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Jesus Teaches About Prayer(Mt. 6:9-15)

¹One time Jesus was out praying, and when he finished, one of his followers said to him, "Johna taught his followers how to pray. Lord, teach us how to pray too."
²Jesus said to the followers, "This is how you should pray:

'Father, we pray that your name will always be kept holy.
We pray that your kingdomb will come.
³Give us the food we need for each day.
⁴Forgive our sins, just as we forgive everyone who has done wrong to us.
And don't let us be tempted.'"

Ask God for What You Need(Mt. 7:7-11) ^5-⁶Then Jesus said to them, "Suppose one of you went to your friend's house very late at night and said to him, 'A friend of mine has come into town to visit me. But I have nothing for him to eat. Please give me three loaves of bread.' ⁷Your friend inside the house answers, 'Go away! Don't bother me! The door is already locked. My children and I are in bed. I cannot get up and give you the bread now.' ⁸I tell you, maybe friendship is not enough to make him get up to give you the bread. But he will surely get up to give you what you need if you continue to ask. ⁹So I tell you, continue to ask, and God will give to you. Continue to search, and you will find. Continue to knock, and the door will open for you. ¹⁰Yes, whoever continues to ask will receive. Whoever continues to look will find. And whoever continues to knock will have the door opened for them. ¹¹Do any of you have a son? What would you do if your son asked you for a fish? Would any father give him a snake? ¹²Or, if he asked for an egg, would you give him a scorpion? Of course not! ¹³Even you who are bad know how to give good things to your children. So surely your heavenly Father knows how to give the Holy Spiritc to the people who ask him."

Jesus’ Power Is From God(Mt. 12:22-30; Mk. 3:20-27) ¹⁴One time Jesus was sending a demond out of a man who could not talk. When the demon came out, the man was able to speak. The crowds were amazed. ¹⁵But some of the people said, "He uses the power of Satane to force demons out of people. Satan is the ruler of demons."
¹⁶Some others there wanted to test Jesus. They asked him to do a miracle as a sign from God. ¹⁷But he knew what they were thinking. So he said to them, "Every kingdom that fights against itself will be destroyed. And a family that fights against itself will break apart. ¹⁸So if Satane is fighting against himself, how will his kingdom survive? You say that I use the power of Satan to force out demons. ¹⁹But if I use Satan's power to force out demons, then what power do your people use when they force out demons? So your own people will prove that you are wrong. ²⁰But I use the power of God to force out demons. This shows that God's kingdomf has now come to you.
²¹"When a strong man with many weapons guards his own house, the things in his house are safe. ²²But suppose a stronger man comes and defeats him. The stronger man will take away the weapons that the first man trusted to keep his house safe. Then the stronger man will do what he wants with the other man's things.
²³"Whoever is not with me is against me. And anyone who does not work with me is working against me.

The Danger of Emptiness(Mt. 12:43-45) ²⁴"When an evil spirit comes out of someone, it travels through dry places, looking for a place to rest. But it finds no place to rest. So it says, 'I will go back to the home I left.' ²⁵When it comes back, it finds that home all neat and clean. ²⁶Then the evil spirit goes out and brings back seven other spirits more evil than itself. They all go and live there, and that person has even more trouble than before."

The People God Blesses ²⁷As Jesus was saying these things, a woman with the people there called out to him, "Blessings from God belong to the woman who gave birth to you and fed you!"
²⁸But Jesus said, "The people who hear the teaching of God and obey it - they are the ones who have God's blessing."

Some People Doubt Jesus’ Authority(Mt. 12:38-42; Mk. 8:12) ²⁹The crowd grew larger and larger. Jesus said, "The people who live today are evil. They ask for a miracleg as a sign from God. But no miracle will be done to prove anything to them. The only sign will be the miracle that happened to Jonahh. ³⁰Jonah was a sign for those who lived in Ninevehi. It is the same with the Son of Manj. He will be a sign for the people of this time.
³¹"On the judgment day, you people who live now will be compared with the Queen of the Southk, and she will be a witness who shows how guilty you are. Why do I say this? Because she traveled from far, far away to listen to Solomon's wise teaching. And I tell you that someonel greater than Solomon is right here, but you won't listen!
³²"On the judgment day, you people who live now will also be compared with the people from Nineveh, and they will be witnesses who show how guilty you are. I say this because when Jonah preached to those people, they changed their hearts and lives. And you are listening to someone greater than Jonah, but you refuse to change!

Be a Light for the World(Mt. 5:15; 6:22-23) ³³"No one takes a light and puts it under a bowl or hides it. Instead, they put it on a lampstand so that the people who come in can see. ³⁴The only source of light for the body is the eye. When you look at people and want to help them, you are full of light. But when you look at people in a selfish way, you are full of darkness.m ³⁵So be careful! Don't let the light in you become darkness. ³⁶If you are full of light, and there is no part of you that is dark, then you will be all bright, as though you have the light of a lamp shining on you."

Jesus Criticizes the Religious Leaders(Mt. 23:1-36; Mk. 12:38-40; Lk. 20:45-47) ³⁷After Jesus had finished speaking, a Phariseen asked Jesus to eat with him. So he went and took a place at the table. ³⁸But the Pharisee was surprised when he saw that Jesus did not wash his handso first before the meal. ³⁹The Lord said to him, "The washing you Pharisees do is like cleaning only the outside of a cup or a dish. But what is inside you? You want only to cheat and hurt people. ⁴⁰You are foolish! The same one who made what is outside also made what is inside. ⁴¹So pay attention to what is inside. Give to the people who need help. Then you will be fully clean.
⁴²"But it will be bad for you Pharisees! You give God a tenth of the food you get, even your mint, your rue, and every other little plant in your gardenp. But you forget to be fair to others and to love God. These are the things you should do. And you should also continue to do those other things.
⁴³"It will be bad for you Pharisees because you love to have the most important seats in the synagoguesq. And you love for people to show respect to you in the marketplaces. ⁴⁴It will be bad for you, because you are like hidden graves. People walk on them without knowing it."
⁴⁵One of the experts in the law said to Jesus, "Teacher, when you say these things about the Pharisees, you are criticizing our group too."
⁴⁶Jesus answered, "It will be bad for you, you experts in the law! You make strict rules that are very hard for people to obeyr. You try to force others to obey your rules. But you yourselves don't even try to follow any of those rules. ⁴⁷It will be bad for you, because you build tombss for the prophetst. But these are the same prophets your ancestorsu killed! ⁴⁸And now you show all people that you agree with what your ancestors did. They killed the prophets, and you build tombs for the prophets! ⁴⁹This is why God in his wisdom said, 'I will send prophets and apostlesv to them. Some of my prophets and apostles will be killed by evil men. Others will be treated badly.'
⁵⁰"So you people who live now will be punished for the deaths of all the prophets who were killed since the beginning of the world. ⁵¹You will be punished for the killing of Abelw. And you will be punished for the killing of Zechariahx, who was killed between the altary and the Templez. Yes, I tell you that you people will be punished for them all.
⁵²"It will be bad for you, you experts in the law! You have taken away the key to learning about God. You yourselves would not learn, and you stopped others from learning too."
⁵³When Jesus went out, the teachers of the law and the Pharisees began to give him much trouble. They tried to make him answer questions about many things. ⁵⁴They were trying to find a way to catch Jesus saying something wrong.

^aJohn See “John the Baptizer.”
^bkingdom See “God’s kingdom.”
^cHoly Spirit Also called the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ, and the Comforter. In union with God and Christ, he does God’s work among people in the world.
^ddemon An evil spirit from the devil.
^e11:15 Satan Literally, “Beelzebul” (the devil). Also in verses 18, 19.
^fGod’s kingdom The “reign” or “rule” of God over all people who submit to him by accepting Jesus as the Messiah (the appointed king), who represents God’s kingdom on earth. Jesus was the perfect example of submission to the will of God. When people give control of their lives to Jesus, they become part of God’s kingdom and begin to enjoy the blessings he has promised his people from the beginning. (Note that in Matthew this term also translates the Greek word “kingdom” by itself or the phrase, “the kingdom of the heavens,” which was used by Jews as a way to avoid saying the divine name.)
^gmiracle An amazing act done by the power of God.
^h11:29 Jonah A prophet in the Old Testament. After three days in a big fish he came out alive, just as Jesus would come out from the tomb on the third day.
ⁱ11:30 Nineveh City where Jonah preached. See Jonah 3.
^jSon of Man The name that Jesus most often used for himself. The phrase in Hebrew or Aramaic means “human being” or “mankind,” but in Dan. 7:13-14 it is used of a future savior and king, and this was later understood to be the Messiah, the one God would send to save his people.
^k11:31 Queen of the South Or “Queen of Sheba.” She traveled about 1000 miles (1600 km) to learn God’s wisdom from Solomon. See 1 Kings 10:1-13.
^l11:31 someone Literally, “something.” Also in verse 32.
^m11:34 Literally, “The lamp of the body is your eye. When your eye is pure, your whole body is full of light. But if it is evil, your body is dark.”
ⁿPharisee A person who belonged to a Jewish religious group that claimed to follow carefully all Jewish laws and customs.
^o11:38 wash his hands Washing the hands was a Jewish religious custom that the Pharisees thought was very important.
^p11:42 You give … garden Literally, “You tithe mint, rue, and every herb.” The Law of Moses required Israelites to share their food supply by dedicating a tenth of their field crops and livestock to God (see Lev. 27:30-32; Deut. 26:12). This did not include such small garden plants as those mentioned here. So these Pharisees were giving more than required to be sure they were not breaking the Law.
^qsynagogue A place in many cities where Jews gathered for prayer, study of the Scriptures, and other public meetings.
^r11:46 You make … obey Literally, “You put heavy burdens on people that are hard for them to carry.”
^stomb A grave dug in a wall of rock or a building where a dead body is buried. It can also be a small building made to show respect for important people who had died.
^tprophet A person who speaks a message from God. Many of the books in the Old Testament are messages spoken or written by “the prophets,” who were some of those God chose to speak for him. God often used dreams or visions to tell or show his prophets what they should say.
^uancestors Literally, “fathers,” meaning a person’s parents, grandparents, and all the other people that person is descended from. In the New Testament it usually refers to people who lived during Old Testament times.
^v11:49 prophets and apostles People chosen by God to tell his Good News to the world.
^w11:51 Abel In the Hebrew Old Testament, the first person to be murdered.
^x11:51 Zechariah In the Hebrew Old Testament, the last person to be murdered.
^yaltar A raised area, pile of stones, or table where sacrifices were offered as gifts to God. An important altar was the one in front of the Temple in Jerusalem. See also “golden altar.”
^zTemple The permanent building in Jerusalem that replaced the portable “Holy Tent” that was used by the Israelites from the time of their wandering in the desert to the reign of King Solomon, when the first Temple was built. Like the Holy Tent, the Temple was the center of Israelite worship, although provision was made for it to be “a house of prayer for all nations” (Isa. 56:7).