Come here to me, and pay attention, so you can truly live. I'm going to make an agreement with you that will last forever, based on the trustworthy love I showed to David.
While he was still speaking, a bright cloud covered them. A voice came from the cloud, saying, “This is my son whom I love, who pleases me. Listen to him.”
“If you want to follow me but you don't hate your father and mother, and wife and children, and brothers and sisters—even your own life—you can't be my disciple.
That person is like a man building a house. He digs down deep and lays the foundations on solid rock. When the river bursts its banks and the floodwater breaks against the house it's not damaged because it's built so well.
The seeds that fall on the stony ground are those who hear and welcome the message with joy but don't have any roots. They trust for a while but when difficult times come they give up.
Some seeds fell on good earth and after they grew they produced a harvest one hundred times more than what had been sown.” After he told them this, he called out, “If you have ears, then listen!”
“Now we know you're demon-possessed,” said the Jews. “Abraham died, and the prophets did too, and you're telling us ‘anyone who follows my teaching will never die’!