The Living Bible (305 page)

Matthew
19

After Jesus had finished this address, he left Galilee and circled back to Judea from across the Jordan River.
²
 Vast crowds followed him, and he healed their sick.
³
 Some Pharisees came to interview him and tried to trap him into saying something that would ruin him.

    
“Do you permit divorce?” they asked.

    
⁴
 
“Don’t you read the Scriptures?”
he replied.
“In them it is written that at the beginning God created man and woman,
^5-6
 
and that a man should leave his father and mother, and be forever united to his wife. The two shall become one—no longer two, but one! And no man may divorce what God has joined together.”

    
⁷
 “Then, why,” they asked, “did Moses say a man may divorce his wife by merely writing her a letter of dismissal?”

    
⁸
 Jesus replied,
“Moses did that in recognition of your hard and evil hearts, but it was not what God had originally intended.
⁹
 
And I tell you this, that anyone who divorces his wife, except for fornication, and marries another, commits adultery.”
*

    
¹⁰
 Jesus’ disciples then said to him, “If that is how it is, it is better not to marry!”

    
¹¹
 
“Not everyone can accept this statement,”
Jesus said.
“Only those whom God helps.
¹²
 
Some are born without the ability to marry,
*
and some are disabled by men, and some refuse to marry for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven. Let anyone who can, accept my statement.”

    
¹³
 Little children were brought for Jesus to lay his hands on them and pray. But the disciples scolded those who brought them. “Don’t bother him,” they said.

    
¹⁴
 But Jesus said,
“Let the little children come to me, and don’t prevent them. For of such is the Kingdom of Heaven.”
¹⁵
 
And he put his hands on their heads and blessed them before he left.

    
¹⁶
 Someone came to Jesus with this question: “Good master, what must I do to have eternal life?”

    
¹⁷
 
“When you call me good you are calling me God,”
Jesus replied,
“for God alone is truly good.
*
But to answer your question, you can get to heaven if you keep the commandments.”

    
¹⁸
 “Which ones?” the man asked.

    
And Jesus replied,
“Don’t kill, don’t commit adultery, don’t steal, don’t lie,
¹⁹
 
honor your father and mother, and love your neighbor as yourself!”

    
²⁰
 “I’ve always obeyed every one of them,” the youth replied. “What else must I do?”

    
²¹
 Jesus told him,
“If you want to be perfect, go and sell everything you have and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”
²²
 But when the young man heard this, he went away sadly, for he was very rich.

    
²³
 Then Jesus said to his disciples,
“It is almost impossible for a rich man to get into the Kingdom of Heaven.
²⁴
 
I say it again—it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God!”

    
²⁵
 This remark confounded the disciples. “Then who in the world can be saved?” they asked.

    
²⁶
 Jesus looked at them intently and said,
“Humanly speaking, no one. But with God, everything is possible.”

    
²⁷
 Then Peter said to him, “We left everything to follow you. What will we get out of it?”

    
²⁸
 And Jesus replied,
“When I, the Messiah,
*
shall sit upon my glorious throne in the Kingdom,
*
you my disciples shall certainly sit on twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
²⁹
 
And anyone who gives up his home, brothers, sisters, father, mother, wife,
*
children, or property, to follow me, shall receive a hundred times as much in return, and shall have eternal life.
³⁰
 
But many who are first now will be last then; and some who are last now will be first then.”

Matthew
20

Here is another illustration of the Kingdom of Heaven.
“The owner of an estate went out early one morning to hire workers for his harvest field.
²
 
He agreed to pay them $20 a day
*
and sent them out to work.

    
³
 
“A couple of hours later he was passing a hiring hall and saw some men standing around waiting for jobs,
⁴
 
so he sent them also into his fields, telling them he would pay them whatever was right at the end of the day.
⁵
 
At noon and again around three o’clock in the afternoon he did the same thing.

    
⁶
 
“At five o’clock that evening he was in town again and saw some more men standing around and asked them, ‘Why haven’t you been working today?’

    
⁷
 
“‘Because no one hired us,’ they replied.

    
“‘Then go on out and join the others in my fields,’ he told them.

    
⁸
 
“That evening he told the paymaster to call the men in and pay them, beginning with the last men first.
⁹
 
When the men hired at five o’clock were paid, each received $20.
¹⁰
 
So when the men hired earlier came to get theirs, they assumed they would receive much more. But they, too, were paid $20.

    
^11-12
 
“They protested, ‘Those fellows worked only one hour, and yet you’ve paid them just as much as those of us who worked all day in the scorching heat.’

    
¹³
 
“‘Friend,’ he answered one of them, ‘I did you no wrong! Didn’t you agree to work all day for $20?
¹⁴
 
Take it and go. It is my desire to pay all the same;
¹⁵
 
is it against the law to give away my money if I want to? Should you be angry because I am kind?’
¹⁶
 
And so it is that the last shall be first, and the first, last.”

    
¹⁷
 As Jesus was on the way to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside
¹⁸
 and talked to them about what would happen to him when they arrived.

    
“I
*
will be betrayed to the chief priests and other Jewish leaders, and they will condemn me to die.
¹⁹
 
And they will hand me over to the Roman government, and I will be mocked and crucified, and the third day I will rise to life again.”

    
²⁰
 Then the mother of James and John, the sons of Zebedee, brought them to Jesus and respectfully asked a favor.

    
²¹
 
“What is your request?”
he asked. She replied, “In your Kingdom, will you let my two sons sit on two thrones
*
next to yours?”

    
²²
 But Jesus told her,
“You don’t know what you are asking!”
Then he turned to James and John and asked them,
“Are you able to drink from the terrible cup I am about to drink from?”

    
“Yes,” they replied, “we are able!”

    
²³
 
“You shall indeed drink from it,”
he told them.
“But I have no right to say who will sit on the thrones next to mine. Those places are reserved for the persons my Father selects.”

    
²⁴
 The other ten disciples were indignant when they heard what James and John had asked for.

    
²⁵
 But Jesus called them together and said,
“Among the heathen, kings are tyrants and each minor official lords it over those beneath him.
²⁶
 
But among you it is quite different. Anyone wanting to be a leader among you must be your servant.
²⁷
 
And if you want to be right at the top, you must serve like a slave.
²⁸
 
Your attitude
*
must be like my own, for I, the Messiah,
*
did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give my life as a ransom for many.”

    
²⁹
 As Jesus and the disciples left the city of Jericho, a vast crowd surged along behind.

    
³⁰
 Two blind men were sitting beside the road, and when they heard that Jesus was coming that way, they began shouting, “Sir, King David’s Son, have mercy on us!”

    
³¹
 The crowd told them to be quiet, but they only yelled the louder.

    
^32-33
 When Jesus came to the place where they were, he stopped in the road and called,
“What do you want me to do for you?”

    
“Sir,” they said, “we want to see!”

    
³⁴
 Jesus was moved with pity for them and touched their eyes. And instantly they could see, and followed him.