifts to your children, then how much more will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?”
Jesus is accused of using the power of Beelzeboul
14 Now Jesus was throwing out a demon, the kind that makes a person unable to speak. But when it came out, the person began to speak, and the crowd was amazed. 15 Yet some of them said, “It’s only by the power of Beelzeboul, the ruler of demons, that he throws them out!” 16 Others wanted to harass him by demanding a sign from heaven.
17 But Jesus knew what they were thinking about and said to them, “Every kingdom that is divided against itself is destroying itself; a house against itself is collapsing. 18 So if Satan is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand, since you say that I throw out demons by the power of Beelzeboul? 19 And if that’s true, then by what power do your own people drive them out? Therefore, they will be your judges! 20 But if I’m throwing them out by the power of God, then the kingdom of God has surely come upon you.
21 “As long as a strong person is fully armed and guards their property, their possessions are safe. 22 But if a stronger person comes along to conquer them, they take away the protections that had been counted on and hand out the loot. 23 The one who is not with me is against me, and the one who does not gather with me is scattering.
24 “If an unclean spirit leaves a person, it goes through very dry areas looking for rest but doesn’t find it. Then it says, ‘I will go back to the house I left’. 25 And when it finds the person swept clean and set in order, 26 it goes off to get seven other spirits more evil than itself to live there. So the person is much worse off at the end than the beginning.”
27 Now at this point a woman shouted out from the crowd, “Blessed is the womb that carried you and the breasts that nursed you!” 28 And he replied, “Yes, but even more blessed is the one who hears the Word of God and protects it!”
The sign of Jonah
29 Now the crowd was packed, and he began to speak to them: “This generation is evil! It looks for a sign, but none will be given except that of Jonah. 30 Just as Jonah was a sign to the people of Nineva, so also the Human will be a sign to this generation. 31 The Queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and now someone more important than Solomon is here. 32 The Ninevites will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they changed their minds based on what Jonah proclaimed, and now someone more important than Jonah is here.
The lamp and the eye
33 “No one lights a small lamp and then conceals it or puts it under a container; instead, they place it on a lampstand to provide light so people can see. 34 Your eye is the light of your body. And if your eye is innocent your whole body is illuminated, but if your eye is evil, your whole body is dark. 35 So be sure that the light within you is not darkness. 36 If your whole body is luminous and no part of it is in darkness, then it is completely light, as when a lamp shines on you.”
Woes to Pharisees
37 Now after he spoke, a Pharisee asked Jesus to have lunch with him. So he went and reclined at the table, 38 but the Pharisee was surprised to see that Jesus did not perform ritual cleansing before the meal. 39 So the Master said to him, “You Pharisees wash the outside of the cup and plate, but on the inside you are crammed full with greed and evil. 40 Dimwits! Didn’t the One who made the outside also make the inside? 41 But should you give charitably from within, then you will be clean everywhere.
42 “But woe to you, you Pharisees! You collect a tenth of your mint, rue, and every vegetable, but you abandon righteousness and the love of God. You should do both! 43 And woe to you, you Pharisees! You love the best seat in the synagogue and to be greeted in the marketplaces. 44 Woe to you, because you are like unmarked graves that people walk on unawares!”
45 Now one of the lawyers responded by saying to him, “Teacher, these things you’re saying are insulting us too!” 46 But he replied, “And to you lawyers, woe! You put unbearable loads on people yet won’t lift a finger to help them. 47 Woe to you, because you build tombs for the prophets, though it was your ancestors who killed them! 48 So then, you admit that you consented to the actions of your ancestors, since you built the tombs for the ones they killed. 49 This is the reason God wisely said, ‘I will send them prophets and ambassadors, but they will kill some and persecute others!’
50 “So the blood of all the prophets that has been spilled from the beginning of the world will be demanded of this generation: 51 from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zacharias, who was murdered between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, it will be demanded of this generation! 52 Woe to you lawyers, because you stole the key of knowledge. You yourselves will not enter, and you make sure no one else does, either!”
53 After Jesus left, the scribes and Pharisees began to put intense pressure on him. They fired many questions at him, 54 trying to ambush him with something he might say.