The Coming One

Gospel of Matthew 11

After Jesus had finished giving directions to his twelve disciples, he left that place in order to teach and preach in their towns. 2 Now John had heard in prison what the Christ was doing, and he sent a message by his disciples, 3 And asked: “Are you ‘The Coming One,’ or are we to look for someone else?” 4 The answer of Jesus to the question was: “Go and report to John what you hear and see: 5 The blind recover their sight, and the lame walk; the lepers are made clean and the deaf hear; the dead, too, are raised to life, and the gospel is told to the poor. 6 And blessed is the one who finds no hindrance in me.”

7 While these men were going back, Jesus began to say to the crowds with reference to John: 8 “What did you go out into the wilderness to look at? A reed waving in the wind? If not, what did you go out to see? A man richly dressed? Why, those who wear rich things are to be found in the courts of kings! 9 What, then, did you go for? To see a prophet? Yes, I tell you, and far more than a prophet.”

10 “This is the man of whom scripture says: ‘Behold, I am myself sending my messenger before thy face, And he shall prepare thy way before thee.’11 I tell you, no one born of a woman has yet appeared who is greater than John the Baptist; and yet the lowliest in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. 12 From the time of John the Baptist to this very hour, the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force. 13 For the teaching of all the prophets and of the law continued until the time of John; 14 And, if you are ready to accept it, John is himself the Elijah who was destined to come. 15 Let those who have ears hear.

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The Meaning of The Lord’s Prayer

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16 But to what shall I compare the present generation? It is like little children sitting in the market–places and calling out to their playmates: 17 ‘We have played the flute for you, but you have not danced; We have wailed, but you have not mourned.’18 For, when John came, neither eating nor drinking, men said ‘He has a devil in him’; 19 And now that the Son of Man has come, eating and drinking, they are saying: ‘Here is a glutton and a wino, a friend of tax–gatherers and sinners!’ And yet wisdom is vindicated by her actions.”

20 Then Jesus began to reproach the towns in which most of his miracles had been done, because they had not repented: 21 “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For, if the miracles which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. 22 Yet, I tell you, the doom of Tyre and Sidon will be more bearable in the day of judgment than yours.”

23 “And you, Capernaum! Will you ‘exalt yourself to heaven’? ‘You shall go down to the place of death.’ For, if the miracles which have been done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have been standing to this day. 24 Yet, I tell you, the doom of Sodom will be more bearable in the day of judgment than yours.”

25 At that same time Jesus uttered the words: “I thank thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that, though thou has hidden these things from the wise and learned, thou has revealed them unto babes. 26 Yes, Father, I thank thee that this has seemed good to thee. 27 Everything has been committed to me by my Father; nor does anyone fully know the Son, except the Father, nor fully know the Father, except the Son, and those to whom the Son may choose to reveal him.

28 Come to me, all you who toil and are burdened, and I will give you rest! 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me, for I am gentle and lowly at heart, and ‘you shall find rest for your souls’; 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

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To read Chapter 12 of the Gospel of Matthew, please go to: The Wisdom of Solomon

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A Lonely Place

Gospel of Mark 6

On leaving that place, Jesus, followed by his disciples, went to his own part of the country. 2 When the Sabbath came, he began to teach in the synagogue; and the people, as they listened, were deeply impressed. “Where did he get this?” they said, “and what is this wisdom that has been given him? and these miracles which he is doing? 3 Is not he the carpenter, the son of Mary, and the brother of James, and Joses, and Judas, and Simon? And are not his sisters, too, living here among us?” This proved a hindrance to their believing in him; 4 On which Jesus said: “A prophet is not without honor, except in his own country, and among his own relations, and in his own home.”

5 And he could not work any miracle there, beyond placing his hands upon a few infirm persons, and curing them; 6 And he wondered at the want of faith shown by the people. Jesus went round the villages, one after another, teaching. 7 He called the twelve to him, and began to send them out as his messengers, two and two, and gave them authority over foul spirits. 8 He instructed them to take nothing but a staff for the journey—not even bread, or a bag, or pence in their purse; 9 But they were to wear sandals, and not to put on a second coat.

10 “Whenever you go to stay at a house,” he said, “remain there till you leave that place; 11 And if a place does not welcome you, or listen to you, as you go out of it shake off the dust that is on the soles of your feet, as a protest against them.” 12 So they set out, and proclaimed the need of repentance. 13 They drove out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were infirm, and cured them.

14 Now King Herod heard of Jesus; for his name had become well known. People were saying: “John the Baptist must have risen from the dead, and that is why these miraculous powers are active in him.” 15 Others again said: “He is Elijah,” and others: “He is a prophet, like one of the great prophets.”

16 But when Herod heard of him, he said: “The man whom I beheaded, John, he must be risen!” 17 For Herod himself had sent and arrested John, and put him in prison, in chains, to please Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip, because Herod had married her. 18 For John had said to Herod: ‘You have no right to be living with your brother’s wife.’

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To continue reading Chapter 6 of the Gospel of Mark, including Jesus and a lonely place, please click on page 2 below.

John – Gospel 4 – Christ Is The Living Water

Now, when the Master heard that the Pharisees had been told that he was making and baptizing more disciples than John 2 (Though it was not Jesus himself, but his disciples, who baptized), 3 He left Judea, and set out again for Galilee. 4 He had to pass through Samaria, 5 And, on his way, he came to a Samaritan town called Shechem, near the plot of land that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s spring was there, and Jesus, being tired after his journey, sat down beside the spring, just as he was. It was then about midday.

7 A woman of Samaria came to draw water; and Jesus said to her: “Give me some to drink,” 8 For his disciples had gone into the town to buy food. 9 “How is it,” replied the Samaritan woman, “that you who are a Jew ask for water from a Samaritan woman like me?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans). 10 “If you knew of the gift of God,” replied Jesus, “and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me some water,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”

11 “You have no bucket, sir, and the well is deep,” she said; “where did you get that ‘living water?’ 12 Surely you are not greater than our ancestor Jacob who gave us the well, and used to drink from it himself, and his sons, and his cattle!” 13 “All who drink of this water,” replied Jesus, “will be thirsty again; 14 But all who drink once of the water that I will give them shall never thirst anymore; but the water that I will give them shall become a spring welling up from within—a source of everlasting life.”

15 “Give me this water, sir,” said the woman, “so that I may not be thirsty, nor have to come all the way here to draw water.” 16 “Go and call your husband,” said Jesus, “and then come back.” 17 “I have no husband,” answered the woman. “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband,’” replied Jesus, 18 “For you have had five husbands, and the man with whom you are now living is not your husband; in saying that, you have spoken the truth.”
19 “I see, sir, that you are a prophet!” exclaimed the woman. 20 “It was on this mountain that our ancestors worshiped; and yet you Jews say that the proper place for worship is in Jerusalem.” 21 “Believe me,” replied Jesus, “a time is coming when it will be neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, that you will worship the Father. 22 You Samaritans do not know what you worship; we know what we worship, for salvation comes from the Jews.”

23 But a time is coming, indeed it is already here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father spiritually and truly; for such are the worshipers that the Father desires. 24 God is spirit; and those who worship him must worship spiritually and truly.” 25 “I know,” answered the woman, “that the Messiah, who is called the Christ, is coming; when once he has come, he will tell us everything.” 26 “I am he,” Jesus said to her, “I who am speaking to you.”

27 At this moment his disciples came up, and were surprised to find him talking with a woman; but none of them asked ‘What do you want?’ or ‘Why are you talking with her?’ 28 So the woman, leaving her pitcher, went back to the town, and said to the people: 29 “Come and see someone who has told me everything that I have done. Can he be the Christ?” 30 And the people left the town and went to see Jesus.

31 Meanwhile the disciples kept saying to him: “Take something to eat, Rabbi.” 32 “I have food to eat,” he answered, “of which you know nothing.” 33 “Can anyone have brought him anything to eat?” the disciples said to one another. 34 “My food,” replied Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me, and to complete his work.”

35 “Do not you say that it still wants four months to harvest? Why, look up, and see how white the fields are for harvest! 36 Already the reaper is receiving wages and gathering in sheaves for eternal life, so that sower and reaper rejoice together. 37 For here the proverb holds good: ‘One sows, another reaps.’ 38 I have sent you to reap from that which you have spent no labor; others have labored, and you have entered upon the results of their labor.”

39 Many from that town came to believe in Jesus—Samaritans though they were—on account of the woman’s statement: ‘He has told me everything that I have done.’ 40 And, when these Samaritans had come to Jesus, they begged him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. 41 But far more came to believe in him on account of what he said himself, 42 And they said to the woman: “It is no longer because of what you say that we believe in him, for we have heard him ourselves and know that he really is the Christ, the savior of the world.”

43 After these two days Jesus went on to Galilee; 44 For he himself declared that a prophet is not honored in his own country. 45 When he entered Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him, for they had seen all that he did at Jerusalem during the festival, at which they also had been present. 46 So Jesus came again to Cana in Galilee, where he had turned the water into wine.

Now there was one of the king’s officers whose son was lying ill at Capernaum. 47 When this man heard that Jesus had returned from Judea to Galilee, he went to him, and begged him to come down and cure his son; for he was at the point of death. 48 Jesus answered: “Unless you all see signs and wonders, you will not believe.” 49 “Sir,” said the officer, “come down before my child dies.” And Jesus answered: “Go, your son is living.”

50 The man believed what Jesus said to him, and went; 51 And, while he was on his way down, his servants met him, and told him that his child was living. 52 So he asked them at what time the boy began to get better. “It was yesterday, about one o’clock,” they said, “that the fever left him.” 53 By this, the father knew that it was at the very time when Jesus had said to him ‘Your son is living’; and he himself, with all his household, believed in Jesus. 54 This was the second occasion on which Jesus gave a sign of his mission on coming from Judea to Galilee.

To read the next chapter of the Book of John, please go to The Gospel of John – 5.

This Online New Testament Gospel of John is excerpted from the book The Living Hour: The Lord’s Prayer for Daily Life (with New Century Gospels). Including over 200 bookmarked citations from the canonical Gospels, this Progressive Christian book appeals to the Unitarian spirit at the heart of all faiths.

Challenge your perceptions on the Gospel of Christ, Jesus’s parables, and the Kingdom of God by purchasing The Lord’s Prayer book today. Produced by LivingHour.org, a Thailand-based small press dedicated to publishing unique Learning Easy Thai Language Books, as well as works on progressive spirituality.

House of Prayer

Gospel of Mark 11

When they had almost reached Jerusalem, as far as Bethphage and Bethany, near the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent on two of his disciples. 2 “Go to the village facing you,” he said; “and, as soon as you get there, you will find a foal tethered, which no one has ever ridden; untie it, and bring it. 3 And, if anyone says to you: ‘Why are you doing that?’ say: ‘The Master wants it, and will be sure to send it back here at once.’”

4 The two disciples went, and, finding a foal tethered outside a door in the street, they untied it. 5 Some of the by-standers said to them: “What are you doing, untying the foal?” 6 And the two disciples answered as Jesus had told them; and they allowed them to go. 7 Then they brought the foal to Jesus, and, when they had laid their cloaks on it, he seated himself upon it.

8 Many of the people spread their cloaks on the road, while some strewed boughs which they had cut from the fields; 9 And those who led the way, as well as those who followed, kept shouting: “‘God save him! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’ 10 Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! ‘God save him from on high!’”

11 Jesus entered Jerusalem, and went into the temple courts; and, after looking round at everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve. 12 The next day, after they had left Bethany, Jesus became hungry; 13 And, noticing a fig-tree at a distance in leaf, he went to it to see if by any chance he could find something on it; but, on coming up to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. 14 So, addressing the tree, he exclaimed: “May no man ever again eat of your fruit!” And his disciples heard what he said.

15 They came to Jerusalem. Jesus went into the temple courts, and began to drive out those who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money-changers, and the seats of the pigeon-dealers, 16 And would not allow anyone to carry anything across the temple courts.

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To continue reading Chapter 11 of the Gospel of Mark and discover what Jesus calls his house of prayer, please click on page 2 below.

Luke – Gospel 24 – The Living from the Dead

But very early on the first day of the week they went to the tomb, taking with them the spices that they had prepared. 2 They found that the stone had been rolled away from the tomb; 3 And, on going into it, they could not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 While they were at a loss to account for this, all at once two men stood beside them, in dazzling clothing. 5 But, when in their fear the women bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them: “Why are you looking among the dead for him who is living?”

6 “He is not here; but he has risen. Remember how he spoke to you before he left Galilee: 7 How he said that the Son of Man must be betrayed into the hands of wicked men, and be crucified, and rise again on the third day.” 8 Then they remembered the words of Jesus, 9 And, on returning from the tomb, they told all this to the eleven and to all the rest.

10 There were Mary of Magdalene, and Joanna, and Mary, the mother of James. The other women, too, spoke about this to the apostles. 11 What they said seemed to the apostles mere nonsense, and they did not believe them. 12 But Peter got up and ran to the tomb. Stooping down he saw nothing but the linen wrappings, and he went away, wondering to himself what had taken place.

13 It happened that very day that two of the disciples were going to a village called Emmaus, which was about seven miles from Jerusalem, 14 Talking together, as they went, about all that had just taken place. 15 While they were talking about these things and discussing them, Jesus himself came up and went on their way with them; 16 But their eyes were blinded so that they could not recognize him.

17 “What is this that you are saying to each other as you walk along?” Jesus asked. They stopped, with sad looks on their faces, 18 And then one of them, whose name was Cleopas, said to Jesus: “Are you staying by yourself in Jerusalem, that you have not heard of the things that have happened there within the last few days?”

19 “What things do you mean?” asked Jesus. “Why, about Jesus of Nazareth,” they answered, “who, in the eyes of God and all the people, was a prophet, whose power was felt in both his words and actions; 20 And how the chief priests and our leading men gave him up to be sentenced to death, and afterwards crucified him.”

21 “But we were hoping that he was the destined deliverer of Israel; yes, and besides all this, it is now three days since these things occurred. 22 And what is more, some of the women among us have greatly astonished us. They went to the tomb at daybreak.

23 And, not finding the body of Jesus there, came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels who told them that he was alive. 24 So some of our number went to the tomb and found everything just as the women had said; but they did not see Jesus.”

25 Then Jesus said to them: “O foolish men, slow to accept all that the prophets have said! 26 Was not the Christ bound to undergo this suffering before entering upon his glory?” 27 Then, beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he explained to them all through the scriptures the passages that referred to himself.

28 When they got near the village to which they were walking, Jesus appeared to be going further; 29 But they pressed him not to do so. “Stay with us,” they said, “for it is getting towards evening, and the sun is already low.” So Jesus went in to stay with them.

30 After he had taken his place at table with them, he took the bread and said the blessing, and broke it, and gave it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him; but he disappeared from their sight. 32 “How our hearts glowed,” the disciples said to each other, “while he was talking to us on the road, and when he explained the scriptures to us!”

33 Then they immediately got up and returned to Jerusalem, where they found the eleven and their companions all together, 34 Who told them that the Master had really risen, and had appeared to Simon. 35 So they also related what had happened during their walk, and how they had recognized Jesus at the breaking of the bread. 36 While they were still talking about these things, Jesus himself stood among them, and said: “Peace be with you.”

37 In their terror and alarm they thought they saw a spirit, 38 But Jesus said to them: “Why are you so startled? And why do doubts arise in you minds? 39 Look at my hands and my feet, and you will know that it is I. Feel me, and look at me, for a spirit has not flesh and bones, as you see that I have.”

40 After saying this he showed them his hands and his feet. 41 While they were still unable to believe it all for their joy, and wondering if it were true, Jesus said to them: “Have you anything here to eat?” 42 They handed him a piece of broiled fish, 43 And he took it and ate it before their eyes.

44 “This is what I told you,” he said, “when I was still with you—that everything that had been written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms, must be fulfilled.” 45 Then he enabled them to understand the meaning of the scriptures, saying to them: 46 “Scripture says that the Christ should suffer, and that he should rise again from the dead on the third day, 47 And that repentance for forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed on his authority to all the nations—beginning at Jerusalem. 48 You yourselves are to be witnesses to all this.

49 And now I am myself about to send upon you that which my Father has promised. But you must remain in the city of Jerusalem until you have been invested with power from above.” 50 After this, Jesus led them out as far as Bethany, and there raised his hands and blessed them. 51 As he was in the act of blessing them, he left them and was carried up into heaven. 52 They bowed to the ground before him and returned to Jerusalem full of joy; 53 And they were constantly in the temple courts, blessing God.

To read Chapter 23 of the Gospel of Luke, please The Gospel of Luke – 23.

This Online New Testament Gospel of Luke is excerpted from the book The Living Hour: The Lord’s Prayer for Daily Life (with New Century Gospels). Including over 200 bookmarked citations from the canonical Gospels, this Progressive Christian book appeals to the Unitarian spirit at the heart of all faiths.

Challenge your perceptions on the Gospel of Christ, Jesus’s parables, and the Kingdom of God by purchasing The Lord’s Prayer book today. Produced by LivingHour.org, a Thailand-based small press dedicated to publishing unique Learning Easy Thai Language Books, as well as works on progressive spirituality.