how he entered the house of God in the time of Abiathar the high priest and ate the sacred bread—which is not lawful for anyone to eat except the priests—and also gave some to his companions?”

Immediately the Pharisees went out and started plotting with the Herodians against Him, how they might destroy Him.

So He summoned them and spoke to them in parables: “How can Satan drive out Satan?

Then He said to them: “Don’t you understand this parable? How then will you understand any of the parables?

he sleeps and rises—night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows—he doesn’t know how.

And He said: “How can we illustrate the kingdom of God, or what parable can we use to describe it?

But He would not let him; instead, He told him, “Go back home to your own people, and report to them how much the Lord has done for you and how He has had mercy on you.”

So he went out and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and they were all amazed.

When the Sabbath came, He began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard Him were astonished. “Where did this man get these things?” they said. “What is this wisdom given to Him, and how are these miracles performed by His hands?

And He asked them, “How many loaves do you have? Go look.”

When they found out they said, “Five, and two fish.”

“How many loaves do you have?” He asked them.

“Seven,” they said.

When I broke the five loaves for the 5,000, how many baskets full of pieces of bread did you collect?”

“Twelve,” they told Him.

“When I broke the seven loaves for the 4,000, how many large baskets full of pieces of bread did you collect?”

“Seven,” they said.

“Elijah does come first and restores everything,” He replied. “How then is it written about the Son of Man that He must suffer many things and be treated with contempt?

He replied to them, “You unbelieving generation! How long will I be with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring him to Me.”

“How long has this been happening to him?” Jesus asked his father.

“From childhood,” he said.

Salt is good, but if the salt should lose its flavor, how can you make it salty? Have salt among yourselves and be at peace with one another.”

Jesus looked around and said to His disciples, “How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!”

But the disciples were astonished at His words. Again Jesus said to them, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God!

Now concerning the dead being raised—haven’t you read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the burning bush, how God spoke to him: I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob?

So Jesus asked this question as He taught in the temple complex, “How can the scribes say that the Messiah is the Son of David?

David himself calls Him ‘Lord’; how then can the Messiah be his Son?” And the large crowd was listening to Him with delight.

Sitting across from the temple treasury, He watched how the crowd dropped money into the treasury. Many rich people were putting in large sums.

Then Pilate questioned Him again, “Are You not answering anything? Look how many things they are accusing You of!”