“Here is ¹  my servant whom I have chosen, the one I love, in whom I take great delight. ²  I will put my Spirit on him, and he will proclaim justice to the nations.

The ¹  seed sown among thorns is the person who hears the word, but worldly cares and the seductiveness of wealth ²  choke the word, ³  so it produces nothing.

He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed with ¹  three measures ²  of flour until all the dough had risen.” ³ 

I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven, and whatever you release on earth will have been released in heaven.”

After ¹  he went out, that same slave found one of his fellow slaves who owed him one hundred silver coins. ²  So ³  he grabbed him by the throat and started to choke him, ⁴  saying, ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ ⁵ 

As ¹  he was sitting on the Mount of Olives, his disciples came to him privately and said, “Tell us, when will these things ²  happen? And what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”

Then the one who had received the one talent came and said, ‘Sir, I knew that you were a hard man, harvesting where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seed,

But his master answered, ¹  ‘Evil and lazy slave! So you knew that I harvest where I didn’t sow and gather where I didn’t scatter?

And the king will answer them, ¹  ‘I tell you the truth, ²  just as you did it for one of the least of these brothers or sisters ³  of mine, you did it for me.’

Then they too will answer, ¹  ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not give you whatever you needed?’

Then he will answer them, ¹  ‘I tell you the truth, ²  just as you did not do it for one of the least of these, you did not do it for me.’

Thus whenever you do charitable giving, ¹  do not blow a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in synagogues ²  and on streets so that people will praise them. I tell you the truth, ³  they have their reward.

“Whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, because they love to pray while standing in synagogues ¹  and on street corners so that people can see them. Truly I say to you, they have their reward.

For the heart of this people has become dull; they are hard of hearing, and they have shut their eyes, so that they would not see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.’ ¹ 

From that time on ¹  Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem ²  and suffer ³  many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests, and experts in the law, ⁴  and be killed, and on the third day be raised.

“Woe to you, experts in the law ¹  and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You give a tenth ²  of mint, dill, and cumin, ³  yet you neglect what is more important in the law – justice, mercy, and faithfulness! You ⁴  should have done these things without neglecting the others.