Then they reached Bethsaida. A blind man was brought to him with the request that he would touch him.

And he proceeded to teach them that the Son of man had to endure great suffering, to be rejected by the elders and the high priests and the scribes, to be killed and after three days to rise again;

So they put this question to him, "Why do the [Pharisees and] scribes say that Elijah has to come first?"

He said to them, "Elijah does come first, to restore all things; but what is written about the Son of man as well? This, that he is to endure great suffering and be rejected.

Now as Jesus saw that a crowd was rapidly gathering, he checked the unclean spirit. "Deaf and dumb spirit," he said, "leave him, I command you, and never enter him again."

And it did come out, after shrieking aloud and convulsing him violently. The child turned like a corpse, so that most people said, "he is dead";

for he was teaching his disciples, telling them that the Son of man would be betrayed into the hands of men, that they would kill him, and that when he was killed he would rise again after three days.

If your hand is a hindrance to you, cut it off: better be maimed and get into Life, than keep your two hands and go to Gehenna, to the fire that is never quenched.

Jesus said to them, "He wrote you that command on account of the hardness of your hearts.

But his face fell at that, and he went sadly away, for he had great possessions.

If anyone asks you, 'Why are you doing that?' say, 'The Lord needs it,' and he will send it back immediately."

but some of the bystanders said to them, "What do you mean by untethering that colt?"

I tell you truly, whoever says to this hill, 'Take and throw yourself into the sea,' and has not a doubt in his mind but believes that what he says will happen, he will have it done.

Also, whenever you stand up to pray, if you have anything against anybody, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your trespasses."

Have you not even read this scripture? ??The stone that the builders rejected is the chief stone now of the corner:

"Teacher," they said, "Moses has written this law for us, that if a man's brother dies leaving a wife but no child, his brother is to take the woman and raise offspring for his brother.

Also, to love him with the whole heart, with the whole understanding, and with the whole strength, and to love one's neighbour as oneself ??that is far more than all holocausts and sacrifices."

Jesus noted his intelligent answer and said to him, "You are not far off the Realm of God." After that no one ventured to put any more questions to him.

And as Jesus taught in the temple he asked, "How can the scribes say that the Christ is David's son?

So Jesus began: "Take care that no one misleads you: ??6 many will come in my name saying, 'I am he,' and mislead many.

For nation will rise against nation, and realm against realm; there will be earthquakes here and there, and famines too. All that is but the beginning of the trouble.

If anyone tells you at that time, 'Look, here is the Christ,' or, 'Look, there he is,' do not believe it;

But when that misery is past, in those days, the sun will be darkened and the moon will not yield her light,

Now no one knows anything about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, not even the Son, but only the Father.

"Only," they said, "it must not be during the festival; that would mean a popular riot."

This perfume might have been sold for over three hundred shillings, and the poor might have got that." So they upbraided her.

and whatever house he goes into, tell the owner that the Teacher says, 'Where is my room, that I may eat the passover there with my disciples?'

The Son of man goes the road that the scripture has described for him, but woe to the man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! Better that man had never been born!"

Then he went forward a little and fell to the earth, praying that the hour might pass away from him, if possible.

Watch and pray, all of you, so that you may not slip into temptation. The spirit is eager but the flesh is weak."

Then he came for the third time and said to them, "Still asleep? still resting? No more of that! The hour has come, here is the Son of man betrayed into the hands of sinners.

At that very moment, while he was still speaking, Judas [Iscariot] one of the twelve came up accompanied by a mob with swords and cudgels who had come from the high priests and scribes and elders.

Now his betrayer had given them a signal; he said, "Whoever I kiss, that is the man. Seize him and get him safely away."

Again the maidservant who had noticed him began to tell the bystanders, "That fellow is one of them."

At that moment the cock crowed for the second time. Then Peter remembered how Jesus had told him, "Before the cock crows twice you will disown me thrice;" and he burst into tears.

The soldiers took him inside the courtyard (that is, the praetorium) and got all the regiment together;

Let 'the Christ,' 'the king of Israel' come down now from the cross! Let us see that and we will believe!" Those who were crucified with him also denounced him.

Now when the army-captain who stood facing him saw that he expired in this way, he said, "This man was certainly a son of God."

By this time it was evening, and as it was the day of Preparation (that is, the day before the sabbath)

Pilate was surprised that he was dead already; he summoned the captain and asked if he had been dead some time,

but he said to them, "Do not be bewildered. You are looking for Jesus of Nazaret, who was crucified? He has risen, he is not here. That is the place where he was laid.

Afterwards he appeared at table to the eleven themselves and reproached them for their unbelief and dulness of mind, because they had not believed those who saw him risen from the dead. [But they excused themselves, saying, "This age of lawlessness and unbelief lies under the sway of Satan, who will not allow what lies under the unclean spirits to understand the truth and power of God; therefore," they said to Christ, "reveal your righteousness now." Christ answered them, "The term of years for Satan's power has now expired, but other terrors are at hand. I was delivered to death on behalf of sinners, that they might return to the truth and sin no more, that they might inherit that glory of righteousness which is spiritual and imperishable in heaven."]

while they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word by the miracles that endorsed it. (b) But they gave Peter and his companions a brief account of all these injunctions. And, after that, Jesus himself sent out by means of them from east to west the sacred and imperishable message of eternal salvation.

But you will be silent and unable to speak till the day this happens, because you have not believed what I told you; it will be accomplished, for all that, in due time."

Now the people were waiting for Zechariah and wondering that he stayed so long inside the sanctuary.

When he did come out he could not speak to them, so they realized that he had seen a vision in the sanctuary; he made signs to them and remained dumb.

And blessed is she who believed that the Lord's words to her would be fulfilled."

They said to her, "None of your family is called by that name."

that freed from fear and from the hand of our foes we should worship him

but the angel said to them, "Have no fear. This is good news I am bringing you, news of a great joy that is meant for all the People.

Now when the angels had left them and gone away to heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let us be off to Bethlehem to see this thing that the Lord has told us of."

(as it is written in the law of the Lord: every male that opens the womb must be considered consecrated to the Lord)

indeed it had been revealed to him by the holy Spirit that he was not to see death before he had seen the Lord messiah.

Now at that very hour she came up, and she offered praise to God and spoke of him to all who were on the outlook for the redemption of Jerusalem.

Now, produce fruits that answer to your repentance, instead of beginning to say to yourselves, 'We have a father in Abraham.' I tell you, God can raise up children for Abraham from these stones!

The axe is lying all ready at the root of the trees; any tree that is not producing good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire."

But Herod the tetrarch, who had been reproved by him for Herodias his brother's wife as well as for all the wickedness that he, Herod, had committed,

and he proceeded to tell them that "To-day, this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."

All spoke well of him and marvelled at the gracious words that came from his lips; they said, "Is this not Joseph's son?"

He answered them, "I must preach the glad news of the Reign of God to the other towns as well, for that is what I was sent to do."

And when they did so, they enclosed a huge shoal of fish, so that their nets began to break.

Conscious that they were arguing to themselves, Jesus addressed them, saying, "Why argue in your hearts?

A time will come when the bridegroom is taken from them, and then they will fast at that time."

One sabbath it happened that as he was crossing the cornfields his disciples pulled some ears of corn and ate them, rubbing them in their hands.

He went into the house of God, took the loaves of the Presence and ate them, giving them to his men as well ??bread that no one is allowed to eat except the priests."

It was in these days that he went off to the hillside to pray. He spent the whole night in prayer to God,

rejoice on that day and leap for joy! rich is your reward in heaven for their fathers did the very same to the prophets.

Woe to you when all men speak well of you! that is just what their fathers did to the false prophets.

If you love only those who love you, what credit is that to you? Why, even sinful men love those who love them.

If you help only those who help you, what merit is that to you? Why, even sinful men do that.

If you only lend to those from whom you hope to get something, what credit is that to you? Even sinful men lend to one another, so as to get a fair return.

How dare you say to your brother, 'Brother, let me take out the splinter that is in your eye,' and you never notice the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite! take the plank out of your own eye first, and then you will see properly to take out the splinter in your brother's eye.

He is like a man engaged in building a house, who dug deep down and laid his foundation on the rock; when a flood came, the river dashed against that house but could not shake it, for it had been well built.

He who has listened and has not obeyed is like a man who built a house on the earth with no foundation; the river dashed against it and it collapsed at once, and the ruin of that house was great."

When Jesus heard this he marvelled at him, and turning to the crowd that followed he said, "I tell you, I have never met faith like this anywhere even in Israel."

It was shortly afterwards that he made his way to a town called Nain, accompanied by his disciples and a large crowd.

Jesus at that moment was healing many people of diseases and complaints and evil spirits; he also bestowed sight on many blind folk.

So he replied, "Go and report to John what you have seen and heard; that the blind see, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and to the poor the gospel is preached.

Now there was a woman in the town who was a sinner, and when she found out that Jesus was at table in the house of the Pharisee, she brought an alabaster flask of perfume

so he said, "It is granted you to understand the open secrets of the Reign of God, but the others get it in parables, so that for all their seeing they may not see, and for all their hearing they may not understand.

Those 'on the road' are people who hear; but then the devil comes and carries off the word from their heart, that they may not believe and be saved.

As for the seed that fell among thorns, that means people who hear but who go and get choked with worries and money and the pleasures of life, so that they never ripen.

As for the seed in the good soil, that means those who hear and hold fast the word in a good and sound heart and so bear fruit stedfastly.

No one lights a lamp and hides it under a vessel or puts it below the bed: he puts it on a stand so that those who come in can see the light.

For nothing is hidden that shall not be disclosed, nothing concealed that shall not be known and revealed.

Word was brought to him that "your mother and brothers are standing outside; they wish to see you."

It happened on one of these days that he embarked in a boat alone with his disciples and said to them, "Let us cross to the other side of the lake." So they set sail.

The people came out to see what had occurred and when they reached Jesus they discovered the man whom the daemons had left, seated at the feet of Jesus, clothed and sane. That frightened them.

The man whom the daemons had left begged that he might accompany him. Jesus, however, sent him away, saying,

"Go home and describe all that God has done for you." So he went off to proclaim through the whole town all that Jesus had done for him.

They laughed at him, knowing that she was dead.

Whoever will not receive you, leave that town and shake off the very dust from your feet as a testimony against them."

When Herod the tetrarch heard all that was going on, he was quite at a loss; for some said that John had risen from the dead,

some that Elijah had appeared, and others that one of the ancient prophets had arisen.

Now it happened that while he was praying by himself his disciples were beside him. So he inquired of them, "Who do the crowds say I am?"

They replied, "John the Baptist, though some say Elijah and some say that one of the ancient prophets has arisen."

Jesus knew the dispute that occupied their minds, so he took hold of a little child and set it by his side;

After that the Lord commissioned other seventy disciples, sending them in front of him two by two to every town and place that he intended to visit himself.

'The very dust of your town that clings to us, we wipe off from our feet as a protest. But mark this, the Reign of God is near!'

I tell you, on the great Day it will be more bearable for Sodom than for that town.