The Lord's Prayer for Daily Life The Lord's Prayer for Daily Life was published in 2008 and is a modern meditation on the Lord's Prayer. In exploring the Lord's Prayer, the book takes you below the surface meaning of Jesus's words and his larger teachings to discover fresh interpretations of the metaphors and parables contained in the Gospels. The book's thought-provoking commentary is supported by...
The Lord's Prayer for Daily Life Henry David Thoreau, tucked away in his Walden cabin, famously said that most of us lead lives of quiet desperation. That was in 1845. Today, things are not so quiet in the United States. Anxiety and depression are regular rites of passage from which millions never graduate. Civility meanwhile has long been dropped from our national discourse. It's...
Give Us This Day | Meaning Up to this point in the Lord's Prayer, Jesus has been laying a foundation — one that establishes our relationship to God and his creation. When we recite the beginning of the prayer, we are thus engaging in an act of grounding, reminding ourselves that at the core of our existence we remain rooted in Christ. ((By the...
Then Jesus was led up into the wilderness by the Spirit to be tempted by the devil. 2 And, after he had fasted for forty days and forty nights, he became hungry. 3 And the tempter came to him, and said: "If you are God's Son, tell these stones to become loaves of bread." 4 But Jesus answered: "Scripture says: 'It is not...
 Jesus said to his disciples: "It is inevitable that there should be snares; yet woe to you who is answerable for them! 2 It would be better for you to be flung into the sea with a mill-stone round your neck, than that you should prove a snare to even one of these lowly ones. 3 Be on your guard! If your brother...
 Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and never despair. 2 "There was," he said, "in a certain town a judge, who had no fear of God nor regard for man. 3 In the same town there was a widow who went to him again and again, and said: 'Grant me justice against my opponent.' 4...
Jesus entered Jericho and made his way through the town. 2 There was a man there, known by the name of Zacchaeus, who was a commissioner of taxes and a rich man. 3 He tried to see what Jesus was like; but, being short, he was unable to do so because of the crowd. 4 So he ran on ahead and climbed into...
Some days later, when Jesus came back to Capernaum, the news spread that he was in a house there; 2 And so many people collected together, that after a while there was no room for them even round the door; and he began to tell them his message. 3 And some people came bringing to him a paralyzed man, who was being carried...
On another occasion Jesus went in to a synagogue, where there was a man whose hand was withered. 2 And they watched Jesus closely, to see if he would cure the man on the Sabbath, so that they might have a charge to bring against him. 3 "Stand out in the middle," Jesus said to the man with the withered hand; 4 And to...
Jesus again began to teach by the sea; and, as an immense crowd was gathering round him, he got into a boat, and sat in it on the sea, while all the people were on the shore at the water's edge. 2 Then he taught them many truths in parables; and in the course of his teaching he said to them: 3 "Listen!...
And they came to the other side of the sea—the country of the Gerasenes; 2 And, as soon as Jesus had got out of the boat, he met a man coming out of the tombs, who was under the power of a foul spirit, 3 And who made his home in the tombs. No one had ever been able to secure him, even...
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...
One day the Pharisees and some of the teachers of the law who had come from Jerusalem gathered round Jesus. 2 They had noticed that some of his disciples ate their food with their hands 'defiled,' by which they meant unwashed. 3 For the Pharisees, and indeed all strict Jews, will not eat without first scrupulously washing their hands, holding in this to...
About that time, when there was again a great crowd of people who had nothing to eat, Jesus called his disciples to him, and said: 2 "My heart is moved at the sight of all these people, for they have already been with me three days and they have nothing to eat; 3 And if I send them away to their homes hungry,...
On leaving that place, Jesus went into the district of Judea on the other side of the Jordan. Crowds gathered about him again; and again, as usual, he began teaching them. 2 Presently some Pharisees came up and, to test him, asked: "Has a husband the right to divorce his wife?" 3 "What direction did Moses give you?" replied Jesus. 4 "Moses," they...
Two days after this there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and Jesus' mother was there. 2 Jesus himself, too, with his disciples, was invited to the wedding. 3 And, when the wine ran short, his mother said to him: "They have no wine left." 4 "What do you want with me?" answered Jesus. "My time has not come yet." 5 His...
Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, who was a leading man among the Jews. 2 This man came to Jesus by night, and said to him: "Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God; for no one could give such signs as you are giving, unless God were with him." 3 "In truth I tell you," exclaimed Jesus, "unless you...
 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,...
Sometime after this there was a Jewish festival; and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 2 There is in Jerusalem, near the sheep market, a bath with five colonnades round it. It is called in Hebrew 'Bethesda.' 3 In these colonnades, a large number of afflicted people were lying—blind, lame, and crippled—waiting for the moving of the water. 4 For it was said that...
 After this, Jesus walked about in Galilee, for he would not walk in Judea, because the Jews were eager to put him to death. 2 When the Jewish festival of tabernacles was near, 3 His brothers said to him: "Leave this part of the country, and go into Judea, so that your disciples, as well as we, may see the work that you...
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...
And Jesus began to speak to them in parables: "A man once planted a vineyard, put a fence round it, dug a wine—press, built a tower, and then let it out to tenants and went abroad. 2 At the proper time he sent a servant to the tenants, to receive from them a share of the produce of the vintage; 3 But they...
Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead, was living. 2 There a supper was given in honor at which Martha waited, while Lazarus was one of those present at the table. 3 So Mary took a pound of choice spikenard ointment of great value, and anointed the feet of Jesus with it,...
"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. 2 In my Father's home there are many dwellings. If it had not been so, I should have told you, for I am going to prepare a place for you. 3 And, since I go and prepare a place for you, I shall return and take you to be...
 "I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine-grower. 2 Any unfruitful branch in me he takes away, and he cleanses every fruitful branch, that it may bear more fruit. 3 You are already clean because of the message that I have given you. 4 Remain united to me, and I will remain united to you. As a branch cannot bear...
 "I have spoken to you in this way so that you may not falter. 2 They will expel you from their synagogues; indeed the time is coming when anyone who kills you will think that they are making an offering to God. 3 They will do this, because they have not learned to know the Father, or even me. 4 But I have...
On one of these days, when Jesus was teaching the people in the temple courts and preaching the gospel, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, joined by the councilors, confronted him, 2 And addressing him, said: "Tell us what authority you have to do these things. Who is it that has given you this authority?" 3 "I, too," said Jesus in...
