by Sarah Ruden
49 But Iōannēs responded by saying, “Boss, we saw someone expelling demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he’s not following with us.” 50 But Iēsous said to him, “Don’t stop someone like that, as whoever isn’t against you is for you.”
51 Now it happened that as the days before he was to be taken up were attaining their full number, he fixed his intent on traveling to Ierousalēm. 52 And he sent messengers ahead of him, and their journey brought them into a village of the Samaritai to make ready for him. 53 But those people didn’t take him in, because he intended to travel to Ierousalēm.*100 54 When they saw this, his students Iakōbos and Iōannēs asked, “Master, do you want us to call fire to come down from the sky and do away with them?”*101 55 But he turned and took them to task. 56 And they made their way to another village.
57 And as they were traveling on the road, someone said to him, “I’ll follow you wherever you go.” And Iēsous replied to him, 58 “Foxes have dens, and the birds of the sky have shelters, but the son of mankind has no place to lay his head down.” 59 Then he said to someone else, “Follow me!” But he said, “[Master,] let me go back first to bury my father.” 60 But he said to him, “Leave corpses to bury corpses—who belong to them*102—but you come and spread the news of god’s kingdom.” 61 And someone else said to him, “I’ll follow you, master, but first let me say goodbye to those in my home.” 62 But Iēsous said [to him], “No one who puts his hand to the plow and then looks behind him is fit for god’s kingdom.”*103
Chapter 10
1 After this, the master appointed seventy[-two] others and dispatched them two [by two] ahead of him to every town and other locale where he was about to go himself. 2 And he told them, “The crop is a large one, but there aren’t many workers, so beg the crop’s owner to send workers out to harvest it for him. 3 Get going! Look, sending you is like sending lambs out into a pack of wolves. 4 Don’t carry a wallet or a bag or sandals, and don’t greet anyone on the road. 5 Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this house!’ 6 And if anyone there is a son of peace, your peace will settle on him; if not, it will turn back and be realized for you. 7 And stay in that same house and eat and drink what they give you, since a worker deserves his pay. Don’t move around from house to house. 8 Whenever you go into a town and the people take you in as guests, eat what’s put in front of you, 9 and treat the infirm in that town, and tell them, ‘God’s kingdom has come right up to you.’ 10 But if any town you enter doesn’t take you in hospitably, go out into its streets and say, ‘We’re wiping off even the dust of your town that sticks to our feet, as a response to you. 11 Even so, you should know this: god’s kingdom has come right up close to you.’ 12 I tell you that it’s going be easier for Sodoma on that day than for that town.*104
13 “You have it coming, Chorazin, you have it coming, Bēthsaïda! If the acts of power performed in you had been performed in Turos and Sidōn, those people would have changed their way of thinking a long time ago and sat in burlap and ashes.*105 14 Yet at the judgment it will be easier for Turos and Sidōn than for you. 15 And you, Kafarnaoum, you’re not going to be raised up to heaven, are you? No, you’ll go down to hades.
16 “Whoever listens to you listens to me, and whoever rejects you rejects me; and whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me.”
17 Now the seventy[-two] returned with joy, saying, “Master, even the demons submit to us when we say your name!” 18 But he told them, “I was watching as satanas fell from the sky like a bolt of lightning.*106 19 Look, I’ve given you the authority to trample on snakes and scorpions, and authority over all the power of the enemy, and nothing will ever harm you. 20 Still, don’t be glad that the spirits submit to you; be glad instead that your names have been written in the skies.”*107
21 On that same occasion, he delighted [in] the holy life-breath and said, “I give you all the credit, father, lord of the sky and the earth, because you’ve hidden away these things from clever and insightful people, but put them on display to babies. Yes, father, since this is the way that found favor in your eyes.*108 22 Everything’s given over to me by my father, and nobody, unless it’s the father, knows who the son is,*109 and nobody knows who the father is, unless it’s the son—or anyone to whom the son wishes to reveal him.”
23 Then he turned to the students in private and told them, “Those eyes are fortunate that see what you’re seeing. 24 I say to you in fact that many prophets and kings longed to see what you’re seeing, but they didn’t see it, and they longed to hear what you’re hearing, but they didn’t hear it.”
25 But look, a certain expert in the law stood up and put him to the test by saying, “Teacher, what do I need to do before I can inherit a life for all time?” 26 So he said to him, “What’s been written in the law? What do you read there?” 27 He then answered by saying, “ ‘You are to love the lord your god with the whole of your heart and the whole of your life and the whole of your strength and the whole of your mind’; ‘and the one next to you the way you love yourself.’ ”*110 28 So Jesus said to him, “That’s the right answer. Do this, and you’ll live.” 29 But because the man wanted to show that he was in the right, he asked, “So who’s the one next to me?”
30 As a rejoinder, Iēsous said, “A certain man went down from Ierousalēm to Ierichō*111 and stumbled onto some bandits, who stripped him and beat him and went away leaving him half dead. 31 By chance a certain priest was going down on that road, and he saw him but passed by on the other side. 32 In the same way, a Leuitēs also [happened to] come to the place, saw him, and went by on the other side.*112 33 But a certain Samaritēs on a journey*113 came to where he was and, seeing him, was wrenched with pity. 34 And he went up to him and bandaged his wounds, first pouring on olive oil and wine,*114 and put him on his own mount and took him to an inn and took care of him. 35 And the next day he took out two denarii*115 and gave them to the innkeeper and said, ‘Take care of him, and whatever you spend above this, I’ll reimburse you for it when I come back this way.’*116 36 Out of these three, who do you think turned out to be ‘next to’ the man who ran into the bandits?” 37 And he said, “The one who had mercy on him.” And Iēsous said to him, “Even you need to be on your way and do something like that!”
38 While they were traveling, he came to a certain village, and a certain woman named Martha took him in as a guest. 39 And she had a sister called Mariam, who was sitting at the master’s feet and listening to what he was saying. 40 Now Martha was bustling about with the extensive work of hospitality—but then she stood in front of him and said, “Master, don’t you mind that my sister’s left me to do all this work alone? Then tell her to come help me!”*117 41 But the master answered by telling her, “Martha, Martha, you’re worried and agitated over so many things, 42 but only one’s necessary. Mariam, you see, has chosen the excellent part of all this, and it’s not going to be taken away from her.”
Chapter 11
1 And it happened that Iēsous was in a certain place praying. Once he finished, one of his students said to him, “Master, teach us how to pray, the way John taught his students.” 2 And he said to them, “When you pray, say,
‘Father, let your name be spoken in holiness. Let your kingdom arrive.
3 Give us day by day tomorrow’s loaf of bread,
4 And set us free from our offenses,
Since we ourselves have set free everyone bound to us likewise.
And do not bring us into the ordeal.’ ”*118
5 Then Iēsous said to them, “Let’s say one of you has a friend and comes to him in the middle of the night and says to him, ‘My friend, lend me three loaves, 6 since a friend of mine has dropped in on me after a journey, and I don’t have anything to put on the table for him.’ 7 So the other answers from inside by saying, ‘Don’t bother me! My door’s locked already, and my children are in bed with me. I can’t get up and give you anything.’ 8
I tell you, even though he won’t get up and give him anything because he’s friends with him, because of the sheer shamelessness of the man outside, the man inside will get up and give him everything he needs. 9 So I’m telling you, ask, and it will be given to you, search, and you’ll find, knock and the door will be opened to you. 10 Everyone, in fact, who asks gets, and whoever searches finds, and the door [will be] opened to whoever’s knocking. 11 What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, would give him a snake instead? 12 Or if he asks for an egg, would give him a scorpion?*119 13 So if all of you, worthless as you are, know how to give valuable gifts to your children, how much more will the father in the sky give the holy life-breath to those who ask him for it.”
14 Then he was expelling a demon, [and it was] mute. And it happened that once the demon came out, the mute man spoke, and crowds were amazed. 15 But some of them said, “It’s through the power of Be’elzeboul, the ruler of demons, that he expels demons.” 16 And others put him to the test by asking him for a sign from the sky. 17 Perceiving their thoughts, though, he said to them, “Every kingdom that’s split in two and has the two pieces pitted against each other is going to be turned into a wasteland, and a house pitted against itself is going to fall. 18 And if Satan is split in two and pitted against himself, how will his kingdom remain standing? You say I expel demons through the power of Be’elzeboul. 19 But if I expel demons through the power of Be’elzeboul, through whose power do your sons expel them? For that reason, they’re going to be your judges in deciding this matter. 20 But if [I] expel demons by the finger of god, then the kingdom of god has arrived ahead of you. 21 When a strong man, heavily armed and armored from head to toe, guards his own palace, his possessions are left in peace. 22 But when somebody stronger attacks him and wins the fight against him, he takes away the full set of arms and armor on which the other relied, and he divides his plunder.*120 23 Whoever’s not with me is against me, and whoever isn’t gathering with me is scattering.
24 “When an unclean spirit comes out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking a place to rest, but doesn’t find any. [Then] it says, ‘I’ll return to my house, where I came from.’ 25 But when it comes, it finds the building swept out and put in order. 26 Then it goes on its way and brings back with it seven other spirits more terrible than itself, and they go in and take up residence there. And the final plight of that person is worse than the original one.”
27 While Iēsous was saying these things, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, “Happy is the womb that carried you, and happy are the breasts that nursed you.” 28 But he said, “As a matter of fact, happy are those who hear what god says and observe it in practice.”
29 As the crowds grew more numerous, he spoke up: “This generation is a useless generation. It demands a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Iōnas. 30 The son of mankind will be the kind of sign to this generation that Iōnas was to the Nineuitai. 31 The queen of where the south wind comes from will rise up at the judgment along with the men of this generation and give her judgment against them, because she came from the boundaries of the earth to hear Solomon’s wisdom, but look, someone greater than Solomon is here. 32 The Nineuitai citizens will stand up at the judgment along with this generation and give their judgment against it, because they changed their thinking in response to Iōnas’ proclamation, but look, someone greater than Iōnas is here.*121
33 “Nobody lights a lamp and puts it in a cellar [or under a basket]. Instead, he sets it on a lamp-stand, so those who come in see the light.
34 “Your eye is your body’s lamp. When your eye is sound, your whole body is full of light too. But when your eye is bad, your body’s in darkness too. 35 So look out that the light in you isn’t the same as darkness. 36 So if your whole body is lit up, with no part of it in darkness, it will be wholly lit up, as when a lamp sheds light on you with a ray like lightning.”
37 While he was speaking, a Farisaios invited him to a meal at his home; and he went in and reclined at the table. 38 But the Farisaios was shocked to see that he didn’t wash by immersion before the meal.*122 39 But the master said to him, “Now, you Farisaioi clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you’re brimming with greed and malice. 40 Idiots, didn’t the same one make the outside and the inside? 41 Instead, give as a gift of mercy the things inside, and, look, everything will be clean for you.*123
42 “But no, you have it coming, Farisaioi! You pay your ten percent of mint and rue and every kind of garden plant,*124 but you bypass justice and the love of god. You should have put the latter into practice, without bypassing the former.
43 “You have it coming, Farisaioi! What you love is the seat of honor in the synagogues, and respectful greetings in the marketplaces.
44 “You have it coming, Farisaioi! You’re like unmarked tombs, with people walking over you who don’t realize it.”
45 In answer, somebody from among the experts in the law said to him, “Teacher, you commit an outrage against us too by saying these things.”
46 But he said, “And you too, the legal experts, you have it coming! You load people with loads that are hard to carry, but you don’t lift a finger to help with those loads.*125
47 “You have it coming! You build tombs for the prophets, though your ancestors killed them. 48 That makes you witnesses, and you endorse the things your ancestors did, because they killed the men, and you build the buildings. 49 That’s why god’s wisdom as well has said, ‘I’ll send prophets and envoys, and they’ll kill some, and hound others,’*126 50 so that this generation can be charged with the blood of all the prophets that’s been poured out since the foundations of the universe were laid, 51 from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zacharias, who was killed between the altar and the sanctuary.*127 Yes, I tell you, this generation will be charged with it.
52 “You have it coming, experts in the law. You’ve taken away the key of knowledge. You haven’t gone in yourselves, and you’ve stopped those who were trying to go in.”
53 Once he’d gone out of there, the scholars and the Farisaioi began to hold a terrible grudge against him, and to drill him by word of mouth about a number of things, 54 lying in ambush to pounce on some statement emerging from his mouth.
Chapter 12
1 Meanwhile, tens of thousands of people gathered in a crowd, so many that they were trampling each other. Iēsous began to speak to his students first of all: “Be wary of the yeast of the Farisaioi, which is play-acting.*128
2 “But nothing’s covered over that won’t be uncovered,*129 or hidden that won’t be revealed. 3 Because of that, what you’ve said in the dark will be heard in the light of day, and what you’ve whispered in someone’s ear in the storage rooms*130 will be announced from the roofs.
4 “I tell you, my dear friends, don’t fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more they can do. 5 I’ll point out to you who you should fear: fear the one who, after that killing, has the power to throw you into ge’enna.*131 Yes, I tell you, you need to fear him. 6 Aren’t five sparrows sold for two assaria? But not one of them is forgotten by god.*132 7 No, even the hairs on your heads are all counted. Don’t be afraid: you’re worth more than a whole flock of sparrows!
8 “But I tell you, if anyone acknowledges me before human beings, the son of mankind will acknowledge him before god’s messengers; 9 but if anyone denies knowing me when he’s before human beings, he’ll be denied before god’s messengers.
10 “And anyone who makes a statement against the son of mankind will be absolved from it, but whoever blasphemes against the holy life-breath won’t be absolved.
11 “When they bring you up before the synagogues, the rulers, and the authorities, don’t worry what your defense should be, or how to make it, or what you should say at all. 12 The holy life-breath will certainly instruct you at the time as to what you need to say.”*133
16 Then he told them a story to illustrate, saying, “A certain rich man owned very productive land. 17 And he calculated inwardly, saying, ‘What will I do? I don’t have anywhere to store my crops.’ 18 Then he said, ‘Here’s what I’ll do: I’ll tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and I’ll store there all my grain and other good things. 19 And I’ll say to the life within me,*135 “Life, you have many good things laid away for many years to come. Rest, eat, drink, have a good time!” ’ 20 But god said to him, ‘You idiot: on this actual night, they’re demanding your life back from you. All of your provisions—who are they going to belong to?’ 21 That’s how it goes for anyone who fills storehouses for himself but isn’t rich for god.”
22 He said to [his] students, “Because of this, I say to you: don’t worry about your life, as to what you’ll have to eat, or about your body, as to what you’ll have to clothe it. 23 Life is a greater thing than food, and the body is a greater thing than clothing. 24 Consider the crows: they don’t sow or reap grain, and they don’t have a storeroom or a barn, but god feeds them. You’re worth so much more than birds! 25 Which of you, by worrying, can add a whole cubit*136 to his height? 26 So if you can’t do even the most trivial thing, why worry about everything else? 27 Consider the lilies, and how beautifully they grow. They don’t exhaust themselves spinning thread. But I tell you, not even Solomōn in all his glory was dressed as beautifully as one of these flowers. 28 This is the field’s greenery, which exists today but tomorrow is thrown into the oven, so if god clothes it this way, how much more certainly will he dress you, though you have so little trust! 29 So don’t look out for what you’re going to eat or what you’re going to drink, and don’t go bouncing off the walls about it. 30 These are all of course the things that the other nations in the world chase after, but your father knows that you need these things. 31 No, go after his kingdom, and these other things will be given to you as well. 32 Don’t be afraid, little flock, because your father has resolved to give you the kingdom.