Luke 18:3-21

³A widow was in that city, and she often came to him, saying, ‘Defend me from my adversary!’

⁴He wouldn’t for a while; but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man,

⁵yet because this widow bothers me, I will defend her, or else she will wear me out by her continual coming.’”

⁶The Lord said, “Listen to what the unrighteous judge says.

⁷Won’t God avenge his chosen ones who are crying out to him day and night, and yet he exercises patience with them?

⁸I tell you that he will avenge them quickly. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”

⁹He also spoke this parable to certain people who were convinced of their own righteousness, and who despised all others:

¹⁰“Two men went up into the temple to pray; one was a Pharisee, and the other was a tax collector.

¹¹The Pharisee stood and prayed by himself like this: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of men: extortionists, unrighteous, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.

¹²I fast twice a week. I give tithes of all that I get.’

¹³But the tax collector, standing far away, wouldn’t even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’

¹⁴I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

¹⁵They were also bringing their babies to him, that he might touch them. But when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them.

¹⁶Jesus summoned them, saying, “Allow the little children to come to me, and don’t hinder them, for God’s Kingdom belongs to such as these.

¹⁷Most certainly, I tell you, whoever doesn’t receive God’s Kingdom like a little child, he will in no way enter into it.”

¹⁸A certain ruler asked him, saying, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”

¹⁹Jesus asked him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good, except one: God.

²⁰You know the commandments: ‘Don’t commit adultery,’ ‘Don’t murder,’ ‘Don’t steal,’ ‘Don’t give false testimony,’ ‘Honor your father and your mother.’”

²¹He said, “I have observed all these things from my youth up.”