Seventy-two sent out

10 After these things, the Lord commissioned seventy-two others and sent them on ahead in pairs to every city and place he was about to go. ² He said to them, “The harvest is bigger than you can imagine, but there are few workers. Therefore, plead with the Lord of the harvest to send out workers for his harvest. ³ Go! Be warned, though, that I’m sending you out as lambs among wolves. ⁴ Carry no wallet, no bag, and no sandals. Don’t even greet anyone along the way. ⁵ Whenever you enter a house, first say, ‘May peace be on this house.’ ⁶ If anyone there shares God’s peace, then your peace will rest on that person. If not, your blessing will return to you. ⁷ Remain in this house, eating and drinking whatever they set before you, for workers deserve their pay. Don’t move from house to house. ⁸ Whenever you enter a city and its people welcome you, eat what they set before you. ⁹ Heal the sick who are there, and say to them, ‘God’s kingdom has come upon you.’ ¹⁰ Whenever you enter a city and the people don’t welcome you, go out into the streets and say, ¹¹ ‘As a complaint against you, we brush off the dust of your city that has collected on our feet. But know this: God’s kingdom has come to you.’ ¹² I assure you that Sodom will be better off on Judgment Day than that city.

Judgment against cities that reject Jesus

¹³ “How terrible it will be for you, Chorazin. How terrible it will be for you, Bethsaida. If the miracles done among you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have changed their hearts and lives long ago. They would have sat around in funeral clothes and ashes. ¹⁴ But Tyre and Sidon will be better off at the judgment than you. ¹⁵ And you, Capernaum, will you be honored by being raised up to heaven? No, you will be cast down to the place of the dead. ¹⁶ Whoever listens to you listens to me. Whoever rejects you rejects me. Whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me.”

The seventy-two return

¹⁷ The seventy-two returned joyously, saying, “Lord, even the demons submit themselves to us in your name.”

¹⁸ Jesus replied, “I saw Satan fall from heaven like lightning. ¹⁹ Look, I have given you authority to crush snakes and scorpions underfoot. I have given you authority over all the power of the enemy. Nothing will harm you. ²⁰ Nevertheless, don’t rejoice because the spirits submit to you. Rejoice instead that your names are written in heaven.”

²¹ At that very moment, Jesus overflowed with joy from the Holy Spirit and said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you’ve hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and shown them to babies. Indeed, Father, this brings you happiness. ²² My Father has handed all things over to me. No one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wants to reveal him.” ²³ Turning to the disciples, he said privately, “Happy are the eyes that see what you see. ²⁴ I assure you that many prophets and kings wanted to see what you see and hear what you hear, but they didn’t.”

Loving your neighbor

²⁵ A legal expert stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he said, “what must I do to gain eternal life?”

²⁶ Jesus replied, “What is written in the Law? How do you interpret it?”

²⁷ He responded, “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your being, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself.”^[a]

²⁸ Jesus said to him, “You have answered correctly. Do this and you will live.”

²⁹ But the legal expert wanted to prove that he was right, so he said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

³⁰ Jesus replied, “A man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho. He encountered thieves, who stripped him naked, beat him up, and left him near death. ³¹ Now it just so happened that a priest was also going down the same road. When he saw the injured man, he crossed over to the other side of the road and went on his way. ³² Likewise, a Levite came by that spot, saw the injured man, and crossed over to the other side of the road and went on his way. ³³ A Samaritan, who was on a journey, came to where the man was. But when he saw him, he was moved with compassion. ³⁴ The Samaritan went to him and bandaged his wounds, tending them with oil and wine. Then he placed the wounded man on his own donkey, took him to an inn, and took care of him. ³⁵ The next day, he took two full days’ worth of wages and gave them to the innkeeper. He said, ‘Take care of him, and when I return, I will pay you back for any additional costs.’ ³⁶ What do you think? Which one of these three was a neighbor to the man who encountered thieves?”

³⁷ Then the legal expert said, “The one who demonstrated mercy toward him.”

Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”

Jesus visits Martha and Mary

³⁸ While Jesus and his disciples were traveling, Jesus entered a village where a woman named Martha welcomed him as a guest. ³⁹ She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his message. ⁴⁰ By contrast, Martha was preoccupied with getting everything ready for their meal. So Martha came to him and said, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to prepare the table all by myself? Tell her to help me.”

⁴¹ The Lord answered, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things. ⁴² One thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the better part. It won’t be taken away from her.”

Teaching the disciples to pray

11 Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”

² Jesus told them, “When you pray, say:

⁵ He also said to them, “Imagine that one of you has a friend and you go to that friend in the middle of the night. Imagine saying, ‘Friend, loan me three loaves of bread ⁶ because a friend of mine on a journey has arrived and I have nothing to set before him.’ ⁷ Imagine further that he answers from within the house, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can’t get up to give you anything.’ ⁸ I assure you, even if he wouldn’t get up and help because of his friendship, he will get up and give his friend whatever he needs because of his friend’s brashness. ⁹ And I tell you: Ask and you will receive. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be opened to you. ¹⁰ Everyone who asks, receives. Whoever seeks, finds. To everyone who knocks, the door is opened.

¹¹ “Which father among you would give a snake to your child if the child asked for a fish? ¹² If a child asked for an egg, what father would give the child a scorpion? ¹³ If you who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?”

Controversy over Beelzebul

¹⁴ Jesus was throwing out a demon that causes muteness. When the demon was gone, the man who couldn’t speak began to talk. The crowds were amazed. ¹⁵ But some of them said, “He throws out demons with the authority of Beelzebul, the ruler of demons.” ¹⁶ Others were testing him, seeking a sign from heaven.

¹⁷ Because Jesus knew what they were thinking, he said to them, “Every kingdom involved in civil war becomes a wasteland, and a house torn apart by divisions will collapse. ¹⁸ If Satan is at war with himself, how will his kingdom endure? I ask this because you say that I throw out demons by the authority of Beelzebul. ¹⁹ If I throw out demons by the authority of Beelzebul, then by whose authority do your followers throw them out? Therefore, they will be your judges. ²⁰ But if I throw out demons by the power^[b] of God, then God’s kingdom has already overtaken you. ²¹ When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his possessions are secure. ²² But as soon as a stronger one attacks and overpowers him, the stronger one takes away the armor he had trusted and divides the stolen goods.

²³ “Whoever isn’t with me is against me, and whoever doesn’t gather with me, scatters. ²⁴ When an unclean spirit leaves a person, it wanders through dry places looking for a place to rest. But it doesn’t find any. Then it says, ‘I’ll go back to the house I left.’ ²⁵ When it arrives, it finds the house cleaned up and decorated. ²⁶ Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself. They go in and make their home there. That person is worse off at the end than at the beginning.”

On seeking signs

²⁷ While Jesus was saying these things, a certain woman in the crowd spoke up: “Happy is the mother who gave birth to you and who nursed you.”

²⁸ But he said, “Happy rather are those who hear God’s word and put it into practice.”

²⁹ When the crowds grew, Jesus said, “This generation is an evil generation. It looks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except Jonah’s sign. ³⁰ Just as Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh, so the Human One^[c] will be a sign to this generation. ³¹ The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with the people of this generation and condemn them, because she came from a distant land to hear Solomon’s wisdom. And look, someone greater than Solomon is here. ³² The people of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they changed their hearts and lives in response to Jonah’s preaching—and one greater than Jonah is here.

³³ “People don’t light a lamp and then put it in a closet or under a basket. Rather, they place the lamp on a lampstand so that those who enter the house can see the light. ³⁴ Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is full of light. But when your eye is bad, your whole body is full of darkness. ³⁵ Therefore, see to it that the light in you isn’t darkness. ³⁶ If your whole body is full of light—with no part darkened—then it will be as full of light as when a lamp shines brightly on you.”

Jesus condemns Pharisees and legal experts

³⁷ While Jesus was speaking, a Pharisee invited him to share a meal with him, so Jesus went and took his place at the table. ³⁸ When the Pharisee saw that Jesus didn’t ritually purify his hands by washing before the meal, he was astonished.

³⁹ The Lord said to him, “Now, you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and platter, but your insides are stuffed with greed and wickedness. ⁴⁰ Foolish people! Didn’t the one who made the outside also make the inside? ⁴¹ Therefore, give to those in need from the core of who you are and you will be clean all over.

⁴² “How terrible for you Pharisees! You give a tenth of your mint, rue, and garden herbs of all kinds, while neglecting justice and love for God. These you ought to have done without neglecting the others.

⁴³ “How terrible for you Pharisees! You love the most prominent seats in the synagogues and respectful greetings in the marketplaces.

⁴⁴ “How terrible for you! You are like unmarked graves, and people walk on them without recognizing it.”

⁴⁵ One of the legal experts responded, “Teacher, when you say these things, you are insulting us too.”

⁴⁶ Jesus said, “How terrible for you legal experts too! You load people down with impossible burdens and you refuse to lift a single finger to help them.

⁴⁷ “How terrible for you! You built memorials to the prophets, whom your ancestors killed. ⁴⁸ In this way, you testify that you approve of your ancestors’ deeds. They killed the prophets, and you build memorials! ⁴⁹ Therefore, God’s wisdom has said, ‘I will send prophets and apostles to them and they will harass and kill some of them.’ ⁵⁰ As a result, this generation will be charged with the murder of all the prophets since the beginning of time. ⁵¹ This includes the murder of every prophet—from Abel to Zechariah—who was killed between the altar and the holy place. Yes, I’m telling you, this generation will be charged with it.

⁵² “How terrible for you legal experts! You snatched away the key of knowledge. You didn’t enter yourselves, and you stood in the way of those who were entering.”

⁵³ As he left there, the legal experts and Pharisees began to resent him deeply and to ask him pointed questions about many things. ⁵⁴ They plotted against him, trying to trap him in his words.