Daily Gospel Plan

¹It happened that while Jesus was praying in a certain place, after He finished, one of His disciples said to Him, "Lord, teach us to pray just as John also taught his disciples."

²He said to them, "When you pray, say: ' Father, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come.

³'Give us each day our daily bread.

⁴'And forgive us our sins, For we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us [who has offended or wronged us]. And lead us not into temptation [ but rescue us from evil].'"

⁵Then He said to them, "Suppose one of you has a friend, and goes to him at midnight and says, 'Friend, lend me three loaves [of bread];

⁶for a friend of mine who is on a journey has just come to visit me, and I have nothing to serve him';

⁷and from inside he answers, 'Do not bother me; the door has already been shut and my children and I are in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything.'

⁸I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything just because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence and boldness he will get up and give him whatever he needs.

⁹"So I say to you, ask and keep on asking, and it will be given to you; seek and keep on seeking, and you will find; knock and keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you.

¹⁰For everyone who keeps on asking [persistently], receives; and he who keeps on seeking [persistently], finds; and to him who keeps on knocking [persistently], the door will be opened.

¹¹What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead of a fish?

¹²Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion?

¹³If you, then, being evil [that is, sinful by nature], know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask and continue to ask Him!"

¹⁴And [at another time] Jesus was casting out a demon, and it was [controlling a man so as to make him] mute; when the demon had gone out, the mute man spoke. And the crowds were awed.

¹⁵But some of them said, "He drives out demons by [the power of] Beelzebul (Satan), the ruler of the demons."

¹⁶Others, trying to test Him, were demanding of Him a sign from heaven.

¹⁷But He, well aware of their thoughts and purpose, said to them, "Every kingdom divided against itself is doomed to destruction; and a house divided against itself falls.

¹⁸If Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand and continue to survive? For you are saying that I drive out demons by [the power of] Beelzebul.

¹⁹Now if I drive out the demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons [the Jewish exorcists] drive them out? For this reason they will be your judges.

²⁰But if I drive out the demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has already come upon you.

²¹When the strong man, fully armed, guards his own house, his belongings are undisturbed and secure.

²²But when someone stronger than he attacks and overpowers him, he robs him of all his armor on which he had relied and divides his [goods as] spoil.

²³He who is not with Me [believing in Me as Lord and Savior] is against Me [there is no impartial position]; and he who does not gather with Me [assisting in My ministry], scatters.

²⁴"When the unclean spirit comes out of a person, it roams through waterless places in search [of a place] of rest; and not finding any, it says, 'I will go back to my house (person) from which I came.'

²⁵And when it comes, it finds the place swept and put in order.

²⁶Then it goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they go in [the person] and live there; and the last state of that person becomes worse than the first."

²⁷Now while Jesus was saying these things, one of the women in the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, "Blessed (happy, favored by God) is the womb that gave birth to You and the breasts at which You nursed!"

²⁸But He said, "On the contrary, blessed (happy, favored by God) are those who hear the word of God and continually observe it."

²⁹Now as the crowds were increasing [in number], He began to say, "This [present] generation is a wicked generation; it seeks a sign (attesting miracle), but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah [the prophet].

³⁰For just as Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh, so will the Son of Man also be [a sign] to this generation.

³¹The Queen of the South (the kingdom of Sheba) will rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them, because she came from the ends of the earth to listen to the wisdom of Solomon, and look, something greater than Solomon is here.

³²The men of Nineveh will stand up [as witnesses] at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and look, something greater than Jonah is here.

³³"No one lights a lamp and then puts it in a cellar nor under a basket [hiding the light], but [instead it is put] on the lampstand, so that those who come in may see the light.

³⁴The eye is the lamp of your body. When your eye is clear [spiritually perceptive, focused on God], your whole body also is full of light [benefiting from God's precepts]. But when it is bad [spiritually blind], your body also is full of darkness [devoid of God's word].

³⁵Be careful, therefore, that the light that is in you is not darkness.

³⁶So if your whole body is illuminated, with no dark part, it will be entirely bright [with light], as when the lamp gives you light with its bright rays."

³⁷Now after Jesus had spoken, a Pharisee asked Him to have lunch with him. He went in [the Pharisee's home] and reclined at the table [without ceremonially washing His hands].

³⁸The Pharisee noticed this and was surprised that Jesus did not first ceremonially wash before the meal.

³⁹But the Lord said to him, "Now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and plate [as required by tradition]; but inside you are full of greed and wickedness.

⁴⁰You foolish ones [acting without reflection or intelligence]! Did not He who made the outside make the inside also?

⁴¹But give that which is within as charity [that is, acts of mercy and compassion, not as a public display, but as an expression of your faithfulness to God], and then indeed all things are clean for you.

⁴²"But woe (judgment is coming) to you Pharisees, because you [self-righteously] tithe mint and rue and every [little] garden herb [tending to all the minutiae], and yet disregard and neglect justice and the love of God; but these are the things you should have done, without neglecting the others.

⁴³Woe to you Pharisees, because you love the best seats in the synagogues and to be respectfully greeted in the market places.

⁴⁴Woe to you! For you are like graves which are unmarked, and people walk over them without being aware of it [and are ceremonially unclean]."

⁴⁵One of the lawyers [an expert in the Mosaic Law] answered Him, "Teacher, by saying this, You insult us too!"

⁴⁶But He said, "Woe to you lawyers as well, because you weigh men down with burdens [man-made rules, unreasonable requirements] which are hard to bear, and you yourselves will not even touch the burdens with one of your fingers [to lighten the load].

⁴⁷Woe to you! For you repair or build tombs for the prophets, and it was your fathers who killed them.

⁴⁸So you are witnesses and approve the deeds of your fathers, because they [actually] killed them, and you repair or build their tombs.

⁴⁹For this reason also the wisdom of God said [in the Scriptures], 'I will send them prophets and apostles, some of whom they will put to death and some they will persecute,

⁵⁰so that charges may be brought against this generation [holding them responsible] for the blood of all the prophets shed since the foundation of the world,

⁵¹from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah [the priest], who was murdered between the altar and the house of God. Yes, I tell you, charges will be brought against this generation.'

⁵²Woe to you lawyers, because you have taken away the key to knowledge (scriptural truth). You yourselves did not enter, and you held back those who were entering [by your flawed interpretation of God's word and your man-made tradition]."

⁵³When He left there, the scribes and the Pharisees began to be very hostile [toward Him] and to interrogate Him on many subjects,

⁵⁴plotting against Him to catch Him in something He might say.

¹In the meantime, after so many thousands of the people had gathered that they were stepping on one another, Jesus began speaking first of all to His disciples, "Be continually on your guard against the leaven of the Pharisees [that is, their pervasive, corrupting influence and teaching], which is hypocrisy [producing self-righteousness].

²But there is nothing [so carefully] concealed that it will not be revealed, nor so hidden that it will not be made known.

³For that reason, whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered behind closed doors will be proclaimed on the housetops.

⁴"I say to you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that have nothing more that they can do.

⁵But I will point out to you whom you should fear: fear the One who, after He has killed, has authority and power to hurl [you] into hell; yes, I say to you, [stand in great awe of God and] fear Him!

⁶Are not five sparrows sold for two copper coins? Yet not one of them has [ever] been forgotten in the presence of God.

⁷Indeed the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not be afraid; you are far more valuable than many sparrows.

⁸"I say to you, whoever declares openly and confesses Me before men [speaking freely of Me as his Lord], the Son of Man also will declare openly and confess him [as one of His own] before the angels of God.

⁹But he who denies Me before men will be denied in the presence of the angels of God.

¹⁰And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit [that is, whoever intentionally discredits the Holy Spirit by attributing the authenticating miracles done by Me to Satan], it will not be forgiven him [for him there is no forgiveness].

¹¹When they bring you before the synagogues and the magistrates and the authorities, do not be worried about how you are to defend yourselves or what you are to say;

¹²for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say."

¹³Someone from the crowd said to Him, "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me."

¹⁴But He said to him, "Man, who appointed Me a judge or an arbitrator over [the two of] you?"

¹⁵Then He said to them, "Watch out and guard yourselves against every form of greed; for not even when one has an overflowing abundance does his life consist of nor is it derived from his possessions."

¹⁶Then He told them a parable, saying, "There was a rich man whose land was very fertile and productive.

¹⁷And he began thinking to himself, 'What shall I do, since I have no place [large enough in which] to store my crops?'

¹⁸Then he said, 'This is what I will do: I will tear down my storehouses and build larger ones, and I will store all my grain and my goods there.

¹⁹And I will say to my soul, "Soul, you have many good things stored up, [enough] for many years; rest and relax, eat, drink and be merry (celebrate continually)."'

²⁰But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own all the things you have prepared?'

²¹So it is for the one who continues to store up and hoard possessions for himself, and is not rich [in his relationship] toward God."

²²Jesus said to His disciples, "For this reason I tell you, do not worry about your life, as to what you will eat; or about your body, as to what you will wear.

²³For life is more than food, and the body more than clothes.

²⁴Consider the ravens, for they neither sow [seed] nor reap [the crop]; they have no storehouse or barn, and yet God feeds them. How much more valuable are you than the birds!

²⁵And which of you by worrying can add one hour to his life's span?

²⁶So if you are not even able to do a very little thing [such as that], why are you worried about the rest?

²⁷Consider the lilies and wildflowers, how they grow [in the open field]. They neither labor nor spin [wool to make clothing]; yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his glory and splendor dressed himself like one of these.

²⁸But if this is how God clothes the grass which is in the field today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, how much more will He clothe you? You of little faith!

²⁹So as for you, do not seek what you will eat and what you will drink; nor have an anxious and unsettled mind.

³⁰For all the [pagan] nations of the world greedily seek these things; and your [heavenly] Father [already] knows that you need them.

³¹But [strive for and actively] seek His kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.

³²Do not be afraid and anxious, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

³³"Sell your possessions (show compassion) and give [donations] to the poor. Provide money belts for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing and inexhaustible treasure in the heavens, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys.

³⁴For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

³⁵"Be dressed and ready for active service, and keep your lamps continuously burning.

³⁶Be like men who are waiting for their master when he returns from the wedding feast, so that when he comes and knocks they may immediately open the door for him.

³⁷Blessed (happy, prosperous, to be admired) are those servants whom the master finds awake and watching when he arrives. I assure you and most solemnly say to you, he will prepare himself to serve, and will have them recline at the table, and will come and wait on them.

³⁸Whether he comes in the second watch (before midnight), or even in the third (after midnight), and finds them so [prepared and ready], blessed are those servants.

³⁹"But be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what time the thief was coming, he [would have been awake and alert, and] would not have allowed his house to be broken into.

⁴⁰You too, be continually ready; because the Son of Man is coming at an hour that you do not expect."

⁴¹Peter said, "Lord, are You addressing this parable to us [disciples], or to everyone else as well?"

⁴²The Lord said, "Who then is the faithful and wise steward [of the estate], whom his master will put in charge over his household, to give his servants their portion of food at the proper time?

⁴³Blessed (happy, prosperous, to be admired) is that servant whom his master finds so doing when he arrives.

⁴⁴I assure you and most solemnly say to you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions.

⁴⁵But if that servant says in his heart, 'My master is taking his time in coming,' and begins to beat the servants, both men and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk,

⁴⁶the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know, and will cut him in pieces, and assign him a place with the unbelievers.

⁴⁷And that servant who knew his master's will, and yet did not get ready or act in accord with his will, will be beaten with many lashes [of the whip],

⁴⁸but the one who did not know it and did things worthy of a beating, will receive only a few [lashes]. From everyone to whom much has been given, much will be required; and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will ask all the more.

⁴⁹"I have come to cast fire (judgment) on the earth; and how I wish that it were already kindled!

⁵⁰I have a baptism [of great suffering] with which to be baptized, and how [greatly] I am distressed until it is accomplished!

⁵¹Do you suppose that I came to grant peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division [between believers and unbelievers];

⁵²for from now on five in one household will be divided [over Me], three against two and two against three.

⁵³They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law."

⁵⁴He also said to the crowds, "When you see a cloud rising in the west, you immediately say, 'It is going to rain,' and that is how it turns out.

⁵⁵And when [you see that] a south wind is blowing, you say, 'It will be a hot day,' and it happens.

⁵⁶You hypocrites (play-actors, pretenders)! You know how to analyze and intelligently interpret the appearance of the earth and sky [to forecast the weather], but why do you not intelligently interpret this present time?

⁵⁷"And why do you not even on your own initiative judge what is right?

⁵⁸For while you are going with your opponent [at law] to appear before a magistrate, on the way make an effort to settle, so that he does not drag you before the judge, and the judge does not [rule against you and] turn you over to the officer, and the officer does not throw you into prison.

⁵⁹I say to you, you [absolutely] will not get out of there until you have paid the very last cent."