But the angel said to him, "Do not be afraid, Zechariah, because your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you must name him John.

Then Zechariah said to the angel, "How shall I know that this is so? For I am an old man, and my wife is far advanced in years."

So the angel came to her home and said, "Congratulations, you highly favored woman! The Lord be with you!"

But she was agitated at what he said, and began to ponder what this greeting meant.

Then the angel said, "Stop being afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.

But Mary said to the angel, "How can this be, since I have no husband?"

Then Mary said, "I am the Lord's slave. May what you say take place with me." Then the angel left her.

and with a loud shout she said: "Blessed are you among women, And blessed is your child!

Then Mary said: "My soul extols the Lord;

But his mother said, "Never! But he must be named John."

Then they said to her, "There is no one among your relatives that bears that name."

and all who heard them kept them in their hearts, and said, "What then is this child to be?" for the hand of the Lord was with him.

But the angel said to them: "Stop being afraid, for now I bring you good tidings of great joy which is to be for all the people;

Then when the angel left them and returned to heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let us now go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has told us."

Symeon also took Him in his arms and blessed God, and said:

Then Symeon gave them his blessing, and said to Mary, the child's mother, "This child is destined to bring the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign continuously disputed --

When His parents saw Him, they were utterly amazed, and yet His mother said to Him, "My child, why did you treat us so? Just see how your father and I, in agony of mind, have been searching for you!"

Then He said to them, "Why is it that you were searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?"

But they did not understand what He said to them.

Then even the tax-collectors came to be baptized, and said to him, "Teacher, what ought we to do?"

So he said to them, "Stop collecting any more than is prescribed for you."

Then some soldiers too were asking him, "What ought we too to do?" So he said to them, "Never extort money from anyone, never make a false accusation, and always be satisfied with your wages."

Then the devil said to Him, "If you are God's Son, order this stone to turn to a loaf of bread."

And the devil said to Him, "I will give you all this power and all their splendor, for it has been turned over to me, and I give it to anyone I please.

Then he took Him to Jerusalem, and had Him stand on the tip-top turret of the temple, and said to Him, "If you are God's Son, throw yourself down from here,

And Jesus answered him, "It has been said, 'You must not try the Lord your God.'"

He said to them, "Doubtless you will quote this proverb to me, 'Doctor, cure yourself! Do the things here in your hometown that we hear you did in Capernaum.'"

But He said to them, "To other towns also I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God, for that is what I was sent to do."

When He stopped speaking, He said to Simon, "Push out into deep water, and set your nets for a haul."

When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' feet and said, "Leave me, Lord, because I am a sinful man."

as well as James and John, Zebedee's sons, who were Simon's partners. Then Jesus said to Simon, "Stop being afraid; from now on you will be catching men."

Then He warned him not to tell anybody, but rather He said, "Go, show yourself to the priest, and, to prove it to the people, make the offering for your purification, just as Moses prescribed."

When He saw their faith, He said, "Friend, your sins are forgiven."

But to show you that the Son of Man has authority to forgive sins on earth" -- turning to the man who was paralyzed, He said to him, "Get up, pick up your pallet, and go home."

After this He went out and saw a tax-collector named Levi in his seat at the tax-collector's desk, and He said to him, "Follow me."

After that they said to Him, "John's disciples rigidly practice fasting and offering up prayers; so do the Pharisees, but your disciples keep right on eating and drinking."

But Jesus said to them, "You cannot make the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them, can you?

And some of the Pharisees said, "Why are you doing what is against the law to do on the Sabbath?"

Then He said to them, "The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath."

But He knew what they were thinking, and He said to the man with the withered hand, "Get up and stand at the front." So he got up and stood there.

Then Jesus said to them, "Is it right on the Sabbath to do people good, or to do them evil, to save life or to take it?"

Then He glanced around at them all and said to him, "Put out your hand." And he did so, and his hand was at once completely restored.

When Jesus heard this, He was astounded at him, and turning to the crowd that was following Him He said, "I tell you, I have not found, in a single case among the Jews, so great faith as this!"

Now when the Lord saw her, His heart was moved with pity for her, and so He said to her, "Stop weeping."

Then He went up and touched the hearse and the bearers stopped; and He said, "Young man, I tell you, arise."

So the men went to Him and said, "John the Baptist sent us to you to ask, 'Are you the One who was to come, or should we continue to look for someone else?'"

So when the Pharisee who invited Him saw it, he said to himself, "If He were really a prophet, He would know who and of what character the woman is who is clinging to Him -- that she is a social outcast."

Then Jesus answered him, "Simon, I have something to say to you." "Teacher," said he, "go on and say it."

Simon answered, "The one, I suppose, for whom he canceled most." Then He said, "You are correct in your judgment."

And turning face to face with the woman He said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? I came to your house; you did not give me any water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with tears and wiped them with her hair.

And He said to her, "Your sins are forgiven!"

But He said to the woman, "It is your faith that has saved you; go on in peace."

Now as a great crowd was coming together and people were coming to Him from one town after another, He said by way of a story:

And another portion fell in rich soil and grew and yielded a crop of a hundredfold." As He said this, He exclaimed, "Let him who has ears to hear with, listen!"

So He said, "You are granted the privilege of knowing the secrets of the kingdom of God, but to others they are told in stories, so that they may look and not see, may hear and not understand.

One day He got into a boat with His disciples, and He said to them, "Let us cross to the other side of the lake." So they set sail.

So they came to Him and woke Him up, and said, "Master, Master, we are perishing? Then He aroused Himself and reproved the wind and the surge of the water, and they stopped at once and instantly there came a calm.

Then He said to them, "Where is your faith?" But they were frightened and astounded, and continued to say to one another, "Who can He be? For He gives orders even to the winds and the water, and they obey Him."

When he saw Jesus, he screamed and flung himself down before Him, and said in a loud voice, "What do you want of me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you not to torture me!"

The man out of whom the demons had gone begged Him to let him go with Him, but Jesus sent him away and said,

Then Jesus said, "Who was it that touched me?" But as all were denying that they had done so, Peter said, "Master, the crowds are jamming you and jostling you."

Still Jesus said, "Somebody touched me, for I felt it when the power passed from me."

So He said to her, "My daughter, it is your faith that has cured you; go on in peace."

While He was still speaking, someone came from the house of the leader of the synagogue and said, "Your daughter is dead; stop troubling the Teacher anymore."

But Jesus heard it and said to him, "Do not be afraid; just have faith, and she will get well."

Now they were all weeping and wailing over her. But He said, "Stop weeping! For she is not dead but asleep."

So He said to them, "Take nothing with you for your journey, no staff, no bag, no bread, no money, nor even have two shirts.

So Herod said, "John I beheaded, but who can this be about whom I hear such reports?" So he was trying to see Him.

As the day began to decline, the Twelve came up and said to Him, "Send the crowd off to the villages and farms around, to get lodging and to find food there, for we are in a destitute place here."

But He said to them, "Give them something to eat yourselves." Then they said, "We have only five loaves and two fish, unless we go ourselves and buy food for all these people."

For there were about five thousand men. So He said to His disciples, "Have them sit down in reclining groups of fifty each."

So He said to them, "But who do you, yourselves, say that I am?" Peter answered, "The Christ of God!"

as He said, "The Son of Man has to endure great suffering and be disowned by the elders, the high priests, and the scribes, and be put to death but be raised to life on the third day."

Then He said to them all, "If anyone chooses to be my disciple, he must say 'No' to self, put the cross on his shoulders daily, and continue to follow me.

Now about eight days after Jesus said this, He took Peter, John, and James, and went up on the mountain to pray.

And just as they were starting to leave Him, Peter said to Jesus, "Master, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three tents, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah" -- although he did not know what he was saying.

Then a voice came out of the cloud and said, "This is my Son, my Chosen One; continue to listen to Him!"

So they all continued to be utterly astounded at the greatness of God. Now while everybody was wondering at all that He was doing, He said to His disciples,

Then He said to them, "Whoever welcomes this little child on my account is welcoming me, and whoever welcomes me is welcoming Him who sent me; for the one who is lowliest among you all is really great."

Jesus said to him, "Stop hindering him, for the man who is not against you is for you."

When the disciples, James and John, saw this, they said, "Lord, do you want us to bid fire come down from heaven and consume them?"

While they were going along the road, a man said to Him, "I will follow you wherever you go."

But Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes, even wild birds have roosts, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head."

He said to another man, "Follow me." But he said, "Let me first go back and bury my father."

Still another man said, "I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say 'Goodbye' to the homefolks."

Jesus said to him, "No one who puts his hand to the plow, and then continues to look back, is fitted for service in the kingdom of God."

He said to them, "I was looking at Satan failing like a flash of lightning from heaven.

At that very moment, by the power of the Holy Spirit, He exulted and said, "I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for concealing these matters from wise and learned men, and for revealing them to little children. Yes, Father, I thank you that your good pleasure made it so.

Then He turned to His disciples when they were alone, and said, "Blessed are the eyes that see what you are seeing.

He said to him, "You have answered correctly. Continue to do this, and you will live."

But he, as he wished to justify his question, said, "But who is my neighbor?"

The next day he took out a half dollar and handed it to the innkeeper, and said, 'Take care of him, and on my way back I will repay you.'

He said, "The one who took pity on him." Jesus said to him, "Go and practice it yourself."

But Martha was getting worried about having to wait on them so much, so she came up suddenly and said, "Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the housework alone? Then tell her to take hold and help me."

Once He was praying in a certain place, and when He ceased, one of His disciples said to Him, "Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples."

So He said to them, "Whenever you pray, say: 'Father, Your name be revered; Your kingdom come;

Then He said to them: "Suppose one of you has a friend, and you go to him in the middle of the night and say to him, 'Friend, lend me three loaves;

But some of them said, "It is with the help of Beelzebub, the prince of demons, that He is driving the demons out."

But He knew what they were thinking, and so said to them, "Any kingdom that is not united is in the process of destruction, and one house falls after another.

Just as He was saying this, a woman in the crowd lifted her voice and said, "Blessed is the mother who bore you and nursed you!"