Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing on the right side of the altar of incense.

But the angel said to him, "Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer is heard; and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John.

For he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will also be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb.

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

The angel went to her and said, "Hail, O highly favored one, the Lord is with you!"

And the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.

And Mary said to the angel, "How can this be, since I am a virgin?"

Then Mary said, "Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word." And the angel departed from her.

And Mary said:

as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his seed forever."

but his mother said, "No; he shall be called John."

They said to her, "There is no one among your relatives who is called by that name."

to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace."

Then the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be to all the people.

When the angels had gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us."

and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the law of the Lord, "a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons."

he took him up in his arms and blessed God, and said:

And his father and his mother marveled at what was said about him.

Then Simeon blessed them, and said to Mary his mother, "Behold, this child is destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that will be spoken against

And when they saw him they were astonished; and his mother said to him, "Son, why have you treated us so? Behold, your father and I have been looking for you anxiously."

And he said to them, "Why did you seek me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?"

Then he said to the multitudes that came out to be baptized by him, "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

Tax collectors also came to be baptized, and said to him, "Teacher, what shall we do?"

And he said to them, "Collect no more than is appointed you."

Likewise the soldiers asked him, "And what shall we do?" So he said to them, "Rob no one by violence or accuse falsely, and be content with your wages."

And the devil said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread."

And he said to him, "To you I will give all this authority and their glory; for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will.

He took him to Jerusalem, set him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here;

And Jesus answered him, "It is said, 'You shall not tempt the Lord your God.'"

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach the good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed,

Then he closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant, and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him.

And all spoke well of him, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth; and they said, "Is not this Joseph's son?"

He said to them, "Surely you will quote this proverb to me: 'Physician, heal yourself! Do here also in your own country what we have heard that you did in Capernaum.'"

Then he said, "Truly, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own country.

And they were all amazed and said to one another, "What is this word? For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out!"

but he said to them, "I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other cities also, because I was sent for this purpose."

Then he got into one of the boats, which was Simon's, and asked him to put out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people from the boat.

When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, "Put out into the deep, and let down your nets for a catch."

and so also were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, "Do not be afraid. From now on you will catch men."

When he saw their faith he said, "Man, your sins are forgiven you."

But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins"he said to the man who was paralyzed "I say to you, rise, take up your bed and go home."

After this he went out, and saw a tax collector, named Levi, sitting at the tax office; and he said to him, "Follow me."

They said to him, "The disciples of John fast often and offer prayers, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours eat and drink."

And Jesus said to them, "Can you make the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them?

But some of the Pharisees said, "Why are you doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath?"

And he said to them, "The Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath."

But he knew their thoughts, and said to the man who had the withered hand, "Rise and stand here." And he rose and stood there.

Then Jesus said to them, "I ask you, which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it?"

And he looked around at them all, and said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." He did so, and his hand was restored.

He lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said: "Blessed are you poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.

For I am a man set under authority, with soldiers under me. And I say to one, 'Go,' and he goes; and to another, 'Come,' and he comes; and to my servant, 'Do this,' and he does it."

When Jesus heard this, he marveled at him, and turned and said to the crowd that followed him, "I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel."

When the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her and said to her, "Do not weep."

Then he came and touched the open coffin, and those who carried him stood still. And he said, "Young man, I say to you, arise."

The dead man sat up, and began to speak. And he gave him to his mother.

When the men had come to him, they said, "John the Baptist has sent us to you, saying, 'Are you the One who is to come, or shall we look for another?'"

At that very hour he cured many of diseases and afflictions and evil spirits, and to many that were blind he gave sight.

He answered them, "Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have the good news preached to them.

Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw it, he said to himself, "If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner."

And Jesus answered him, "Simon, I have something to say to you." And he said, "Teacher, say it."

Simon answered, "I suppose the one to whom he forgave more." And he said to him, "You have judged rightly."

Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head.

And he said to her, "Your sins are forgiven."

He said to the woman, "Your faith has saved you; go in peace."

And when a great crowd came together and people from town after town came to him, he said in a parable:

"A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell along the path; and it was trampled down, and the birds of the air devoured it.

But others fell on good soil, sprang up, and yielded a crop a hundredfold." When he had said this he called out, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear!"

he said, "To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God; but to others it is given in parables, so that 'Seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.'

"Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.

But he said to them, "My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it."

One day he got into a boat with his disciples, and he said to them, "Let us go over to the other side of the lake." So they set out.

He said to them, "Where is your faith?" And they were afraid, and they marveled, saying to one another, "Who then is this, that he commands even the winds and water, and they obey him?"

When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell down before him, and said with a loud voice, "What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me!"

Jesus asked him, "What is your name?" And he said, "Legion"; because many demons had entered him.

And Jesus said, "Who touched me?" When all denied it, Peter said, "Master, the multitudes surround you and press upon you!"

But Jesus said, "Someone touched me; for I know that power has gone out from me."

And he said to her, "Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace."

While he was still speaking, someone came from the ruler of the synagogue's house and said, "Your daughter is dead; do not trouble the Teacher any more."

Now all were wailing and mourning for her; but he said, "Do not weep; she is not dead, but sleeping."

And he said to them, "Take nothing for the journey, no staff, nor bag, nor bread, nor money; and do not have two tunics.

Whatever house you enter, stay there, and from there depart.

Now Herod the tetrarch heard of all that was done; and he was perplexed, because it was said by some that John had been raised from the dead,

And Herod said, "John I have beheaded, but who is this about whom I hear such things?" So he sought to see him.

Now the day began to wear away; and the twelve came and said to him, "Send the crowd away, to go to the surrounding villages and country, to lodge and get provisions; for we are here in a deserted place."

But he said to them, "You give them something to eat." And they said, "We have no more than five loaves and two fishunless we go and buy food for all these people."

For there were about five thousand men. And he said to his disciples, "Make them sit down in groups of about fifty each."

And they did so, and made them all sit down.

Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he blessed and broke them, and gave them to the disciples to set before the people.

And he said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" And Peter answered, "The Christ of God."

Then he said to them all, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.

As the men were parting from him, Peter said to Jesus, "Master, it is good for us to be here; and let us make three tabernacles: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah"not knowing what he said.

And they were all amazed at the majesty of God. But while everyone was marveling at all that Jesus did, he said to his disciples,

Jesus, perceiving the thought of their heart, took a little child and set him by him,

and said to them, "Whoever receives this little child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me. For he who is least among you all is the one who is great."

But Jesus said to him, "Do not forbid him, for he that is not against you is for you."

When the time drew near for him to be received up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem.

but the people did not receive him, because his face was set for Jerusalem.

And when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, "Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?"

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

And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head."