Jesus came near the city of Jericho. There was a blind man sitting beside the road. He was begging people for money. When he heard the people coming down the road, he asked, "What is happening?" They told him, "Jesus, the one from Nazareth, is coming here." The blind man was excited and said, "Jesus, Son of David, please help me!" The people who were in front leading the group criticized the blind man. They told him to be quiet. But he shouted more and more, "Son of David, please help me!" Jesus stopped there and said, "Bring that man to me!" When he came close, Jesus asked him, "What do you want me to do for you?" He said, "Lord, I want to see again." Jesus said to him, "You can see now. You are healed because you believed." Then the man was able to see. He followed Jesus, thanking God. Everyone who saw this praised God for what happened.
Come, let us sing praise to the LORD! Let us shout praises to the Rock who saves us. Come and worship him with songs of thanks. Let us sing happy songs of praise to him. For the LORD is a great God, the great King ruling over all the other "gods." The deepest caves and the highest mountains belong to him. The ocean is his—he created it. He made the dry land with his own hands. Come, let us bow down and worship him! Let us kneel before the LORD who made us. He is our God, and we are the people he cares for, his sheep that walk by his side.
Listen to his voice today:
Some people brought their small children to Jesus so that he could lay his hands on them to bless them. But when the followers saw this, they told the people not to do this. But Jesus called the little children to him and said to his followers, "Let the little children come to me. Don't stop them, because God's kingdom belongs to people who are like these little children. The truth is, you must accept God's kingdom like a little child accepts things, or you will never enter it."
A religious leader asked Jesus, "Good Teacher, what must I do to get eternal life?" Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good? Only God is good. And you know his commands: 'You must not commit adultery, you must not murder anyone, you must not steal, you must not tell lies about others, you must respect your father and mother .…'" But the leader said, "I have obeyed all these commands since I was a boy." When Jesus heard this, he said to the leader, "But there is still one thing you need to do. Sell everything you have and give the money to those who are poor. You will have riches in heaven. Then come and follow me."
Jesus was going through the city of Jericho. In Jericho there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a wealthy, very important tax collector. He wanted to see who Jesus was. There were many others who wanted to see Jesus too. Zacchaeus was too short to see above the people. So he ran to a place where he knew Jesus would come. Then he climbed a sycamore tree so he could see him. When Jesus came to where Zacchaeus was, he looked up and saw him in the tree. Jesus said, "Zacchaeus, hurry! Come down! I must stay at your house today."
Zacchaeus hurried and came down. He was happy to have Jesus in his house. Everyone saw this. They began to complain, "Look at the kind of man Jesus is staying with. Zacchaeus is a sinner!" Zacchaeus said to the Lord, "I want to do good. I will give half of my money to the poor. If I have cheated anyone, I will pay them back four times more." Jesus said, "Today is the day for this family to be saved from sin. Yes, even this tax collector is one of God's chosen people. The Son of Man came to find lost people and save them."