Study Desk

from the killing of Abel to the killing of Zechariah, who died between the altar and the Temple. Yes, I tell you that you who are alive now will be punished for them all.

"How terrible for you, you experts on the law. You have taken away the key to learning about God. You yourselves would not learn, and you stopped others from learning, too."

"Five sparrows are sold for only two pennies, and God does not forget any of them.

Then I can say to myself, "I have enough good things stored to last for many years. Rest, eat, drink, and enjoy life!"'

"But God said to him, ‘Foolish man! Tonight your life will be taken from you. So who will get those things you have prepared for yourself?'

"This is how it will be for those who store up things for themselves and are not rich toward God."

Jesus said to his followers, "So I tell you, don't worry about the food you need to live, or about the clothes you need for your body.

Consider how the lilies grow; they don't work or make clothes for themselves. But I tell you that even Solomon with his riches was not dressed as beautifully as one of these flowers.

Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Get for yourselves purses that will not wear out, the treasure in heaven that never runs out, where thieves can't steal and moths can't destroy.

"Be dressed, ready for service, and have your lamps shining.

Be like servants who are waiting for their master to come home from a wedding party. When he comes and knocks, the servants immediately open the door for him.

They will be blessed when their master comes home, because he sees that they were watching for him. I tell you the truth, the master will dress himself to serve and tell the servants to sit at the table, and he will serve them.

"Why can't you decide for yourselves what is right?

Jesus told this story: "A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard. He came looking for some fruit on the tree, but he found none.

So the man said to his gardener, ‘I have been looking for fruit on this tree for three years, but I never find any. Cut it down. Why should it waste the ground?'

A woman was there who, for eighteen years, had an evil spirit in her that made her crippled. Her back was always bent; she could not stand up straight.

This woman that I healed, a daughter of Abraham, has been held by Satan for eighteen years. Surely it is not wrong for her to be freed from her sickness on a Sabbath day!"

When the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you can stand outside and knock on the door and say, ‘Sir, open the door for us.' But he will answer, ‘I don't know you or where you come from.'

Yet I must be on my way today and tomorrow and the next day. Surely it cannot be right for a prophet to be killed anywhere except in Jerusalem.

If he can't, then while the other king is still far away, he will send some people to speak to him and ask for peace.