like the accounts passed on to us by those who were eyewitnesses and servants of the word from the beginning.

"And look, your relative Elizabeth has also become pregnant with a son in her old age -- although she was called barren, she is now in her sixth month!

but (because they assumed that he was in their group of travelers) they went a day's journey. Then they began to look for him among their relatives and acquaintances.

When they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem to look for him.

When his parents saw him, they were overwhelmed. His mother said to him, "Child, why have you treated us like this? Look, your father and I have been looking for you anxiously."

and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, "You are my one dear Son; in you I take great delight."

Now Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret, and the crowd was pressing around him to hear the word of God.

He saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gotten out of them and were washing their nets.

A disciple is not greater than his teacher, but everyone when fully trained will be like his teacher.

"Everyone who comes to me and listens to my words and puts them into practice -- I will show you what he is like:

He is like a man building a house, who dug down deep, and laid the foundation on bedrock. When a flood came, the river burst against that house but could not shake it, because it had been well built.

But the person who hears and does not put my words into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the river burst against that house, it collapsed immediately, and was utterly destroyed!"

and sent them to Jesus to ask, "Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?"

When the men came to Jesus, they said, "John the Baptist has sent us to you to ask, 'Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?'"

What did you go out to see? A man dressed in fancy clothes? Look, those who wear fancy clothes and live in luxury are in kings' courts!

This is the one about whom it is written, 'Look, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.'

"To what then should I compare the people of this generation, and what are they like?

They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling out to one another, 'We played the flute for you, yet you did not dance; we wailed in mourning, yet you did not weep.'

The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, 'Look at him, a glutton and a drunk, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!'

One day Jesus got into a boat with his disciples and said to them, "Let's go across to the other side of the lake." So they set out,

and as they sailed he fell asleep. Now a violent windstorm came down on the lake, and the boat started filling up with water, and they were in danger.

So the demons came out of the man and went into the pigs, and the herd of pigs rushed down the steep slope into the lake and drowned.

Then a man from the crowd cried out, "Teacher, I beg you to look at my son -- he is my only child!

Go! I am sending you out like lambs surrounded by wolves.

So he said to them, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.

Look, I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions and on the full force of the enemy, and nothing will hurt you.

Woe to you! You are like unmarked graves, and people walk over them without realizing it!"

Consider how the flowers grow; they do not work or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his glory was clothed like one of these!

be like people waiting for their master to come back from the wedding celebration, so that when he comes and knocks they can immediately open the door for him.

Thus Jesus asked, "What is the kingdom of God like? To what should I compare it?

It is like a mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his garden. It grew and became a tree, and the wild birds nested in its branches."

It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed with three measures of flour until all the dough had risen."

But he said to them, "Go and tell that fox, 'Look, I am casting out demons and performing healings today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will complete my work.

Look, your house is forsaken! And I tell you, you will not see me until you say, 'Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!'"

"Which one of you, if he has a hundred sheep and loses one of them, would not leave the ninety-nine in the open pasture and go look for the one that is lost until he finds it?

I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired workers."'

but he answered his father, 'Look! These many years I have worked like a slave for you, and I never disobeyed your commands. Yet you never gave me even a goat so that I could celebrate with my friends!

nor will they say, 'Look, here it is!' or 'There!' For indeed, the kingdom of God is in your midst."

Then people will say to you, 'Look, there he is!' or 'Look, here he is!' Do not go out or chase after them.

For just like the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the Son of Man be in his day.

The Pharisee stood and prayed about himself like this: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other people: extortionists, unrighteous people, adulterers -- or even like this tax collector.

The tax collector, however, stood far off and would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, 'God, be merciful to me, sinner that I am!'

I tell you the truth, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will never enter it."

When Jesus heard this, he said to him, "One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."

And Peter said, "Look, we have left everything we own to follow you!"

Then Jesus took the twelve aside and said to them, "Look, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished.

He was trying to get a look at Jesus, but being a short man he could not see over the crowd.

But Zacchaeus stopped and said to the Lord, "Look, Lord, half of my possessions I now give to the poor, and if I have cheated anyone of anything, I am paying back four times as much!"

"Beware of the experts in the law. They like walking around in long robes, and they love elaborate greetings in the marketplaces and the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets.

Then he told them a parable: "Look at the fig tree and all the other trees.

"But be on your guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life, and that day close down upon you suddenly like a trap.

"But look, the hand of the one who betrays me is with me on the table.

Not so with you; instead the one who is greatest among you must become like the youngest, and the leader like the one who serves.

"Simon, Simon, pay attention! Satan has demanded to have you all, to sift you like wheat,

Then Jesus said to them, "When I sent you out with no money bag, or traveler's bag, or sandals, you didn't lack anything, did you?" They replied, "Nothing."

So they said, "Look, Lord, here are two swords." Then he told them, "It is enough."

And in his anguish he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.]

Then Jesus said to the chief priests, the officers of the temple guard, and the elders who had come out to get him, "Have you come out with swords and clubs like you would against an outlaw?

Neither did Herod, for he sent him back to us. Look, he has done nothing deserving death.

The women were terribly frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, "Why do you look for the living among the dead?

But these words seemed like pure nonsense to them, and they did not believe them.

Look at my hands and my feet; it's me! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones like you see I have."

And look, I am sending you what my Father promised. But stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high."