but when they saw him walking on the sea, they thought it was a ghost and began to scream.

All of them saw him and were terrified. Immediately he told them, "Have courage! It's me. Stop being afraid!"

Wherever he went, whether into villages, towns, or farms, people would place their sick in the marketplaces and beg him to let them touch even the tassel of his garment, and everyone who touched it was healed.

"you no longer let him do anything for his father or mother.'

Nothing that goes into a person from the outside can make him unclean. It's what comes out of a person that makes a person unclean.

If anyone has ears to hear, let him listen!"

When he had left the crowd and gone home, his disciples began asking him about the parable.

He asked them, "Are you so ignorant? Don't you know that nothing that goes into a person from the outside can make him unclean?

In fact, a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately heard about him and came and fell down at his feet.

Now the woman happened to be a Greek, born in Phoenicia in Syria. She kept asking him to drive the demon out of her daughter.

But she answered him, "Yes, Lord. Yet even the puppies under the table eat some of the children's crumbs."

Some people brought him a deaf man who also had a speech impediment. They begged him to lay his hand on him.

Jesus took him away from the crowd to be alone with him. Putting his fingers into the man's ears, he touched the man's tongue with saliva.

Then he looked up to heaven, sighed, and told him, "Ephphatha," that is, "Be opened!"

His disciples answered him, "Where could anyone get enough bread to feed these people out here in the wilderness?"

The Pharisees arrived and began arguing with Jesus. They tested him by demanding from him a sign from heaven.

When I broke the five loaves for the 5,000, how many baskets did you fill with leftover pieces?" They told him, "Twelve."

"When I broke the seven loaves for the 4,000, how many large baskets did you fill with the leftover pieces?" They told him, "Seven."

As they came to Bethsaida, some people brought a blind man to Jesus and begged him to touch him.

Jesus took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village. He spit into his eyes, placed his hands on him, and asked him, "Do you see anything?"

Then Jesus sent him home, saying, "Don't go into the village or tell anyone in the village."

They answered him, "Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, and still others one of the prophets."

Peter answered him, "You are the Messiah!" Jesus sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him.

Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and looking at his disciples, Jesus rebuked Peter, saying, "Get behind me, Satan, because you're not thinking God's thoughts, but human thoughts!"

If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes with the holy angels in his Father's glory."

Six days later, Jesus took Peter, James, and John and led them up a high mountain to be alone with him. His appearance was changed in front of them,

Then a cloud appeared and overshadowed them. A voice came out of the cloud and said, "This is my Son, whom I love. Keep on listening to him!"

So they asked him, "Don't the scribes say that Elijah must come first?"

But I tell you that Elijah has come, yet people treated him just as they pleased, as it is written about him."

The whole crowd was very surprised to see Jesus and ran to welcome him.

A man in the crowd answered him, "Teacher, I brought my son to you. He has a spirit that won't let him talk.

Whenever it brings on a seizure, it throws him to the ground. Then he foams at the mouth, grinds his teeth, and becomes stiff. So I asked your disciples to drive the spirit out, but they didn't have the power."

Jesus told them, "You unbelieving generation! How long must I be with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring him to me!"

So they brought the boy to him. When the spirit saw Jesus, it immediately threw the boy into convulsions. He fell on the ground and kept rolling around and foaming at the mouth.

Then Jesus asked his father, "How long has this been happening to him?" He said, "Since he was a child.

The spirit has often thrown him into fire and into water to destroy him. But if you are able to do anything, have pity on us and help us!"

Jesus told him, ""If you are able?' Everything is possible for the person who believes!"

When Jesus saw that a crowd was running to the scene, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, "You spirit that won't let him talk or hear I command you to come out of him and never enter him again!"

But Jesus took his hand and helped him up, and he stood up.

When Jesus came home, his disciples asked him privately, "Why couldn't we drive the spirit out?"

because he was teaching his disciples, "The Son of Man will be betrayed into human hands. They will kill him, but after being dead for three days he will be raised."

They didn't understand what this statement meant, and they were afraid to ask him.

Then he took a little child and had him stand among them. He took him in his arms and told them,

John told Jesus, "Teacher, we saw someone driving out demons in your name. We tried to stop him, because he wasn't a follower like us."

But Jesus said, "Don't stop him, because no one who works a miracle in my name can slander me soon afterwards.

"If anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a large millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea.

Then Jesus left that place and went into the territory of Judea on the other side of the Jordan. Crowds gathered around him as usual, and he began to teach them again as was his custom.

Some Pharisees came to test him. They asked, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?"

Back in the house, the disciples asked him about this again.

Some people were bringing little children to Jesus to have him touch them. But the disciples rebuked those who brought them.

As Jesus was setting out again, a man ran up to him, knelt down in front of him, and asked him, "Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?"

"Why do you call me good?" Jesus asked him. "Nobody is good except for one God.

The man replied to him, "Teacher, I have obeyed all of these since I was a young man."

Jesus looked at him and loved him. Then he told him, "You're missing one thing. Go and sell everything you own, give the money to the destitute, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come back and follow me."

Then Peter began to say to him, "See, we have left everything and followed you."

Once again, Jesus took the Twelve aside and began to tell them what was going to happen to him. "Pay attention! We're going up to Jerusalem. The Son of Man will be handed over to the high priests and the scribes, and they'll condemn him to death. Then they'll hand him over to the unbelievers,

and they'll make fun of him, spit on him, whip him, and kill him. But after three days he'll be raised."

James and John, the sons of Zebedee, went to Jesus and told him, "Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask you."

They asked him, "Let us sit in your glory, one on your right and one on your left."

They told him, "We can."

Many people sternly told him to be quiet, but he started shouting even louder, "Son of David, have mercy on me!"

So Jesus stopped and said, "Call him!"

So they called the blind man and told him, "Have courage! Get up. He's calling you." He threw off his coat, jumped up, and went to Jesus.

Then Jesus asked him, "What do you want me to do for you?" The blind man told him, "Rabbouni, I want to see again."

Jesus told him, "Go. Your faith has made you well." At once the man could see again, and he began to follow Jesus down the road.

Those who went ahead and those who followed him were shouting, "Hosanna! How blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!

When the high priests and elders heard this, they began to look for a way to kill him, because they were afraid of him, since the whole crowd was amazed at his teaching.

Remembering what Jesus had said, Peter pointed out to him, "Rabbi, look! The fig tree you cursed has dried up!"

I tell all of you with certainty, if anyone says to this mountain, "Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,' if he doesn't doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him.

Then they went into Jerusalem again. While Jesus was walking in the Temple, the high priests, the scribes, and the elders came to him

and asked him, "By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority to do them?"

They began discussing this among themselves. "If we say, "From heaven,' he'll say, "Then why didn't you believe him?'

But the farmers grabbed the servant, beat him, and sent him back empty-handed.

Again, the man sent another servant to them. They beat the servant over the head and treated him shamefully.

He still had one more person to send, a son whom he loved. Finally, he sent him to them, saying, "They will respect my son.'

But those farmers told one another, "This is the heir. Come on, let's kill him, and the inheritance will be ours!'

So they grabbed him, killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard.

They were trying to arrest him but were afraid of the crowd. Realizing that he had spoken this parable against them, they left him alone and went away.

Then they sent some Pharisees and some Herodians to him, intending to trap him in what he said.

They came and told him, "Teacher, we know that you are sincere. You don't favor any individual, because you pay no attention to external appearance. Rather, you teach the way of God truthfully. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not? Should we pay them or shouldn't we?"

So they brought one. Then he asked them, "Whose face and name are on this?" They told him, "Caesar's."

So Jesus told them, "Give back to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's." And they were utterly amazed at him.

Then some Sadducees, who claim there is no resurrection, came to Jesus and asked him,

Then one of the scribes came near and heard the Sadducees arguing with one another. He saw how well Jesus answered them, so he asked him, "Which commandment is the most important of them all?"

Then the scribe told him, "Well said, Teacher! You have told the truth that "God is one, and there is no other besides him.'

To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding, and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all the burnt offerings and sacrifices."

When Jesus saw how wisely the man answered, he told him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God." After that, no one dared to ask him another question.

David himself calls him "Lord,' so how can he be his son?" And the large crowd kept listening to him with delight.

As Jesus was leaving the Temple, one of his disciples told him, "Look, Teacher, what large stones and what beautiful buildings!"

As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives facing the Temple, Peter, James, John, and Andrew were asking him privately,

Now it was two days before the Passover and the Festival of Unleavened Bread. The high priests and the scribes were looking for a way to arrest Jesus secretly and to have him put to death,

After they had listened to him, they were delighted and promised to give him money. So he began to look for a good opportunity to betray him.

On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover lamb is sacrificed, Jesus' disciples asked him, "Where do you want us to go and make preparations for you to eat the Passover meal?"

He sent two of his disciples, telling them, "Go into the city, and you will meet a man carrying a jug of water. Follow him.

They began to be very sad and asked him, one after the other, "Surely I am not the one, am I?"

For the Son of Man is going away, just as it has been written about him, but how terrible it will be for that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for him if he had never been born."

But Peter told him, "Even if everyone else turns against you, I certainly won't."

Jesus told him, "I tell you with certainty, today, this very night, before a rooster crows twice, you'll deny me three times."

He took Peter, James, and John along with him, and he began to feel distressed and troubled.

Going on a little farther, he fell to the ground and kept praying that if it were possible the hour might pass from him.