Luke 11:27-52

²⁷As he was speaking, a woman in the crowd called out, “Blessed is the womb from where you came and the breasts that nursed you.”

²⁸But Jesus said, “Even more blessed are those who hear God's word, and follow what it says.”

²⁹As people crowded around him, Jesus began telling them, “This is an evil generation for it's looking for some miraculous sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.

³⁰In the same way that Jonah was a sign to the people of Nineveh, so will the Son of man be a sign to this generation.

³¹The queen of the south will rise in the judgment together with the people of this generation and will condemn them, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear Solomon's wisdom, and now there is someone greater than Solomon here!

³²The people of Nineveh rise in the judgment together with this generation, and will condemn it, for they repented when they heard Jonah's message, and now there's someone greater than Jonah here!

³³No one lights a lamp and then hides it or places it under a bowl. No, you put it on a lamp stand so that those who come into the house can see the light.

³⁴Your eye is the light for your body. When your eye is good, your whole body is full of light. But when your eye is bad, your body is in the dark.

³⁵So make sure the light you have in you is not actually darkness.

³⁶If your whole body is full of light, with no areas of darkness, then it will be completely illuminated, just as a bright lamp gives you light.”

³⁷After Jesus had finished speaking, a Pharisee invited him to come and eat with him. So Jesus went and sat down to a meal.

³⁸The Pharisee was surprised that Jesus didn't wash his hands before eating as ceremonially required.

³⁹So the Lord told him, “You Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you're full of greed and wickedness.

⁴⁰You're so foolish! Don't you think the one who made the outside made the inside as well?

⁴¹If, acting from within, you do acts of kindness to others, then everything will be clean to you.

⁴²Shame on you Pharisees! You pay tithe on herbs and plants, but you neglect justice and the love of God. You need to pay attention to the latter, while not leaving the former things undone.

⁴³Shame on you Pharisees! You love to have the best seats in the synagogues, and to be greeted with respect when you go to the markets.

⁴⁴Shame on you! You are like unmarked graves that people walk over without knowing.”

⁴⁵One of the experts in religious law reacted, saying, “Teacher, when you talk like this, you're insulting us too!”

⁴⁶Jesus replied, “Shame on you lawyers too! You place burdens on people that are too hard to carry, but you don't lift a finger to help them.

⁴⁷Shame on you! You build memorial tombs to honor the prophets, but it was your own fathers who killed them in the first place!

⁴⁸By doing this you are witnesses showing that you agree with what your fathers did. They killed the prophets, and you build their tombs!

⁴⁹This is why God in his wisdom said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles; some they will kill, and others they will persecute.’

⁵⁰Consequently, this generation will be held accountable for the blood of all the prophets shed from the beginning of the world,

⁵¹from the blood of Abel right up to the blood of Zachariah who was killed between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, this generation will be held accountable for all of it.

⁵²Shame on you lawyers! You have removed the key of knowledge. You didn't go in yourselves, and you prevented others from going in too.”