Study Desk

"In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected people.

For a long time the judge refused to act, but at last he said to himself, ‘Even though I don't fear God or respect people,

Now, will God not judge in favor of his own people who cry to him day and night for help? Will he be slow to help them?

The Pharisee stood apart by himself and prayed, ‘I thank you, God, that I am not greedy, dishonest, or an adulterer, like everybody else. I thank you that I am not like that tax collector over there.

But the tax collector stood at a distance and would not even raise his face to heaven, but beat on his breast and said, ‘God, have pity on me, a sinner!'

I tell you," said Jesus, "the tax collector, and not the Pharisee, was in the right with God when he went home. For those who make themselves great will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be made great."

but Jesus called the children to him and said, "Let the children come to me and do not stop them, because the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these.

Remember this! Whoever does not receive the Kingdom of God like a child will never enter it."

"Why do you call me good?" Jesus asked him. "No one is good except God alone.

Jesus saw that he was sad and said, "How hard it is for rich people to enter the Kingdom of God!

It is much harder for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God than for a camel to go through the eye of a needle."

Jesus answered, "What is humanly impossible is possible for God."

"Yes," Jesus said to them, "and I assure you that anyone who leaves home or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the Kingdom of God

At once he was able to see, and he followed Jesus, giving thanks to God. When the crowd saw it, they all praised God.

While the people were listening to this, Jesus continued and told them a parable. He was now almost at Jerusalem, and they supposed that the Kingdom of God was just about to appear.

When he came near Jerusalem, at the place where the road went down the Mount of Olives, the large crowd of his disciples began to thank God and praise him in loud voices for all the great things that they had seen:

"God bless the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory to God!"

They will completely destroy you and the people within your walls; not a single stone will they leave in its place, because you did not recognize the time when God came to save you!"

saying to them, "It is written in the Scriptures that God said, ‘My Temple will be a house of prayer.' But you have turned it into a hideout for thieves!"

did John's right to baptize come from God or from human beings?"