About the Pharisees not wanting to work on the Sabbath day

1The seventh day of the week was called the Sabbath. Every Sabbath the Jewish people stopped work and went to the synagogue and praised God. One Sabbath day Jesus and his disciples were walking along through some wheatfields. The wheat was ripe and Jesus' disciples picked some seeds as they went and rubbed them in their hands. They threw away the rubbish and ate the good seeds as they walked.

2Some Pharisees saw them picking seeds and eating them. They asked, “What are you doing? Our law says, ‘You must not work on the Sabbath.’ But you are working here on the Sabbath. So you have disobeyed the law, haven't you? What you are doing is very wrong.”

3Jesus answered them, “You know what David did long ago before he became king. He and his men were hungry.

4David went into the house of God, and he took some damper and ate it. He gave some to his men and they ate too. It was holy but they ate it. Only the priests were allowed to eat it, but David ate that holy food.”

5Then Jesus said to them, “I, the one who was born in this place, am the Lord of the Sabbath.”

About the man with a crippled hand

6On another Sabbath day Jesus went into a synagogue and taught people God's word. A man with a crippled hand was sitting there. He couldn't move his right hand. It was weak all the time.

7Some teachers of Moses' law and some Pharisees were also in the synagogue. They were watching Jesus carefully. They were looking to see if Jesus would heal the man's hand, because they wanted to blame Jesus for doing something wrong. If Jesus healed the man's hand on the Sabbath then they would blame him. They would say to him, “You have done something very wrong, because today is the Sabbath.”

8But Jesus knew what they were thinking and he said to the man, “Get up and come over here to the front.” So the man got up and went to the front and stood near Jesus.

9Then Jesus said to all the people who were sitting inside the synagogue, “Tell me now, what does Moses' law tell us to do? Should we do good on the Sabbath or bad? Should we save people or kill them?”

10Jesus said that and then he looked at the people one by one. Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” The man stretched out his hand. It had been weak, but now it was strong.

11The teachers of Moses' law and the Pharisees were filled with anger. They began to say to each other, “What can we do with this man?”

About Jesus choosing twelve apostles

12At that time Jesus went up a hill by himself to pray to God. He prayed for some time and then it got dark. He went on praying and midnight came, but he still kept on praying until daybreak.

13When daylight came he called his disciples to him. He chose twelve men and called them apostles, because they were his workers and later he would send them out everywhere to tell people about God.

14These were their names: Simon, the one Jesus called Peter, and his younger brother Andrew, James and John, Philip and Bartholomew,

15Matthew and Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, and another Simon. This man and some other Jews were very angry because the Romans controlled their country of Judea. So they were called Zealots.

16Jesus also chose two men called Judas. One was the son of James and the other Judas was called Iscariot, the one who would later bring some leaders to Jesus so they could take him.

About Jesus teaching and healing people

17Then Jesus and the men called apostles and the other disciples came down to a flat place. And they met many people there who were also disciples of Jesus. A big crowd of people were there too from all different places. They had come from all over Judea and from Jerusalem. And some had come from Tyre and Sidon, two places over on the west coast.

18They had come from everywhere so that they could hear Jesus and he could heal them. And Jesus stood there on the flat place and spoke to them and healed them. Some of those people were very sick because they had evil spirits, and Jesus made the spirits come out of them.

19All the people were wanting to get close to Jesus to touch him, because God was making him strong and he was healing them all.

About happiness and sadness

20Then Jesus looked at his disciples and spoke to them while others could hear too. “You people who are poor, good things will happen to you, because God is your ruler.

21You people who are hungry now, good things will happen to you too. Later you will have all you need. You people who are crying now, good things will happen to you too. Later you will laugh.

22“Even if other people hate you, God will be good to you. They will hate you, and not want you, and speak bad words to you and say to you, ‘You are bad people.’ They will do that because you trust in me, the one who was born in this place. Even if they do all that, God will be good to you.

23Long, long ago their ancestors hated the prophets who spoke God's word. So now when the people of today hate you, you should rejoice. You should be full of joy, because God will give you good things at that time when you go to his good place.

24“But you people who are rich, bad things will happen to you, because you already have everything good today. There will be nothing more for you.

25And you people who are full today, bad things will happen to you too.
Later you will be hungry. And you people who laugh in a silly way today, bad things will happen to you too. Later you will be sad and you will cry.

26“And bad things will happen to you when everyone speaks good words about you. Long, long ago their ancestors used to say the same kind of things to the lying prophets. Those prophets didn't tell the people God's words. They told them their own lying words. But many people long ago used to speak good words about them. So today when everyone speaks good words about you, bad things will happen to you.”

About us loving people who hate us

27“Listen,” Jesus said to his disciples. “I am telling all of you who are listening carefully to me today, you must love people who hate you. You must do good to those people.

28If people curse you, you must ask God to bless them. And if cruel people beat you and speak bad words to you, you must ask God to help them.

29“If anyone hits you on one cheek, don't stop him, but let him hit you on the other cheek. And if someone takes your coat, don't stop him, but let him take your shirt too.

30“If anyone asks you for something, you should give it. And if anyone takes your things, don't try to get them back. It doesn't matter if they don't come back to you.

31You should be kind to other people just as you want them to be kind to you.

32“Do you love only the people who love you, but you don't love everyone? Then God won't say to you, ‘I am pleased with you,’ because bad people love each other too. They love the people who love them.

33“Do you only do good to people who do good to you, but you don't do good to everyone? Then God won't say to you, ‘I am pleased with you.’ No, because bad people do good to people who do good to them.

34“Maybe you lend your things to other people to look after for a little while. But you don't lend your things to everyone, you only lend them to people who will give you your things back later. Then God won't say to you, ‘I am pleased with you.’ No, because bad people lend to each other so that they will get the same things back later.

35“You must love people who hate you. You must do good to them. You should lend to them and not think about getting your things back again. If you do that, God will be very good to you and you will be his people. He is the greatest God. So you should be like him, because he is kind to bad people. Even if they only think of themselves and don't think of other people, he is very kind to them.

36Our Father has pity on us. So you should have pity on everyone.” We shouldn't judge other people.

37Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Don't judge about people, whether they are good or bad, and then God won't judge you. And don't blame people, and then God won't blame you. You should forgive other people, and then God will forgive you.

38“You should give good things to other people, and then God will give good things to you. God is very generous and he will keep on giving you good things. He will freely give to you and never stop. He is just like a person pouring honey into your tin. That person goes on pouring and doesn't stop until your tin is full of honey. God doesn't stop, and he goes on giving you good things all the time. And if you give good things to other people and give generously, then God will give good things to you.”

39After saying all that to his disciples, Jesus told them this story about blind people and teachers. He said to them, “Think about blind people. When two blind people want to walk, they can't take each other by the hand and lead each other. They might both fall into a hole.

40“And two people who don't know anything can't teach each other. But a teacher can teach a younger person, because he knows more. The younger one wants to become wise too, so he learns well. He listens carefully to his teacher. He keeps listening day after day until he knows everything his master knows. Then afterwards they both know the same.”

41Then Jesus went on to say, “You worry about the little bit of dirt in your brother's eye. Why do you worry about that, but you don't think about the great big stick in your own eye?

42You shouldn't say to your brother, ‘You poor thing, brother, let me take the bit of dirt out of your eye.’ Don't say that, because you can't see the great big stick in your own eye. You want other people to say you are good, but you are bad. First you must take the big stick out of your own eye, so you can see properly to take the little bit of dirt out of your brother's eye.”

About us being like trees that have fruit

43Then Jesus said, “Listen to this. I am going to tell you about trees that have fruit. A good fruit tree has fruit that is good to eat. But the same good tree doesn't give us bad fruit that we can't eat. And a bad tree can't have good fruit.

44“When we look at the fruit on a tree, we know if the tree is a good one or not, because we know its fruit. If we want figs to eat, we don't go to a thorn bush, we go and get figs from a fig tree. And if we want grapes to eat, we don't go to a crab's eye vine, but we go to a grape vine.

45“It is true that a good tree only has good fruit, and a bad tree only has bad fruit. A good person who does good all the time will be like the good tree, because he always thinks about good things and doesn't think about bad things. But a bad person always does bad things, because he always thinks about bad things. Our words that come out of our mouths when we speak are first of all in our minds and our hearts.”

About two men building houses

46Then Jesus said to his disciples, “You are always saying to me, ‘Lord, Lord.’ Why do you call me Lord, and yet you don't obey me?

47If any of you come to me and listen to my words and obey them, what kind of person are you? Let me tell you.

48“You are like a man who built a house for himself. First he dug a deep hole. He kept digging until he found hard rock. Then he built his house on the rock so that it would be strong. Then there was a big flood. The water hit the house, but it didn't push it over. The house still stood firm because the man had worked well and built it very strong.

49“But if one of you hears my words and doesn't obey them, what are you like? Let me tell you. You are like a man who just built his house on the ground. He didn't dig a hole first and he didn't build his house on hard rock. Then there was a big flood. The water hit the house and pushed it over straight away, and that was the end of the house.”