Jesus entered Capernaum. A Roman officer there had a servant who was very dear to him; the man was sick and about to die. When the officer heard about Jesus, he sent some Jewish elders to ask him to come and heal his servant. They came to Jesus and begged him earnestly, "This man really deserves your help. He loves our people and he himself built a synagogue for us. His servant is sick in bed at home, unable to move and suffering terribly.

"I will go and make him well," Jesus said.

So Jesus went with them. He was not far from the house when the officer sent friends to tell him, "Sir, don't trouble yourself. I do not deserve to have you come into my house, neither do I consider myself worthy to come to you in person. Just give the order, and my servant will get well. I, too, am a man placed under the authority of superior officers, and I have soldiers under me. I order this one, 'Go!' and he goes; I order that one, 'Come!' and he comes; and I order my slave, 'Do this!' and he does it."

When Jesus heard this, he was surprised and said to the people following him, "I tell you, I have never found anyone in Israel with faith like this. I assure you that many will come from the east and the west and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob at the feast in the Kingdom of heaven. But those who should be in the Kingdom will be thrown out into the darkness, where they will cry and gnash their teeth." Then Jesus said, "Go home, and what you believe will be done for you."

And the officer's servant was healed that very moment.

The messengers went back to the officer's house and found his servant well.

Soon afterward Jesus went to a town named Nain, accompanied by his disciples and a large crowd. Just as he arrived at the gate of the town, a funeral procession was coming out. The dead man was the only son of a woman who was a widow, and a large crowd from the town was with her. When the Lord saw her, his heart was filled with pity for her, and he said to her, "Don't cry. "; Then he walked over and touched the coffin, and the men carrying it stopped. Jesus said, "Young man! Get up, I tell you!" The dead man sat up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him back to his mother.

They were all filled with fear and praised God. "A great prophet has appeared among us!" they said; "God has come to save his people!"

This news about Jesus went out through all the country and the surrounding territory.

When John's disciples told him, in prison, about all the things that Christ was doing, he called two of them and sent them to the Lord to ask him, "Are you the one John said was going to come, or should we expect someone else?"

When they came to Jesus they said, "John the Baptist sent us to ask if you are the one he said was going to come, or should we expect someone else?"

At that very time Jesus healed many people from their sicknesses, diseases, and evil spirits, and gave sight to many blind people. He answered John's messengers, "Go back and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind can see, the lame can walk, those who suffer from dreaded skin diseases are made clean, the deaf hear, the dead are brought back to life, and the Good News is preached to the poor. How happy are those who have no doubts about me!"

After John's messengers had left, Jesus began to speak about him to the crowds: "When you went out to John in the desert, what did you expect to see? A blade of grass bending in the wind? What did you go out to see? A man dressed up in fancy clothes? People who dress like that and live in luxury are found in palaces! Tell me, what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes indeed, but you saw much more than a prophet. For John is the one of whom the scripture says: 'God said, I will send my messenger ahead of you to open the way for you.' I tell you," Jesus added, "John is greater than anyone who has ever lived. But the one who is least in the Kingdom of God is greater than John.

"From the time John preached his message until this very day the Kingdom of heaven has suffered violent attacks, and violent men try to seize it. Until the time of John all the prophets and the Law of Moses spoke about the Kingdom; and if you are willing to believe their message, John is Elijah, whose coming was predicted. Listen, then, if you have ears!"

All the people heard him; they and especially the tax collectors were the ones who had obeyed God's righteous demands and had been baptized by John. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law rejected God's purpose for themselves and refused to be baptized by John.

Jesus continued, "Now, to what can I compare the people of this day? What are they like? They are like children sitting in the marketplace. One group shouts to the other, 'We played wedding music for you, but you wouldn't dance! We sang funeral songs, but you wouldn't cry!? John the Baptist came, and he fasted and drank no wine, and you said, 'He has a demon in him!' The Son of Man came, and he ate and drank, and you said, 'Look at this man! He is a glutton and wine drinker, a friend of tax collectors and outcasts!' God's wisdom, however, is shown to be true by all who accept it by its results)."

Some time later Jesus travelled through towns and villages, preaching the Good News about the Kingdom of God. The twelve disciples went with him, and so did some women who had been healed of evil spirits and diseases: Mary (who was called Magdalene), from whom seven demons had been driven out; Joanna whose husband Chuza was an officer in Herod's court; and Susanna, and many other women who used their own resources to help Jesus and his disciples.

Then some people brought to Jesus a man who was blind and could not talk because he had a demon. Jesus healed the man, so that he was able to talk and see. The crowds were all amazed at what Jesus had done. "Could he be the Son of David?" they asked.

When the Pharisees and some teachers of the Law who had come from Jerusalem heard this, they replied, "He has Beelzebul in him! He drives out demons only because their ruler Beelzebul gives him power to do so."

Others wanted to trap Jesus, so they asked him to perform a miracle to show God approved of him. But Jesus knew what they were thinking, so Jesus called them to him and spoke to them in parables: "How can Satan drive out Satan? Any country that divides itself into groups which fight each other will not last very long; a family divided against itself falls apart, so if Satan's kingdom has groups fighting each other, how can it last? It cannot last, but will fall apart and come to an end. You say that I drive out demons because Beelzebul gives me the power to do so. If this is how I drive them out, how do your followers drive them out? Your own followers prove that you are wrong! No, it is rather by God's power Spirit that I drive out demons, and this proves that the Kingdom of God has already come to you.

"When a strong man, with all his weapons ready, guards his own house, all his belongings are safe. No one can break into a strong man's house and take away his belongings unless he first ties up the strong man; then he can plunder his house. But when a stronger man attacks him and defeats him, he carries away all the weapons the owner was depending on and divides up what he stole.

"Anyone who is not for me is really against me; anyone who does not help me gather is really scattering. For this reason I tell you: people can be forgiven any sin and any evil thing they say; but whoever says evil things against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. Anyone who says something against the Son of Man can be forgiven; but whoever says something against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven - now or ever, because he has committed an eternal sin." (Jesus said this because some people were saying, "He has an evil spirit in him.")

"When an evil spirit goes out of a person, it travels over dry country looking for a place to rest. If it can't find one, it says to itself, 'I will go back to my house.' So it goes back and finds the house empty, clean, and all fixed up. Then it goes out and brings along seven other spirits even worse than itself, and they come and live there. So when it is all over, that person is in worse shape than at the beginning. This is what will happen to the evil people of this day."

When Jesus had said this, a woman spoke up from the crowd and said to him, "How happy is the woman who bore you and nursed you!"

But Jesus answered, "Rather, how happy are those who hear the word of God and obey it!"

Then some teachers of the Law and some Pharisees spoke up. "Teacher, " they said, "we want to see you perform a miracle."

"How evil and godless are the people of this day!" Jesus exclaimed. "You ask me for a miracle? No! The only miracle you will be given is the miracle of the prophet Jonah. In the same way that the prophet Jonah spent three days and nights in the the big fish, a sign for the people of this day, so will the Son of Man spend three days and nights in the depths of the earth. On the Judgment Day the people of Ninevah will stand up and accuse you, because they turned from their sins when they heard Jonah preach; and I tell you that there is something here greater than Jonah! On the Judgment Day the Queen of Sheba will stand up and accuse you, because she travelled all the way from her country to listen to King Solomon?s wise teaching; and I assure you that there is something here greater than Solomon!"

Then Jesus went home. Again such a large crowd gathered that Jesus and his disciples had no time to eat. When his family heard about it, they set out to take charge of him, because people were saying, "He's gone mad!"

Jesus was still talking to the people when his mother and brothers arrived but were unable to join him because of the crowd. They stood outside the house and sent in a message, asking to speak with him. A crowd was sitting around Jesus. One of the people there said to him, "Look, your mother and brothers and sisters are standing outside, and they want to speak with you."

Jesus answered, "Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?" Then he pointed to his disciples and said, "Look. Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does what my Father in heaven wants is my brother, my sister, and my mother. My mother and brothers are those who hear the word of God and obey it."

That same day Jesus left the house and went to the lakeside, where he sat down to teach. The crowd that gathered around him was so large that he got into a boat and sat in it. The boat was out in the water, and the crowd stood on the shore at the water's edge. He used parables to teach them many things, saying to them: "Listen! Once there was a man who went out to sow grain. As he scattered the seed in the field, some of it fell along the path, where it was stepped on, and the birds ate it up. Some of it fell on rocky ground, where there was little soil. The seeds soon sprouted, because the soil wasn't deep. But when the sun came up, it burned the young plants; and because the soil had no moisture, the roots had not grown deep enough, and the plants soon dried up. Some of the seed fell among thorn bushes, which grew up and choked the plants, and they didn't bear grain. But some seeds fell in good soil, and the plants sprouted, grew, and bore grain: some had thirty grains, others sixty, and others one hundred."

And Jesus concluded, "Listen, then, if you have ears!"

When Jesus was alone, some of those who had heard him came to him with the twelve disciples and asked him, "Why do you use parables when you talk to the people?"

Jesus answered, "The knowledge of the secrets of the Kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. But the others, who are on the outside, hear all things by means of parables. For the person who has something will be given more, so that he will have more than enough, but the person who has nothing will have taken away from him even the little he has. The reason I use parables in talking to them is that they look, but do not see, and they listen, but do not hear or understand. So the prophecy of Isaiah applies to them:

'This people will listen and listen, but not understand;
they will look and look, but not see, because their minds are dull,
and they have stopped up their ears and have closed their eyes.
Otherwise, their eyes would see, their ears would hear, their minds would understand,
and they would turn to me, says God, and I would heal them.'
FP Isaiah 6:9-10

"As for you, how fortunate you are! Your eyes see and your ears hear. I assure you that many prophets and many of God's people wanted very much to see what you see, but they could not, and to hear what you hear, but they did not."

Then Jesus asked them, "Don't you understand this parable? How, then, will you ever understand any parable? Listen, then, and learn what the parable of the sower means.

"The seed is the word of God. The sower sows God's message. Some people are like the seeds that fall along the path. The seeds that fell along the path stand for those who hear the message about the Kingdom but do not understand it; as soon as they hear the message Satan, the Evil One, comes and snatches away what was sown in their hearts in order to keep them from believing and being saved.

"Other people are like the seeds that fall on rocky ground. As soon as they hear the message, they receive it gladly. But it does not sink deep into them, and they don't last long. They believe only for a while but when the time of testing comes, they fall away. So when trouble or persecution comes because of the message, they give up at once. Other people are like the seeds sown among the thorn bushes. These are the ones who hear the message, but the worries about this life, the love for riches, and all other kinds of desires crowd in and choke the message, and they don't bear fruit, their fruit never ripens.

"But other people are like seeds sown in good soil. They hear the message, accept it, and retain it in a good and obedient heart, and they persist until they bear fruit: some thirty, some sixty, and some one hundred."

Jesus continued, "Does anyone ever bring in a lamp and put it under a bowl or under the bed? Instead, it is put on the lamptstand, so that people will see the light as they come in.

"Whatever is hidden away will be brought out into the open, and whatever is covered up will be found and brought to light.

"Listen, then, if you have ears!"

He also said to them, "Pay attention to what you hear! The same rules you use to judge others will be used by God to judge you - but with even greater severity. Those who have something will be given more, and those who have nothing will have taken away from them even the little they have."

Jesus went on to say, "The Kingdom of God is like this. A man scatters seed in his field. He sleeps at night, is up and about during the day, and all the while the seeds are sprouting and growing. Yet he does not know how it happens. The soil itself makes the plants grow and bear fruit; first the tender stalk appears, then the head, and finally the head full of grain. When the grain is ripe, the man starts cutting it with his sickle, because harvest time has come."

Jesus told them another parable: "The Kingdom of heaven is like this. A man sowed good seed in his field. One night, when everyone was asleep, an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. When the plants grew and the heads of grain began to form, then the weeds showed up. The man's servants came to him and said, 'Sir, it was good seed you sowed in your field; where did the weeds come from?' 'It was some enemy who did this,' he answered. 'Do you want us to go and pull up the weeds?' they asked him. 'No,' he answered, 'because as you gather the weeds you might pull up some of the wheat along with them. Let the wheat and the weeds both grow together until harvest. Then I will tell the harvest workers to pull up the weeds first, tie them in bundles and burn them, and then to gather in the wheat and put it in my barn.'"

Jesus told them another parable. "What shall we say the Kingdom of God is like?" asked Jesus. "What parable shall we use to explain it? It is like this. A man takes a mustard seed, the smallest seed in the world, and plants it in the ground. After a while it grows up and becomes a tree, the biggest of all plants. It puts out such large branches that the birds come and make their nests in its shade (branches)."

Jesus told them still another parable:

Again Jesus asked, "What shall I compare the Kingdom of God with? It is like this. A woman takes some yeast and mixes it with a bushel of flour until the whole batch of dough rises."

Jesus preached his message to the people, using many other parables like these; he told them as much as they could understand. He would not speak to them without using parables, but when he was alone with his disciples he would explain everything to them. He did this to make come true what the prophet had said,

When Jesus had left the crowd and gone indoors, his disciples came to him and said, "Tell us what the parable of the weeds in the field means."

Jesus answered, "The man who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man; the field is the world; the good seed is the people who belong to the Kingdom; the weeds are the people who belong to the Evil One; and the enemy who sowed the weeds is the Devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvest workers are angels. Just as the weeds are gathered up and burned in the fire, so the same thing will happen at the end of the age: the Son of Man will send out his angels to gather up out of his Kingdom all those who cause people to sin and all others who do evil things, and they will throw them into the fiery furnace, where they will cry and gnash their teeth. Then God's people will shine like the sun in their Father's Kingdom. Listen, then, if you have ears!

"The Kingdom of heaven is like this. A man happens to find a treasure hidden in a field. He covers it up again, and he is so happy that he goes and sells everything he has, and then goes back and buys that field.

"Also, the Kingdom of heaven is like this. A man is looking for fine pearls, and when he finds one that is unusually fine, he goes and sells everything he has, and buys that pearl.

"Also, the Kingdom of heaven is like this. Some fishermen throw their net out in the lake and catch all kinds of fish. When the net is full, they pull it to shore and sit down to divide the fish: the good ones go into the buckets, the worthless ones are thrown away. It will be like this at the end of the age: the angels will go out and gather up the evil people from among the good and will throw them into the fiery furnace, where they will cry and gnash their teeth.

"Do you understand these things?" Jesus asked them.

"Yes," they answered.

So he replied, "This means, then, that every teacher of the Law who becomes a disciple in the Kingdom of heaven is like a homeowner who takes new and old things out of his storage room."

When Jesus finished telling them these parables, he left that place.

A teacher of the Law came to him. "Teacher," he said, "I am ready to go with you wherever you go."

Jesus answered him, "Foxes have holes, and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lie down and rest."

He said to another man, who was a disciple, "Follow me."

But that man said, "Sir, first let me go back and bury my father."

Jesus answered, "Let the dead bury their own dead. You go and proclaim the Kingdom of God."

Someone else said, "I will follow you, sir; but first let me go and say good-bye to my family."

Jesus said to him, "Anyone who starts to plow and then keeps looking back is of no use for the Kingdom of God."

On the evening of that same day Jesus said to his disciples, "Let us go across to the other side of the lake." So they left the crowd; the disciples got into the boat in which Jesus was already sitting, and took him with them. Other boats were there too.

Suddenly a fierce storm hit the lake. A strong wind blew down on the lake, the waves began to spill over into the boat, so that it was about to fill with water. They were all in great danger. Jesus was in the back of the boat, sleeping with his head on a pillow. The disciples went to Jesus and woke him up saying, "Master, Master! Don?t you care that we are about to die?"

Jesus stood up and commanded the wind, "Be quiet!" and he said to the waves, "Be still!" The wind died down, and there was a great calm.

Then Jesus said to his disciples, "Why are you so frightened? Do you still have no faith?"

But they were amazed and terribly afraid, and began to say to one another, "Who is this man? Even the wind and the waves obey him!"

Jesus and his disciples arrived on the other side of Lake Galilee, in the territory of Gerasa (Gadara). Jesus stepped ashore and was met by two men who came out of the burial caves there.

These men were so fierce that no one dared travel on that road. For a long time one of the men had gone without clothes and would not stay at home, but spent his time in the burial caves and lived among the tombs. Even though he was kept a prisoner, nobody could keep him tied with chains any more; many times his feet and hands had been tied, but every time he broke the chains and smashed the irons on his feet. He was too strong for anyone to control him. Day and night he wandered among the tombs and through the hills, driven by the demon out into the desert, screaming and cutting himself with stones.

He was some distance away when he saw Jesus; so he ran, fell on his knees before him, and screamed in a loud voice, "Jesus, Son of the Most High God! What do you want with me? For God's sake, I beg you, don't punish me!" (He said this because Jesus was saying, "Evil spirit, come out of this man!")

So Jesus asked him, "What is your name?"

The man answered, "My name is 'Mob'; there are so many of us!" And he kept begging Jesus not to send the evil spirits out of that region into the abyss.

There was a large herd of pigs near by, feeding on a hillside. So the spirits begged Jesus, "If you are going to drive us out, send us into that herd of pigs, and let us go into them." "Go," Jesus told them, and the evil spirits went out of the men and entered the pigs. The whole herd - about two thousand pigs in all - rushed down the side of the cliff into the lake and was drowned.

The men who had been taking care of the pigs saw what happened, so they ran off and spread the news in the town and among the farms. People went out to see what had happened, and when they came to Jesus, they found the men from whom the demons had gone out sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in their right mind; and they were all afraid. Those who had seen it told the people how the men had been cured. Then all the people from that territory asked Jesus to go away, because they were terribly afraid.

As Jesus was getting into the boat, one of the men who had had the demons begged him, "Let me go with you!"

But Jesus would not let him. Instead, he told him, "Go back home to your family and tell them how much the Lord has done for you and how kind he has been to you."

So the man left and went all through the Ten Towns telling what Jesus had done for him. And all who heard it were amazed.

When Jesus returned to the other side of the lake, the people welcomed him, because they had all been waiting for him. Then a man named Jairus arrived; he was an official in the local synagogue. He threw himself down at Jesus? feet and begged him earnestly to go to his home, "My little daughter is very sick. Please come and place your hands on her, so that she will get well and live!" His only daughter, who was twelve years old, was dying.

So Jesus got up and followed him, and his disciples went along with him. So many people were going along with him that they were crowding him from every side.

There was a woman who had suffered terribly from severe bleeding for twelve years, even though she had been treated by many doctors. She had spent all her money, but instead of getting better she got worse all the time. She had heard about Jesus, so she came in the crowd behind him, saying to herself, "If I touch just his clothes, I will get well."

She touched his cloak and her bleeding stopped at once; and she had the feeling inside herself that she was healed of her trouble. At once Jesus knew that power had gone out of him, so he turned around in the crowd and asked, "Who touched my clothes?"

Everyone denied it, and Peter said, "Master, the people are all around you and crowding in on you; why do you ask who touched you?"

But Jesus said, "Someone touched me, for I knew it when power went out of me." Jesus kept looking round to see who had done it. The woman saw that she had been found out, so she came, trembling with fear, and threw herself at Jesus' feet. There in front of everybody, she told him why she had touched him and how she had been healed at once. Jesus said to her, "My daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, and be healed from your trouble."

While Jesus was saying this, some messengers came from Jairus' house and told him, "Your daughter has died. Why bother the Teacher any longer?"

Jesus paid no attention to what they said, but told Jairus, "Don't be afraid, only believe, and she will be well."

When he arrived at the house, everyone there was crying and mourning for the child. Jesus saw the confusion and heard all the loud crying and wailing. When he saw the musicians for the funeral and the people all stirred up, he went in and said to them, "Get out everybody! Why all this confusion? Why are you crying? The child is not dead? she is only sleeping!"

They started making fun of him, because they knew that she was dead, so he put them all out, took the child's father and mother, and his three disciples, and went into the room where the child was lying. He took her by the hand and said to her, "Talitha, koum," which means, "Little girl, I tell you to get up!"

Her life returned and she got up at once and started walking around. Jesus ordered them to give her something to eat. Her parents were astounded, but Jesus commanded them not to tell anyone what had happened.

Jesus left that place, and as he walked along two blind men started following him. "Have mercy on us, Son of David!" they shouted.

When Jesus had gone indoors, the two blind men came to him, and he asked them, "Do you believe that I can heal you?"

"Yes, sir!" they answered.

Then Jesus touched their eyes and said, "Let it happen, then, just as you believe!?and their sight was restored. Jesus spoke sternly to them, "Don't tell this to anyone!"

But they left and spread the news about Jesus all over that part of the country.

As the men were leaving, some people brought to Jesus a man who could not talk because he had a demon. But as soon as the demon was driven out, the man started talking, and everyone was amazed. "We have never seen anything like this in Israel!" they exclaimed.

But the Pharisees said, "It is the chief of the demons who gives Jesus the power to drive out demons."

So Jesus went round visiting all the towns and villages. He taught in their synagogues, preached the Good News of the Kingdom, and healed people with every kind of disease and sickness. As he saw the crowds, his heart was filled with pity for them, because they were worried and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. So he said to his disciples, "The harvest is large, but there are few workers to gather it in. Pray to the owner of the harvest that he will send out workers to gather in his harvest."

Then Jesus went to the villages around there, teaching the people. He called the twelve disciples together and sent them out two by two and gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases. Then he sent them out to preach the Kingdom of God and to heal the sick, after saying to them, "Do not go to any Gentile territory or any Samaritan towns. Instead, you are to go to the lost sheep of the people of Israel. Go and preach, 'The Kingdom of heaven is near!' Heal the sick, bring the dead back to life, heal those who suffer from dreaded skin diseases, and drive out demons. You have received without paying, so give without being paid. Take nothing with you for the trip: no walking stick, no beggar's bag, no food! Do not carry any gold, silver, or copper money in your pockets. Wear sandals, but don't carry an extra shirt or shoes. Workers should be given what they need.

"When you come to a town or village, go in and look for someone who is willing to welcome you, and stay with him until you leave that place. When you go into a house say, 'Peace be with you.' If the people in that house welcome you, let your greeting of peace remain; but if they do not welcome you, then take back your greeting. And if some home or town will not welcome you or listen to you, then leave that place and shake the dust off your feet as a warning to them. I assure you that on the Judgment Day God will show more mercy to the people of Sodom and Gomorrah than to the people of that town!"

The disciples left and traveled through all the villages, preaching the Good News that people should turn away from their sins. They drove out many demons, and rubbed olive oil on many sick people and healed them.

After this the Lord chose another seventy-two men and sent them out two by two, to go ahead of him to every town and place where he himself was about to go. He said to them, "There is a large harvest, but few workers to gather it in. Pray to the owner of the harvest that he will send out workers to gather in his harvest. Go! I am sending you like lambs among wolves. Don?t take a purse or a beggar's bag or shoes; don't stop to greet anyone on the road. Whenever you go into a house, first say, 'Peace be with this house.' If someone who is peace-loving lives there, let your greeting of peace remain on that person; if not, take back your greeting of peace. Stay in that same house, eating and drinking what they offer you, for workers should be given their pay. Don't move around from one house to another. Whenever you go into a town and are made welcome, eat what is set before you, heal the sick in that town, and say to the people there, 'The Kingdom of God has come near you.' But whenever you go into a town and are not welcomed, go out in the streets and say, 'Even the dust from your town that sticks to our feet we wipe off against you. But remember that the Kingdom of God has come near you!' I assure you that on the Judgment Day God will show more mercy to Sodom than to that town!"

The people in the towns where Jesus had performed most of his miracles did not turn from their sins, so he reproached those towns. "How terrible it will be for you, Chorazin! How terrible for you too, Bethsaida! If the miracles which were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, the people there would have long ago put on sackcloth, and sprinkled ashes on themselves, to show that they had turned from their sins! I assure you that on the Judgment Day God will show more mercy to the people of Tyre and Sidon than to you! And as for you, Capernaum! Did you want to lift yourself up to heaven? You will be thrown down to hell! If the miracles which were performed in you had been performed in Sodom, it would still be in existence today! You can be sure that on the Judgment Day God will show more mercy to Sodom than to you!"

Jesus said to his disciples. "Whoever listens to you listens to me; whoever rejects you rejects me; and whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me."

The seventy-two men came back in great joy. "Lord," they said, "even the demons obeyed us when we gave them a command in your name!"

Jesus answered them, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Listen! I have given you authority, so that you can walk on snakes and scorpions, and overcome all the power of the Enemy, and nothing will hurt you. But don't be glad because the evil spirits obey you; rather be glad because your names are written in heaven."

At that time Jesus was filled with joy by the Holy Spirit and said, "Father, Lord of Heaven and earth! I thank you because you have shown to the unlearned what you have hidden from the wise and learned. Yes, Father, this was how you were pleased to have it happen.

"My Father has given me all things. No one knows who the Son is except the Father, and no one knows who the Father is except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

"Come to me, all of you who are tired from carrying heavy loads, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke and put it on you, and learn from me, because I am gentle and humble in spirit; and you will find rest. For the yoke I will give you is easy, and the load I will put on you is light."

Then Jesus turned to the disciples and said to them privately, "How fortunate you are to see the things you see! I tell you that many prophets and kings wanted to see what you see, but they could not, and to hear what you hear, but they did not."

"Listen! I am sending you out just like sheep to a pack of wolves. You must be as cautious as snakes and as gentle as doves. Watch out, for there will be those men who will arrest you and take you to court, and they will whip you in the synagogues. For my sake you will be brought to trial before rulers and kings, to tell the Good News to them and to the Gentiles. When they bring you to trial, do not worry about what you are going to say or how you will say it; when the time comes, you will be given what you will say. For the words you speak will not be yours; they will come from the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. For the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say.

"People will hand over their own brothers to be put to death, and fathers will do the same to their children; children will turn against their parents and have them put to death. Everyone will hate you because of me. But whoever holds out to the end will be saved. When they persecute you in one town, run away to another one. I assure you that you will not finish your work in all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.

"So do not be afraid of people. What is now covered up will be uncovered, and every secret will be made known. What I am telling you in the dark you must repeat in broad daylight, and what you have heard in private you must announce from the housetops. Do not be afraid of those who can kill the body but cannot afterward do anything worse - cannot kill the soul. I will show you whom to fear; rather be afraid of God, who can destroy both body and soul in hell. Believe me, he is the one you must fear!

"For only a penny you can buy two sparrows. Aren't five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one sparrow falls to the ground without your Father?s consent. As for you, even the hairs of your head have all been counted. So do not be afraid; you are worth much more than many sparrows!"

"I assure you that whoever declares publicly that he belongs to me, the Son of Man will do the same for them before the angels of God and before my Father in heaven. But those who reject me publicly, the Son of Man will also reject them before the angels of God and before my Father in heaven.

"Anyone who says a word against the Son of Man can be forgiven; but whoever says evil things against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven."

Once when large crowds of people were going along with Jesus, he turned and said to them, "I came to set the earth on fire; and how I wish it were already kindled! I have a baptism to receive, and how distressed I am until it is over! Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the world; no, I did not come to bring peace, but division'a sword. From now on a family of five will be divided, three against two and two against three. Fathers will be against their sons, and sons against their fathers; mothers will be against their daughters, and daughters against their mothers; mothers-in-law will be against their daughters-in-law, and daughters-in-law will be against their mothers-in-law; your worst enemies will be the members of your own family.

"Those who come to me cannot be my disciples unless they love me more than they love father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and themselves as well. Those who love their father or mother more than me are not fit to be my disciples; those who love their son or daughter more than me are not fit to be my disciples. Those who do not carry their own cross and come after me and follow in my steps is not fit to be my disciple. Those who try to gain their own life will lose it; but those who lose their life for my sake will gain it.

"If one of you is planning to build a tower, you sit down first and figure out what it will cost, to see if you have enough money to finish the job. If you don't, you will not be able to finish the tower after laying the foundation; and all who see what happened will make fun of you. 'You began to build but can't finish the job!' they will say. If a king goes out with ten thousand men to fight another king who comes against him with twenty thousand men, he will sit down first and decide if he is strong enough to face that other king. If he isn?'t, he will send messengers to meet the other king to ask for terms of peace while he is still a long way off. In the same way," concluded Jesus, "none of you can be my disciple unless you give up everything you have."

"Whoever welcomes you welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. Whoever welcomes God?s messenger because he is God?s messenger, will share in his reward. And whoever welcomes a good man because he is good, will share in his reward. You can be sure that whoever gives even a drink of cold water to one of the least of these my followers because he is my follower and belongs to me, will certainly receive a reward."

When Jesus finished giving these instructions to his twelve disciples, he left that place and went off to teach and preach in the towns near there.

At that time Herod, the ruler of Galilee, heard about Jesus, because Jesus? reputation had spread everywhere. He was very confused, because some people were saying that John the Baptist had come back to life! That is why he had this power to perform miracles." Others were saying that Elijah had appeared, and still others that one of the prophets of long ago had come back to life. Herod said, "He is really John the Baptist! I had his head cut off, but he has come back to life!" And he kept trying to see Jesus.

Herod himself had ordered John's arrest, and he had him tied up and put in prison. Herod did this because of Herodias, whom he had married, even though she was the wife of his brother Philip. John the Baptist kept telling Herod, "It isn't right for you to marry your brother's wife!"

So Herodias held a grudge against John and wanted to kill him, but she could not because of Herod. Herod was afraid of John because he knew that John was a good and holy man, and so he kept him safe. He liked to listen to him, even though he became greatly disturbed every time he heard him. Herod wanted to kill him, but he was afraid of the Jewish people, because they considered John to be a prophet.

Finally Herodias got her chance. It was on Herod's birthday, when he gave a feast for all the top government officials, the military chiefs, and the leading citizens of Galilee. The daughter of Herodias came in and danced, and pleased Herod and his guests. So the king said to the girl, "What would you like to have? I will give you anything you want." With many vows he said to her, "I swear that I will give you anything you ask for, even as much as half my kingdom!"

So the girl went out and asked her mother, "What shall I ask for?"

"The head of John the Baptist," she answered.

At her mother's suggestion the girl hurried back at once to the king and demanded, "I want you to give me here and now the head of John the Baptist on a plate!"

This made the king very sad, but he could not refuse her because of the vows he had made in front of all his guests. So he sent off a guard at once with orders to bring John's head. The guard left, went to the prison, and cut John's head off; then he brought it on a plate and gave it to the girl, who gave it to her mother. When John's disciples heard about this, they came and got his body and buried it; then they went and told Jesus.

The apostles returned and met with Jesus, and told him all they had done and taught. There were so many people coming and going that Jesus and his disciples didn't even have time to eat. When Jesus heard the news about John, he said to them, "Let us go off by ourselves to some place where we will be alone and you can rest a while." So they started out in the boat by themselves across Lake Galilee (or, Lake Tiberias, as it is also called) to a lonely place, a town named Bethsaida. Many people, however, saw them leave and knew at once who they were; so they went from all the towns and ran ahead by land and arrived at the place ahead of Jesus and his disciples. When Jesus got out of the boat, he saw this large crowd, and his heart was filled with pity for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. He welcomed them, spoke to them about the Kingdom of God, and began to teach them many things and healed those who needed it.

That evening, when the sun was beginning to set, Jesus went up a hill and sat down with his disciples. The Passover Festival was near. When it was getting late his disciples came to him and said, "It is already very late, and this is a lonely place. Send the people away, and let them go to the nearby farms and villages and buy themselves something to eat and find lodging."

"They don't have to leave," answered Jesus. "You yourselves give them something to eat." He asked Philip, "Where can we buy enough food to feed all these people?" (He said this to test Philip; actually he already knew what he would do.)

Philip answered, "For everyone to have even a little, it would take more than two hundred silver coins to buy enough bread. Do you want us to go spend two hundred silver coins on bread in order to feed them?"

So Jesus asked them, "How much bread do you have? Go and see."

Another one of his disciples, Andrew, who was Simon Peter's brother, said, "There is a boy here who has five loaves of barley bread and two fish. But they will certainly not be enough for all these people." (There were about five thousand men there, not counting the women and children.)

Then bring them here to me," Jesus said to his disciples. "Make the people sit down in groups of about fifty each." (There was a lot of grass there.) So the people sat down in rows, in groups of a hundred and groups of fifty. Then Jesus took the five loaves and the two fish, looked up to heaven, and gave thanks to God. He broke the loaves and gave them to his disciples to distribute to the people. He also divided the two fish among them all.

They all had as much as they wanted. When they were all full, he said to his disciples, "Gather the pieces left over; let us not waste a bit." So they gathered them all, and filled twelve baskets with the pieces left over from the five barley loaves which the people had eaten.

Seeing this miracle that Jesus had performed, the people there said, "Surely this is the Prophet who was to come into the world!" Jesus knew that they were about to come and seize him in order to make him king by force; so he went off again to the hills by himself.

When evening came, Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go ahead to the other side of the lake toward Capernaum while he sent the people away. After saying good-bye to the people, he went up a hill by himself to pray. Night came on, and Jesus still had not come to them. Jesus was there alone; and by this time the boat was far out in the lake, about three or four miles, tossed about by the waves, because a strong wind was blowing and stirring up the water. Jesus saw that his disciples were straining against the oars, because they were rowing against the wind; so sometime between three and six o'clock in the morning, he came to them, walking on the water. He was going to pass them by. When they saw him walking on the water they were terrified. "It's a ghost!" they said, and screamed with fear.

Jesus spoke to them at once. "Courage!" he said, "It is I. Don't be afraid!"

Then Peter spoke up. "Lord, if it is really you, order me to come out on the water to you."

"Come!" answered Jesus. So Peter got out of the boat and started walking on the water to Jesus. But when he noticed the strong wind, he was afraid and started to sink down in the water. "Save me, Lord!" he cried.

At once Jesus reached out and grabbed hold of him and said, "What little faith you have! Why did you doubt?"

They both got into the boat, and the wind died down, and immediately the boat reached land at the place they were heading for.

The disciples were completely amazed, because they had not understood the real meaning of the feeding of the five thousand; their minds could not grasp it. The disciples in the boat worshiped Jesus. "Truly you are the Son of God!" they exclaimed.

They crossed the lake and came to land at Gennesaret, where they tied up the boat. As they left the boat, people recognized Jesus at once. So they ran throughout the whole region; and wherever they heard he was, they brought the sick lying on their mats. And everywhere Jesus went, to villages, towns, or farms, people would take their sick to the marketplaces and beg him to let the sick at least touch the edge of his cloak. And all who touched it were made well.

Some Pharisees and teachers of the Law who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus. They noticed that some of his disciples were eating their food with hands that were ritually unclean - that is, they had not washed them in the way the Pharisees said people should.

(For the Pharisees, as well as the rest of the Jews, follow the teaching they received from their ancestors: they do not eat unless they wash their hands in the proper way, nor do they eat anything that comes from the market unless they wash it first. And they follow many other rules which they have received, such as the proper way to wash cups, pots, copper bowls, and beds.)

So the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law asked Jesus, "Why is it that your disciples do not follow the teaching handed down by our ancestors, but instead eat with ritually unclean hands?"

Jesus answered, "And why do you disobey God's command and follow your own teaching? You have a clever way of rejecting God's law in order to uphold your own teaching. For God said (and Moses commanded), 'Respect your father and your mother,' and 'If you curse your father or your mother you are to be put to death.' But you teach that if a person has something they could use to help their father or mother, but say, 'This belongs to God', they do not need to honor their father. In this way you disregard God's command, in order to follow your own teaching. The teaching you pass on to others cancels out the word of God. And there are many other things like this that you do. You hypocrites! How right Isaiah was when he prophesied about you!

"These people," says God, "honor me with their words, but their heart is really far away from me.
It is no use for them to worship me, because they teach hunan rules
as though they were my laws!"

Then Jesus called the crowd to him once more and said to them, "Listen to me, all of you, and understand. There is nothing that goes into your mouth from the outside which can make you ritually unclean. Rather, it is what comes out of you that makes you unclean."

Then the disciples came to him and said, "Do you know that the Pharisees had their feelings hurt by what you said?"

"Every plant which my Father in heaven did not plant will be pulled up," answered Jesus. "Don't worry about them! They are blind leaders of the blind; and when one blind man leads another, both fall into a ditch."

When he left the crowd and went into the house, Peter spoke up, "Explain this saying to us."

Jesus said to them, "You are still no more intelligent than the others. Don't you understand? Nothing that goes into you from the outside can really make you unclean, because anything that goes into your mouth goes into your stomach and then on out of the body." (In saying this, Jesus declared that all foods are fit to be eaten.)

And he went on to say, '"But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these are the things that make you ritually unclean. For from your heart come the evil ideas which lead you to kill, commit adultery, and do other immoral things; to rob, lie, and slander others, 'be greedy, and do all sorts of evil things; deceit, indecency, jealousy, slander, pride, and folly'' - all these evil things come from inside you and make you unclean. But to eat without washing your hands as they say you should - this doesn't make you unclean."

Next day the crowd which had stayed on the other side of the lake realized that there had been only one boat there. They knew that Jesus had not gone in it with his disciples, but that they had left without him. Other boats, which were from Tiberias, came to shore near the place where the crowd had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. When the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor his disciples, they got into those boats and went to Capernaum, looking for him.

When the people found Jesus on the other side of the lake, they said to him, "Teacher, when did you get here?"

Jesus answered, "I am telling you the truth: you are looking for me because you ate the bread and had all you wanted, not because you understood my miracles. Do not work for food that spoils; instead, work for the food that lasts for eternal life. This is the food which the Son of Man will give you, because God, the Father, has put his mark of approval on him."

So they asked him, "What can we do in order to do what God wants us to do?"

Jesus answered, "What God wants you to do is to believe in the one he sent."

They replied, "What miracle will you perform so that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? Our ancestors ate manna in the desert, just as the scripture says, 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'"

"I am telling you the truth," Jesus said. "What Moses gave you was not the bread from heaven; it is my Father who gives you the real bread from heaven. For the bread that God gives is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world."

"Sir," they asked him, "give us this bread always."

"I am the bread of life," Jesus told them. "Those who come to me will never be hungry; those who believe in me will never be thirsty. Now, I told you that you have seen me but will not believe. Everyone whom my Father gives me will come to me. I will never turn away anyone who comes to me, because I have come down from heaven to do not my own will but the will of him who sent me. And it is the will of him who sent me that I should not lose any of all those he has given me, but that I should raise them all to life on the last day. For what my Father wants is that all who see the Son and believe in him should have eternal life. And I will raise them to life on the last day."

The people started grumbling about him, because he said, "I am the bread that came down from heaven." So they said, "This man is Jesus the son of Joseph, isn't he? We know his father and mother. How, then, does he now say he came down from heaven?"

Jesus answered, "Stop grumbling among yourselves. People cannot come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them to me; and I will raise them to life on the last day. The prophets wrote, 'Everyone will be taught by God.' Anyone who hears the Father and learns from him comes to me. This does not mean that anyone has seen the Father; he who is from God is the only one who has seen the Father. I am telling you the truth: he who believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died. But the bread that comes down from heaven is of such a kind that whoever eats it will not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If you eat this bread you will live forever. The bread that I will give you is my flesh, which I give so that the world may live."

This started an angry argument among them. "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" they asked.

Jesus said to them, "I am telling you the truth: if you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you will not have life in yourselves. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them to life on the last day. For my flesh is the real food; my blood is the real drink. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood live in me, and I live in them. The living Father sent me, and because of him I live also. In the same way, whoever eats me will live because of me. This, then, is the bread that came down from heaven; it is not like the bread that your ancestors ate, but then later died. The one who eats this bread will live forever."

Jesus said this as he taught in the synagogue in Capernaum.

Many of his disciples heard this and said, "This teaching is too hard. Who can listen to it?"

Without being told, Jesus knew that his disciples were grumbling about this, so he said to them, "Does this make you want to give up? Suppose, then, that you should see the Son of Man go back up to the place where he was before? What gives life is God's Spirit; man?s power is of no use at all. The words I have spoken to you bring God's life-giving Spirit. Yet some of you do not believe." (Jesus knew from the very beginning who were the ones that would not believe, and which one would betray him.) And he added, "This is the very reason I told you that people can come to me unless the Father makes it possible for them to do so."

Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words that give eternal life. And now we believe and know that you are the Holy One who has come from God."

Jesus replied, "I chose the twelve of you, didn't I? Yet one of you is a devil!" He was talking about Judas,the son of Simon Iscariot. For Judas, even though he was one of the twelve disciples, was going to betray him.