Ministry Commons

¹IT came to pass on the sabbath, as Jesus walked through the wheat fields, his disciples plucked heads of wheat, and rubbed them in their hands and ate. ²But some of the men of the Pharisees said to them, Why are you doing what is unlawful to do on the sabbath? ³Jesus answered, saying to them, Have you not read what David did when he and those who were with him were hungry? ⁴He entered into the house of God, and took the bread that was on the table of the Lord and ate it, and he gave it to those who were with him, that which was unlawful to eat but only for the priests. ⁵And he said to them, The Son of man is Lord of the sabbath. ⁶And it came to pass on another sabbath he entered into the synagogue and taught; and a man was there whose right hand was withered. ⁷And the scribes and the Pharisees watched him to see if he would heal on the sabbath, so that they might find an accusation against him. ⁸But he knew their thoughts, and said to the man whose hand was withered, Rise up and come to the middle of the synagogue. And when he came and stood up, ⁹Jesus said to them, I will ask you, What is lawful to do on the sabbath, that which is good or that which is bad? To save a life or to destroy it? ¹⁰And he looked at all of them, and said to him, Stretch out your hand. And he stretched it out; and his hand was restored like the other. ¹¹But they were filled with bitterness, and discussed with each other what to do with Jesus.

¹²It came to pass in those days Jesus went out to a mountain to pray, and he remained all night in prayer to God. ¹³And at daybreak he called his disciples; and he chose 12 from them, whom he called apostles: ¹⁴Simon who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, and Jacob and John, and Philip and Bartholomew, ¹⁵And Matthew and Thomas, and Jacob the son of Alphaeus and Simon who is called the Zealot, ¹⁶And Judas the son of Jacob, and Judah of Iscariot, who became the traitor. ¹⁷And Jesus went down with them and stood up in the plain; and a large group of his disciples and a large crowd of people from all over Judea and from Jerusalem and from the sea coast of Tyre and Sidon came to hear his word and to be healed of their diseases; ¹⁸And those who were suffering from unclean spirits were healed. ¹⁹And all the people wanted to touch him, because power proceeded from him, and he healed them all.

²⁰And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples and said, Blessed are you poor, for the kingdom of God is yours. ²¹Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be filled. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. ²²Blessed are you when men hate you and discriminate against you and disgrace you and publish your names as bad, for the sake of the Son of man. ²³Be glad and rejoice in that day, for your reward is increased in heaven; for their fathers did the same to the prophets. ²⁴But woe to you, rich men. For you have already received your comforts. ²⁵Woe to you who are full. For you will hunger. Woe to you who laugh now. For you will weep and mourn. ²⁶Woe to you when men speak well of you. For so did their fathers to the false prophets.

²⁷But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies and do good to those who hate you, ²⁸And bless those who curse you, and pray for those who compel you to carry burdens. ²⁹And to him who strikes you on the cheek, offer to him the other; and to him who takes away your robe, do not refuse your shirt also. ³⁰Give to everyone who asks you; and from him who takes away what is yours, do not demand it back again. ³¹Just as you want men to do to you, do likewise to them. ³²For if you love those who love you, what is your blessing? For even sinners love those who love them. ³³And if you do good only to those who do good to you, what is your blessing? For sinners also do the same. ³⁴And if you lend only to him from whom you expect to be paid back, what is your blessing? For sinners also lend to sinners, to be paid back likewise. ³⁵But love your enemies and do good to them, and lend and do not cut off any man's hope; so your reward will increase and you will become sons of the Highest; for he is gracious to the wicked and the cruel. ³⁶Be merciful therefore, as your Father is also merciful.

³⁷Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven. ³⁸Give, and it will be given to you; good measure shaken down and running over they will pour into your robe. For with the measure that you measure, it will be measured to you. ³⁹And he told them a parable, Can a blind man guide a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit? ⁴⁰There is no disciple who is more important than his teacher; for every man who is well developed will be like his teacher. ⁴¹Why do you see the splinter in your brother's eye, and do not see the beam in your own eye? ⁴²Or how can you say to your brother, My brother, let me take out the splinter from your eye, when look, you do not see the beam in your own eye? Oh hypocrites, first take out the beam from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take out the splinter from your brother's eye.

⁴³There is no good tree that bears bad fruit, nor a bad tree that bears good fruit. ⁴⁴For every tree is known by its own fruit. For they do not pick figs from thistles nor gather grapes from a bramble bush. ⁴⁵A good man brings out good things from the good treasure of his heart; and a bad man from the bad treasure of his heart brings out bad things; for from the abundance of the heart the lips speak. ⁴⁶Why do you call me, My Lord, my Lord, and do not do what I say? ⁴⁷Every man who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like. ⁴⁸He is like a man who built a house and dug deep, and laid its foundations on the rock; and when the flood came, it beat on that house and could not shake it; for its foundation was laid on a rock. ⁴⁹And he who hears and does not do is like a man who built his house on the earth without a foundation; and when the river beat against it, it fell immediately, and the fall of that house was great.