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

The people there were amazed by his teaching, because he taught them like one who had authority, not like the experts in the law.

"Leave us alone, Jesus the Nazarene! Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are -- the Holy One of God!"

When it was evening, after sunset, they brought to him all who were sick and demon-possessed.

So he healed many who were sick with various diseases and drove out many demons. But he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him.

"Why does this man speak this way? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?"

As Jesus was having a meal in Levi's home, many tax collectors and sinners were eating with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many who followed him.

When Jesus heard this he said to them, "Those who are healthy don't need a physician, but those who are sick do. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."

Then Jesus entered the synagogue again, and a man was there who had a withered hand.

So he said to the man who had the withered hand, "Stand up among all these people."

For he had healed many, so that all who were afflicted with diseases pressed toward him in order to touch him.

He appointed twelve (whom he named apostles), so that they would be with him and he could send them to preach

and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.

The experts in the law who came down from Jerusalem said, "He is possessed by Beelzebul," and, "By the ruler of demons he casts out demons."

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

And looking at those who were sitting around him in a circle, he said, "Here are my mother and my brothers!

Others are the ones sown among thorns: They are those who hear the word,

He also said, "The kingdom of God is like someone who spreads seed on the ground.

They were overwhelmed by fear and said to one another, "Who then is this? Even the wind and sea obey him!"

They came to Jesus and saw the demon-possessed man sitting there, clothed and in his right mind -- the one who had the "Legion" -- and they were afraid.

Those who had seen what had happened to the demon-possessed man reported it, and they also told about the pigs.

As he was getting into the boat the man who had been demon-possessed asked if he could go with him.

Now a woman was there who had been suffering from a hemorrhage for twelve years.

Jesus knew at once that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and said, "Who touched my clothes?"

His disciples said to him, "You see the crowd pressing against you and you say, 'Who touched me?'"

But he looked around to see who had done it.

When the Sabbath came, he began to teach in the synagogue. Many who heard him were astonished, saying, "Where did he get these ideas? And what is this wisdom that has been given to him? What are these miracles that are done through his hands?

But when Herod heard this, he said, "John, whom I beheaded, has been raised!"

Now there were five thousand men who ate the bread.

And wherever he would go -- into villages, towns, or countryside -- they would place the sick in the marketplaces, and would ask him if they could just touch the edge of his cloak, and all who touched it were healed.

Now the Pharisees and some of the experts in the law who came from Jerusalem gathered around him.

They brought to him a deaf man who had difficulty speaking, and they asked him to place his hands on him.

There were about four thousand who ate. Then he dismissed them.

Then Jesus and his disciples went to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked his disciples, "Who do people say that I am?"

He asked them, "But who do you say that I am?" Peter answered him, "You are the Christ."

And he said to them, "I tell you the truth, there are some standing here who will not experience death before they see the kingdom of God come with power."

A member of the crowd said to him, "Teacher, I brought you my son, who is possessed by a spirit that makes him mute.

Then Jesus said to him, "'If you are able?' All things are possible for the one who believes."

But they were silent, for on the way they had argued with one another about who was the greatest.

"Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me."

But Jesus said, "Do not stop him, because no one who does a miracle in my name will be able soon afterward to say anything bad about me.

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

Now people were bringing little children to him for him to touch, but the disciples scolded those who brought them.

They were even more astonished and said to one another, "Then who can be saved?"

Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, there is no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for my sake and for the sake of the gospel

who will not receive in this age a hundred times as much -- homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, fields, all with persecutions -- and in the age to come, eternal life.

But many who are first will be last, and the last first."

They were on the way, going up to Jerusalem. Jesus was going ahead of them, and they were amazed, but those who followed were afraid. He took the twelve aside again and began to tell them what was going to happen to him.

but to sit at my right or at my left is not mine to give. It is for those for whom it has been prepared."

Jesus called them and said to them, "You know that those who are recognized as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those in high positions use their authority over them.

Both those who went ahead and those who followed kept shouting, "Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!

Then they came to Jerusalem. Jesus entered the temple area and began to drive out those who were selling and buying in the temple courts. He turned over the tables of the money changers and the chairs of those selling doves,

and said, "By what authority are you doing these things? Or who gave you this authority to do these things?"

He sent another, and that one they killed. This happened to many others, some of whom were beaten, others killed.

Sadducees (who say there is no resurrection) also came to him and asked him,

You will be hated by everyone because of my name. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.

Woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing their babies in those days!

And if the Lord had not cut short those days, no one would be saved. But because of the elect, whom he chose, he has cut them short.

But some who were present indignantly said to one another, "Why this waste of expensive ointment?

He said to them, "It is one of the twelve, one who dips his hand with me into the bowl.

For the Son of Man will go as it is written about him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would be better for him if he had never been born."

A man named Barabbas was imprisoned with rebels who had committed murder during an insurrection.

The soldiers forced a passerby to carry his cross, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country (he was the father of Alexander and Rufus).

Those who passed by defamed him, shaking their heads and saying, "Aha! You who can destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days,

Let the Christ, the king of Israel, come down from the cross now, that we may see and believe!" Those who were crucified with him also spoke abusively to him.

Now when the centurion, who stood in front of him, saw how he died, he said, "Truly this man was God's Son!"

When he was in Galilee, they had followed him and given him support. Many other women who had come up with him to Jerusalem were there too.

Joseph of Arimathea, a highly regarded member of the council, who was himself looking forward to the kingdom of God, went boldly to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.

They had been asking each other, "Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?"

But he said to them, "Do not be alarmed. You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has been raised! He is not here. Look, there is the place where they laid him.

[[Early on the first day of the week, after he arose, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom he had driven out seven demons.

She went out and told those who were with him, while they were mourning and weeping.

Then he appeared to the eleven themselves, while they were eating, and he rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen him resurrected.

The one who believes and is baptized will be saved, but the one who does not believe will be condemned.

These signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new languages;