Luke 18:1–23

God Will Answer His People

18Then Jesus used this story to teach his followers that they should always pray and never lose hope. ²“In a certain town there was a judge who did not respect God or care about people. ³In that same town there was a widow who kept coming to this judge, saying, ‘Give me my rights against my enemy.’ ⁴For a while the judge refused to help her. But afterwards, he thought to himself, ‘Even though I don’t respect God or care about people, ⁵I will see that she gets her rights. Otherwise she will continue to bother me until I am worn out.’ ”

⁶The Lord said, “Listen to what the unfair judge said. ⁷God will always give what is right to his people who cry to him night and day, and he will not be slow to answer them. ⁸I tell you, God will help his people quickly. But when the Son of Man comes again, will he find those on earth who believe in him?”

Being Right with God

⁹Jesus told this story to some people who thought they were very good and looked down on everyone else: ¹⁰“A Pharisee and a tax collector both went to the Temple to pray. ¹¹The Pharisee stood alone and prayed, ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people who steal, cheat, or take part in adultery, or even like this tax collector. ¹²I fast ⁿ twice a week, and I give one-tenth of everything I get!’

¹³“The tax collector, standing at a distance, would not even look up to heaven. But he beat on his chest because he was so sad. He said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ ¹⁴I tell you, when this man went home, he was right with God, but the Pharisee was not. All who make themselves great will be made humble, but all who make themselves humble will be made great.”

Who Will Enter God’s Kingdom?

¹⁵Some people brought even their babies to Jesus so he could touch them. When the followers saw this, they told them to stop. ¹⁶But Jesus called for the children, saying, “Let the little children come to me. Don’t stop them, because the kingdom of God belongs to people who are like these children. ¹⁷I tell you the truth, you must accept the kingdom of God as if you were a child, or you will never enter it.”

A Rich Man’s Question

¹⁸A certain leader asked Jesus, “Good Teacher, what must I do to have life forever?”

¹⁹Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? Only God is good. ²⁰You know the commands: ‘You must not be guilty of adultery. You must not murder anyone. You must not steal. You must not tell lies about your neighbor. Honor your father and mother.’ ” ⁿ

²¹But the leader said, “I have obeyed all these commands since I was a boy.”

²²When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “There is still one more thing you need to do. Sell everything you have and give it to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come and follow me.” ²³But when the man heard this, he became very sad, because he was very rich.