The Parable of the Persistent Widow
Luke 18Then Jesus told them a parable about the need to always pray and not give up. He said, “In a certain town, there was a judge who didn’t fear God and didn’t respect humans. There was a widow in that town, who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary!’ For a time, he refused. But after a while, he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or respect humans, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that in the end she won’t beat me down by her persistent coming.’”
Then the Lord said, “Y’all listen to what the unjust judge says. Won’t God bring justice to ʜɪꜱ chosen ones who are crying out to ʜɪᴍ day and night? Will ʜᴇ delay helping them? I tell y’all that ʜᴇ bring justice to them quickly. However, when the Son of Humanity comes, will he find faith on the earth?”
The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector
Jesus also told this parable to people who were convinced of their own righteousness and despised everyone else: “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one was a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed about himself like this: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other humans: extortionists, law breakers, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week, and I give a tenth of all that I get.’
But the tax collector stood far away and wouldn’t even lift up his eyes to heaven. Instead, he beat his chest, saying, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner!’
I tell y’all, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other. For everyone who exalts themself will be humbled, but the one who humbles themself will be exalted.”
Jesus Welcomes the Little Children
People were also bringing their babies to Jesus so that he would touch them. But when the disciples saw this, they chided them. But Jesus invited the children, saying, “Y’all must let the little children to come to me, and y’all must not stop them, for the Empire of God belongs to such as these. Truly, I tell y’all, whoever doesn’t receive the Empire of God like a little child will never enter into it.”
The Peril of Wealth for the Empire
A certain ruler questioned him, saying, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
Jesus responded to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except one, God. You know the commandments: ‘You must not commit adultery,’ ‘You must not murder,’ ‘You must not steal,’ ‘You must not give false testimony,’ ‘You must honor your father and your mother.’”+Exo 20:12-16
He said, “I have kept all of these since my youth.”
When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “Still you lack one thing. Sell everything you have and distribute it to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then you come, follow me.”
But when he heard this, he became very sad, for he was extremely wealthy.
Jesus looked at him and said, “How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the Empire of God! Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Empire of God.”
Those who heard this said, “Then who can be saved?”
But Jesus replied, “What is impossible for humans is possible with God.”
Then Peter said, “Look, we left everything we had and followed you.”
So he said to them, “Truly I tell y’all, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the Empire of God, who will not receive many times more in this age, and eternal life in the age to come.”
Jesus Again Foretells His Death
Then he took the twelve aside and said to them, “Look, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written in the prophets about the Son of Humanity will come to completion. For he will be delivered up to the ethnic groups, and will be mocked, treated shamefully, and spit on. They will flog him and kill him. And on the third day, he will rise again.”
But they understood none of these things. This meaning of this statement was hidden from them, and they didn’t understand what he was saying.
A Blind Beggar Receives His Sight
As Jesus approached Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the road begging. When he heard the crowd passing by, he asked what was happening. They told him, “Jesus the Nazarene is coming through.” Then he cried out, “Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me!” Those who led the way sternly told him to be silent. But he shouted all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”
So Jesus stopped and ordered that the man be brought to him. When he came near, Jesus asked him, “What do you want me to do for you?”
He said, “Lord, I want to see again.”
Jesus said to him, “Receive your sight. Your faith has saved you.”
Immediately he received his sight and followed him, glorifying God. And when all the people saw this, they praised God.