Luke 6:1-26

One Sabbath day Jesus was walking through some grainfields. His followers picked the heads of grain, rubbed them in their hands, and ate them. Some Pharisees said, “Why are you doing that? It is against the law of Moses to do that on the Sabbath day.” Jesus answered, “Haven’t you read about what David did when he and those with him were hungry? David went into God’s house. He took the bread that was made holy for God and ate it. And he gave some of the bread to the people with him. This was against the law of Moses. It says that only priests can eat that bread.” Then Jesus said to the Pharisees, “The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath day.” On another Sabbath day Jesus went into the synagogue and was teaching. A man with a crippled right hand was there. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees were watching to see if Jesus would heal on the Sabbath day. They wanted to see Jesus do something wrong so that they could accuse him. But he knew what they were thinking. He said to the man with the crippled hand, “Get up and stand before these people.” The man got up and stood there. Then Jesus said to them, “I ask you, which is it right to do on the Sabbath day: to do good, or to do evil? Is it right to save a life or to destroy one?” Jesus looked around at all of them. He said to the man, “Let me see your hand.” The man stretched out his hand, and it was completely healed. The Pharisees and the teachers of the law became very angry. They said to each other, “What can we do to Jesus?” At that time Jesus went off to a mountain to pray. He stayed there all night, praying to God. The next morning, Jesus called his followers to him. He chose 12 of them, whom he named “apostles.” They were Simon (Jesus named him Peter) and Andrew, Peter’s brother; James and John, Philip and Bartholomew; Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, and Simon (called the Zealot), Judas son of James and Judas Iscariot. This Judas was the one who gave Jesus to his enemies. Jesus and the apostles came down from the mountain. Jesus stood on level ground where there was a large group of his followers. Also, there were many people from all around Judea, Jerusalem, and the seacoast cities of Tyre and Sidon. They all came to hear Jesus teach and to be healed of their sicknesses. He healed those who were troubled by evil spirits. All the people were trying to touch Jesus, because power was coming from him and healing them all! Jesus looked at his followers and said, “Poor people, you are happy, because God’s kingdom belongs to you. You people who are now hungry are happy, because you will be satisfied. You people who are now crying are happy, because you will laugh with joy. “You are happy when people hate you and are cruel to you. You are happy when they say that you are evil because you belong to the Son of Man. At that time be full of joy, because you have a great reward in heaven. Their fathers were cruel to the prophets in the same way these people are cruel to you. “But how terrible it will be for you who are rich, because you have had your easy life. How terrible it will be for you who are full now, because you will be hungry. How terrible it will be for you who are laughing now, because you will be sad and cry. “How terrible when all people say only good things about you. Their fathers always said good things about the false prophets.