Jesus Teaches the People (Lk. 6:20-23)

5 ¹Jesus saw the many people that were there. So Jesus went up on a hill and sat down. His followers came to him. ²Jesus taught the people. He said: ³"People that [know they] have great spiritual needs are blessed. The kingdom of heaven belongs to those people. ⁴People that are sad now are blessed. God will comfort those people. ⁵People that are humble are blessed. They will have the land [God promised].* ⁶People that want to do right more than anything else are blessed. God will fully satisfy them. ⁷People that give mercy to other people are blessed. Mercy will be given to them. ⁸People that are pure in their thinking are blessed. Those people will be with God. ⁹People that work to bring peace are blessed. God will call those people his sons. ¹⁰People that are treated badly for doing good are blessed. The kingdom of heaven belongs to those people. ¹¹"People will say bad things against you and hurt you. They will lie and say all kinds of evil things against you because you follow me. But when people do those things to you, you are blessed. ¹²Be happy and glad. You have a great reward waiting for you in heaven. People did those same bad things to the prophets* that lived before you.

You Are like Salt and You Are like Light (Mk. 9:50; Lk. 14:34-35)

¹³"You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its taste, then it cannot be made salty again. Salt is good for nothing if it loses its salty taste. It must be thrown out and people walk on it. ¹⁴"You are the light that gives light to the world. A city that is built on a hill cannot be hidden. ¹⁵And people don't hide a light under a bowl. No. People put the light on a lamp table. Then the light shines for all the people in the house. ¹⁶In the same way, you should be a light for other people. Live so that people will see the good things you do. Live so that people will praise your Father in heaven.

Jesus and the Old Testament Writings

¹⁷"Don't think that I have come to destroy the law [of Moses] or the [teaching of the] prophets.* I have not come to destroy their teachings. I came to give full meaning to their teachings. ¹⁸I tell you the truth. Nothing will disappear from the law until heaven and earth are gone. The law will not lose even the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter until all has happened. ¹⁹A person should obey every command, even a command that does not seem important. If a person refuses to obey any command and teaches other people not to obey that command, then that person will be the least important in the kingdom of heaven. But the person that obeys the law and teaches other people to obey the law will be great in the kingdom of heaven. ²⁰I tell you that you must do better than the teachers of the law and the Pharisees.* If you are not better people, then you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.

land God promised See Ps. 37:11. prophets People that spoke for God. Some of them wrote books that are part of the Old Testament. Pharisees The Pharisees were a Jewish religious group that claimed to follow carefully all Jewish laws and customs.