Jesus answered the Jews, "Many good works have I shown you from my Father; for which of those works do you stone me?"

The Jews answered him, saying, "For a good work we stone you not; but for blasphemy; and because that you, being a man, make yourself God."

Jesus answered them, "Is it not written in your law, ‘I said, you are gods?’ If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken; say you of him, whom the Father has sanctified, and sent into the world, ‘You blaspheme’; because I said, I am the Son of God?

"If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not. But if I do, though you believe not me, believe the works: that you may know, and believe, that the Father is in me, and I in him."

Therefore they tried again to take Jesus: but he escaped out of their hand, and went away again beyond Jordan into the place where John at first baptized; and there he stayed. And many resorted unto him, and said, "John did no miracle: but all things that John spoke of this man were true." And many believed on Jesus there.

And Jesus went through the cities and villages, teaching, and journeying toward Jerusalem. Then said one unto him, "Lord, are there few that be saved?"

And he said unto them, "Strive to enter in at the narrow gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able. When once the master of the house is risen up, and has shut to the door, and you begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open unto us’; and he shall answer and say unto you, ‘I know…not from where you are’: Then shall you begin to say, ‘We have eaten and drunk in your presence, and you have taught in our streets.’

"But he shall say, ‘I tell you, I know…not from where you are; depart from me, all you workers of iniquity.’

"There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrown out. And they shall come from the east, and from the west, and from the north, and from the south, and shall sit down in the kingdom of God. And, look, there are last which shall be first, and there are first which shall be last."

The same day there came certain of the Pharisees, saying unto Jesus, "Get…out, and depart from here: for Herod will kill you."

And he said unto them, "Go you, and tell that fox, look, I cast out devils, and I do cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I shall accomplish my purpose. Nevertheless I must walk today, and tomorrow, and the day following: for it cannot be that a prophet perish out of Jerusalem.

"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which kills the prophets, and stones them that are sent unto you; how often would I have gathered your children together, as a hen does gather her brood under her wings, and you would not! Look, your house is left unto you desolate: and truly I say unto you, you shall not see me, until the time come when you shall say, ‘Blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord.’ "

And it came to pass, as Jesus went into the house of one of the chief Pharisees to eat bread on the sabbath day, that they watched him. And, look, there was a certain man before him, which had edema. And Jesus answering spoke unto the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, "Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath day?" And they held their peace.

And Jesus took the man, and healed him, and let him go; and answered them, saying, "Which of you shall have a donkey or an ox fallen into a pit, and will not immediately pull him out on the sabbath day?" And they could not answer him again to these things.

And Jesus put forth a parable to those which were invited, when he observed how they chose out the chief rooms; saying unto them, "When you are invited of any man to a wedding, sit not down in the highest room; lest a more honorable man than you be invited of him; And he that invited you and him come and say to you, ‘Give this man place’; and you begin with shame to take the lowest room.

"But when you are invited, go and sit down in the lowest room; that when he that invited you comes, he may say unto you, ‘Friend, go up higher’: then shall you have honor in the presence of them that recline at the table with you. For whoever exalts himself shall be humbled; and he that humbles himself shall be exalted."

Then said Jesus also to him that invited him, "When you make a dinner or a supper, call not your friends, nor your brothers, neither your kinsmen, nor your rich neighbors; lest they also invite you again, and a repayment be made you. But when you make a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind: And you shall be blessed; for they cannot repay you: for you shall be repaid at the resurrection of the just."

And when one of them that reclined at the table with Jesus heard these things, he said unto him, "Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God."

Then said Jesus unto him, a certain man made a great supper, and invited many: And sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were invited, ‘Come; for all things are now ready.’ And they would not come.

"Again, he sent out other servants, saying, ‘Tell them which are invited, behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fattened livestock are killed, and all things are ready: come unto the marriage.’ And they all with one consent began to make excuse.

"The first said unto the servant, ‘I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it: I pray you have me excused.’

"And another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to test them: I pray you have me excused.’

"And another said, ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.’ And the rest took his servants, and treated them spitefully, and killed them. So that servant came, and showed his lord these things.

"Then the master of the house being angry said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in here the poor, and the maimed, and the lame, and the blind.’

"And the servant said, ‘Lord, it is done as you have commanded, and yet there is room.’

"And the lord said unto the servant, ‘Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. For I say unto you, that none of those men which were invited shall taste of my supper.’ So those servants went out…and gathered together all as many as they found…and the wedding was furnished with guests."

And there went great crowds with Jesus: and he turned, and said unto them, "If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brothers, and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. And whoever does not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple. For which of you, intending to build a tower, sits not down first, and counts the cost, whether he has sufficient to finish it? Lest perhaps, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘this man began to build, and was not able to finish.’

"Or what king, going to make war against another king, sits not down first, and consults whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that comes against him with twenty thousand? Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends an ambassador, and desires conditions of peace. So likewise, whoever he be of you that forsakes not all that he has, he cannot be my disciple.

"Salt is good: but if the salt has lost his savor, with what shall it be seasoned? It is neither fit for the land, nor yet for the manure pile; but men throw it out. He that has ears to hear let him hear."

Then drew near unto Jesus all the tax collectors and sinners for to hear him. And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, "This man receives sinners, and eats with them."

And Jesus spoke this parable unto them, saying, "What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying unto them, ‘Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost.’ I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repents, more than over ninety-nine just persons, which need no repentance."

"Also what woman having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, does not light a candle, and sweep the house, and seek diligently till she find it? And when she has found it, she calls her friends and her neighbors together, saying, ‘Rejoice with me; for I have found the piece which I had lost.’

"Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repents."

And Jesus said, "A certain man had two sons: And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.’ So the father divided unto them his estate. And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there squandered his inheritance with riotous living.

"And when the son had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want. And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and the citizen sent him into his fields to feed pigs. And the son would gladly have filled his belly with the husks that the pigs did eat: and no man gave unto him.

"And when he came to himself, the son said, ‘How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before you, and am no more worthy to be called your son: make me as one of your hired servants.’ And he arose, and came to his father.

REFERENCES

John 10:32-42; Luke 13:22-35; Luke 14:1-17; Matthew 22:3b-4; Luke 14:18-24; Matthew 22:10; Luke 15:25-27; Luke 14:25-35; Luke 15:1-7, 11-20a.

CHAPTER 79