Dual Panel1At one place after Jesus had been praying, one of his disciples said, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.”
2He answered, “When you pray, say, Father, may your name be hallowed; your kingdom come.
3Give us each day our daily bread.
4And forgive us our sins, for we too forgive all who have done us wrong. And do not put us to the test.”
5Then he said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friend who comes to him in the middle of the night and says, ‘My friend, lend me three loaves,
6for a friend of mine on a journey has turned up at my house, and I have nothing to offer him’;
7and he replies from inside, ‘Do not bother me. The door is shut for the night; my children and I have gone to bed; and I cannot get up and give you what you want.’
8I tell you that even if he will not get up and provide for him out of friendship, his very persistence will make the man get up and give him all he needs.
9So I say to you, ask, and you will receive; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you.
10For everyone who asks receives, those who seek find, and to those who knock, the door will be opened.
11“Would any father among you offer his son a snake when he asks for a fish,
12or a scorpion when he asks for an egg?
13If you, bad as you are, know how to give good things to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
Opposition and questioning
14HE was driving out a demon which was dumb; and when the demon had come out, the dumb man began to speak. The people were astonished,
15but some of them said, “It is by Beelzebul prince of demons that he drives the demons out.”
16Others, by way of a test, demanded of him a sign from heaven.
17But he knew what was in their minds, and said, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and a divided household falls.
18And if Satan is divided against himself, how can his kingdom stand -- since, as you claim, I drive out the demons by Beelzebul?
19If it is by Beelzebul that I drive out demons, by whom do your own people drive them out? If this is your argument, they themselves will refute you.
20But if it is by the finger of God that I drive out the demons, then be sure the kingdom of God has already come upon you.
21“When a strong man fully armed is on guard over his palace, his possessions are safe.
22But when someone stronger attacks and overpowers him, he carries off the arms and armour on which the man had relied and distributes the spoil.
23“He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters.
24“When an unclean spirit comes out of someone it wanders over the desert sands seeking a resting-place; and if it finds none, it says, ‘I will go back to the home I left.’
25So it returns and finds the house swept clean and tidy.
26It goes off and collects seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they all come in and settle there; and in the end that person's plight is worse than before.”
27While he was speaking thus, a woman in the crowd called out, “Happy the womb that carried you and the breasts that suckled you!”
28He rejoined, “No, happy are those who hear the word of God and keep it.”
29With the crowds swarming round him he went on to say: “This is a wicked generation. It demands a sign, and the only sign that will be given it is the sign of Jonah.
30For just as Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man be to this generation.
31The queen of the south will appear in court when the men of this generation are on trial, and ensure their condemnation; for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to the wisdom of Solomon, and what is here is greater than Solomon.
32The men of Nineveh will appear in court when this generation is on trial, and ensure its condemnation; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and what is here is greater than Jonah.
33“No one lights a lamp and puts it in a cellar, but on the lampstand so that those who come in may see the light.
34The lamp of your body is the eye. When your eyes are sound, you have light for your whole body; but when they are bad, your body is in darkness.
35See to it then that the light you have is not darkness.
36If you have light for your whole body with no trace of darkness, it will all be full of light, as when the light of a lamp shines on you.”
37WHEN he had finished speaking, a Pharisee invited him to a meal, and he came in and sat down.
38The Pharisee noticed with surprise that he had not begun by washing before the meal.
39But the Lord said to him, “You Pharisees clean the outside of cup and plate; but inside you are full of greed and wickedness.
40You fools! Did not he who made the outside make the inside too?
41But let what is inside be given in charity, and all is clean.
42“Alas for you Pharisees! You pay tithes of mint and rue and every garden herb, but neglect justice and the love of God. It is these you should have practised, without overlooking the others.
43“Alas for you Pharisees! You love to have the chief seats in synagogues, and to be greeted respectfully in the street.
44“Alas, alas, you are like unmarked graves which people walk over unawares.”
45At this one of the lawyers said, “Teacher, when you say things like this you are insulting us too.”
46Jesus rejoined: “Alas for you lawyers also! You load men with intolerable burdens, and will not lift a finger to lighten the load.
47“Alas, you build monuments to the prophets whom your fathers murdered,
48and so testify that you approve of the deeds your fathers did; they committed the murders and you provide the monuments.
49“This is why the Wisdom of God said, ‘I will send them prophets and messengers; and some of these they will persecute and kill’;
50so that this generation will have to answer for the blood of all the prophets shed since the foundation of the world;
51from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah who met his death between the altar and the sanctuary. I tell you, this generation will have to answer for it all.
52“Alas for you lawyers! You have taken away the key of knowledge. You did not go in yourselves, and those who were trying to go in, you prevented.”
53After he had left the house, the scribes and Pharisees began to assail him fiercely and to ply him with a host of questions,
54laying snares to catch him with his own words.