The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible New Testament (72 page)

Judging Others

37
 "Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven;
³⁸
give, and it will be given to you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put
into your lap
. For the measure you give will be the measure you get back."

39
 He also told them a parable: "Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit?
⁴⁰
A disciple is not above his teacher, but every one when he is fully taught will be like his teacher.
⁴¹
Why do you see the speck that is in
your brother's eye
, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?
⁴²
Or how can you say to your brother, 'Brother, let me take out the speck that is in your eye,' when you yourself do not see the log that is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take out the speck that is in your brother's eye.

A Tree and Its Fruit

43
 "For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit;
⁴⁴
for each tree is known by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered from thorns, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush.
⁴⁵
The good man out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil man out of his evil treasure produces evil; for out of the
abundance of the heart
his mouth speaks.

Hearers and Doers

46
 "Why do you call me 'Lord, Lord,' and not do what I tell you?
⁴⁷
Every one who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like:
⁴⁸
he is like
a man building a house
, who dug deep, and laid the foundation upon rock; and when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house, and could not shake it, because it had been well built.
^w
49
But he who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation; against which the stream broke, and immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great."

Jesus Heals a Centurion's Slave

7
  After he had ended all his sayings in the hearing of the people he entered Caper'na-um.
²
Now
a centurion
had a slave who was dear
^x
to him, who was sick and at the point of death.
³
When he heard of Jesus, he sent to him elders of the Jews, asking him to come and heal his slave.
⁴
And when they came to Jesus, they begged him earnestly, saying, "He is worthy to have you do this for him,
⁵
for he loves our nation, and he built us our synagogue."
⁶
And Jesus went with them. When he was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to him, saying to him, "Lord, do not trouble yourself, for
I am not worthy
to have you come under my roof;
⁷
therefore I did not presume to come to you. But say the word, and let my servant be healed.
⁸
For I am a man set under authority, with soldiers under me: and I say to one, 'Go,' and he goes; and to another, 'Come,' and he comes; and to my slave, 'Do this,' and he does it."
⁹
When Jesus heard this he marveled at him, and turned and said to the multitude that followed him, "I tell you,
not even in Israel
have I found such faith."
¹⁰
And when those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the slave well.

Jesus Raises a Widow's Son at Nain

11
 Soon afterward
^y
he went to a city called
Na'in
, and his disciples and a great crowd went with him.
¹²
As he drew near to the gate of the city, behold, a man who had died was
being carried out
, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow; and a large crowd from the city was with her.
¹³
And when
the Lord
saw her, he had compassion on her and said to her, "Do not weep."
¹⁴
And he came and
touched the bier
, and the bearers stood still. And he said, "Young man, I say to you, arise."
¹⁵
And the dead man sat up, and began to speak. And he gave him to his mother.
¹⁶
Fear seized them all; and they glorified God, saying, "
A great prophet
has arisen among us!" and "God has visited his people!"
¹⁷
And this report concerning him spread through the whole of Judea and all the surrounding country.

Messengers from John the Baptist

18
 The disciples of John told him of all these things.
¹⁹
And John, calling to him two of his disciples, sent them to the Lord, saying, "Are you he who is to come, or shall we look for another?"
²⁰
And when the men had come to him, they said, "John the Baptist has sent us to you, saying, 'Are you he who is to come, or shall we
look for another
?' "
²¹
In that hour he cured many of diseases and plagues and evil spirits, and on many that were blind he bestowed sight.
²²
And he answered them, "Go and tell John what you have
seen and heard
: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them.
²³
And blessed is he who takes no offense at me."

24
 When the messengers of John had gone, he began to speak to the crowds concerning John: "What did you go out into the wilderness to behold?
A reed shaken
by the wind?
²⁵
What then did you go out to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? Behold, those who are gorgeously appareled and live in luxury are in kings' courts.
²⁶
What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet.
²⁷
This is he of whom it is written,

  
'Behold,
I send my messenger
before your face,

  
who shall prepare your way before you.'

²⁸
I tell you, among those born of women
none is greater
than John; yet he who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he."
 
*
²⁹
(When they heard this all the people and the tax collectors justified God, having been baptized with the baptism of John;
³⁰
but the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected the purpose of God for themselves, not having been baptized by him.)

31
 "To what then shall I compare the men of this generation, and what are they like?
³²
They are
like children
sitting in the market place and calling to one another,

  
'We piped to you, and you did not dance;

  
we wailed, and you did not weep.'

³³
For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine; and you say, 'He has a demon.'
³⁴
The Son of man has come eating and drinking; and you say, 'Behold, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!'
³⁵
Yet
wisdom is justified
by all her children."

A Sinful Woman Forgiven

36
 
One of the Pharisees
asked him to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee's house, and sat at table.
³⁷
And behold, a woman of the city, who was
a sinner
, when she learned that he was sitting at table in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster flask of ointment,
³⁸
and standing behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment.
³⁹
Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw it, he said to himself, "If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner."
⁴⁰
And Jesus answering said to him, "Simon, I have something to say to you." And he answered, "What is it, Teacher?"
⁴¹
"A certain creditor had two debtors; one owed five hundred
denarii
, and the other fifty.
⁴²
When they could not pay, he forgave them both. Now which of them will love him more?"
⁴³
Simon answered, "The one, I suppose, to whom he forgave more." And he said to him, "You have judged rightly."
⁴⁴
Then turning toward the woman he said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? I entered your house, you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair.
⁴⁵
You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not ceased to kiss my feet.
⁴⁶
You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment.
⁴⁷
Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven,
for she loved much
; but he who is forgiven little, loves little."
 
*
⁴⁸
And he said to her, "Your sins are forgiven."
⁴⁹
Then those who were at table with him began to say among themselves, "Who is this, who
even forgives sins
?"
⁵⁰
And he said to the woman, "Your faith has saved you; go in peace."

Some Women Accompany Jesus

8
  Soon afterward
he went on through cities and villages
, preaching and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. And the Twelve were with him,
²
and also some women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Mag'dalene, from whom seven demons had gone out,
³
and Jo-an'na, the wife of Chuza, Herod's steward, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for them
^z
out of their means.

The Parable of the Sower

4
 And when a great crowd came together and people from town after town came to him, he said
in a parable
:
⁵
"
A sower
went out to sow his seed; and as he sowed, some fell along the path, and was trodden under foot, and the birds of the air devoured it.
⁶
And some fell on the rock; and as it grew up, it withered away, because it had no moisture.
⁷
And some fell among thorns; and the thorns grew with it and choked it.
⁸
And some fell into good soil and grew, and yielded a hundredfold." As he said this, he called out, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear."

The Explanation of the Parable

9
 And when his disciples asked him what this parable meant,
¹⁰
he said, "To you it has been given to know
the secrets
of the kingdom of God; but for others they are in parables, so that seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.
¹¹
Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.
¹²
The ones along the path are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, that they may not believe and be saved.
¹³
And the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy; but these have no root, they believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away.
¹⁴
And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature.
¹⁵
And as for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bring forth fruit with patience.

A Lamp Is Not Hidden

16
 "No one after
lighting a lamp
covers it with a vessel, or puts it under a bed, but puts it on a stand, that those who enter may see the light.
¹⁷
For nothing is hidden that shall not be made manifest, nor anything secret that shall not be known and come to light.
¹⁸
Take heed
then how you hear; for to him who has will more be given, and from him who has not, even what he thinks that he has will be taken away."