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Jesus A modern English blending of the New Testament
Introduction Table of Contents
Chapters
Charles Templeton Home Brad Templeton Home Brad's Photo Pages
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Jesus went on a tour through the cities and towns, teaching
as he went. One day a man put a question to him. "Teacher, will only a few be saved?" "The doorway is narrow," he said. "Do your best to go through
it. I'll tell you this: once the owner of the house has gotten up and locked
the door there'll be no getting in. You may stand on the outside, banging
on the door, and shouting, 'Lord, let us in,' but his response will be, 'I
neither know who you are nor where you're from.' You'll say, 'But don't you
remember? We had meals together. You taught in our town. . .' And he'll say,
'I don't even know what town you're talking about. Go away, evildoer.'" At that moment some Pharisees came up. "You'd better get
out of town," they told him. "Herod's out to kill you." "Go tell that fox that I'll be here for the next two days,
driving out evil spirits and performing cures," he told them. "I'll finish
my work here on the third day, But then again, perhaps I shall have to leave
today or tommorrow or on the third day because it would never do for a prophet
to die outside Jerusalem." One sabbath he went to the home of a prominent Pharisee for
a meal. Every eye was on him because right in front of him sat a man suffering
from dropsy. At the table were a number of Pharisees and some lawyers. In
the course of the meal Jesus put question to them. "Is it permitted in the law to heal on the sabbath?" No one would answer. Jesus put his hands on the man, healed
him, and sent him away. "I have another question," he said. "Which one of you, if
your mule or ox should happen to fall into a well on a sabbath, wouldn't
pull him out?" The meal continued in silence. Earlier, Jesus had noticed
that when the guests were gathering some had chosen the most prominent seats.
He spoke to them through a parable. "When you're invited to a wedding supper," he said, "let
me advise you not to take the best seat. Some more distinguished guest may
arrive late and your host may come to you and say, 'I'm sorry, but that seat
was reserved for this man,' and you'll be in the embarrassing position of
having to go to the foot of the table. Instead, take the poorest place. Then,
your host may come to you and say, 'Here, take a better seat,' and you'll
be honored in front of everybody. Exalt yourself and you'll be put down,
even as the humble will be honored." Now he turned to his host: "When you put on a dinner, don't
invite your close friends, your family, your relatives, and your wealthy
neighbors. They'll probably return the favor and you'll have been paid back.
Instead invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. You'll be
glad you did because, when the resurrection of the good takes place, you'll
be repaid." One of the guests said to him, "Think how glorious it will
be to be in the kingdom of heaven when they sit down to table there!" He told this story. "A certain man planned a great banquet
and sent out many invitations. Just before the scheduled time he sent out
his servants to inform the invited guests that everything was ready. To a
man they began to make excuses. One said, 'I bought some property and I must
go and check it out.' 'Sorry,' another said, 'I just bought five team of
oxen and I must go and see how they work together.' 'Please accept my regrets,'
another said, 'but I just got married and can't attend.
'When the servant reported all this, the host was angry and gave his servants
further orders: 'Quickly now, go into the street and the back lanes and invite
the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame. 'Soon his servant was back
again. 'We've done what you ordered, 'he said, 'and there are still some
empty places.' The man said, 'Go out of town, go into the highways and the
sideroads and insist that they come in so that my home may be filled. And
mark my words: not one of those invited in the first place is going to get
so much as a taste of what I'd prepared.'" Everywhere he went, Jesus was followed by great crowds. At
one point he turned and spoke to them about the problems of being a disciple.
"It's not easy to be a disciple of mine, "he warned. "Your
allegiance to me must go far beyond family ties and affections. It must even
be more important than your life; the man who is unwilling to follow me all
the way to the cross can't be a disciple of mine. "If you were going to erect a building, would you not first
work out the cost to see whether you could finish it? How embarrasing to
get the foundation in and then run out of money and have everyone pointing
his finger at you and sneering, 'Look he started something he couldn't finish!'
"Or, to put it another way: here's a commander-in-chief with
ten thousand troops under his command. He's marching to an engagement with
an enemy of twenty thousand. Don't you think he'd consult with his staff
in advance to determine whether or not he could win? And if the consensus
is that he couldn't, wouldn't he send an envoy on ahead to see what peace
terms he could get? Bearing all this in mind, I tell you that if you're not
ready to renounce everything you cannot be one of my disciples." The outcasts and the disreputable were turning out to hear
him in great numbers. This irked the Pharisees and the scribes and set them
to grumbling. "This fellow is a friend of scoundrels," they said. "He even
takes meals with them." So he told this parable: "Here's a woman whose entire wealth
is ten silver coins. One day she loses one. Don't you think that she would
be concerned to find it? Why she'd search every nook and cranny of the house
for it and, finding it, would call in her friends and neighbors, saying,
'Come, celebrate with me; I've found the coin I lost.' And I tell you," Jesus
said, "that in heaven they celebrate in much the same way when even one sinner
quits his sins." He told another parable: "There once was a man with two sons.
One day the younger came to him and said, 'Father give me the share of your
estate that will one day come to me.' The Father did and a few days later
the young man turned his belongings into cash and took off to a distant country
where he squandered the money in carousing and every kind of extravagance.
It so happened that, at the time he ran out of funds, there was a serious
famine in the area and he found himself in actual need. He took a job as
a hired hand whose duty it was to feed the pigs. One day he reached the stage
where even the slop for the pigs looked good to him, and there was no relief
in sight. At that point he came to his senses said to himself, 'here I am,
half-starved, while back home even my father's servants have more than they
can eat. I'm going home. I'll say to my father, "Father, I have sinned against
God and I've let you down. I don't deserve to be known as your son but let
me work for you as a hired-hand."' He headed for home. Before he reached
the gate, his father saw him coming and saw how impoverished he looked, and
his heart went out to him. He ran to meet him, threw his arms around him,
and hugged him close. The son said, 'I'm a sinner, father. I've sinned against
both God and you and I don't deserve to be known as your son.' "The father turned to the servants. 'Quickly!' he said. 'Bring
the best clothes from the house and put them on him.
Quickly, a ring . . .and some shoes. And that calf we've been fattening -go
slaughter it. We're going to have a party. The son I'd given up for dead
is alive! I was sure he was lost but now we've got him back!' The man's elder
son had been working in the field all that day. As he drew near to the house
he heard the sound of music and the laughter and talk of a party. He asked
one of the servants what was going on. The servant told him what had happend.
The elder son was furious and wouldn't go near the house. His father came
out and pleaded with him, but the son said, 'Look father, all these years
I've worked for you. Never once have I deliberately disobeyed you. Yet in
all that time you've never given me so much as a young goat so that I could
throw a dinner party for my friends. Then, today, your son comes home after
squandering your money on whores, and you kill the fattened calf for him.'
His father said to him, But son, you've been here with me all the time. Everything
I have is yours. What was I to do but to be happy and celebrate? He's your
brother and I thought he was dead. But he's alive! I thought he was lost,
but now he's home again.' " Then Jesus told a story especially for the disciples. "There
was once a wealthy man who put all his affairs in the hands of an accountant.
One day some people informed him that the accountant was mishandling his
affairs. He called the man in. "What's this I hear about you?' he said. "Turn
in the books. You're fired.' Well, the accountant said to himself, 'What
am I going to do? I've lost my job. I'm not physically up to doing manual
labor and I could never lower myself to beg. I know what; I'll fix it so
that even when I'm out of a job people will welcome me to their homes.' So
he had his boss's debtors in and said to them. 'Let's see now, you owe us
for one hundred barrels of oil. Quickly, tear up the bill and make out one
for fifty!' To another he said, 'You owe us for a hundred bushels of wheat.
Make it eighty.' Despite himself the boss couldn't help but admire the rascal's
shrewdness. "In the short term, "Jesus went on, "wordly men are often
far wiser than good men. I'm telling you to use money wisely - tainted as
it may be - to make friends so that when it runs out they may welcome you
into the everlasting houses. A man who is careful in small matters will be
careful in important things, and if you can't handle 'filty lucre' wisely,
who's going to trust you with true wealth? Nobody can work for two employers;
he's bound to favor one over the other. You can't serve both almighty God
and the almighty dollar." The Pharisees, who were very interested in money, had been
listening. When they sneered at what he had said, he spoke to them. "You Pharisees," he said, "you may parade your piety before
your fellow-men, but God knows your hearts. The things that impress men are
often abhorrent to God. The standard for men's lives up to the time of John
the Baptist was the Mosaic Law and the sayings of the prophets. Since
John, the message is the good news of God's kingdom -and throngs are pressing
their way in. Nonetheless, remember that heaven and earth will have ceased
to exist before even the smallest point in the Law is canceled. For instance,
it remains true, as is specified in the Law, that anyone who gets a divorce
and remarries is an adulterer. So is the man who marries a divorced woman."
He told another parable. "There was once a wealthy man whose
clothes were the finest and whose food was the best. One day they laid the
most wretched of beggars at his gate. His name was Lazarus. His body was
covered with running sores, and he was so hungry he longed for the crumbs
on the floor beneath the rich man's table. The dogs went to him and licked
his sores. Time passed. Lazarus died and was carried by angels to a place
right beside father Abraham. The rich man died and was buried. In Hades,
suffering, he looked up and saw, in the distance, Abraham with Lazarus at
his side. "Father Abraham,' he shouted. 'Have mercy and send that beggar to me so that he may dip the tip of his finger
in water and cool my tongue. I'm in agony in these flames.' Abraham replied,
'Think back, my son. When you were alive you had nothing but the best even
as Lazarus had the worst. But now he's being comforted and you're in torment.
Moreover, there's an impassable chasm between us. Even if we wanted to, we
couldn't get across to you nor could you cross to where we are.' The wealthy
man said, 'Then I entreat you, father Abraham, send Lazarus to my family-home
to talk to my five brothers so they won't come to this place of agony.' Abraham
said, 'They have the teachings of Moses and the prophets; let them heed their
words.' 'I know they have' Father Abraham,' the man said. But if someone
were to come back from the dead, they'd repent.' Abraham said, 'if they
won't pay attention to Moses and the prophets, they won't be convinced by
the return of a dead man!' " The apostles said to Jesus, "Give us more faith." Faith?" he said. "If you have as little faith as a single
grain of mustard seed you can say to this mulberry tree here, 'Be uprooted
and be planted in the ocean,' and it will be. A question: would any of you,
if you had a hired hand whose job it was to tend sheep and to plow, say to
him when he comes in at the end of the day, 'Come in and have your dinner?'
Wouldn't you be more likely to say, 'Get my dinner ready, then change your
clothes and serve me. Then when I've eaten, you may.' Does one thank a servant
for doing what he's paid to do? By the same token, when you've done what's
asked of you, you should think of yourselves as unexceptional servants who've
done no more than is expected." Lazarus of Bethany was sick. Lazarus was the brother of Maratha
and Mary in whose home Jesus had visited, and Mary was the women who had
washed his feet with her tears dried them with her hair. The sisters sent
a messenger to Jesus with the word; "Your dear friend
is very ill." When he received the message he said to the disciples, "It's
not a terminal illness: its purpose is to bring honor to God and to be a
means by which God's son is honored." He was very fond of the family, but despite the news, stayed
on where he was for another two days. Then he announced to the disciples,
"We're going to Judea." They remonstrated. "Teacher," they said, "Only a few days
ago they were ready to stone you there. Do you really think you should go
back?" "There are twelve hours in the day, aren't there?" he said.
"One doesn't stumble during the day because he has light. It's only when
it's dark, when there is no light, that one stumbles." He paused a moment,
silent, and then he said, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep. I'd better
go and wake him up." "But Master, if he has only fallen asleep he'll be all right."
He told them bluntly, "Lazarus is dead. For your sake, I'm
glad I wasn't there earlier, since your faith in me may now be strengthened.
Let's go." Thomas turned to the others. "If he's going," he said, "let's
go and die beside him." By the time they got to Bethany, Lazarus had been buried
four days. The town is no more than a couple of miles from Jerusalem, and
a number of leading Jews from the city had come to see Martha and Mary to
offer their sympathy. A message came to Martha that Jesus was on the outskirts
of the town and she ran to meet him. "Oh, Teacher," she said, "if only you had been here, Lazarus
would still be alive. Even now I know God will give you anything you ask."
"Your brother will rise again," he said. "Oh, I know he'll be resurrected on the final day -"
"But Martha, I am myself the resurrection life. Anyone who believes in me, even if he dies, will live again. And,
living with faith in me, he'll never die. Do you believe this?" "Yes, I do, Teacher. I believe you're the Christ, God's son,
the one we've waited for." She left him and ran home. Inside the house she whispered
to Mary, "The Teacher's here. He wants to see you." Mary jumped to her feet and ran to meet him. The mourners
in the house had seen her run off, so they followed her, presuming that she
had gone to the tomb to weep. Jesus had not gone into the town and was on
its outskirts, at the place where he had talked to Martha. When Mary saw
him, she ran to him and collapsed at his feet. "Oh Master!" she sobbed. "if only you had been here he wouldn't
be dead." Jesus looked at her, shaking with sobs, and at the weeping
mourners, and he was deeply moved. "Where is he buried," he asked. "Come, we'll show you." At these words Jesus burst into tears. The mourners standing
watching said, "Look how much he loved him." "But," another said, "surely if he could open a blind man's
eyes he could have kept Lazarus from dying." Jesus walked up to the entrance of the tomb, visibly moved.
The tomb was, in fact a cave with a stone covering the opening. He told them
to roll the stone out of the way. "But Teacher, there'll be a stench. He's been dead four days,"
Martha said. "Didn't I tell you that if you'd trust you'd see the marvelous
things that God can do?" Jesus replied. When they had moved the stone, Jesus raised his eyes and
prayed. "Father," he said,"thank you for having heard me in the past.
I know you always do, and I say it now only so that the people here may
know I'm here because you sent me." He paused a moment and then shouted at the top of his voice,
"Lazarus, come out of there!" Out came the dead man, his hands, feet, and face wrapped
in burial cloths. "Take those things off," Jesus said, "so that he may go home."
Many of the mourners who had followed Mary from her house
and had seen Lazarus resurrected believed in him; others went to the Pharisees
and reported what had happened. The chief priests and the Pharisees called
a meeting of the council. "What are we going to do about this?" they said. "There can be no question but that this man does some astonishing
things, but if we allow him to go on like this everybody will be following
him. And that will bring in the Romans. You know what they'll do; they'll
destroy our place and our society." Caiaphas, the high priest, spoke next. "Realize what's happening
here." he said. "Don't you see? It would be better for one man to die for
the people than for the whole nation to be destroyed." From that day on the council met to lay plans to bring about
Jesus' execution. Consequently, Jesus stopped his appearances in public and,
with the disciples, traveled to the village of Ephraim at the edge of the
desert. They stayed there for a while.
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