Luke 18
18
Chapter 18
Jesus teaches his disciples how to pray
1Then Jesus told his disciples a story. He wanted to teach them that they must continue to pray always. They must not want to stop.
2He said to them, ‘In a certain city, there was a judge. He was not afraid of God. He did not respect people.
3A woman lived in that same city. Her husband had died. She came to the judge many times with a problem. She was saying, “Somebody is doing bad things against me. Please show that I am right and he is wrong.” 4For a long time, the judge would not do anything to help her. Later, he thought, “I am not afraid of God. Nor do I respect people. 5But this woman causes me trouble. If I do not do anything for her, she will continue to come to me again and again. She will make me ill. So I will help her. I will say that she is right.” ’
6Jesus then said, ‘This judge was not a good man. But you should think about what he said. He finally decided to help the woman. 7So God will surely help those that he has chosen to be his children. When they continue to ask him for help, in the day and in the night, he will answer them. He will not wait. 8I tell you this. He will show that they are right. He will help them quickly. I, the Son of Man, will return to earth. But will I find many people who still believe in me then, or not?’
Jesus' story about two men who were praying
9Jesus told a story to teach some people who thought that they were very good. They thought that they were much better than other people.
10Jesus said, ‘One day, two men went into the temple to pray. One man was a Pharisee. The other man took taxes from people. 11The Pharisee stood there by himself. He prayed like this: “Thank you, God, that I am different from all these other people. They are bad people. They rob other people. They have sex with people that they are not married to. Thank you, God, that I am not like this man who takes taxes on behalf of the government. 12I fast for two days of each week. I give you one tenth of everything that I receive.”
13But the other man stood far away. He would not even look up towards heaven. He was hitting his body with his hands to show how sorry he was. He prayed like this: “Please, God, be kind to me. I have done many bad things.” ’
14Jesus then said, ‘Let me tell you about these men when they went home. The man that took taxes from people was now right with God. But the Pharisee was still guilty. Some people lift themselves up to be important. But God will bring all of them down low. Other people are humble. God will lift up those people to a good place.’
Little children come to Jesus
15People were also bringing babies to Jesus. They wanted him to put his hands on each child's head. But Jesus' disciples told the people that they should not do that.
16Then Jesus told the children to come to him. He said to his disciples, ‘Let the children come to me. Do not try to stop them. People must become like these children so that God can rule their lives. That is what the kingdom of God is like. 17I tell you this. A person must become like a little child for God to rule in his life. If he does not become like a child, he will not come into the kingdom of God.’
Jesus tells a rich man to sell everything
18A Jewish ruler came to Jesus and asked him, ‘Good Teacher, what must I do so that I can live with God for ever?’
19Jesus asked him, ‘Why do you say that I am good? Only God is good. Nobody else. 20You know God's commands: “Do not have sex with anyone that you are not married to. Do not kill anyone. Do not rob anyone. Do not say things that are not true about people. Love your father and your mother, and obey them.” ’
21The man replied, ‘I have obeyed all these laws since I was a young man.’
22Jesus heard what the man said. He replied, ‘There is still just one thing that you must do. You must sell everything that you have. Then give the money to poor people. If you do that, you will have many valuable things in heaven. Then come back and be my disciple.’
23When the ruler heard this, he became very sad. This was because he was a very rich man.
24Jesus saw that the ruler had become sad. He said, ‘It is very difficult for rich people to let God rule in their lives. 25The hole in a needle is very small. A camel cannot go through it! But it is even more difficult for a rich person to let God rule in their life.’
26The people who were listening to Jesus said, ‘So perhaps God will not save anyone!’
27Jesus replied, ‘God can do things that are impossible for people to do.’
28Peter then said to Jesus, ‘Look! We have left everything that we had. Now we are your disciples.’
29Jesus said to them, ‘I tell you this. Some people have left their homes. Or they may have left their wife or their brothers. Or they may have left their parents or their children. They have done this to work for the kingdom of God. 30Now, in this world, God will give these people many more things than they have left behind. And in the future world they will live for ever with God.’
Jesus speaks a third time about his death
31Jesus took the 12 disciples away from the other people. He said to them, ‘Listen! We are going to Jerusalem. There, many bad things will happen to me. All the things that God's prophets wrote long ago about the Son of Man will now happen to me. 32The Jewish leaders will put me under the power of people who are not Jews. They will laugh at me. They will say bad things against me. They will spit at me. 33They will hit me with whips. Finally, they will kill me. But after three days, I will become alive again.’
34The 12 disciples did not understand any of these things. What Jesus said did not mean anything to them. So they did not know what Jesus was talking about.
Jesus makes a blind man well
35When Jesus was getting near to Jericho, a blind man was sitting at the side of the road. He was asking people to give him money. 36The blind man heard a large crowd of people as they went along the road. So he asked the people near him what was happening. 37They told him, ‘Jesus from Nazareth is walking past.’
38The man began to shout out. ‘Jesus! Son of David! Please be kind to me and help me.’
39The people who were walking at the front of the crowd were angry with him. They told him that he should be quiet. But he started to shout even louder, ‘Son of David! Please help me!’
40Then Jesus stopped. He said to the people, ‘Bring that man to me.’
When the man came near, Jesus asked him, 41‘What do you want me to do for you?’
The blind man replied, ‘Sir, I want to see again.’
42Jesus said to him, ‘Now see again! You are well now because you believed in me.’ 43Immediately, the man could see again. He started to follow Jesus along the road. He was praising God as he went.
Many people saw what had happened. They also praised God.
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Luke 18: EASY
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