As it is written in the prophet Isaiah, "See! I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way.

People from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were flocking to him, being baptized by him while they confessed their sins.

Then a voice came from heaven: "You are my Son, whom I love. I am pleased with you!"

He was in the wilderness for 40 days being tempted by Satan. He was among wild animals, and angels were ministering to him.

While Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew. They were throwing a net into the sea because they were fishermen.

Going on a little farther, he saw James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John. They were in a boat repairing their nets.

The people were utterly amazed at his teaching, because he was teaching them like one with authority, and not like their scribes.

"What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are the Holy One of God!"

All the people were so stunned that they kept saying to each other, "What is this? A new teaching with authority! He tells even the unclean spirits what to do, and they obey him!"

When evening came, after the sun had set, people started bringing to him everyone who was sick or possessed by demons.

He healed many who were sick with various diseases and drove out many demons. However, he wouldn't allow the demons to speak because they knew who he was.

He told the man, "Be sure that you don't tell anyone. Instead, go and show yourself to the priest, and then offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded as proof to the authorities."

Since they couldn't bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof over the place where he was. They dug through it and let down the mat on which the paralyzed man was lying.

When Jesus saw their faith, he told the paralyzed man, "Son, your sins are forgiven."

Now some scribes were sitting there, arguing among themselves,

At once, Jesus knew in his spirit what they were saying to themselves. "Why are you arguing about such things among yourselves?" he asked them.

"Which is easier: to say to the paralyzed man, "Your sins are forgiven,' or "Get up, pick up your mat, and walk'?

"I say to you, get up, pick up your mat, and go home!"

So the man got up, immediately picked up his mat, and went out in front of all of them. As a result, all of the people were amazed and began to glorify God as they kept on saying, "We have never seen anything like this!"

Later, he was having dinner at Levi's house. Many tax collectors and sinners were also eating with Jesus and his disciples, because there were many who were following him.

Now John's disciples and the Pharisees would fast regularly. Some people came and asked Jesus, "Why do John's disciples and the Pharisees' disciples fast, but your disciples don't fast?"

The Pharisees asked him, "Look! Why are they doing what is not lawful on Sabbath days?"

He asked them, "Haven't you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need?

Then he asked them, "Is it lawful to do good or to do evil on Sabbath days, to save a life or to destroy it?" But they remained silent.

Jesus looked around at them in anger, deeply hurt because of their hard hearts. Then he told the man, "Hold out your hand." The man held it out, and his hand was restored to health.

Whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they would fall down in front of him and scream, "You are the Son of God!"

A crowd was sitting around him. They told him, "Look! Your mother and your brothers are outside asking for you."

He answered them, "Who are my mother and my brothers?"

Then looking at the people sitting around him, he said, "Here are my mother and my brothers!

Others fell on stony ground, where they didn't have a lot of soil. They sprouted at once, because the soil wasn't deep.

But when the sun came up, they were scorched. Since they didn't have any roots, they dried up.

But others fell on good soil and produced a crop. They grew up, increased in size, and produced 30, 60, or 100 times what was sown."

Some people are like the seeds along the path, where the word is sown. When they hear it, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that was sown in them.

Others are like the seeds sown on the stony ground. When they hear the word, at once they joyfully accept it,

but since they don't have any roots, they last for only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes along because of the word, they immediately fall away.

Still others are like the seeds sown among the thorn bushes. These are the people who hear the word,

Others are like the seeds sown on good soil. They hear the word, accept it, and produce crops 30, 60, or 100 times what was sown."

Then Jesus told them, "A lamp isn't brought indoors to be put under a basket or under a bed, is it? It's to be put on a lamp stand, isn't it?

He went on to say to them, "Pay attention to what you're hearing! You will be evaluated by the same standard with which you do your evaluating, and still more will be given to you,

He was also saying, "How can we show what the kingdom of God is like, or what parable can we use to describe it?

So they left the crowd and took him away in a boat without making any special preparations. Other boats were with him.

He asked them, "Why are you such cowards? Don't you have any faith yet?"

Then Jesus asked him, "What's your name?"

He told him, "My name is Legion, because there are many of us." He kept pleading with Jesus not to send them out of that region.

When they came to Jesus and saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons, sitting there dressed and in his right mind, they were frightened.

But Jesus wouldn't let him. Instead, he told him, "Go home to your family, and tell them how much the Lord has done for you and how merciful he has been to you."

and begged him urgently, saying, "My little daughter is dying. Come and lay your hands on her so that she may get well and live."

He told her, "Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace and be healed from your illness."

While he was still speaking, some people came from the synagogue leader's home and said, "Your daughter is dead. Why bother the Teacher anymore?"

When they came to the home of the synagogue leader, Jesus saw mass confusion. People were crying and sobbing loudly.

They laughed and laughed at him. But when he had driven all of them outside, he took the child's father and mother, along with the men who were with him, and went into the room where the child was.

The young lady got up at once and started to walk. She was twelve years old. Instantly they were overcome with astonishment.

When the Sabbath came, he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were utterly amazed. "Where did this man get all these things?" they asked. "What is this wisdom that has been given to him? What great miracles are being done by his hands!

This is the builder, the son of Mary, and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas, and Simon, isn't it? His sisters are here with us, aren't they?" And they were offended by him.

They could wear sandals but not take along an extra shirt.

If any place will not welcome you and the people refuse to listen to you, when you leave, shake its dust off your feet as a testimony against them."

They also kept driving out many demons and anointing with oil many who were sick, and healing them.

Others were saying, "He is Elijah." Still others were saying, "He is a prophet like one of the other prophets."

John had been telling Herod, "It's not lawful for you to have your brother's wife."

He told them, "Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest for a while," because so many people were coming and going that they didn't even have time to eat.

When he got out of the boat, he saw a large crowd. He had compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd, and he began to teach them many things.

All of them ate and were filled.

There were 5,000 men who had eaten the loaves.

He saw that his disciples were straining at the oars, because the wind was against them. Shortly before dawn he came to them, walking on the sea. He intended to go up right beside them,

All of them saw him and were terrified. Immediately he told them, "Have courage! It's me. Stop being afraid!"

Then he got into the boat with them, and the wind stopped blowing. The disciples were utterly astounded,

because they didn't understand the significance of the loaves. Instead, their hearts were hardened.

They ran all over the countryside and began carrying the sick on their mats to any place where they heard he was.

Wherever he went, whether into villages, towns, or farms, people would place their sick in the marketplaces and beg him to let them touch even the tassel of his garment, and everyone who touched it was healed.

They noticed that some of his disciples were eating with unclean hands, that is, without washing them.

So the Pharisees and the scribes asked Jesus, "Why don't your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders? Instead, they eat with unclean hands."

He told them, "Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites. As it is written, "These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.

Then he told them, "You have such a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to keep your own tradition!

Because Moses said, "Honor your father and your mother,' and, "Whoever curses his father or mother must certainly be put to death.'

But you say, "If anyone tells his father or mother, "Whatever support you might have received from me is Corban,"' (that is, an offering to God)

"you no longer let him do anything for his father or mother.'

You are destroying the word of God through your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many other things like that."

He asked them, "Are you so ignorant? Don't you know that nothing that goes into a person from the outside can make him unclean?

Then he told her, "Because you have said this, go! The demon has left your daughter."

The man's hearing and speech were restored at once, and he began to talk normally.

His disciples answered him, "Where could anyone get enough bread to feed these people out here in the wilderness?"

The people ate and were filled. Then the disciples picked up the leftover pieces seven large baskets full.

Now about 4,000 men were there. Then he sent them on their way.

So they were discussing with one another the fact that they didn't have any bread.

Knowing this, Jesus asked them, "Why are you discussing the fact that you don't have any bread? Don't you understand or perceive yet? Are your hearts hardened?

Then Jesus sent him home, saying, "Don't go into the village or tell anyone in the village."

Peter answered him, "You are the Messiah!" Jesus sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him.

Then Elijah appeared to them, accompanied by Moses, and they were talking with Jesus.

(Peter didn't know how to respond, because they were terrified.)

He asked the scribes, "What are you arguing about with them?"

Whenever it brings on a seizure, it throws him to the ground. Then he foams at the mouth, grinds his teeth, and becomes stiff. So I asked your disciples to drive the spirit out, but they didn't have the power."

The spirit has often thrown him into fire and into water to destroy him. But if you are able to do anything, have pity on us and help us!"

Jesus told him, ""If you are able?' Everything is possible for the person who believes!"

When Jesus saw that a crowd was running to the scene, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, "You spirit that won't let him talk or hear I command you to come out of him and never enter him again!"

They didn't understand what this statement meant, and they were afraid to ask him.

Then they came to Capernaum. While Jesus was at home, he asked the disciples, "What were you arguing about on the road?"

John told Jesus, "Teacher, we saw someone driving out demons in your name. We tried to stop him, because he wasn't a follower like us."

"If anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a large millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea.

So if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It's better for you to enter life injured than to have two hands and go to hell, to the fire that cannot be put out.

And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It's better for you to enter life crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into hell.