#graham braddock

In my heart I have treasured up your saying:  The trustworthiness of your times must prove to be a wealth of salvations—wisdom and knowledge, the fear of Jehovah, which is his treasure...

“Watch out for the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. But there is nothing carefully concealed that will not be revealed, and secret that will not become known. Wherefore what things YOU say in the darkness will be heard in the light, and what YOU whisper in private rooms will be preached from the housetops. Moreover, I say to YOU, my friends, Do not fear those who kill the body and after this are not able to do anything more. But I will indicate to YOU whom to fear: Fear him who after killing has authority to throw into Ge·hen’na. Yes, I tell YOU, fear this One. Five sparrows sell for two coins of small value, do they not? Yet not one of them goes forgotten before God. But even the hairs of YOUR heads are all numbered. Have no fear; YOU are worth more than many sparrows.

“I say, then, to YOU, Everyone that confesses union with me before men, the Son of man will also confess union with him before the angels of God. But he that disowns me before men will be disowned before the angels of God. And everyone that says a word against the Son of man, it will be forgiven him; but he that blasphemes against the holy spirit will not be forgiven it. But when they bring YOU in before public assemblies and government officials and authorities, do not become anxious about how or what YOU will speak in defense or what YOU will say; for the holy spirit will teach YOU in that very hour the things YOU ought to say.”

Then a certain one of the crowd said to him: “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” He said to him: “Man, who appointed me judge or apportioner over YOU persons?” Then he said to them: “Keep YOUR eyes open and guard against every sort of covetousness, because even when a person has an abundance his life does not result from the things he possesses.” With that he spoke an illustration to them, saying: “The land of a certain rich man produced well. Consequently he began reasoning within himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, now that I have nowhere to gather my crops?’ So he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my storehouses and build bigger ones, and there I will gather all my grain and all my good things; and I will say to my soul: “Soul, you have many good things laid up for many years; take your ease, eat, drink, enjoy yourself.”’ But God said to him, ‘Unreasonable one, this night they are demanding your soul from you. Who, then, is to have the things you stored up?’ So it goes with the man that lays up treasure for himself but is not rich toward God.”

Then he said to his disciples: “On this account I say to YOU, Quit being anxious about YOUR souls as to what YOU will eat or about YOUR bodies as to what YOU will wear. For the soul is worth more than food and the body than clothing. Mark well that the ravens neither sow seed nor reap, and they have neither barn nor storehouse, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more worth are YOU than birds? Who of YOU by being anxious can add a cubit to his life span? If, therefore, YOU cannot do the least thing, why be anxious about the remaining things? Mark well how the lilies grow; they neither toil nor spin; but I tell YOU, Not even Sol’o·mon in all his glory was arrayed as one of these. If, now, God thus clothes the vegetation in the field that today exists and tomorrow is cast into an oven, how much rather will he clothe YOU, YOU with little faith! So quit seeking what YOU might eat and what YOU might drink, and quit being in anxious suspense; for all these are the things the nations of the world are eagerly pursuing, but YOUR Father knows YOU need these things. Nevertheless, seek continually his kingdom, and these things will be added to YOU.

“Have no fear, little flock, because YOUR Father has approved of giving YOU the kingdom. Sell the things belonging to YOU and give gifts of mercy. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, a never-failing treasure in the heavens, where a thief does not get near nor moth consumes. For where YOUR treasure is, there YOUR hearts will be also.

“Let YOUR loins be girded and YOUR lamps be burning, and YOU yourselves be like men waiting for their master when he returns from the marriage, so that at his arriving and knocking they may at once open to him. Happy are those slaves whom the master on arriving finds watching! Truly I say to YOU, He will gird himself and make them recline at the table and will come alongside and minister to them. And if he arrives in the second watch, even if in the third, and finds them thus, happy are they! But know this, that if the householder had known at what hour the thief would come, he would have kept watching and not have let his house be broken into. YOU also, keep ready, because at an hour that YOU do not think likely the Son of man is coming.”

Then Peter said: “Lord, are you saying this illustration to us or also to all?” And the Lord said: “Who really is the faithful steward, the discreet one, whom his master will appoint over his body of attendants to keep giving them their measure of food supplies at the proper time? Happy is that slave, if his master on arriving finds him doing so! I tell YOU truthfully, He will appoint him over all his belongings. But if ever that slave should say in his heart, ‘My master delays coming,’ and should start to beat the menservants and the maidservants, and to eat and drink and get drunk, the master of that slave will come on a day that he is not expecting [him] and in an hour that he does not know, and he will punish him with the greatest severity and assign him a part with the unfaithful ones. Then that slave that understood the will of his master but did not get ready or do in line with his will will be beaten with many strokes. But the one that did not understand and so did things deserving of strokes will be beaten with few. Indeed, everyone to whom much was given, much will be demanded of him; and the one whom people put in charge of much, they will demand more than usual of him.

“I came to start a fire on the earth, and what more is there for me to wish if it has already been lighted? Indeed, I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and how I am being distressed until it is finished! Do YOU imagine I came to give peace on the earth? No, indeed, I tell YOU, but rather division. For from now on there will be five in one house divided, three against two and two against three. They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against [her] mother, mother-in-law against [her] daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against [her] mother-in-law.”

Then he went on to say also to the crowds: “When YOU see a cloud rising in western parts, at once YOU say, ‘A storm is coming,’ and it turns out so. And when YOU see that a south wind is blowing, YOU say, ‘There will be a heat wave,’ and it occurs. Hypocrites, YOU know how to examine the outward appearance of earth and sky, but how is it YOU do not know how to examine this particular time? Why do YOU not judge also for yourselves what is righteous? For example, when you are going with your adversary at law to a ruler, get to work, while on the way, to rid yourself of the dispute with him, that he may never hale you before the judge, and the judge deliver you to the court officer, and the court officer throw you into prison. I tell you, You will certainly not get out from there until you pay over the last small coin of very little value.”

At that very season there were certain ones present that reported to him about the Gal·i·le’ans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. So in reply he said to them: “Do YOU imagine that these Gal·i·le’ans were proved worse sinners than all other Gal·i·le’ans because they have suffered these things? No, indeed, I tell YOU; but, unless YOU repent, YOU will all likewise be destroyed. Or those eighteen upon whom the tower in Si·lo’am fell, thereby killing them, do YOU imagine that they were proved greater debtors than all other men inhabiting Jerusalem? No, indeed, I tell YOU; but, unless YOU repent, YOU will all be destroyed in the same way.”

Then he went on to tell this illustration: “A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came looking for fruit on it, but found none. Then he said to the vinedresser, ‘Here it is three years that I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, but have found none. Cut it down! Why really should it keep the ground useless?’ In reply he said to him, ‘Master, let it alone also this year, until I dig around it and put on manure; and if then it produces fruit in the future, [well and good]; but if not, you shall cut it down.’”

Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath. And, look! a woman with a spirit of weakness for eighteen years, and she was bent double and was unable to raise herself up at all. When he saw her, Jesus addressed her and said to her: “Woman, you are released from your weakness.” And he laid his hands on her; and instantly she straightened up, and began to glorify God. But in response the presiding officer of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus did the cure on the sabbath, began to say to the crowd: “There are six days on which work ought to be done; on them, therefore, come and be cured, and not on the sabbath day.” However, the Lord answered him and said: “Hypocrites, does not each one of YOU on the sabbath untie his bull or his ass from the stall and lead it away to give it drink? Was it not due, then, for this woman who is a daughter of Abraham, and whom Satan held bound, look! eighteen years, to be loosed from this bond on the sabbath day?” Well, when he said these things, all his opposers began to feel shame; but all the crowd began to rejoice at all the glorious things done by him.

Therefore he went on to say: “What is the kingdom of God like, and with what shall I compare it? It is like a mustard grain that a man took and put in his garden, and it grew and became a tree, and the birds of heaven took up lodging in its branches.”

And again he said: “With what shall I compare the kingdom of God? It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three large measures of flour until the whole mass was fermented.”

And he journeyed through from city to city and from village to village, teaching and continuing on his journey to Jerusalem. Now a certain man said to him: “Lord, are those who are being saved few?” He said to them: “Exert yourselves vigorously to get in through the narrow door, because many, I tell YOU, will seek to get in but will not be able, when once the householder has got up and locked the door, and YOU start to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Sir, open to us.’ But in answer he will say to YOU, ‘I do not know where YOU are from.’ Then YOU will start saying, ‘We ate and drank in front of you, and you taught in our broad ways.’ But he will speak and say to YOU, ‘I do not know where YOU are from. Get away from me, all YOU workers of unrighteousness!’ There is where [YOUR] weeping and the gnashing of [YOUR] teeth will be, when YOU see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but yourselves thrown outside. Furthermore, people will come from eastern parts and western, and from north and south, and will recline at the table in the kingdom of God. And, look! there are those last who will be first, and there are those first who will be last.”

In that very hour certain Pharisees came up, saying to him: “Get out and be on your way from here, because Herod wants to kill you.” And he said to them: “Go and tell that fox, ‘Look! I am casting out demons and accomplishing healing today and tomorrow, and the third day I shall be finished.’ Nevertheless, I must go on my way today and tomorrow and the following day, because it is not admissible for a prophet to be destroyed outside of Jerusalem. Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the killer of the prophets and stoner of those sent forth to her—how often I wanted to gather your children together in the manner that a hen gathers her brood of chicks under her wings, but YOU people did not want [it]! Look! YOUR house is abandoned to YOU. I tell YOU, YOU will by no means see me until YOU say, ‘Blessed is he that comes in Jehovah’s name.’”

And on an occasion when he went into the house of a certain one of the rulers of the Pharisees on the sabbath to eat a meal, they were closely watching him. And, look! there was before him a certain man who had dropsy. So in response Jesus spoke to those versed in the Law and to the Pharisees, saying: “Is it lawful on the sabbath to cure or not?” But they kept silent. With that he took hold of [the man], healed him and sent [him] away. And he said to them: “Who of YOU, if his son or bull falls into a well, will not immediately pull him out on the sabbath day?” And they were not able to answer back on these things.

He then went on to tell the invited men an illustration, as he marked how they were choosing the most prominent places for themselves, saying to them: “When you are invited by someone to a marriage feast, do not lie down in the most prominent place. Perhaps someone more distinguished than you may at the time have been invited by him, and he that invited you and him will come and say to you, ‘Let this man have the place.’ And then you will start off with shame to occupy the lowest place. But when you are invited, go and recline in the lowest place, that when the man that has invited you comes he will say to you, ‘Friend, go on up higher.’ Then you will have honor in front of all your fellow guests. For everyone that exalts himself will be humbled and he that humbles himself will be exalted.”

Next he proceeded to say also to the man that invited him: “When you spread a dinner or evening meal, do not call your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors. Perhaps sometime they might also invite you in return and it would become a repayment to you. But when you spread a feast, invite poor people, crippled, lame, blind; and you will be happy, because they have nothing with which to repay you. For you will be repaid in the resurrection of the righteous ones.”

On hearing these things a certain one of the fellow guests said to him: “Happy is he who eats bread in the kingdom of God.”

[Jesus] said to him: “A certain man was spreading a grand evening meal, and he invited many. And he sent his slave out at the hour of the evening meal to say to the invited ones, ‘Come, because things are now ready.’ But they all in common started to beg off. The first said to him, ‘I bought a field and need to go out and see it; I ask you, Have me excused.’ And another said, ‘I bought five yoke of cattle and am going to examine them; I ask you, Have me excused.’ Still another said, ‘I just married a wife and for this reason I cannot come.’ So the slave came up and reported these things to his master. Then the householder became wrathful and said to his slave, ‘Go out quickly into the broad ways and the lanes of the city, and bring in here the poor and crippled and blind and lame.’ In time the slave said, ‘Master, what you ordered has been done, and yet there is room.’ And the master said to the slave, ‘Go out into the roads and the fenced-in places, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. For I say to YOU people, None of those men that were invited shall have a taste of my evening meal.’”

Now great crowds were traveling with him, and he turned and said to them: “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own soul, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever is not carrying his torture stake and coming after me cannot be my disciple. For example, who of YOU that wants to build a tower does not first sit down and calculate the expense, to see if he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, he might lay its foundation but not be able to finish it, and all the onlookers might start to ridicule him, saying, ‘This man started to build but was not able to finish.’ Or what king, marching to meet another king in war, does not first sit down and take counsel whether he is able with ten thousand troops to cope with the one that comes against him with twenty thousand? If, in fact, he cannot do so, then while that one is yet far away he sends out a body of ambassadors and sues for peace. Thus, you may be sure, none of YOU that does not say good-bye to all his belongings can be my disciple.

“Salt, to be sure, is fine. But if even the salt loses its strength, with what will it be seasoned? It is suitable neither for soil nor for manure. People throw it outside. Let him that has ears to listen, listen.”

Luke 12-14, NWT