1

1 Here begins the wonderful story of Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God.

2 In the book written by the prophet Isaiah, God announced that he would send his Son to earth, and that a special messenger would arrive first to prepare the world for his coming.

3 "This messenger will live out in the barren wilderness," Isaiah said, "and will proclaim that everyone must straighten out his life to be ready for the Lord's arrival."

4 This messenger was John the Baptist. He lived in the wilderness and taught that all should be baptized as a public announcement of their decision to turn their backs on sin, so that God could forgive them.

5 People from Jerusalem and from all over Judea traveled out into the Judean wastelands to see and hear John, and when they confessed their sins he baptized them in the Jordan River.

6 His clothes were woven from camel's hair and he wore a leather belt; locusts and wild honey were his food.

7 Here is a sample of his preaching: "Someone is coming soon who is far greater than I am, so much greater that I am not even worthy to be his slave.

8 I baptize you with water but he will baptize you with God's Holy Spirit!"

9 Then one day Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee, and was baptized by John there in the Jordan River.

10 The moment Jesus came up out of the water, he saw the heavens open and the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove descending on him,

11 and a voice from heaven said, "You are my beloved Son; you are my Delight."

12 Immediately the Holy Spirit urged Jesus into the desert.

13 There, for forty days, alone except for desert animals, he was subjected to Satan's temptations to sin. And afterwards the angels came and cared for him.

14 Later on, after John was arrested by King Herod, Jesus went to Galilee to preach God's Good News.

15 "At last the time has come!" he announced. "God's Kingdom is near! Turn from your sins and act on this glorious news!"

16 One day as Jesus was walking along the shores of the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew fishing with nets, for they were commercial fishermen.

17 Jesus called out to them, "Come, follow me! And I will make you fishermen for the souls of men!"

18 At once they left their nets and went along with him.

19 A little farther up the beach, he saw Zebedee's sons, James and John, in a boat mending their nets.

20 He called them too, and immediately they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and went with him.

21 Jesus and his companions now arrived at the town of Capernaum and on Saturday morning went into the Jewish place of worship--the synagogue--where he preached.

22 The congregation was surprised at his sermon because he spoke as an authority and didn't try to prove his points by quoting others--quite unlike what they were used to hearing!

23 A man possessed by a demon was present and began shouting,

24 "Why are you bothering us, Jesus of Nazareth--have you come to destroy us demons? I know who you are--the holy Son of God!"

25 Jesus curtly commanded the demon to say no more and to come out of the man.

26 At that the evil spirit screamed and convulsed the man violently and left him.

27 Amazement gripped the audience and they began discussing what had happened. "What sort of new religion is this?" they asked excitedly. "Why, even evil spirits obey his orders!"

28 The news of what he had done spread quickly through that entire area of Galilee.

29 Then, leaving the synagogue, he and his disciples went over to Simon and Andrew's home,

30 where they found Simon's mother-in-law sick in bed with a high fever. They told Jesus about her right away.

31 He went to her bedside, and as he took her by the hand and helped her to sit up, the fever suddenly left, and she got up and prepared dinner for them!

32 By sunset the courtyard was filled with the sick and demon-possessed, brought to him for healing;

33 and a huge crowd of people from all over the city of Capernaum gathered outside the door to watch.

34 So Jesus healed great numbers of sick folk that evening and ordered many demons to come out of their victims. (But he refused to allow the demons to speak, because they knew who he was.)

35 The next morning he was up long before daybreak and went out alone into the wilderness to pray.

36 Later, Simon and the others went out to find him,

37 and told him, "Everyone is asking for you."

38 But he replied, "We must go on to other towns as well, and give my message to them too, for that is why I came."

39 So he traveled throughout the province of Galilee, preaching in the synagogues and releasing many from the power of demons.

40 Once a leper came and knelt in front of him and begged to be healed. "If you want to, you can make me well again," he pled.

41 And Jesus, moved with pity, touched him and said, "I want to! Be healed!"

42 Immediately the leprosy was gone--the man was healed!

43 Jesus then told him sternly,

44 "Go and be examined immediately by the Jewish priest. Don't stop to speak to anyone along the way. Take along the offering prescribed by Moses for a leper who is healed, so that everyone will have proof that you are well again."

45 But as the man went on his way he began to shout the good news that he was healed; as a result, such throngs soon surrounded Jesus that he couldn't publicly enter a city anywhere, but had to stay out in the barren wastelands. And people from everywhere came to him there.

2

1 Several days later he returned to Capernaum, and the news of his arrival spread quickly through the city.

2 Soon the house where he was staying was so packed with visitors that there wasn't room for a single person more, not even outside the door. And he preached the Word to them.

3 Four men arrived carrying a paralyzed man on a stretcher.

4 They couldn't get to Jesus through the crowd, so they dug through the clay roof above his head and lowered the sick man on his stretcher, right down in front of Jesus.

5 When Jesus saw how strongly they believed that he would help, Jesus said to the sick man, "Son, your sins are forgiven!"

6 But some of the Jewish religious leaders said to themselves as they sat there,

7 "What? This is blasphemy! Does he think he is God? For only God can forgive sins."

8 Jesus could read their minds and said to them at once, "Why does this bother you?

9 I, the Messiah, have the authority on earth to forgive sins.

10 But talk is cheap--anybody could say that. So I'll prove it to you by healing this man."

11 Then, turning to the paralyzed man, he commanded, "Pick up your stretcher and go on home, for you are healed!"

12 The man jumped up, took the stretcher, and pushed his way through the stunned onlookers! Then how they praised God. "We've never seen anything like this before!" they all exclaimed.

13 Then Jesus went out to the seashore again and preached to the crowds that gathered around him.

14 As he was walking up the beach he saw Levi, the son of Alphaeus, sitting at his tax collection booth. "Come with me," Jesus told him. "Come be my disciple." And Levi jumped to his feet and went along.

15 That night Levi invited his fellow tax collectors and many other notorious sinners to be his dinner guests so that they could meet Jesus and his disciples. (There were many men of this type among the crowds that followed him.)

16 But when some of the Jewish religious leaders saw him eating with these men of ill repute, they said to his disciples, "How can he stand it, to eat with such scum?"

17 When Jesus heard what they were saying, he told them, "Sick people need the doctor, not healthy ones! I haven't come to tell good people to repent, but the bad ones."

18 John's disciples and the Jewish leaders sometimes fasted, that is, went without food as part of their religion. One day some people came to Jesus and asked why his disciples didn't do this too.

19 Jesus replied, "Do friends of the bridegroom refuse to eat at the wedding feast? Should they be sad while he is with them?

20 But some day he will be taken away from them, and then they will mourn.

21 Besides, going without food is part of the old way of doing things. It is like patching an old garment with unshrunk cloth! What happens? The patch pulls away and leaves the hole worse than before.

22 You know better than to put new wine into old wineskins. They would burst. The wine would be spilled out and the wineskins ruined. New wine needs fresh wineskins."

23 Another time, on a Sabbath day as Jesus and his disciples were walking through the fields, the disciples were breaking off heads of wheat and eating the grain.

24 Some of the Jewish religious leaders said to Jesus, "They shouldn't be doing that! It's against our laws to work by harvesting grain on the Sabbath."

25 But Jesus replied, "Didn't you ever hear about the time King David and his companions were hungry,

26 and he went into the house of God--Abiathar was High Priest then--and they ate the special bread only priests were allowed to eat? That was against the law too.

27 But the Sabbath was made to benefit man, and not man to benefit the Sabbath.

28 And I, the Messiah, have authority even to decide what men can do on Sabbath days!"

3

1 While in Capernaum Jesus went over to the synagogue again, and noticed a man there with a deformed hand.

2 Since it was the Sabbath, Jesus' enemies watched him closely. Would he heal the man's hand? If he did, they planned to arrest him!

3 Jesus asked the man to come and stand in front of the congregation.

4 Then turning to his enemies he asked, "Is it all right to do kind deeds on Sabbath days? Or is this a day for doing harm? Is it a day to save lives or to destroy them?" But they wouldn't answer him.

5 Looking around at them angrily, for he was deeply disturbed by their indifference to human need, he said to the man, "Reach out your hand." He did, and instantly his hand was healed!

6 At once the Pharisees went away and met with the Herodians to discuss plans for killing Jesus.

7 Meanwhile, Jesus and his disciples withdrew to the beach, followed by a huge crowd

8 from all over Galilee, Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, from beyond the Jordan River, and even from as far away as Tyre and Sidon. For the news about his miracles had spread far and wide and vast numbers came to see him for themselves.

9 He instructed his disciples to bring around a boat and to have it standing ready to rescue him in case he was crowded off the beach.

10 For there had been many healings that day and as a result great numbers of sick people were crowding around him, trying to touch him.

11 And whenever those possessed by demons caught sight of him they would fall down before him shrieking, "You are the Son of God!"

12 But he strictly warned them not to make him known.

13 Afterwards he went up into the hills and summoned certain ones he chose, inviting them to come and join him there; and they did.

14 Then he selected twelve of them to be his regular companions and to go out to preach

15 and to cast out demons.

16 These are the names of the twelve he chose: Simon (he renamed him "Peter"),

17 James and John (the sons of Zebedee, but Jesus called them "Sons of Thunder"),

18 Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James (the son of Alphaeus), Thaddaeus, Simon (a member of a political party advocating violent overthrow of the Roman government),

19 Judas Iscariot (who later betrayed him).

20 When he returned to the house where he was staying, the crowds began to gather again, and soon it was so full of visitors that he couldn't even find time to eat.

21 When his friends heard what was happening they came to try to take him home with them. "He's out of his mind," they said.

22 But the Jewish teachers of religion who had arrived from Jerusalem said, "His trouble is that he's possessed by Satan, king of demons. That's why demons obey him."

23 Jesus summoned these men and asked them (using proverbs they all understood), "How can Satan cast out Satan?

24 A kingdom divided against itself will collapse.

25 A home filled with strife and division destroys itself.

26 And if Satan is fighting against himself, how can he accomplish anything? He would never survive.

27 Satan must be bound before his demons are cast out, just as a strong man must be tied up before his house can be ransacked and his property robbed.

28 "I solemnly declare that any sin of man can be forgiven, even blasphemy against me;

29 but blasphemy against the Holy Spirit can never be forgiven. It is an eternal sin."

30 He told them this because they were saying he did his miracles by Satan's power instead of acknowledging it was by the Holy Spirit's power.

31 Now his mother and brothers arrived at the crowded house where he was teaching, and they sent word for him to come out and talk with them.

32 "Your mother and brothers are outside and want to see you," he was told.

33 He replied, "Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?"

34 Looking at those around him he said, "These are my mother and brothers!

35 Anyone who does God's will is my brother, and my sister, and my mother."

4

1 Once again an immense crowd gathered around him on the beach as he was teaching, so he got into a boat and sat down and talked from there.

2 His usual method of teaching was to tell the people stories. One of them went like this:

3 "Listen! A farmer decided to sow some grain. As he scattered it across his field,

4 some of it fell on a path, and the birds came and picked it off the hard ground and ate it.

5 Some fell on thin soil with underlying rock. It grew up quickly enough,

6 but soon wilted beneath the hot sun and died because the roots had no nourishment in the shallow soil.

7 Other seeds fell among thorns that shot up and crowded the young plants so that they produced no grain.

8 But some of the seeds fell into good soil and yielded thirty times as much as he had planted--some of it even sixty or a hundred times as much!

9 If you have ears, listen!"

10 Afterwards, when he was alone with the twelve and with his other disciples, they asked him, "What does your story mean?"

11 He replied, "You are permitted to know some truths about the Kingdom of God that are hidden to those outside the Kingdom:

12 'Though they see and hear, they will not understand or turn to God, or be forgiven for their sins.'

13 But if you can't understand this simple illustration, what will you do about all the others I am going to tell?

14 "The farmer I talked about is anyone who brings God's message to others, trying to plant good seed within their lives.

15 The hard pathway, where some of the seed fell, represents the hard hearts of some of those who hear God's message; Satan comes at once to try to make them forget it.

16 The rocky soil represents the hearts of those who hear the message with joy,

17 but, like young plants in such soil, their roots don't go very deep, and though at first they get along fine, as soon as persecution begins, they wilt.

18 "The thorny ground represents the hearts of people who listen to the Good News and receive it,

19 but all too quickly the attractions of this world and the delights of wealth, and the search for success and lure of nice things come in and crowd out God's message from their hearts, so that no crop is produced.

20 "But the good soil represents the hearts of those who truly accept God's message and produce a plentiful harvest for God--thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times as much as was planted in their hearts."

21 Then he asked them, "When someone lights a lamp, does he put a box over it to shut out the light? Of course not! The light couldn't be seen or used. A lamp is placed on a stand to shine and be useful.

22 "All that is now hidden will someday come to light.

23 If you have ears, listen!

24 And be sure to put into practice what you hear. The more you do this, the more you will understand what I tell you.

25 To him who has shall be given; from him who has not shall be taken away even what he has.

26 "Here is another story illustrating what the Kingdom of God is like: "A farmer sowed his field

27 and went away, and as the days went by, the seeds grew and grew without his help.

28 For the soil made the seeds grow. First a leaf-blade pushed through, and later the wheat-heads formed and finally the grain ripened,

29 and then the farmer came at once with his sickle and harvested it."

30 Jesus asked, "How can I describe the Kingdom of God? What story shall I use to illustrate it?

31 It is like a tiny mustard seed! Though this is one of the smallest of seeds,

32 yet it grows to become one of the largest of plants, with long branches where birds can build their nests and be sheltered."

33 He used many such illustrations to teach the people as much as they were ready to understand.

34 In fact, he taught only by illustrations in his public teaching, but afterwards, when he was alone with his disciples, he would explain his meaning to them.

35 As evening fell, Jesus said to his disciples, "Let's cross to the other side of the lake."

36 So they took him just as he was and started out, leaving the crowds behind (though other boats followed).

37 But soon a terrible storm arose. High waves began to break into the boat until it was nearly full of water and about to sink.

38 Jesus was asleep at the back of the boat with his head on a cushion. Frantically they wakened him, shouting, "Teacher, don't you even care that we are all about to drown?"

39 Then he rebuked the wind and said to the sea, "Quiet down!" And the wind fell, and there was a great calm!

40 And he asked them, "Why were you so fearful? Don't you even yet have confidence in me?"

41 And they were filled with awe and said among themselves, "Who is this man, that even the winds and seas obey him?"

5

1 When they arrived at the other side of the lake,

2 a demon-possessed man ran out from a graveyard, just as Jesus was climbing from the boat.

3 This man lived among the gravestones and had such strength that whenever he was put into handcuffs and shackles--as he often was--

4 he snapped the handcuffs from his wrists and smashed the shackles and walked away. No one was strong enough to control him.

5 All day long and through the night he would wander among the tombs and in the wild hills, screaming and cutting himself with sharp pieces of stone.

6 When Jesus was still far out on the water, the man had seen him and had run to meet him, and fell down before him.

7 Then Jesus spoke to the demon within the man and said, "Come out, you evil spirit." It gave a terrible scream, shrieking, "What are you going to do to me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? For God's sake, don't torture me!"

8

9 "What is your name?" Jesus asked, and the demon replied, "Legion, for there are many of us here within this man."

10 Then the demons begged him again and again not to send them to some distant land.

11 Now as it happened there was a huge herd of hogs rooting around on the hill above the lake.

12 "Send us into those hogs," the demons begged.

13 And Jesus gave them permission. Then the evil spirits came out of the man and entered the hogs, and the entire herd plunged down the steep hillside into the lake and drowned.

14 The herdsmen fled to the nearby towns and countryside, spreading the news as they ran. Everyone rushed out to see for themselves.

15 And a large crowd soon gathered where Jesus was; but as they saw the man sitting there, fully clothed and perfectly sane, they were frightened.

16 Those who saw what happened were telling everyone about it,

17 and the crowd began pleading with Jesus to go away and leave them alone!

18 So he got back into the boat. The man who had been possessed by the demons begged Jesus to let him go along.

19 But Jesus said no. "Go home to your friends," he told him, "and tell them what wonderful things God has done for you; and how merciful he has been."

20 So the man started off to visit the Ten Towns of that region and began to tell everyone about the great things Jesus had done for him; and they were awestruck by his story.

21 When Jesus had gone across by boat to the other side of the lake, a vast crowd gathered around him on the shore.

22 The leader of the local synagogue, whose name was Jairus, came and fell down before him,

23 pleading with him to heal his little daughter. "She is at the point of death," he said in desperation. "Please come and place your hands on her and make her live."

24 Jesus went with him, and the crowd thronged behind.

25 In the crowd was a woman who had been sick for twelve years with a hemorrhage.

26 She had suffered much from many doctors through the years and had become poor from paying them, and was no better but, in fact, was worse.

27 She had heard all about the wonderful miracles Jesus did, and that is why she came up behind him through the crowd and touched his clothes.

28 For she thought to herself, "If I can just touch his clothing, I will be healed."

29 And sure enough, as soon as she had touched him, the bleeding stopped and she knew she was well!

30 Jesus realized at once that healing power had gone out from him, so he turned around in the crowd and asked, "Who touched my clothes?"

31 His disciples said to him, "All this crowd pressing around you, and you ask who touched you?"

32 But he kept on looking around to see who it was who had done it.

33 Then the frightened woman, trembling at the realization of what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and told him what she had done.

34 And he said to her, "Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, healed of your disease."

35 While he was still talking to her, messengers arrived from Jairus' home with the news that it was too late--his daughter was dead and there was no point in Jesus' coming now.

36 But Jesus ignored their comments and said to Jairus, "Don't be afraid. Just trust me."

37 Then Jesus halted the crowd and wouldn't let anyone go on with him to Jairus' home except Peter and James and John.

38 When they arrived, Jesus saw that all was in great confusion, with unrestrained weeping and wailing.

39 He went inside and spoke to the people. "Why all this weeping and commotion?" he asked. "The child isn't dead; she is only asleep!"

40 They laughed at him in bitter derision, but he told them all to leave, and taking the little girl's father and mother and his three disciples, he went into the room where she was lying.

41 Taking her by the hand he said to her, "Get up, little girl!"

42 (She was twelve years old.) And she jumped up and walked around! Her parents just couldn't get over it.

43 Jesus instructed them very earnestly not to tell what had happened and told them to give her something to eat.

6

1 Soon afterwards he left that section of the country and returned with his disciples to Nazareth, his hometown.

2 The next Sabbath he went to the synagogue to teach, and the people were astonished at his wisdom and his miracles because he was just a local man like themselves. "He's no better than we are," they said.

3 "He's just a carpenter, Mary's boy, and a brother of James and Joseph, Judas and Simon. And his sisters live right here among us." And they were offended!

4 Then Jesus told them, "A prophet is honored everywhere except in his hometown and among his relatives and by his own family."

5 And because of their unbelief he couldn't do any mighty miracles among them except to place his hands on a few sick people and heal them.

6 And he could hardly accept the fact that they wouldn't believe in him. Then he went out among the villages, teaching.

7 And he called his twelve disciples together and sent them out two by two, with power to cast out demons.

8 He told them to take nothing with them except their walking sticks--no food, no knapsack, no money,

9 not even an extra pair of shoes or a change of clothes.

10 "Stay at one home in each village--don't shift around from house to house while you are there," he said.

11 "And whenever a village won't accept you or listen to you, shake off the dust from your feet as you leave; it is a sign that you have abandoned it to its fate."

12 So the disciples went out, telling everyone they met to turn from sin.

13 And they cast out many demons and healed many sick people, anointing them with olive oil.

14 King Herod soon heard about Jesus, for his miracles were talked about everywhere. The king thought Jesus was John the Baptist come back to life again. So the people were saying, "No wonder he can do such miracles."

15 Others thought Jesus was Elijah the ancient prophet, now returned to life again; still others claimed he was a new prophet like the great ones of the past.

16 "No," Herod said, "it is John, the man I beheaded. He has come back from the dead."

17 For Herod had sent soldiers to arrest and imprison John

18 because he kept saying it was wrong for the king to marry Herodias, his brother Philip's wife.

19 Herodias wanted John killed in revenge, but without Herod's approval she was powerless.

20 And Herod respected John, knowing that he was a good and holy man, and so he kept him under his protection. Herod was disturbed whenever he talked with John, but even so he liked to listen to him.

21 Herodias' chance finally came. It was Herod's birthday and he gave a stag party for his palace aides, army officers, and the leading citizens of Galilee.

22 Then Herodias' daughter came in and danced before them and greatly pleased them all.

23 "Ask me for anything you like," the king vowed, "even half of my kingdom, and I will give it to you!"

24 She went out and consulted her mother, who told her, "Ask for John the Baptist's head!"

25 So she hurried back to the king and told him, "I want the head of John the Baptist--right now--on a tray!"

26 Then the king was sorry, but he was embarrassed to break his oath in front of his guests.

27 So he sent one of his bodyguards to the prison to cut off John's head and bring it to him. The soldier killed John in the prison,

28 and brought back his head on a tray, and gave it to the girl and she took it to her mother.

29 When John's disciples heard what had happened, they came for his body and buried it in a tomb.

30 The apostles now returned to Jesus from their tour and told him all they had done and what they had said to the people they visited.

31 Then Jesus suggested, "Let's get away from the crowds for a while and rest." For so many people were coming and going that they scarcely had time to eat.

32 So they left by boat for a quieter spot.

33 But many people saw them leaving and ran on ahead along the shore and met them as they landed.

34 So the usual vast crowd was there as he stepped from the boat; and he had pity on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd, and he taught them many things they needed to know.

35 Late in the afternoon his disciples came to him and said,

36 "Tell the people to go away to the nearby villages and farms and buy themselves some food, for there is nothing to eat here in this desolate spot, and it is getting late."

37 But Jesus said, "You feed them." "With what?" they asked. "It would take a fortune to buy food for all this crowd!"

38 "How much food do we have?" he asked. "Go and find out." They came back to report that there were five loaves of bread and two fish.

39 Then Jesus told the crowd to sit down,

40 and soon colorful groups of fifty or a hundred each were sitting on the green grass.

41 He took the five loaves and two fish and looking up to heaven, gave thanks for the food. Breaking the loaves into pieces, he gave some of the bread and fish to each disciple to place before the people.

42 And the crowd ate until they could hold no more!

43 There were about 5,000 men there for that meal, and afterwards twelve basketfuls of scraps were picked up off the grass!

44

45 Immediately after this Jesus instructed his disciples to get back into the boat and strike out across the lake to Bethsaida, where he would join them later. He himself would stay and tell the crowds good-bye and get them started home.

46 Afterwards he went up into the hills to pray.

47 During the night, as the disciples in their boat were out in the middle of the lake, and he was alone on land,

48 he saw that they were in serious trouble, rowing hard and struggling against the wind and waves. About three o'clock in the morning he walked out to them on the water. He started past them,

49 but when they saw something walking along beside them they screamed in terror, thinking it was a ghost,

50 for they all saw him. But he spoke to them at once. "It's all right," he said. "It is I! Don't be afraid."

51 Then he climbed into the boat and the wind stopped! They just sat there, unable to take it in!

52 For they still didn't realize who he was, even after the miracle the evening before! For they didn't want to believe!

53 When they arrived at Gennesaret on the other side of the lake, they moored the boat

54 and climbed out. The people standing around there recognized him at once,

55 and ran throughout the whole area to spread the news of his arrival, and began carrying sick folks to him on mats and stretchers.

56 Wherever he went--in villages and cities, and out on the farms--they laid the sick in the market plazas and streets, and begged him to let them at least touch the fringes of his clothes; and as many as touched him were healed.

7

1 One day some Jewish religious leaders arrived from Jerusalem to investigate him,

2 and noticed that some of his disciples failed to follow the usual Jewish rituals before eating.

3 (For the Jews, especially the Pharisees, will never eat until they have sprinkled their arms to the elbows, as required by their ancient traditions.

4 So when they come home from the market they must always sprinkle themselves in this way before touching any food. This is but one of many examples of laws and regulations they have clung to for centuries, and still follow, such as their ceremony of cleansing for pots, pans and dishes.)

5 So the religious leaders asked him, "Why don't your disciples follow our age-old customs? For they eat without first performing the washing ceremony."

6 Jesus replied, "You bunch of hypocrites! Isaiah the prophet described you very well when he said, 'These people speak very prettily about the Lord but they have no love for him at all.

7 Their worship is a farce, for they claim that God commands the people to obey their petty rules.' How right Isaiah was!

8 For you ignore God's specific orders and substitute your own traditions.

9 You are simply rejecting God's laws and trampling them under your feet for the sake of tradition.

10 For instance, Moses gave you this law from God: 'Honor your father and mother.' And he said that anyone who speaks against his father or mother must die.

11 But you say it is perfectly all right for a man to disregard his needy parents, telling them, 'Sorry, I can't help you! For I have given to God what I could have given to you.'

12 And so you break the law of God in order to protect your man-made tradition.

13 And this is only one example. There are many, many others."

14 Then Jesus called to the crowd to come and hear. "All of you listen," he said, "and try to understand.

15 Your souls aren't harmed by what you eat, but by what you think and say!"

16

17 Then he went into a house to get away from the crowds, and his disciples asked him what he meant by the statement he had just made.

18 "Don't you understand either?" he asked. "Can't you see that what you eat won't harm your soul?

19 For food doesn't come in contact with your heart, but only passes through the digestive system." (By saying this he showed that every kind of food is kosher.)

20 And then he added, "It is the thought-life that pollutes.

21 For from within, out of men's hearts, come evil thoughts of lust, theft, murder, adultery,

22 wanting what belongs to others, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, pride, and all other folly.

23 All these vile things come from within; they are what pollute you and make you unfit for God."

24 Then he left Galilee and went to the region of Tyre and Sidon, and tried to keep it a secret that he was there, but couldn't. For as usual the news of his arrival spread fast.

25 Right away a woman came to him whose little girl was possessed by a demon. She had heard about Jesus and now she came and fell at his feet,

26 and pled with him to release her child from the demon's control. (But she was Syrophoenician--a "despised Gentile!")

27 Jesus told her, "First I should help my own family--the Jews. It isn't right to take the children's food and throw it to the dogs."

28 She replied, "That's true, sir, but even the puppies under the table are given some scraps from the children's plates."

29 "Good!" he said. "You have answered well--so well that I have healed your little girl. Go on home, for the demon has left her!"

30 And when she arrived home, her little girl was lying quietly in bed, and the demon was gone.

31 From Tyre he went to Sidon, then back to the Sea of Galilee by way of the Ten Towns.

32 A deaf man with a speech impediment was brought to him, and everyone begged Jesus to lay his hands on the man and heal him.

33 Jesus led him away from the crowd and put his fingers into the man's ears, then spat and touched the man's tongue with the spittle.

34 Then, looking up to heaven, he sighed and commanded, "Open!"

35 Instantly the man could hear perfectly and speak plainly!

36 Jesus told the crowd not to spread the news, but the more he forbade them, the more they made it known,

37 for they were overcome with utter amazement. Again and again they said, "Everything he does is wonderful; he even corrects deafness and stammering!"

8

1 One day about this time as another great crowd gathered, the people ran out of food again. Jesus called his disciples to discuss the situation.

2 "I pity these people," he said, "for they have been here three days and have nothing left to eat.

3 And if I send them home without feeding them, they will faint along the road! For some of them have come a long distance."

4 "Are we supposed to find food for them here in the desert?" his disciples scoffed.

5 "How many loaves of bread do you have?" he asked. "Seven," they replied.

6 So he told the crowd to sit down on the ground. Then he took the seven loaves, thanked God for them, broke them into pieces and passed them to his disciples; and the disciples placed them before the people.

7 A few small fish were found, too, so Jesus also blessed these and told the disciples to serve them.

8 And the whole crowd ate until they were full, and afterwards he sent them home.

9 There were about 4,000 people in the crowd that day and when the scraps were picked up after the meal, there were seven very large basketfuls left over!

10 Immediately after this he got into a boat with his disciples and came to the region of Dalmanutha.

11 When the local Jewish leaders learned of his arrival, they came to argue with him. "Do a miracle for us," they said. "Make something happen in the sky. Then we will believe in you."

12 He sighed deeply when he heard this and he said, "Certainly not. How many more miracles do you people need?"

13 So he got back into the boat and left them, and crossed to the other side of the lake.

14 But the disciples had forgotten to stock up on food before they left and had only one loaf of bread in the boat.

15 As they were crossing, Jesus said to them very solemnly, "Beware of the yeast of King Herod and of the Pharisees."

16 "What does he mean?" the disciples asked each other. They finally decided that he must be talking about their forgetting to bring bread.

17 Jesus realized what they were discussing and said, "No, that isn't it at all! Can't you understand? Are your hearts too hard to take it in?

18 'Your eyes are to see with--why don't you look? Why don't you open your ears and listen?' Don't you remember anything at all?

19 "What about the 5,000 men I fed with five loaves of bread? How many basketfuls of scraps did you pick up afterwards?" "Twelve," they said.

20 "And when I fed the 4,000 with seven loaves, how much was left?" "Seven basketfuls," they said.

21 "And yet you think I'm worried that we have no bread?"

22 When they arrived at Bethsaida, some people brought a blind man to him and begged him to touch and heal him.

23 Jesus took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village, and spat upon his eyes, and laid his hands over them. "Can you see anything now?" Jesus asked him.

24 The man looked around. "Yes!" he said, "I see men! But I can't see them very clearly; they look like tree trunks walking around!"

25 Then Jesus placed his hands over the man's eyes again and as the man stared intently, his sight was completely restored, and he saw everything clearly, drinking in the sights around him.

26 Jesus sent him home to his family. "Don't even go back to the village first," he said.

27 Jesus and his disciples now left Galilee and went out to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. As they were walking along he asked them, "Who do the people think I am? What are they saying about me?"

28 "Some of them think you are John the Baptist," the disciples replied, "and others say you are Elijah or some other ancient prophet come back to life again."

29 Then he asked, "Who do you think I am?" Peter replied, "You are the Messiah."

30 But Jesus warned them not to tell anyone!

31 Then he began to tell them about the terrible things he would suffer, and that he would be rejected by the elders and the Chief Priests and the other Jewish leaders--and be killed, and that he would rise again three days afterwards.

32 He talked about it quite frankly with them, so Peter took him aside and chided him. "You shouldn't say things like that," he told Jesus.

33 Jesus turned and looked at his disciples and then said to Peter very sternly, "Satan, get behind me! You are looking at this only from a human point of view and not from God's."

34 Then he called his disciples and the crowds to come over and listen. "If any of you wants to be my follower," he told them, "you must put aside your own pleasures and shoulder your cross, and follow me closely.

35 If you insist on saving your life, you will lose it. Only those who throw away their lives for my sake and for the sake of the Good News will ever know what it means to really live.

36 "And how does a man benefit if he gains the whole world and loses his soul in the process?

37 For is anything worth more than his soul?

38 And anyone who is ashamed of me and my message in these days of unbelief and sin, I, the Messiah, will be ashamed of him when I return in the glory of my Father, with the holy angels."

9

1 Jesus went on to say to his disciples, "Some of you who are standing here right now will live to see the Kingdom of God arrive in great power!"

2 Six days later Jesus took Peter, James and John to the top of a mountain. No one else was there. Suddenly his face began to shine with glory,

3 and his clothing became dazzling white, far more glorious than any earthly process could ever make it!

4 Then Elijah and Moses appeared and began talking with Jesus!

5 "Teacher, this is wonderful!" Peter exclaimed. "We will make three shelters here, one for each of you. . . . "

6 He said this just to be talking, for he didn't know what else to say and they were all terribly frightened.

7 But while he was still speaking these words, a cloud covered them, blotting out the sun, and a voice from the cloud said, "This is my beloved Son. Listen to him."

8 Then suddenly they looked around and Moses and Elijah were gone, and only Jesus was with them.

9 As they descended the mountainside he told them never to mention what they had seen until after he had risen from the dead.

10 So they kept it to themselves, but often talked about it, and wondered what he meant by "rising from the dead."

11 Now they began asking him about something the Jewish religious leaders often spoke of, that Elijah must return before the Messiah could come.

12 Jesus agreed that Elijah must come first and prepare the way--and that he had, in fact, already come! And that he had been terribly mistreated, just as the prophets had predicted.

13 Then Jesus asked them what the prophets could have been talking about when they predicted that the Messiah would suffer and be treated with utter contempt.

14 At the bottom of the mountain they found a great crowd surrounding the other nine disciples, as some Jewish leaders argued with them.

15 The crowd watched Jesus in awe as he came toward them, and then ran to greet him.

16 "What's all the argument about?" he asked.

17 One of the men in the crowd spoke up and said, "Teacher, I brought my son for you to heal--he can't talk because he is possessed by a demon.

18 And whenever the demon is in control of him it dashes him to the ground and makes him foam at the mouth and grind his teeth and become rigid. So I begged your disciples to cast out the demon, but they couldn't do it."

19 Jesus said to his disciples, "Oh, what tiny faith you have; how much longer must I be with you until you believe? How much longer must I be patient with you? Bring the boy to me."

20 So they brought the boy, but when he saw Jesus the demon convulsed the child horribly, and he fell to the ground writhing and foaming at the mouth.

21 "How long has he been this way?" Jesus asked the father. And he replied, "Since he was very small,

22 and the demon often makes him fall into the fire or into water to kill him. Oh, have mercy on us and do something if you can."

23 "If I can?" Jesus asked. "Anything is possible if you have faith."

24 The father instantly replied, "I do have faith; oh, help me to have more!"

25 When Jesus saw the crowd was growing he rebuked the demon. "O demon of deafness and dumbness," he said, "I command you to come out of this child and enter him no more!"

26 Then the demon screamed terribly and convulsed the boy again and left him; and the boy lay there limp and motionless, to all appearance dead. A murmur ran through the crowd--"He is dead."

27 But Jesus took him by the hand and helped him to his feet and he stood up and was all right!

28 Afterwards, when Jesus was alone in the house with his disciples, they asked him, "Why couldn't we cast that demon out?"

29 Jesus replied, "Cases like this require prayer."

30 Leaving that region they traveled through Galilee where he tried to avoid all publicity

31 in order to spend more time with his disciples, teaching them. He would say to them, "I, the Messiah, am going to be betrayed and killed and three days later I will return to life again."

32 But they didn't understand and were afraid to ask him what he meant.

33 And so they arrived at Capernaum. When they were settled in the house where they were to stay he asked them, "What were you discussing out on the road?"

34 But they were ashamed to answer, for they had been arguing about which of them was the greatest!

35 He sat down and called them around him and said, "Anyone wanting to be the greatest must be the least--the servant of all!"

36 Then he placed a little child among them; and taking the child in his arms he said to them,

37 "Anyone who welcomes a little child like this in my name is welcoming me, and anyone who welcomes me is welcoming my Father who sent me!"

38 One of his disciples, John, told him one day, "Teacher, we saw a man using your name to cast out demons; but we told him not to, for he isn't one of our group."

39 "Don't forbid him!" Jesus said. "For no one doing miracles in my name will quickly turn against me.

40 Anyone who isn't against us is for us.

41 If anyone so much as gives you a cup of water because you are Christ's--I say this solemnly--he won't lose his reward.

42 But if someone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to lose faith--it would be better for that man if a huge millstone were tied around his neck and he were thrown into the sea.

43 "If your hand does wrong, cut it off. Better live forever with one hand than be thrown into the unquenchable fires of hell with two!

44

45 If your foot carries you toward evil, cut it off! Better be lame and live forever than have two feet that carry you to hell.

46

47 "And if your eye is sinful, gouge it out. Better enter the Kingdom of God half blind than have two eyes and see the fires of hell,

48 where the worm never dies, and the fire never goes out--

49 where all are salted with fire.

50 "Good salt is worthless if it loses its saltiness; it can't season anything. So don't lose your flavor! Live in peace with each other."

10

1 Then he left Capernaum and went southward to the Judean borders and into the area east of the Jordan River. And as always there were the crowds; and as usual he taught them.

2 Some Pharisees came and asked him, "Do you permit divorce?" Of course they were trying to trap him.

3 "What did Moses say about divorce?" Jesus asked them.

4 "He said it was all right," they replied. "He said that all a man has to do is write his wife a letter of dismissal."

5 "And why did he say that?" Jesus asked. "I'll tell you why--it was a concession to your hardhearted wickedness.

6 But it certainly isn't God's way. For from the very first he made man and woman to be joined together permanently in marriage;

7 therefore a man is to leave his father and mother,

8 and he and his wife are united so that they are no longer two, but one.

9 And no man may separate what God has joined together."

10 Later, when he was alone with his disciples in the house, they brought up the subject again.

11 He told them, "When a man divorces his wife to marry someone else, he commits adultery against her.

12 And if a wife divorces her husband and remarries, she, too, commits adultery."

13 Once when some mothers were bringing their children to Jesus to bless them, the disciples shooed them away, telling them not to bother him.

14 But when Jesus saw what was happening he was very much displeased with his disciples and said to them, "Let the children come to me, for the Kingdom of God belongs to such as they. Don't send them away!

15 I tell you as seriously as I know how that anyone who refuses to come to God as a little child will never be allowed into his Kingdom."

16 Then he took the children into his arms and placed his hands on their heads and he blessed them.

17 As he was starting out on a trip, a man came running to him and knelt down and asked, "Good Teacher, what must I do to get to heaven?"

18 "Why do you call me good?" Jesus asked. "Only God is truly good!

19 But as for your question--you know the commandments: don't kill, don't commit adultery, don't steal, don't lie, don't cheat, respect your father and mother."

20 "Teacher," the man replied, "I've never once broken a single one of those laws."

21 Jesus felt genuine love for this man as he looked at him. "You lack only one thing," he told him; "go and sell all you have and give the money to the poor--and you shall have treasure in heaven--and come, follow me."

22 Then the man's face fell, and he went sadly away, for he was very rich.

23 Jesus watched him go, then turned around and said to his disciples, "It's almost impossible for the rich to get into the Kingdom of God!"

24 This amazed them. So Jesus said it again: "Dear children, how hard it is for those who trust in riches to enter the Kingdom of God.

25 It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God."

26 The disciples were incredulous! "Then who in the world can be saved, if not a rich man?" they asked.

27 Jesus looked at them intently, then said, "Without God, it is utterly impossible. But with God everything is possible."

28 Then Peter began to mention all that he and the other disciples had left behind. "We've given up everything to follow you," he said.

29 And Jesus replied, "Let me assure you that no one has ever given up anything--home, brothers, sisters, mother, father, children, or property--for love of me and to tell others the Good News,

30 who won't be given back, a hundred times over, homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and land--with persecutions! "All these will be his here on earth, and in the world to come he shall have eternal life.

31 But many people who seem to be important now will be the least important then; and many who are considered least here shall be greatest there."

32 Now they were on the way to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking along ahead; and as the disciples were following they were filled with terror and dread. Taking them aside, Jesus once more began describing all that was going to happen to him when they arrived at Jerusalem.

33 "When we get there," he told them, "I, the Messiah, will be arrested and taken before the chief priests and the Jewish leaders, who will sentence me to die and hand me over to the Romans to be killed.

34 They will mock me and spit on me and flog me with their whips and kill me; but after three days I will come back to life again."

35 Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came over and spoke to him in a low voice. "Master," they said, "we want you to do us a favor."

36 "What is it?" he asked.

37 "We want to sit on the thrones next to yours in your Kingdom," they said, "one at your right and the other at your left!"

38 But Jesus answered, "You don't know what you are asking! Are you able to drink from the bitter cup of sorrow I must drink from? Or to be baptized with the baptism of suffering I must be baptized with?"

39 "Oh, yes," they said, "we are!" And Jesus said, "You shall indeed drink from my cup and be baptized with my baptism,

40 but I do not have the right to place you on thrones next to mine. Those appointments have already been made."

41 When the other disciples discovered what James and John had asked, they were very indignant.

42 So Jesus called them to him and said, "As you know, the kings and great men of the earth lord it over the people;

43 but among you it is different. Whoever wants to be great among you must be your servant.

44 And whoever wants to be greatest of all must be the slave of all.

45 For even I, the Messiah, am not here to be served, but to help others, and to give my life as a ransom for many."

46 And so they reached Jericho. Later, as they left town, a great crowd was following. Now it happened that a blind beggar named Bartimaeus (the son of Timaeus) was sitting beside the road as Jesus was going by.

47 When Bartimaeus heard that Jesus from Nazareth was near, he began to shout out, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!"

48 "Shut up!" some of the people yelled at him. But he only shouted the louder, again and again, "O Son of David, have mercy on me!"

49 When Jesus heard him, he stopped there in the road and said, "Tell him to come here." So they called the blind man. "You lucky fellow," they said, "come on, he's calling you!"

50 Bartimaeus yanked off his old coat and flung it aside, jumped up and came to Jesus.

51 "What do you want me to do for you?" Jesus asked. "O Teacher," the blind man said, "I want to see!"

52 And Jesus said to him, "All right, it's done. Your faith has healed you." And instantly the blind man could see and followed Jesus down the road!

11

1 As they neared Bethphage and Bethany on the outskirts of Jerusalem and came to the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples on ahead.

2 "Go into that village over there," he told them, "and just as you enter you will see a colt tied up that has never been ridden. Untie him and bring him here.

3 And if anyone asks you what you are doing, just say, 'Our Master needs him and will return him soon.' "

4 Off went the two men and found the colt standing in the street, tied outside a house. As they were untying it,

5 some who were standing there demanded, "What are you doing, untying that colt?"

6 So they said what Jesus had told them to, and then the men agreed.

7 So the colt was brought to Jesus, and the disciples threw their cloaks across its back for him to ride on.

8 Then many in the crowd spread out their coats along the road before him, while others threw down leafy branches from the fields.

9 He was in the center of the procession with crowds ahead and behind, and all of them shouting, "Hail to the King!" "Praise God for him who comes in the name of the Lord!" . . .

10 "Praise God for the return of our father David's kingdom. . . " "Hail to the King of the universe!"

11 And so he entered Jerusalem and went into the Temple. He looked around carefully at everything and then left--for now it was late in the afternoon--and went out to Bethany with the twelve disciples.

12 The next morning as they left Bethany, he felt hungry.

13 A little way off he noticed a fig tree in full leaf, so he went over to see if he could find any figs on it. But no, there were only leaves, for it was too early in the season for fruit.

14 Then Jesus said to the tree, "You shall never bear fruit again!" And the disciples heard him say it.

15 When they arrived back to Jerusalem he went to the Temple and began to drive out the merchants and their customers, and knocked over the tables of the moneychangers and the stalls of those selling doves,

16 and stopped everyone from bringing in loads of merchandise.

17 He told them, "It is written in the Scriptures, 'My Temple is to be a place of prayer for all nations,' but you have turned it into a den of robbers."

18 When the chief priests and other Jewish leaders heard what he had done, they began planning how best to get rid of him. Their problem was their fear of riots because the people were so enthusiastic about Jesus' teaching.

19 That evening as usual they left the city.

20 Next morning, as the disciples passed the fig tree he had cursed, they saw that it was withered from the roots!

21 Then Peter remembered what Jesus had said to the tree on the previous day and exclaimed, "Look, Teacher! The fig tree you cursed has withered!"

22 In reply Jesus said to the disciples, "If you only have faith in God--

23 this is the absolute truth--you can say to this Mount of Olives, 'Rise up and fall into the Mediterranean,' and your command will be obeyed. All that's required is that you really believe and have no doubt!

24 Listen to me! You can pray for anything, and if you believe, you have it; it's yours!

25 But when you are praying, first forgive anyone you are holding a grudge against, so that your Father in heaven will forgive you your sins too. "

26

27 By this time they had arrived in Jerusalem again, and as he was walking through the Temple area, the chief priests and other Jewish leaders came up to him demanding,

28 "What's going on here? Who gave you the authority to drive out the merchants?"

29 Jesus replied, "I'll tell you if you answer one question!

30 What about John the Baptist? Was he sent by God, or not? Answer me!"

31 They talked it over among themselves. "If we reply that God sent him, then he will say, 'All right, why didn't you accept him?'

32 But if we say God didn't send him, then the people will start a riot." (For the people all believed strongly that John was a prophet.)

33 So they said, "We can't answer. We don't know." To which Jesus replied, "Then I won't answer your question either!"

12

1 Here are some of the story-illustrations Jesus gave to the people at that time: "A man planted a vineyard and built a wall around it and dug a pit for pressing out the grape juice, and built a watchman's tower. Then he leased the farm to tenant farmers and moved to another country.

2 At grape-picking time he sent one of his men to collect his share of the crop.

3 But the farmers beat up the man and sent him back empty-handed.

4 "The owner then sent another of his men, who received the same treatment, only worse, for his head was seriously injured.

5 The next man he sent was killed; and later, others were either beaten or killed, until

6 there was only one left--his only son. He finally sent him, thinking they would surely give him their full respect.

7 "But when the farmers saw him coming they said, 'He will own the farm when his father dies. Come on, let's kill him--and then the farm will be ours!'

8 So they caught him and murdered him and threw his body out of the vineyard.

9 "What do you suppose the owner will do when he hears what happened? He will come and kill them all, and lease the vineyard to others.

10 Don't you remember reading this verse in the Scriptures? 'The Rock the builders threw away became the cornerstone, the most honored stone in the building!

11 This is the Lord's doing and it is an amazing thing to see.' "

12 The Jewish leaders wanted to arrest him then and there for using this illustration, for they knew he was pointing at them--they were the wicked farmers in his story. But they were afraid to touch him for fear of a mob. So they left him and went away.

13 But they sent other religious and political leaders to talk with him and try to trap him into saying something he could be arrested for.

14 "Teacher," these spies said, "we know you tell the truth no matter what! You aren't influenced by the opinions and desires of men, but sincerely teach the ways of God. Now tell us, is it right to pay taxes to Rome, or not?"

15 Jesus saw their trick and said, "Show me a coin and I'll tell you."

16 When they handed it to him he asked, "Whose picture and title is this on the coin?" They replied, "The emperor's."

17 "All right," he said, "if it is his, give it to him. But everything that belongs to God must be given to God!" And they scratched their heads in bafflement at his reply.

18 Then the Sadducees stepped forward--a group of men who say there is no resurrection. Here was their question:

19 "Teacher, Moses gave us a law that when a man dies without children, the man's brother should marry his widow and have children in his brother's name.

20 Well, there were seven brothers and the oldest married and died, and left no children.

21 So the second brother married the widow, but soon he died too and left no children. Then the next brother married her and died without children,

22 and so on until all were dead, and still there were no children; and last of all, the woman died too.

23 "What we want to know is this: In the resurrection, whose wife will she be, for she had been the wife of each of them?"

24 Jesus replied, "Your trouble is that you don't know the Scriptures and don't know the power of God.

25 For when these seven brothers and the woman rise from the dead, they won't be married--they will be like the angels.

26 "But now as to whether there will be a resurrection--have you never read in the book of Exodus about Moses and the burning bush? God said to Moses, 'I am the God of Abraham, and I am the God of Isaac, and I am the God of Jacob.'

27 "God was telling Moses that these men, though dead for hundreds of years, were still very much alive, for he would not have said, 'I am the God' of those who don't exist! You have made a serious error."

28 One of the teachers of religion who was standing there listening to the discussion realized that Jesus had answered well. So he asked, "Of all the commandments, which is the most important?"

29 Jesus replied, "The one that says, 'Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is the one and only God.

30 And you must love him with all your heart and soul and mind and strength.'

31 "The second is: 'You must love others as much as yourself.' No other commandments are greater than these."

32 The teacher of religion replied, "Sir, you have spoken a true word in saying that there is only one God and no other.

33 And I know it is far more important to love him with all my heart and understanding and strength, and to love others as myself, than to offer all kinds of sacrifices on the altar of the Temple."

34 Realizing this man's understanding, Jesus said to him, "You are not far from the Kingdom of God." And after that, no one dared ask him any more questions.

35 Later, as Jesus was teaching the people in the Temple area, he asked them this question: "Why do your religious teachers claim that the Messiah must be a descendant of King David?

36 For David himself said--and the Holy Spirit was speaking through him when he said it--'God said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.'

37 Since David called him his Lord, how can he be his son?" (This sort of reasoning delighted the crowd and they listened to him with great interest.)

38 Here are some of the other things he taught them at this time: "Beware of the teachers of religion! For they love to wear the robes of the rich and scholarly, and to have everyone bow to them as they walk through the markets.

39 They love to sit in the best seats in the synagogues and at the places of honor at banquets--

40 but they shamelessly cheat widows out of their homes and then, to cover up the kind of men they really are, they pretend to be pious by praying long prayers in public. Because of this, their punishment will be the greater."

41 Then he went over to the collection boxes in the Temple and sat and watched as the crowds dropped in their money. Some who were rich put in large amounts.

42 Then a poor widow came and dropped in two pennies.

43 He called his disciples to him and remarked, "That poor widow has given more than all those rich men put together!

44 For they gave a little of their extra fat, while she gave up her last penny."

13

1 As he was leaving the Temple that day, one of his disciples said, "Teacher, what beautiful buildings these are! Look at the decorated stonework on the walls."

2 Jesus replied, "Yes, look! For not one stone will be left upon another, except as ruins."

3 And as he sat on the slopes of the Mount of Olives across the valley from Jerusalem, Peter, James, John, and Andrew got alone with him and asked him,

4 "Just when is all this going to happen to the Temple? Will there be some warning ahead of time?"

5 So Jesus launched into an extended reply. "Don't let anyone mislead you," he said,

6 "for many will come declaring themselves to be your Messiah and will lead many astray.

7 And wars will break out near and far, but this is not the signal of the end-time.

8 "For nations and kingdoms will proclaim war against each other, and there will be earthquakes in many lands, and famines. These herald only the early stages of the anguish ahead.

9 But when these things begin to happen, watch out! For you will be in great danger. You will be dragged before the courts, and beaten in the synagogues, and accused before governors and kings of being my followers. This is your opportunity to tell them the Good News.

10 And the Good News must first be made known in every nation before the end-time finally comes.

11 But when you are arrested and stand trial, don't worry about what to say in your defense. Just say what God tells you to. Then you will not be speaking, but the Holy Spirit will.

12 "Brothers will betray each other to death, fathers will betray their own children, and children will betray their parents to be killed.

13 And everyone will hate you because you are mine. But all who endure to the end without renouncing me shall be saved.

14 "When you see the horrible thing standing in the Temple --reader, pay attention!--flee, if you can, to the Judean hills.

15 Hurry! If you are on your rooftop porch, don't even go back into the house.

16 If you are out in the fields, don't even return for your money or clothes.

17 "Woe to pregnant women in those days, and to mothers nursing their children.

18 And pray that your flight will not be in winter.

19 For those will be days of such horror as have never been since the beginning of God's creation, nor will ever be again.

20 And unless the Lord shortens that time of calamity, not a soul in all the earth will survive. But for the sake of his chosen ones he will limit those days.

21 "And then if anyone tells you, 'This is the Messiah,' or, 'That one is,' don't pay any attention.

22 For there will be many false Messiahs and false prophets who will do wonderful miracles that would deceive, if possible, even God's own children.

23 Take care! I have warned you!

24 "After the tribulation ends, then the sun will grow dim and the moon will not shine,

25 and the stars will fall--the heavens will convulse.

26 "Then all mankind will see me, the Messiah, coming in the clouds with great power and glory.

27 And I will send out the angels to gather together my chosen ones from all over the world--from the farthest bounds of earth and heaven.

28 "Now, here is a lesson from a fig tree. When its buds become tender and its leaves begin to sprout, you know that spring has come.

29 And when you see these things happening that I've described, you can be sure that my return is very near, that I am right at the door.

30 "Yes, these are the events that will signal the end of the age.

31 Heaven and earth shall disappear, but my words stand sure forever.

32 "However, no one, not even the angels in heaven, nor I myself, knows the day or hour when these things will happen; only the Father knows.

33 And since you don't know when it will happen, stay alert. Be on the watch for my return.

34 "My coming can be compared with that of a man who went on a trip to another country. He laid out his employees' work for them to do while he was gone and told the gatekeeper to watch for his return.

35 "Keep a sharp lookout! For you do not know when I will come, at evening, at midnight, early dawn or late daybreak.

36 Don't let me find you sleeping.

37 Watch for my return! This is my message to you and to everyone else."

14

1 The Passover observance began two days later--an annual Jewish holiday when no bread made with yeast was eaten. The chief priests and other Jewish leaders were still looking for an opportunity to arrest Jesus secretly and put him to death.

2 "But we can't do it during the Passover," they said, "or there will be a riot."

3 Meanwhile Jesus was in Bethany, at the home of Simon the leper; during supper a woman came in with a beautiful flask of expensive perfume. Then, breaking the seal, she poured it over his head.

4 Some of those at the table were indignant among themselves about this "waste," as they called it.

5 "Why, she could have sold that perfume for a fortune and given the money to the poor!" they snarled.

6 But Jesus said, "Let her alone; why berate her for doing a good thing?

7 You always have the poor among you, and they badly need your help, and you can aid them whenever you want to; but I won't be here much longer.

8 "She has done what she could and has anointed my body ahead of time for burial.

9 And I tell you this in solemn truth, that wherever the Good News is preached throughout the world, this woman's deed will be remembered and praised."

10 Then Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples, went to the chief priests to arrange to betray Jesus to them.

11 When the chief priests heard why he had come, they were excited and happy and promised him a reward. So he began looking for the right time and place to betray Jesus.

12 On the first day of the Passover, the day the lambs were sacrificed, his disciples asked him where he wanted to go to eat the traditional Passover supper.

13 He sent two of them into Jerusalem to make the arrangements. "As you are walking along," he told them, "you will see a man coming toward you carrying a pot of water. Follow him.

14 At the house he enters, tell the man in charge, 'Our Master sent us to see the room you have ready for us, where we will eat the Passover supper this evening!'

15 He will take you upstairs to a large room all set up. Prepare our supper there."

16 So the two disciples went on ahead into the city and found everything as Jesus had said, and prepared the Passover.

17 In the evening Jesus arrived with the other disciples,

18 and as they were sitting around the table eating, Jesus said, "I solemnly declare that one of you will betray me, one of you who is here eating with me."

19 A great sadness swept over them, and one by one they asked him, "Am I the one?"

20 He replied, "It is one of you twelve eating with me now.

21 I must die, as the prophets declared long ago; but, oh, the misery ahead for the man by whom I am betrayed. Oh, that he had never been born!"

22 As they were eating, Jesus took bread and asked God's blessing on it and broke it in pieces and gave it to them and said, "Eat it--this is my body."

23 Then he took a cup of wine and gave thanks to God for it and gave it to them; and they all drank from it.

24 And he said to them, "This is my blood, poured out for many, sealing the new agreement between God and man.

25 I solemnly declare that I shall never again taste wine until the day I drink a different kind in the Kingdom of God."

26 Then they sang a hymn and went out to the Mount of Olives.

27 "All of you will desert me," Jesus told them, "for God has declared through the prophets, 'I will kill the Shepherd, and the sheep will scatter.'

28 But after I am raised to life again, I will go to Galilee and meet you there."

29 Peter said to him, "I will never desert you no matter what the others do!"

30 "Peter," Jesus said, "before the cock crows a second time tomorrow morning you will deny me three times."

31 "No!" Peter exploded. "Not even if I have to die with you! I'll never deny you!" And all the others vowed the same.

32 And now they came to an olive grove called the Garden of Gethsemane, and he instructed his disciples, "Sit here, while I go and pray."

33 He took Peter, James, and John with him and began to be filled with horror and deepest distress.

34 And he said to them, "My soul is crushed by sorrow to the point of death; stay here and watch with me."

35 He went on a little further and fell to the ground and prayed that if it were possible the awful hour awaiting him might never come.

36 "Father, Father," he said, "everything is possible for you. Take away this cup from me. Yet I want your will, not mine."

37 Then he returned to the three disciples and found them asleep. "Simon!" he said. "Asleep? Couldn't you watch with me even one hour?

38 Watch with me and pray lest the Tempter overpower you. For though the spirit is willing enough, the body is weak."

39 And he went away again and prayed, repeating his pleadings.

40 Again he returned to them and found them sleeping, for they were very tired. And they didn't know what to say.

41 The third time when he returned to them he said, "Sleep on; get your rest! But no! The time for sleep has ended! Look! I am betrayed into the hands of wicked men.

42 Come! Get up! We must go! Look! My betrayer is here!"

43 And immediately, while he was still speaking, Judas (one of his disciples) arrived with a mob equipped with swords and clubs, sent out by the chief priests and other Jewish leaders.

44 Judas had told them, "You will know which one to arrest when I go over and greet him. Then you can take him easily."

45 So as soon as they arrived he walked up to Jesus. "Master!" he exclaimed, and embraced him with a great show of friendliness.

46 Then the mob arrested Jesus and held him fast.

47 But someone pulled a sword and slashed at the High Priest's servant, cutting off his ear.

48 Jesus asked them, "Am I some dangerous robber, that you come like this, armed to the teeth to capture me?

49 Why didn't you arrest me in the Temple? I was there teaching every day. But these things are happening to fulfill the prophecies about me."

50 Meanwhile, all his disciples had fled.

51 There was, however, a young man following along behind, clothed only in a linen nightshirt. When the mob tried to grab him,

52 he escaped, though his clothes were torn off in the process, so that he ran away completely naked.

53 Jesus was led to the High Priest's home where all of the chief priests and other Jewish leaders soon gathered.

54 Peter followed far behind and then slipped inside the gates of the High Priest's residence and crouched beside a fire among the servants.

55 Inside, the chief priests and the whole Jewish Supreme Court were trying to find something against Jesus that would be sufficient to condemn him to death. But their efforts were in vain.

56 Many false witnesses volunteered, but they contradicted each other.

57 Finally some men stood up to lie about him and said,

58 "We heard him say, 'I will destroy this Temple made with human hands and in three days I will build another, made without human hands!' "

59 But even then they didn't get their stories straight!

60 Then the High Priest stood up before the Court and asked Jesus, "Do you refuse to answer this charge? What do you have to say for yourself?"

61 To this Jesus made no reply. Then the High Priest asked him. "Are you the Messiah, the Son of God?"

62 Jesus said, "I am, and you will see me sitting at the right hand of God, and returning to earth in the clouds of heaven."

63 Then the High Priest tore at his clothes and said, "What more do we need? Why wait for witnesses?"

64 "You have heard his blasphemy. What is your verdict?" And the vote for the death sentence was unanimous.

65 Then some of them began to spit at him, and they blindfolded him and began to hammer his face with their fists. "Who hit you that time, you prophet?" they jeered. And even the bailiffs were using their fists on him as they led him away.

66 Meanwhile Peter was below in the courtyard. One of the maids who worked for the High Priest noticed Peter warming himself at the fire.

67 She looked at him closely and then announced, "You were with Jesus, the Nazarene."

68 Peter denied it. "I don't know what you're talking about!" he said, and walked over to the edge of the courtyard. Just then, a rooster crowed.

69 The maid saw him standing there and began telling the others, "There he is! There's that disciple of Jesus!"

70 Peter denied it again. A little later others standing around the fire began saying to Peter, "You are, too, one of them, for you are from Galilee!"

71 He began to curse and swear. "I don't even know this fellow you are talking about," he said.

72 And immediately the rooster crowed the second time. Suddenly Jesus' words flashed through Peter's mind: "Before the cock crows twice, you will deny me three times." And he began to cry.

15

1 Early in the morning the chief priests, elders and teachers of religion--the entire Supreme Court--met to discuss their next steps. Their decision was to send Jesus under armed guard to Pilate, the Roman governor.

2 Pilate asked him, "Are you the King of the Jews?" "Yes," Jesus replied, "it is as you say."

3 Then the chief priests accused him of many crimes,

4 and Pilate asked him, "Why don't you say something? What about all these charges against you?"

5 But Jesus said no more, much to Pilate's amazement.

6 Now, it was Pilate's custom to release one Jewish prisoner each year at Passover time--any prisoner the people requested.

7 One of the prisoners at that time was Barabbas, convicted along with others for murder during an insurrection.

8 Now a mob began to crowd in toward Pilate, asking him to release a prisoner as usual.

9 "How about giving you the 'King of Jews'?" Pilate asked. "Is he the one you want released?"

10 (For he realized by now that this was a frameup, backed by the chief priests because they envied Jesus' popularity.)

11 But at this point the chief priests whipped up the mob to demand the release of Barabbas instead of Jesus.

12 "But if I release Barabbas," Pilate asked them, "what shall I do with this man you call your king?"

13 They shouted back, "Crucify him!"

14 "But why?" Pilate demanded. "What has he done wrong?" They only roared the louder, "Crucify him!"

15 Then Pilate, afraid of a riot and anxious to please the people, released Barabbas to them. And he ordered Jesus flogged with a leaded whip, and handed him over to be crucified.

16 Then the Roman soldiers took him into the barracks of the palace, called out the entire palace guard,

17 dressed him in a purple robe, and made a crown of long, sharp thorns and put it on his head.

18 Then they saluted, yelling, "Yea! King of the Jews!"

19 And they beat him on the head with a cane, and spat on him, and went down on their knees to "worship" him.

20 When they finally tired of their sport, they took off the purple robe and put his own clothes on him again, and led him away to be crucified.

21 Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country just then, was pressed into service to carry Jesus' cross. (Simon is the father of Alexander and Rufus.)

22 And they brought Jesus to a place called Golgotha. (Golgotha means skull.)

23 Wine drugged with bitter herbs was offered to him there, but he refused it.

24 And then they crucified him--and threw dice for his clothes.

25 It was about nine o'clock in the morning when the crucifixion took place.

26 A signboard was fastened to the cross above his head, announcing his crime. It read, "The King of the Jews."

27 Two robbers were also crucified that morning, their crosses on either side of his.

28 And so the Scripture was fulfilled that said, "He was counted among evil men."

29 The people jeered at him as they walked by, and wagged their heads in mockery. "Ha! Look at you now!" they yelled at him. "Sure, you can destroy the Temple and rebuild it in three days!"

30 "If you're so wonderful, save yourself and come down from the cross."

31 The chief priests and religious leaders were also standing around joking about Jesus. "He's quite clever at 'saving' others," they said, "but he can't save himself!"

32 "Hey there, Messiah!" they yelled at him. "You 'King of Israel'! Come on down from the cross and we'll believe you!" And even the two robbers dying with him, cursed him.

33 About noon, darkness fell across the entire land, lasting until three o'clock that afternoon.

34 Then Jesus called out with a loud voice, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?" ("My God, my God, why have you deserted me?")

35 Some of the people standing there thought he was calling for the prophet Elijah.

36 So one man ran and got a sponge and filled it with sour wine and held it up to him on a stick. "Let's see if Elijah will come and take him down!" he said.

37 Then Jesus uttered another loud cry and dismissed his spirit.

38 And the curtain in the Temple was split apart from top to bottom.

39 When the Roman officer standing beside his cross saw how he dismissed his spirit, he exclaimed, "Truly, this was the Son of God!"

40 Some women were there watching from a distance--Mary Magdalene, Mary (the mother of James the Younger and of Joses), Salome, and others.

41 They and many other Galilean women who were his followers had ministered to him when he was up in Galilee, and had come with him to Jerusalem.

42 This all happened the day before the Sabbath. Late that afternoon

43 Joseph from Arimathea, an honored member of the Jewish Supreme Court (who personally was eagerly expecting the arrival of God's Kingdom), gathered his courage and went to Pilate and asked for Jesus' body.

44 Pilate couldn't believe that Jesus was already dead so he called for the Roman officer in charge and asked him.

45 The officer confirmed the fact, and Pilate told Joseph he could have the body.

46 Joseph bought a long sheet of linen cloth and, taking Jesus' body down from the cross, wound it in the cloth and laid it in a rock-hewn tomb, and rolled a stone in front of the entrance.

47 (Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses were watching as Jesus was laid away.)

16

1 The next evening, when the Sabbath ended, Mary Magdalene and Salome and Mary the mother of James went out and purchased embalming spices.

2 Early the following morning, just at sunrise, they carried them out to the tomb.

3 On the way they were discussing how they could ever roll aside the huge stone from the entrance.

4 But when they arrived they looked up and saw that the stone--a very heavy one--was already moved away and the entrance was open!

5 So they entered the tomb--and there on the right sat a young man clothed in white. The women were startled,

6 but the angel said, "Don't be so surprised. Aren't you looking for Jesus, the Nazarene who was crucified? He isn't here! He has come back to life! Look, that's where his body was lying.

7 Now go and give this message to his disciples including Peter: 'Jesus is going ahead of you to Galilee. You will see him there, just as he told you before he died!' "

8 The women fled from the tomb, trembling and bewildered, too frightened to talk.

9 It was early on Sunday morning when Jesus came back to life, and the first person who saw him was Mary Magdalene--the woman from whom he had cast out seven demons.

10 She found the disciples wet-eyed with grief and exclaimed

11 that she had seen Jesus, and he was alive! But they didn't believe her!

12 Later that dayhe appeared to two who were walking from Jerusalem into the country, but they didn't recognize him at first because he had changed his appearance.

13 When they finally realized who he was, they rushed back to Jerusalem to tell the others, but no one believed them.

14 Still later he appeared to the eleven disciples as they were eating together. He rebuked them for their unbelief--their stubborn refusal to believe those who had seen him alive from the dead.

15 And then he told them, "You are to go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone, everywhere.

16 Those who believe and are baptized will be saved. But those who refuse to believe will be condemned.

17 "And those who believe shall use my authority to cast out demons, and they shall speak new languages.

18 They will be able even to handle snakes with safety, and if they drink anything poisonous, it won't hurt them; and they will be able to place their hands on the sick and heal them."

19 When the Lord Jesus had finished talking with them, he was taken up into heaven and sat down at God's right hand.

20 And the disciples went everywhere preaching, and the Lord was with them and confirmed what they said by the miracles that followed their messages.