Luke 9:51–19:48

A Samaritan Village Refuses to Receive Jesus

⁵¹As the time drew near when Jesus would be taken up to heaven, he made up his mind and set out on his way to Jerusalem. ⁵²He sent messengers ahead of him, who went into a village in Samaria to get everything ready for him. ⁵³But the people there would not receive him, because it was clear that he was on his way to Jerusalem. ^54*When the disciples James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?”^{j 55}Jesus turned and rebuked them.^{k 56}Then Jesus and his disciples went on to another village.

The Would-be Followers of Jesus

⁵⁷As they went on their way, a man said to Jesus, “I will follow you wherever you go.”

⁵⁸Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lie down and rest.”

⁵⁹He said to another man, “Follow me.”

But that man said, “Sir, first let me go back and bury my father.”

⁶⁰Jesus answered, “Let the dead bury their own dead. You go and proclaim the Kingdom of God.”

^61*Someone else said, “I will follow you, sir; but first let me go and say goodbye to my family.”

⁶²Jesus said to him, “Anyone who starts to plough and then keeps looking back is of no use to the Kingdom of God.”

Jesus Sends Out the Seventy-two

10After this the Lord chose another 72^l men and sent them out two by two, to go ahead of him to every town and place where he himself was about to go. ^2*He said to them, “There is a large harvest, but few workers to gather it in. Pray to the owner of the harvest that he will send out workers to gather in his harvest. ^3*Go! I am sending you like lambs among wolves. ^4*Don’t take a purse or a beggar’s bag or shoes; don’t stop to greet anyone on the road. ^5*Whenever you go into a house, first say, ‘Peace be with this house.’ ^6*If a peace-loving person lives there, let your greeting of peace remain on him; if not, take back your greeting of peace. ^7*Stay in that same house, eating and drinking whatever they offer you, for workers should be given their pay. Don’t move round from one house to another. ^8*Whenever you go into a town and are made welcome, eat what is set before you, ^9*heal the sick in that town, and say to the people there, ‘The Kingdom of God has come near you.’ ^10*But whenever you go into a town and are not welcomed, go out in the streets and say, ^11*‘Even the dust from your town that sticks to our feet we wipe off against you. But remember that the Kingdom of God has come near you!’ ^12*I assure you that on Judgement Day God will show more mercy to Sodom than to that town!

The Unbelieving Towns

^13*“How terrible it will be for you, Chorazin! How terrible for you too, Bethsaida! If the miracles which were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, the people there would long ago have sat down, put on sackcloth, and sprinkled ashes on themselves, to show that they had turned from their sins! ¹⁴God will show more mercy on Judgement Day to Tyre and Sidon than to you. ^15*And as for you, Capernaum! Did you want to lift yourself up to heaven? You will be thrown down to hell!”

^16*Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever listens to you listens to me; whoever rejects you rejects me; and whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me.”

The Return of the Seventy-two

¹⁷The 72^m men came back in great joy. “Lord,” they said, “even the demons obeyed us when we gave them a command in your name!”

¹⁸Jesus answered them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. ^19*Listen! I have given you authority, so that you can walk on snakes and scorpions and overcome all the power of the Enemy, and nothing will hurt you. ²⁰But don’t be glad because the evil spirits obey you; rather be glad because your names are written in heaven.”

Jesus Rejoices

²¹At that time Jesus was filled with joy by the Holy Spiritⁿ and said, “Father, Lord of heaven and earth! I thank you because you have shown to the unlearned what you have hidden from the wise and learned. Yes, Father, this was how you wanted it to happen.

^22*“My Father has given me all things. No one knows who the Son is except the Father, and no one knows who the Father is except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”

²³Then Jesus turned to the disciples and said to them privately, “How fortunate you are to see the things you see! ²⁴I tell you that many prophets and kings wanted to see what you see, but they could not, and to hear what you hear, but they did not.”

The Parable of the Good Samaritan

^25*A teacher of the Law came up and tried to trap Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to receive eternal life?”

^26*Jesus answered him, “What do the Scriptures say? How do you interpret them?”

^27*The man answered, “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind’; and ‘Love your neighbour as you love yourself.’ ”

^28*“You are right,” Jesus replied; “do this and you will live.”

²⁹But the teacher of the Law wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “Who is my neighbour?”

³⁰Jesus answered, “There was once a man who was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho when robbers attacked him, stripped him, and beat him up, leaving him half dead. ³¹It so happened that a priest was going down that road; but when he saw the man, he walked on by, on the other side. ³²In the same way a Levite also came along, went over and looked at the man, and then walked on by, on the other side. ^33*But a Samaritan who was travelling that way came upon the man, and when he saw him, his heart was filled with pity. ^34*He went over to him, poured oil and wine on his wounds and bandaged them; then he put the man on his own animal and took him to an inn, where he took care of him. ³⁵The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Take care of him,’ he told the innkeeper, ‘and when I come back this way, I will pay you whatever else you spend on him.’ ”

³⁶And Jesus concluded, “In your opinion, which one of these three acted like a neighbour towards the man attacked by the robbers?”

³⁷The teacher of the Law answered, “The one who was kind to him.”

Jesus replied, “You go, then, and do the same.”

Jesus Visits Martha and Mary

^38*As Jesus and his disciples went on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha welcomed him in her home. ^39*She had a sister named Mary, who sat down at the feet of the Lord and listened to his teaching. ⁴⁰Martha was upset over all the work she had to do, so she came and said, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her to come and help me!”

⁴¹The Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha! You are worried and troubled over so many things, ⁴²but just one is needed. Mary has chosen the right thing, and it will not be taken away from her.”

Jesus’ Teaching on Prayer

11One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”

²Jesus said to them, “When you pray, say this:

‘Father:

May your holy name be honoured;

may your Kingdom come.

³Give us day by day the food we need.^o

⁴Forgive us our sins,

for we forgive everyone who does us wrong.

And do not bring us to hard testing.’ ”

⁵And Jesus said to his disciples, “Suppose one of you should go to a friend’s house at midnight and say, ‘Friend, let me borrow three loaves of bread. ⁶A friend of mine who is on a journey has just come to my house, and I haven’t got any food for him!’ ⁷And suppose your friend should answer from inside, ‘Don’t bother me! The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’ ⁸Well, what then? I tell you that even if he will not get up and give you the bread because you are his friend, yet he will get up and give you everything you need because you are not ashamed to keep on asking.

⁹“And so I say to you: ask, and you will receive; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you. ¹⁰For all those who ask will receive, and those who seek will find, and the door will be opened to anyone who knocks. ¹¹Would any of you who are fathers give your son a snake when he asks for fish? ¹²Or would you give him a scorpion when he asks for an egg? ¹³Bad as you are, you know how to give good things to your children. How much more, then, will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

Jesus and Beelzebul

¹⁴Jesus was driving out a demon that could not talk; and when the demon went out, the man began to talk. The crowds were amazed, ^15*but some of the people said, “It is Beelzebul, the chief of the demons, who gives him the power to drive them out.”

^16*Others wanted to trap Jesus, so they asked him to perform a miracle to show that God approved of him. ¹⁷But Jesus knew what they were thinking, so he said to them, “Any country that divides itself into groups which fight each other will not last very long; a family divided against itself falls apart. ¹⁸So if Satan’s kingdom has groups fighting each other, how can it last? You say that I drive out demons because Beelzebul gives me the power to do so. ¹⁹If this is how I drive them out, how do your followers drive them out? Your own followers prove that you are wrong! ²⁰No, it is rather by means of God’s power that I drive out demons, and this proves that the Kingdom of God has already come to you.

²¹“When a strong man, with all his weapons ready, guards his own house, all his belongings are safe. ²²But when a stronger man attacks him and defeats him, he carries away all the weapons the owner was depending on and divides up what he stole.

^23*“Anyone who is not for me is really against me; anyone who does not help me gather is really scattering.

The Return of the Evil Spirit

²⁴“When an evil spirit goes out of a person, it travels over dry country looking for a place to rest. If it can’t find one, it says to itself, ‘I will go back to my house.’ ²⁵So it goes back and finds the…