Daily Bible Reading
Day 6
Today's reading: Luke 16-18
Look for the promises in God’s word. As you read and find them, write them in your journal along with the scripture reference.
Luke 16
The Parable of the Clever Steward
1. Jesus also said to the disciples, “There was a rich man who was informed of accusations that his manager was wasting his assets.
2. So he called the manager in and said to him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Turn in the account of your administration, because you can no longer be my manager.’
3. Then the manager said to himself, ‘What should I do, since my master is taking my position away from me? I’m not strong enough to dig, and I’m too ashamed to beg.
4. I know what to do so that when I am put out of management, people will welcome me into their homes.’
5. So he contacted his master’s debtors one by one. He asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’
6. The man replied, ‘A hundred measures of olive oil.’ The manager said to him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and write fifty.’
7. Then he said to another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ The second man replied, ‘A hundred measures of wheat.’ The manager said to him, ‘Take your bill, and write eighty.’
8. The master commended the dishonest manager because he acted shrewdly. For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their contemporaries than the people of light.
9. And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by how you use worldly wealth, so that when it runs out you will be welcomed into the eternal homes.
10. “The one who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and the one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much.
11. If then you haven’t been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will entrust you with the true riches?
12. And if you haven’t been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you your own?
13. No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”
More Warnings about the Pharisees
14. The Pharisees (who loved money) heard all this and ridiculed him.
15. But Jesus said to them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves in men’s eyes, but God knows your hearts. For what is highly prized among men is utterly detestable in God’s sight.
16. “The law and the prophets were in force until John; since then, the good news of the kingdom of God has been proclaimed, and everyone is urged to enter it.
17. But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one tiny stroke of a letter in the law to become void.
18. “Everyone who divorces his wife and marries someone else commits adultery, and the one who marries a woman divorced from her husband commits adultery.
The Rich Man and Lazarus
19. “There was a rich man who dressed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day.
20. But at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus whose body was covered with sores,
21. who longed to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. In addition, the dogs came and licked his sores.
22. “Now the poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried.
23. And in hell, as he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far off with Lazarus at his side.
24. So he called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in anguish in this fire.’
25. But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things and Lazarus likewise bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in anguish.
26. Besides all this, a great chasm has been fixed between us, so that those who want to cross over from here to you cannot do so, and no one can cross from there to us.’
27. So the rich man said, ‘Then I beg you, father – send Lazarus to my father’s house
28. (for I have five brothers) to warn them so that they don’t come into this place of torment.’
29. But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; they must respond to them.’
30. Then the rich man said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’
31. He replied to him, ‘If they do not respond to Moses and the prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’”
Luke 17
Sin, Forgiveness, Faith, and Service
1. Jesus said to his disciples, “Stumbling blocks are sure to come, but woe to the one through whom they come!
2. It would be better for him to have a millstone tied around his neck and be thrown into the sea than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin.
3. Watch yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him. If he repents, forgive him.
4. Even if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times returns to you saying, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.”
5. The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!”
6. So the Lord replied, “If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this black mulberry tree, ‘Be pulled out by the roots and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.
7. “Would any one of you say to your slave who comes in from the field after plowing or shepherding sheep, ‘Come at once and sit down for a meal’?
8. Won’t the master instead say to him, ‘Get my dinner ready, and make yourself ready to serve me while I eat and drink. Then you may eat and drink’?
9. He won’t thank the slave because he did what he was told, will he?
10. So you too, when you have done everything you were commanded to do, should say, ‘We are slaves undeserving of special praise; we have only done what was our duty.’”
The Grateful Leper
11. Now on the way to Jerusalem, Jesus was passing along between Samaria and Galilee.
12. As he was entering a village, ten men with leprosy met him. They stood at a distance,
13. raised their voices and said, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.”
14. When he saw them he said, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went along, they were cleansed.
15. Then one of them, when he saw he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice.
16. He fell with his face to the ground at Jesus’ feet and thanked him. (Now he was a Samaritan.)
17. Then Jesus said, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the other nine?
18. Was no one found to turn back and give praise to God except this foreigner?”
19. Then he said to the man, “Get up and go your way. Your faith has made you well.”
The Coming of the Kingdom
20. Now at one point the Pharisees asked Jesus when the kingdom of God was coming, so he answered, “The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed,
21. nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is in your midst.”
The Coming of the Son of Man
22. Then he said to the disciples, “The days are coming when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it.
23. Then people will say to you, ‘Look, there he is!’ or ‘Look, here he is!’ Do not go out or chase after them.
24. For just like the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the Son of Man be in his day.
25. But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.
26. Just as it was in the days of Noah, so too it will be in the days of the Son of Man.
27. People were eating, they were drinking, they were marrying, they were being given in marriage – right up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all.
28. Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot, people were eating, drinking, buying, selling, planting, building;
29. but on the day Lot went out from Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all.
30. It will be the same on the day the Son of Man is revealed.
31. On that day, anyone who is on the roof, with his goods in the house, must not come down to take them away, and likewise the person in the field must not turn back.
32. Remember Lot’s wife!
33. Whoever tries to keep his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will preserve it.
34. I tell you, in that night there will be two people in one bed; one will be taken and the other left.
35. There will be two women grinding grain together; one will be taken and the other left.”
36. [[EMPTY]]
37. Then the disciples said to him, “Where, Lord?” He replied to them, “Where the dead body is, there the vultures will gather.”
Luke 18
Prayer and the Parable of the Persistent Widow
1. Then Jesus told them a parable to show them they should always pray and not lose heart.
2. He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected people.
3. There was also a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’
4. For a while he refused, but later on he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor have regard for people,
5. yet because this widow keeps on bothering me, I will give her justice, or in the end she will wear me out by her unending pleas.’”
6. And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unrighteous judge says!
7. Won’t God give justice to his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he delay long to help them?
8. I tell you, he will give them justice speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”
The Parable of the Pharisee and Tax Collector
9. Jesus also told this parable to some who were confident that they were righteous and looked down on everyone else.
10. “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.
11. The Pharisee stood and prayed about himself like this: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people: extortionists, unrighteous people, adulterers – or even like this tax collector.
12. I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of everything I get.’
13. The tax collector, however, stood far off and would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, be merciful to me, sinner that I am!’
14. I tell you that this man went down to his home justified rather than the Pharisee. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
Jesus and Little Children
15. Now people were even bringing their babies to him for him to touch. But when the disciples saw it, they began to scold those who brought them.
16. But Jesus called for the children, saying, “Let the little children come to me and do not try to stop them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.
17. I tell you the truth, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will never enter it.”
The Wealthy Ruler
18. Now a certain ruler asked him, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
19. Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.
20. You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and mother.’”
21. The man replied, “I have wholeheartedly obeyed all these laws since my youth.”
22. When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
23. But when the man heard this he became very sad, for he was extremely wealthy.
24. When Jesus noticed this, he said, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!
25. In fact, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”
26. Those who heard this said, “Then who can be saved?”
27. He replied, “What is impossible for mere humans is possible for God.”
28. And Peter said, “Look, we have left everything we own to follow you!”
29. Then Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth, there is no one who has left home or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of God’s kingdom
30. who will not receive many times more in this age – and in the age to come, eternal life.”
Another Prediction of Jesus’ Passion
31. Then Jesus took the twelve aside and said to them, “Look, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished.
32. For he will be handed over to the Gentiles; he will be mocked, mistreated, and spat on.
33. They will flog him severely and kill him. Yet on the third day he will rise again.”
34. But the twelve understood none of these things. This saying was hidden from them, and they did not grasp what Jesus meant.
Healing a Blind Man
35. As Jesus approached Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the road begging.
36. When he heard a crowd going by, he asked what was going on.
37. They told him, “Jesus the Nazarene is passing by.”
38. So he called out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”
39. And those who were in front scolded him to get him to be quiet, but he shouted even more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”
40. So Jesus stopped and ordered the beggar to be brought to him. When the man came near, Jesus asked him,
41. “What do you want me to do for you?” He replied, “Lord, let me see again.”
42. Jesus said to him, “Receive your sight; your faith has healed you.”
43. And immediately he regained his sight and followed Jesus, praising God. When all the people saw it, they too gave praise to God.