Day 67 - Luke 23 and James 1-2
Luke 23
23:1 The whole company of them rose up and brought him before Pilate.
23:2 They began to accuse him, saying, "We found this man perverting the nation, forbidding paying taxes to Caesar, and saying that he himself is Christ, a king."
23:3 Pilate asked him, "Are you the King of the Jews?" He answered him, "So you say."
23:4 Pilate said to the chief priests and the multitudes, "I find no basis for a charge against this man."
23:5 But they insisted, saying, "He stirs up the people, teaching throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee even to this place."
23:6 But when Pilate heard Galilee mentioned, he asked if the man was a Galilean.
23:7 When he found out that he was in Herod's jurisdiction, he sent him to Herod, who was also in Jerusalem during those days.
23:8 Now when Herod saw Jesus, he was exceedingly glad, for he had wanted to see him for a long time, because he had heard many things about him. He hoped to see some miracle done by him.
23:9 He questioned him with many words, but he gave no answers.
23:10 The chief priests and the scribes stood, vehemently accusing him.
23:11 Herod with his soldiers humiliated him and mocked him. Dressing him in luxurious clothing, they sent him back to Pilate.
23:12 Herod and Pilate became friends with each other that very day, for before that they were enemies with each other.
23:13 Pilate called together the chief priests and the rulers and the people,
23:14 and said to them, "You brought this man to me as one that perverts the people, and see, I have examined him before you, and found no basis for a charge against this man concerning those things of which you accuse him.
23:15 Neither has Herod, for I sent you to him, and see, nothing worthy of death has been done by him.
23:16 I will therefore chastise him and release him."
23:17 Now he had to release one prisoner to them at the feast.
23:18 But they all cried out together, saying, "Away with this man! Release to us Barabbas!"--
23:19 one who was thrown into prison for a certain revolt in the city, and for murder.
23:20 Then Pilate spoke to them again, wanting to release Jesus,
23:21 but they shouted, saying, "Crucify! Crucify him!"
23:22 He said to them the third time, "Why? What evil has this man done? I have found no capital crime in him. I will therefore chastise him and release him."
23:23 But they were urgent with loud voices, asking that he might be crucified. Their voices and the voices of the chief priests prevailed.
23:24 Pilate decreed that what they asked for should be done.
23:25 He released him who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder, for whom they asked, but he delivered Jesus up to their will.
23:26 When they led him away, they grabbed one Simon of Cyrene, coming from the country, and laid on him the cross, to carry it after Jesus.
23:27 A great multitude of the people followed him, including women who also mourned and lamented him.
23:28 But Jesus, turning to them, said, "Daughters of Jerusalem, don't weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.
23:29 For behold, the days are coming in which they will say, 'Blessed are the barren, the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never nursed.'
23:30 Then they will begin to tell the mountains, 'Fall on us!' and tell the hills, 'Cover us.'
23:31 For if they do these things in the green tree, what will be done in the dry?"
23:32 There were also others, two criminals, led with him to be put to death.
23:33 When they came to the place that is called The Skull, they crucified him there with the criminals, one on the right and the other on the left.
23:34 Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they don't know what they are doing." Dividing his garments among them, they cast lots.
23:35 The people stood watching. The rulers with them also scoffed at him, saying, "He saved others. Let him save himself, if this is the Christ of God, his chosen one!"
23:36 The soldiers also mocked him, coming to him and offering him vinegar,
23:37 and saying, "If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!"
23:38 An inscription was also written over him in letters of Greek, Latin, and Hebrew: "THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS."
23:39 One of the criminals who was hanged insulted him, saying, "If you are the Christ, save yourself and us!"
23:40 But the other answered, and rebuking him said, "Don't you even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation?
23:41 And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong."
23:42 He said to Jesus, "Lord, remember me when you come into your Kingdom."
23:43 Jesus said to him, "Assuredly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise."
23:44 It was now about the sixth hour-
23:45 The sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was torn in two.
23:46 Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!" Having said this, he breathed his last.
23:47 When the centurion saw what was done, he glorified God, saying, "Certainly this was a righteous man."
23:48 All the multitudes that came together to see this, when they saw the things that were done, returned home beating their breasts.
23:49 All his acquaintances, and the women who followed with him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things.
23:50 Behold, a man named Joseph, who was a member of the council, a good and righteous man
23:51 (he had not consented to their counsel and deed), from Arimathaea, a city of the Jews, who was also waiting for the Kingdom of God:
23:52 this man went to Pilate, and asked for Jesus' body.
23:53 He took it down, and wrapped it in a linen cloth, and laid him in a tomb that was cut in stone, where no one had ever been laid.
23:54 It was the day of the Preparation, and the Sabbath was drawing near.
23:55 The women, who had come with him out of Galilee, followed after, and saw the tomb, and how his body was laid.
23:56 They returned, and prepared spices and ointments. On the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment.
James 1
1:1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are in the Dispersion: Greetings.
1:2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you fall into various temptations,
1:3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.
1:4 Let endurance have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
1:5 But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach; and it will be given to him.
1:6 But let him ask in faith, without any doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven by the wind and tossed.
1:7 For let that man not think that he will receive anything from the Lord.
1:8 He is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
1:9 But let the brother in humble circumstances glory in his high position;
1:10 and the rich, in that he is made humble, because like the flower in the grass, he will pass away.
1:11 For the sun arises with the scorching wind, and withers the grass, and the flower in it falls, and the beauty of its appearance perishes. So also will the rich man fade away in his pursuits.
1:12 Blessed is the man who endures temptation, for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life, which the Lord promised to those who love him.
1:13 Let no man say when he is tempted, "I am tempted by God," for God can't be tempted by evil, and he himself tempts no one.
1:14 But each one is tempted, when he is drawn away by his own lust, and enticed.
1:15 Then the lust, when it has conceived, bears sin; and the sin, when it is full grown, brings forth death.
1:16 Don't be deceived, my beloved brothers.
1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom can be no variation, nor turning shadow.
1:18 Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
1:19 So, then, my beloved brothers, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger;
1:20 for the anger of man doesn't produce the righteousness of God.
1:21 Therefore, putting away all filthiness and overflowing of wickedness, receive with humility the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.
1:22 But be doers of the word, and not only hearers, deluding your own selves.
1:23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man looking at his natural face in a mirror;
1:24 for he sees himself, and goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.
1:25 But he who looks into the perfect law of freedom, and continues, not being a hearer who forgets, but a doer of the work, this man will be blessed in what he does.
1:26 If anyone among you thinks himself to be religious while he doesn't bridle his tongue, but deceives his heart, this man's religion is worthless.
1:27 Pure religion and undefiled before our God and Father is this: to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.
James 2
2:1 My brothers, don't hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ of glory with partiality.
2:2 For if a man with a gold ring, in fine clothing, comes into your synagogue, and a poor man in filthy clothing also comes in;
2:3 and you pay special attention to him who wears the fine clothing, and say, "Sit here in a good place;" and you tell the poor man, "Stand there," or "Sit by my footstool;"
2:4 haven't you shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?
2:5 Listen, my beloved brothers. Didn't God choose those who are poor in this world to be rich in faith, and heirs of the Kingdom which he promised to those who love him?
2:6 But you have dishonored the poor man. Don't the rich oppress you, and personally drag you before the courts?
2:7 Don't they blaspheme the honorable name by which you are called?
2:8 However, if you fulfill the royal law, according to the Scripture, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself," you do well.
2:9 But if you show partiality, you commit sin, being convicted by the law as transgressors.
2:10 For whoever keeps the whole law, and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all.
2:11 For he who said, "Do not commit adultery," also said, "Do not commit murder." Now if you do not commit adultery, but murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.
2:12 So speak, and so do, as men who are to be judged by a law of freedom.
2:13 For judgment is without mercy to him who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
2:14 What good is it, my brothers, if a man says he has faith, but has no works? Can faith save him?
2:15 And if a brother or sister is naked and in lack of daily food,
2:16 and one of you tells them, "Go in peace, be warmed and filled;" and yet you didn't give them the things the body needs, what good is it?
2:17 Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead in itself.
2:18 Yes, a man will say, "You have faith, and I have works." Show me your faith without works, and I by my works will show you my faith.
2:19 You believe that God is one. You do well. The demons also believe, and shudder.
2:20 But do you want to know, vain man, that faith apart from works is dead?
2:21 Wasn't Abraham our father justified by works, in that he offered up Isaac his son on the altar?
2:22 You see that faith worked with his works, and by works faith was perfected;
2:23 and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, "Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him as righteousness;" and he was called the friend of God.
2:24 You see then that by works, a man is justified, and not only by faith.
2:25 In like manner wasn't Rahab the prostitute also justified by works, in that she received the messengers, and sent them out another way?
2:26 For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, even so faith apart from works is dead.
