"How can I be sure of this?" Zechariah asked the angel. "For I am an old man and my wife is advanced in years."

To a maiden there who was betrothed to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. Her name was Mary.

Mary was much disturbed at his words, and was wondering to herself what such a greeting could mean,

"Glory to God on high, And on earth peace among men in whom he finds pleasure."

There was at that time in Jerusalem a man named Simeon, a righteous and devout man, who lived in constant expectation of the Consolation of Israel, and under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

And Jesus grew in wisdom as he grew in years, and 'gained the blessing of God and men.'

"Let the man who has two coats," answered John, "share with him who has none; and the man who has food do the same."

And Jesus answered him: "Scripture says--'It is not on bread alone that man is to live.'"

In the Synagogue there was a man with the spirit of a foul demon in him, who called out loudly:

But Jesus rebuked the demon. "Be silent! Come out from him," he said. The demon flung the man down in the middle of the people, and then came out from him, without causing him further harm.

When Simon Peter saw this, he threw himself down at Jesus' knees, exclaiming: "Master, leave me, for I am a sinful man!"

And so, too, were James and John, Zebediah's sons, who were Simon's partners. "Do not be afraid," Jesus said to Simon; "from to-day you shall catch men."

On one occasion Jesus was staying in a town, when he saw a man who was covered with leprosy. When the leper saw Jesus, he threw himself on his face and implored his help: "Master, if only you are willing, you are able to make me clean."

Stretching out his hand, Jesus touched him, saying as he did so: "I am willing; become clean." Instantly the leprosy left the man;

And there some men brought on a bed a man who was paralyzed. They tried to get him in and lay him before Jesus;

The Teachers of the Law and the Pharisees began debating about this. "Who is this man who speaks so blasphemously?" they asked. "Who can forgive sins except God?"

But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins"-- he spoke to the paralyzed man-- "To you I say, Get up, and take up your pallet, and go to your home."

Instantly the man stood up before their eyes, took up what he had been lying on, and went to his home, praising God.

Then, as an illustration, Jesus said to them: "No man ever tears a piece from a new garment and puts it upon an old one; for, if he does, he will not only tear the new garment, but the piece from the new one will not match the old.

And no man puts new wine into old wine-skins; for, if he does, the new wine will burst the skins, and the wine itself will run out, and the skins be lost.

No man after drinking old wine wishes for new. 'No,' he says, 'the old is excellent.'"

Then Jesus added: "The Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath."

On another Sabbath Jesus went into the Synagogue and taught; and there was a man there whose right hand was withered.

Jesus, however, knew what was in the their minds, and said to the man whose hand was withered: "Stand up and come out into the middle." The man stood up;

Then, looking round at them all, he said to the man: "Stretch out your hand." The man did so; and his hand had become sound.

Blessed are you when men hate you, and when they expel you from among them, and taunt you, and reject your Name as an evil thing--on account of the Son of Man.

Alas for you when all men speak well of you; for this is what their ancestors did to the false Prophets.

When a man gives one of you a blow on the cheek, offer the other cheek as well; and, when any one takes away your cloak, do not keep back your coat either.

Then, speaking in parables, Jesus said: "Can one blind man guide another? Will they not both fall into a ditch?

A good man, from the good stores of his heart, brings out what is good; while a bad man, from his bad stores, brings out what is bad. For what fills a man's heart will rise to his lips.

He may be compared to a man building a house, who dug, and went deep, and laid the foundation upon the rock. Then, when a flood came, the river swept down upon that house, but had no power to shake it, because it had been built well.

But those who have listened and not acted upon what they have heard may be compared to a man who built a house on the ground without any foundation. The river swept down upon it, and the house immediately collapsed; and great was the crash that followed."

When they found Jesus, they earnestly implored him to do so. "He is a man who deserves that you should show him this favor," they said,

For I myself am a man under the orders of others, with soldiers under me; and if I say to one of them 'Go,' he goes, and to another 'Come,' he comes, and to my slave 'Do this,' he does it."

Just as he approached the gate of the town, there was a dead man being carried out for burial--an only son, and his mother was a widow. A large number of the people of the town were with her.

Then he went up and touched the bier, and the bearers stopped; and Jesus said: "Young man, I am speaking to you--Rise!"

The dead man sat up and began to talk, and Jesus restored him to his mother.

When these men found Jesus, they said: "John the Baptist has sent us to you to ask--'Are you 'The Coming One,' or are we to look for somebody else?'"

And blessed is the man who finds no hindrance in me."

"What did you go out into the Wilderness to look at? A reed waving in the wind? If not, what did you go out to see? A man dressed in rich clothing? Why, those who are accustomed to fine clothes and luxury live in royal palaces.

This is the very man of whom Scripture says--'Behold, I am sending my Messenger before thy face, And he shall prepare thy way before thee.'

And now that the Son of Man has come, eating and drinking, you are saying 'Here is a glutton and a wine-drinker, a friend of tax- gatherers and outcasts.'

When the Pharisee who had invited Jesus saw this, he said to himself: "Had this man been 'The Prophet,' he would have known who, and what sort of woman, this is who is touching him, and that she is an outcast."

"There were two people who were in debt to a money-lender; one owed fifty pounds, and the other five.

"I suppose," answered Simon, "it will be the man to whom he forgave the greater debt." "You are right," said Jesus,

On this, those at table began to say to one another: "Who is this man who even pardons sins?"

No man sets light to a lamp and then covers it with a bowl or puts it underneath a couch, but he puts it on a lamp-stand, so that anyone who comes in may see the light.

And, on getting ashore, Jesus met a man, who had demons in him, coming out of the town. For a long time this man had worn no clothing, and he had not lived in a house, but in the tombs.

For Jesus was commanding the foul spirit to come out from the man. On many occasions it had seized him, and, even when secured with chains and fetters, and watched, he would break through anything that bound him, and be driven by the demon into the Wilds.

They came out from the man and took possession of the pigs; and the drove rushed down the steep slope into the lake and were drowned.

When the men who tended them saw what had happened, they ran away, and carried the news to the town, and to the country round.

The people went out to see what had happened, and, when they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone out, sitting, clothed and in his right mind, at Jesus' feet; and they were awe-struck.

Those who had seen it told them how the possessed man had been delivered;

The man from whom the demons had gone out begged Jesus to let him be with him; but Jesus sent him away.

"Go back to your home," he said, "and relate the story of all that God has done for you." So the man went through the whole town and proclaimed, as he went, all that Jesus had done for him.

And a man named Jaeirus, who was a President of the Synagogue, came to Jesus, and threw himself at Jesus' feet, with entreaties that he would come to his house,

(For the men among them were about five thousand.) "Get them seated in companies," was his reply, "about fifty in each."

He told them that the Son of Man must undergo much suffering, and be rejected by the Councillors, and Chief Priests, and Teachers of the Law, and be put to death, and rise on the third day.

And to all present he said: "If any man wishes to walk in my steps, let him renounce self, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.

For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, and whoever, for my sake, loses his life--that man shall save it.

What good does it do a man if, when he has gained the whole world, he has lost or forfeited himself?

Whoever is ashamed of me and of my teaching, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him, when he comes in his Glory and the Glory of the father and of the holy angels.

And all at once two men were talking with Jesus; they were Moses and Elijah,

Peter and his companions had been overpowered by sleep but, suddenly becoming wide awake, they saw Jesus glorified and the two men who were standing beside him.

And just then a man in the crowd shouted out: "Teacher, I entreat you to look at my son, for he is my only child;

"Listen carefully to my words. For the Son of Man is destined to be betrayed into the hands of his fellow men."

And then said to them: "Any one who, for the sake of my Name, welcomes even this little child is welcoming me; and any one who welcomes me is welcoming him who sent me as his Messenger. For whoever is lowliest among you all--that man is great."

Thereupon John said: "Sir, we saw a man driving out demons by using your name, and we tried to prevent him, because he does not follow you with us."

And, while they were on their way, a man said to Jesus: "I will follow you wherever you go."

"Foxes have holes," he replied, "and wild birds their roosting-places, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head."

To another man Jesus said: "Follow me." "Let me first go and bury my father," said the man.

But the man, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus: "And who is my neighbor?"

To which Jesus replied: "A man was once going down from Jerusalem to Jericho when he fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him of everything, and beat him, and went away leaving him half dead.

As it chanced, a priest was going down by that road. He saw the man, but passed by on the opposite side.

A Levite, too, did the same; he came up to the spot, but, when he saw the man, passed by on the opposite side.

But a Samaritan, traveling that way, came upon the man, and, when he saw him, he was moved with compassion.

Now which, do you think, of these three men," asked Jesus, "proved himself a neighbor to the man who fell into the robbers' hands?"

For a friend of mine has arrived at my house after a journey, and I have nothing to offer him;'

Once Jesus was driving out a dumb demon, and, when the demon had gone out, the dumb man spoke. The people were amazed at this;

When a strong man is keeping guard, fully armed, over his own mansion, his property is in safety;

No sooner does a foul spirit leave a man, than it passes through places where there is no water, in search of rest; and finding none, it says 'I will go back to the home which I left';

Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in, and make their home there; and the last state of that man proves to be worse than the first."

For, as Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh, so shall the Son of Man be to this generation.

At the Judgment the Queen of the South will rise up with the men of this generation, and will condemn them, because she came from the very ends of the earth to listen to the wisdom of Solomon; and here is more than a Solomon!

At the Judgment the men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation, and will condemn it, because they repented at Jonah's proclamation; and here is more than a Jonah!

Alas for you! You are like unsuspected graves, over which men walk unawares."

But Jesus went on: "Alas for you, too, you Students of the Law! You load men with loads that are too heavy to carry, but do not, yourselves, touch them with one of your fingers.

Every one, I tell you, who shall acknowledge me before his fellow men, the Son of Man, also, will acknowledge before God's angels;

But he, who disowns me before his fellow men, will be altogether disowned before God's angels.

Every one who shall say anything against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but for him who slanders the Holy Spirit there will be no forgiveness.

"Teacher," a man in the crowd said to Jesus, "tell my brother to share the property with me."

But Jesus said to him: "Man, who made me a judge or an arbiter between you?"

And then he added: "Take care to keep yourselves free from every form of covetousness; for even in the height of his prosperity a man's true Life does not depend on what he has."

Then Jesus told them this parable-- "There was once a rich man whose land was very fertile;

But God said to the man 'Fool! This very night your life is being demanded; and as for all you have prepared--who will have it?'

If, even in the field, God so clothes the grass which is living to-day and to-morrow will be thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O men of little faith!

And be like men who are waiting for their Master's return from his wedding, so that, when he comes and knocks, they may open the door for him at once.

Do you also prepare, for when you are least expecting him the Son of Man will come."

"Who, then," replied the Master, "is that trustworthy steward, the careful man, who will be placed by his master over his establishment, to give them their rations at the proper time?

while one who does not know his master's wishes, but acts so as to deserve a flogging, will receive but few. From every one to whom much has been given much will be expected, and from the man to whom much has been entrusted the more will be demanded.