Study Desk

You won't be able to say, ‘Here it is!' or ‘It's over there!' For the Kingdom of God is already among you."

"There was a judge in a certain city," he said, "who neither feared God nor cared about people.

The judge ignored her for a while, but finally he said to himself, ‘I don't fear God or care about people,

Even he rendered a just decision in the end. So don't you think God will surely give justice to his chosen people who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off?

The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed this prayer: ‘I thank you, God, that I am not like other people—cheaters, sinners, adulterers. I'm certainly not like that tax collector!

"But the tax collector stood at a distance and dared not even lift his eyes to heaven as he prayed. Instead, he beat his chest in sorrow, saying, ‘O God, be merciful to me, for I am a sinner.'

I tell you, this sinner, not the Pharisee, returned home justified before God. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted."

Then Jesus called for the children and said to the disciples, "Let the children come to me. Don't stop them! For the Kingdom of God belongs to those who are like these children.

I tell you the truth, anyone who doesn't receive the Kingdom of God like a child will never enter it."

"Why do you call me good?" Jesus asked him. "Only God is truly good.

When Jesus saw this, he said, "How hard it is for the rich to enter the Kingdom of God!

In fact, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God!"

He replied, "What is impossible for people is possible with God."

"Yes," Jesus replied, "and I assure you that everyone who has given up house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the Kingdom of God,

Instantly the man could see, and he followed Jesus, praising God. And all who saw it praised God, too.

The crowd was listening to everything Jesus said. And because he was nearing Jerusalem, he told them a story to correct the impression that the Kingdom of God would begin right away.

When he reached the place where the road started down the Mount of Olives, all of his followers began to shout and sing as they walked along, praising God for all the wonderful miracles they had seen.

They will crush you into the ground, and your children with you. Your enemies will not leave a single stone in place, because you did not recognize it when God visited you."

"Teacher," they said, "we know that you speak and teach what is right and are not influenced by what others think. You teach the way of God truthfully.

"Well then," he said, "give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and give to God what belongs to God."