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The disciples who knew Jesus when he was alive did not directly write the accounts of his life that are included in the New Testament. They may have contributed to written collections of his sayings—and they surely did pass along his teachings via their oral communication—but they did not write the gospels in the Bible as they now appear. Rather, the accounts of Jesus’ life, teachings, and death were compiled and written decades after he was executed. The earliest account that is included in the Bible is the Gospel of Mark, and it was written sometime after 65 CE, or about three decades after his death. The latest gospel is the Gospel of John, which was probably written between 90 and 100 CE. The writers and redactors of the gospels had various motives and interests that guided how they reconstructed and conveyed their versions of the story of Jesus. Since the gospels were not timely and concurrent records of Jesus’s life, the scholarly consensus is that some of the statements attributed to Jesus were probably not things he said, but rather interpolations. Indeed, it is widely understood that the vast majority of the statements attributed to Jesus were likely not things he actually said, but rather interpolations. That having been said, the following quotations are among the passages which can be attributed to Jesus with a relatively high degree of confidence. This is owing to their subject-matter: these passages express teachings that would’ve been unusual, unique, or controversial, even from the perspective of Jesus’ own followers. It is thus unlikely that they were the invention or interpolation of later writers. Some of these passages are referred to as the “hard sayings of Jesus,” because they challenge mainstream ways of thinking about God and religiosity—both then and now.This selection uses the World English Bible translation, since it has been published as a public domain text. It is worth comparing this translation to other translations, such as the New Revised Standard (NRSV) or the New American Bible, Revised Edition (NABRE), which the US Council of Catholic Bishops has published on its website.
Mark 4:3-9
“Listen! Behold, the farmer went out to sow. As he sowed, some seed fell by the road, and the birds came and devoured it. Others fell on the rocky ground, where it had little soil, and immediately it sprang up, because it had no depth of soil. When the sun had risen, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away. Others fell among the thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no fruit. Others fell into the good ground and yielded fruit, growing up and increasing. Some produced thirty times, some sixty times, and some one hundred times as much.” He said, “Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear.”
Mark 4:26-29
“God’s Kingdom is as if a man should cast seed on the earth, and should sleep and rise night and day, and the seed should spring up and grow, though he doesn’t know how. For the earth bears fruit by itself: first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. But when the fruit is ripe, immediately he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”
Mark 4:30-32
“How will we liken God’s Kingdom? Or with what parable will we illustrate it? It’s like a grain of mustard seed, which, when it is sown in the earth, though it is less than all the seeds that are on the earth, yet when it is sown, grows up and becomes greater than all the herbs, and puts out great branches, so that the birds of the sky can lodge under its shadow.”
Mark 6:4
“A prophet is not without honor, except in his own country, and among his own relatives, and in his own house.”
Mark 7:14-16
“Hear me, all of you, and understand. There is nothing from outside of the man that going into him can defile him; but the things which proceed out of the man are those that defile the man. If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear!”
Mark 10:14-16
“Allow the little children to come to me! Don’t forbid them, for God’s Kingdom belongs to such as these. Most certainly I tell you, whoever will not receive God’s Kingdom like a little child, he will in no way enter into it.”
Mark 10:23-25
“How difficult it is for those who have riches to enter into God’s Kingdom!”
“Children, how hard it is for those who trust in riches to enter into God’s Kingdom! It is easier for a camel to go through a needle’s eye than for a rich man to enter into God’s Kingdom.”
Mark 12:17
“Give to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”
Mark 12:38-40
“Beware of the scribes, who like to walk in long robes, and to get greetings in the marketplaces, and to get the best seats in the synagogues and the best places at feasts, those who devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. These will receive greater condemnation.”
Matthew 5:3
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.”
Matthew 5:6
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.”
Matthew 5:39
“But I tell you, don’t resist him who is evil; but whoever strikes you on your right cheek, turn to him the other also.”
Matthew 6:9-14
“Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy. Let your Kingdom come. Let your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors. Bring us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.”
Matthew 6:24-30
“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You can’t serve both God and Mammon. Therefore I tell you, don’t be anxious for your life: what you will eat, or what you will drink; nor yet for your body, what you will wear. Isn’t life more than food, and the body more than clothing? See the birds of the sky, that they don’t sow, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns. Your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you of much more value than they?
“Which of you by being anxious, can add one moment to his lifespan? Why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They don’t toil, neither do they spin, yet I tell you that even Solomon in all his glory was not dressed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today exists and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, won’t he much more clothe you, you of little faith?”
Matthew 7:3-5
“Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but don’t consider the beam that is in your own eye? Or how will you tell your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye,’ and behold, the beam is in your own eye? You hypocrite! First remove the beam out of your own eye, and then you can see clearly to remove the speck out of your brother’s eye.”
Matthew 7:7-12
“Ask, and it will be given you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and it will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives. He who seeks finds. To him who knocks it will be opened. Or who is there among you who, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, who will give him a serpent? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!”
Matthew 8:20
“The foxes have holes and the birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man [Son of Adam] has nowhere to lay his head.”
Matthew 8:22
“Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead.”
Matthew 13:33
“The Kingdom of Heaven is like yeast which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, until it was all leavened.”
Matthew 20:1-15
“For the Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who was the master of a household, who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. When he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. He went out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the marketplace. He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.’ So they went their way. Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did likewise. About the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing idle. He said to them, ‘Why do you stand here all day idle?’
“They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’
“He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and you will receive whatever is right.’
“When evening had come, the lord of the vineyard said to his manager, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning from the last to the first.’ When those who were hired at about the eleventh hour came, they each received a denarius. When the first came, they supposed that they would receive more; and they likewise each received a denarius. When they received it, they murmured against the master of the household, saying, ‘These last have spent one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat!’
“But he answered one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Didn’t you agree with me for a denarius? Take that which is yours, and go your way. It is my desire to give to this last just as much as to you. Isn’t it lawful for me to do what I want to with what I own? Or is your eye evil, because I am good?’”
Luke 6:20-21
“Blessed are you who are poor… Blessed are you who hunger…”
Luke 6:27
“Love your enemies…”
Luke 6:29-30
“To him who strikes you on the cheek, offer also the other; and from him who takes away your cloak, don’t withhold your coat also. Give to everyone who asks you...”
Luke 6:32
“If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them.”
Luke 10:30-35
“A certain man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who both stripped him and beat him, and departed, leaving him half dead. By chance a certain priest was going down that way. When he saw him, he passed by on the other side. In the same way a Levite also, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a certain Samaritan, as he traveled, came where he was. When he saw him, he was moved with compassion, came to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. He set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii, gave them to the host, and said to him, ‘Take care of him. Whatever you spend beyond that, I will repay you when I return.’”
Luke 13:20-21
“To what shall I compare God’s Kingdom? It is like yeast, which a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, until it was all leavened.”
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