And blessed is he who is repelled by nothing in me!"

As the disciples of John went away, Jesus proceeded to speak to the crowds about John: "What did you go out to the desert to see? A reed swayed by the wind?

This is he of whom it is written, Here I send my messenger before your face to prepare the way for you.

I tell you truly, no one has arisen among the sons of women who is greater than John the Baptist, and yet the least in the Realm of heaven is greater than he is.

For all the prophets and the law prophesied of it until John: ??14 if you care to believe it, he is the Elijah who is to come.

But to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplace, who call to their playmates,

the Son of man has come eating and drinking, and men say, 'Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of taxgatherers and sinners!' Nevertheless, Wisdom is vindicated by all that she does."

At that time Jesus spoke and said, "I praise thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for hiding all this from the wise and learned and revealing it to the simpleminded;

my yoke is kindly and my burden light."

At that time Jesus walked one sabbath through the cornfields, and as his disciples were hungry they started to pull some ears of corn and eat them.

When the Pharisees noticed it, they said to him, "Look at your disciples, they are doing what is not allowed on the sabbath."

I tell you, One is here who is greater than the temple.

For the Son of man is Lord of the sabbath."

Now a man with a withered hand was there; so in order to get a charge against him they asked him, "Is it right to heal on the sabbath?"

He said to them, "Is there a man of you with one sheep, who will not catch hold of it and lift it out of a pit on the sabbath, if it falls in?

And how much more is a man worth than a sheep? Thus it is right to do a kindness on the sabbath."

Then he said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." He stretched it out, and it was quite restored, as sound as the other.

but as Jesus knew of it he retired from the spot. Many followed him, and he healed them all,

charging them strictly not to make him known ??17 it was for the fulfilment of what had been said by the prophet Isaiah,

Here is my servant whom I have selected, my Beloved in whom my soul delights; I will invest him with my Spirit, and he will proclaim religion to the Gentiles.

As Jesus knew what they were thinking, he said to them, "Any realm divided against itself comes to ruin, any city or house divided against itself will never stand;

and if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself; how then can his realm stand?

He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters.

Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree rotten and its fruit rotten; for the tree is known by its fruit.

You brood of vipers, how can you speak good when you are evil? For the mouth utters what the heart is full of.

He replied to them, "It is an evil and disloyal generation that craves a Sign, but no Sign will be given to it except the Sign of the prophet Jonah;

for as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, so the Son of man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

The men of Ninive will rise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for when Jonah preached they did repent, and here is One greater than Jonah.

The queen of the South will rise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to the wisdom of Solomon, and here is One greater than Solomon.

Then it goes off to fetch seven other spirits worse than itself; they go in and dwell there, and the last state of that man is worse than the first. This is how it will be with the present evil generation."

But he replied to the man who told him this, "Who is my mother? and who are my brothers?"

Whoever does the will of my Father in heaven, that is my brother and sister and mother."

but, as great crowds gathered to him, he entered a boat and sat down, while all the crowd stood on the beach.

and as he sowed some seeds fell on the road and the birds came and ate them up.

He replied, "Because it is granted you to understand the open secrets of the Realm of heaven, but it is not granted to these people.

This is why I speak to them in parables, because for all their seeing they do not see and for all their hearing they do not hear or understand.

In their case the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled: You will hear and hear but never understand, you will see and see but never perceive.

For the heart of this people is obtuse, their ears are heavy of hearing, their eyes they have closed, lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears, lest they understand with their heart and turn again, and I cure them.

When anyone hears the word of the Realm and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart; that is the man who is sown 'on the road.'

As for him who is sown 'on stony soil,' that is the man who hears the word and accepts it at once with enthusiasm;

he has no root in himself, he does not last, but when the word brings trouble or persecution he is at once repelled.

As for him who is sown 'among thorns,' that is the man who listens to the word, but the worry of the world and the delight of being rich choke the word; so it proves unfruitful.

As for him who is sown 'on good soil,' that is the man who hears the word and understands it; he bears fruit, producing now a hundredfold, now sixty, and now thirtyfold."

He put another parable before them. "The Realm of heaven," he said, "is like a man who sowed good seed in his field,

When the blade sprouted and formed the kernel, then the weeds appeared as well.

He said to them, 'An enemy has done this.' The servants said to him, 'Then would you like us to go and gather them?'

He put another parable before them. "The Realm of heaven," he said, "is like a grain of mustard-seed which a man takes and sows in his field.

It is less than any seed on earth, but when it grows up it is larger than any plant, it becomes a tree, so large that the wild birds come and roost in its branches."

He told them another parable. "The Realm of heaven," he said, "is like dough which a woman took and buried in three pecks of flour, till all of it was leavened."

Then he left the crowds and went indoors. And his disciples came up to him saying, "Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field."

So he replied, "He who sows the good seed is the Son of man;

the field is the world; the good seed means the sons of the Realm; the weeds are the sons of the evil one;

the enemy who sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world, and the reapers are angels.

Well then, just as the weeds are gathered and burnt in the fire, so will it be at the end of the world;

The Realm of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field; the man who finds it hides it and in his delight goes and sells all he possesses and buys that field.

Again, the Realm of heaven is like a trader in search of fine pearls;

when he finds a single pearl of high price, he is off to sell all he possesses and buy it.

Again, the Realm of heaven is like a net which was thrown into the sea and collected fish of every sort.

So he said to them, "Well then, every scribe who has become a disciple of the Realm of heaven is like a householder who produces what is new and what is old from his stores."

Is this not the son of the joiner? Is not his mother called Mary, and his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas?

Are not his sisters settled here among us? Then where has he got all this?"

And he said to his servants, "This is John the Baptist; he has risen from the dead. That is why miraculous powers are working through him."

When evening fell, the disciples came up to him and said, "It is a desert place and the day is now gone; send off the crowds to buy food for themselves in the villages."

They said, "We have only five loaves with us and two fish."

but when the disciples saw him walking on the sea they were terrified; "It is a ghost," they said and shrieked for fear.

Then Jesus spoke to them at once; "Courage," he said, "it is I, have no fear."

Peter answered him, "Lord, if it is really you, order me to come to you on the water."

God enjoined, Honour your father and mother, and, He who curses his father or mother is to suffer death.

But you say, whoever tells his father or mother, 'This money might have been at your service but it is dedicated to God,'

You hypocrites! Isaiah made a grand prophecy about you when he said,

This people honours me with their lips, but their heart is far away from me:

vain is their worship of me, for the doctrines they teach are but human precepts."

it is not what enters a man's mouth that defiles him, what defiles a man is what comes out of his mouth."

Peter answered, "Explain this parable to us at anyrate."

Do you not see how all that enters the mouth passes into the belly and is then thrown out into the drain,

while what comes out of the mouth comes from the heart ??and that is what defiles a man.

That is what defiles a man; a man is not defiled by eating with hands unwashed!"

And a woman of Canaan came out of these parts and wailed, "Have pity on me, Lord, O Son of David! My daughter is cruelly possessed by a daemon."

But he made no answer to her. Then his disciples came up and pressed him, saying, "Send her away, she is wailing behind us."

He replied, "It is not fair to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs."

At that Jesus replied, "O woman, you have great faith; your prayer is granted as you wish." And from that hour her daughter was cured.

"It is an evil and disloyal generation that craves a Sign, and no Sign shall be given to it except the Sign of Jonah." Then he left them and went away.

Now when Jesus came to the district of Caesarea Philippi he asked his disciples, "Who do people say the Son of man is?"

Now I tell you, Peter is your name and on this rock I will build my church; the powers of Hades shall not succeed against it.

But he turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, you Satan! You are a hindrance to me! Your outlook is not God's but man's."

What profit will it be if a man gains the whole world and forfeits his own soul? What will a man offer as an equivalent for his soul?

For the Son of man is coming in the glory of his Father with his angels, and then he will reward everyone for what he has done.

in their presence he was transfigured, his face shone like the sun, and his clothes turned white as light.

So Peter addressed Jesus and said, "Lord, it is a good thing we are here; pray let me put up three tents here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah."

He was still speaking when a bright cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud a voice said, "This is my Son, the Beloved, in him is my delight: listen to him."

As they went down the hill Jesus ordered them, "Tell this vision to nobody until the Son of man is raised from the dead."

"Ah, sir," he said, "have pity on my son; he is an epileptic and he suffers cruelly, he often falls into the fire and often into the water.

When his adherents mustered in Galilee Jesus told them, "The Son of man is to be betrayed into the hands of men;

He said, "Yes." But when he went indoors Jesus spoke first; "Tell me, Simon," he said, "from whom do earthly kings collect customs or taxes? Is it from their own people or from aliens?"

At that hour the disciples came and asked Jesus, "Who is greatest in the Realm of heaven?"

Whoever humbles himself like this child, he is the greatest in the Realm of heaven;

But whoever is a hindrance to one of these little ones who believe in me, better for him to have a great mill-stone hung round his neck and be sunk in the deep sea.

If your hand or your foot is a hindrance to you, cut it off and throw it away; better be maimed or crippled and get into Life, than keep both feet or hands and be thrown into the everlasting fire.

If your eye is a hindrance to you, tear it out and throw it away; better get into Life with one eye than keep your two eyes and be thrown into the fire of Gehenna.

So it is not the will of your Father in heaven that a single one of these little ones should be lost.