27. When Jesus was saying these things, a woman in the crowd spoke out. She said to Jesus, “Your mother is blessed because she gave birth to you and nursed you.”
28. But Jesus said, “Those who hear the teaching of God and obey it—they are the ones who are truly blessed.”
29. The crowd grew larger. Jesus said, “The people who live today are evil. They ask for a miracle as a sign from God. But they will have no sign—only the sign of Jonah.
30. Jonah was a sign for those people who lived in Nineveh. In the same way the Son of Man will be a sign for the people of this time.
31. On the Judgment Day the Queen of the South will stand up with the men who live now. She will show that they are guilty because she came from far away to listen to Solomon’s wise teaching. And I tell you that someone greater than Solomon is here!
32. On the Judgment Day the men of Nineveh will stand up with the people who live now. And they will show that you are guilty, because when Jonah preached to those people, they changed their hearts and lives. And I tell you that someone greater than Jonah is here!
33. “No one takes a light and puts it under a bowl or hides it. Instead, he puts the light on a lampstand so that the people who come in can see.
34. Your eye is a light for the body. If your eyes are good, then your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are evil, then your whole body will be full of darkness.
35. So be careful! Don’t let the light in you become darkness.
36. If your whole body is full of light, and none of it is dark, then you will shine bright, as when a lamp shines on you.”
37. After Jesus had finished speaking, a Pharisee asked Jesus to eat with him. So Jesus went in and sat at the table.
38. But the Pharisee was surprised when he saw that Jesus did not wash his hands before the meal.
39. The Lord said to him, “You Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and the dish. But inside you are full of greed and evil.
40. You are foolish. The same One who made what is outside also made what is inside.