1
When Jesus finished giving these instructions to his twelve disciples, he left that place and went off to teach and preach in the towns near there.
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When John the Baptist heard in prison about the things that Christ was doing, he sent some of his disciples to him.
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"Tell us," they asked Jesus, "are you the one John said was going to come, or should we expect someone else?"
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Jesus answered, "Go back and tell John what you are hearing and seeing:
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the blind can see, the lame can walk, those who suffer from dreaded skin diseases are made clean, the deaf hear, the dead are brought back to life, and the Good News is preached to the poor.
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How happy are those who have no doubts about me!"
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While John's disciples were leaving, Jesus spoke about him to the crowds: "When you went out to John in the desert, what did you expect to see? A blade of grass bending in the wind?
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What did you go out to see? A man dressed up in fancy clothes? People who dress like that live in palaces!
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Tell me, what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes indeed, but you saw much more than a prophet.
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For John is the one of whom the scripture says: 'God said, I will send my messenger ahead of you to open the way for you.'
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I assure you that John the Baptist is greater than anyone who has ever lived. But the one who is least in the Kingdom of heaven is greater than John.
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From the time John preached his message until this very day the Kingdom of heaven has suffered violent attacks, and violent men try to seize it.
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Until the time of John all the prophets and the Law of Moses spoke about the Kingdom;
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and if you are willing to believe their message, John is Elijah, whose coming was predicted.
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Listen, then, if you have ears!
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"Now, to what can I compare the people of this day? They are like children sitting in the marketplace. One group shouts to the other,
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'We played wedding music for you, but you wouldn't dance! We sang funeral songs, but you wouldn't cry!'
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When John came, he fasted and drank no wine, and everyone said, 'He has a demon in him!'
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When the Son of Man came, he ate and drank, and everyone said, 'Look at this man! He is a glutton and wine drinker, a friend of tax collectors and other outcasts!' God's wisdom, however, is shown to be true by its results."
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The people in the towns where Jesus had performed most of his miracles did not turn from their sins, so he reproached those towns.
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"How terrible it will be for you, Chorazin! How terrible for you too, Bethsaida! If the miracles which were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, the people there would have long ago put on sackcloth and sprinkled ashes on themselves, to show that they had turned from their sins!
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I assure you that on the Judgment Day God will show more mercy to the people of Tyre and Sidon than to you!
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And as for you, Capernaum! Did you want to lift yourself up to heaven? You will be thrown down to hell! If the miracles which were performed in you had been performed in Sodom, it would still be in existence today!
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You can be sure that on the Judgment Day God will show more mercy to Sodom than to you!"
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At that time Jesus said, "Father, Lord of heaven and earth! I thank you because you have shown to the unlearned what you have hidden from the wise and learned.
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Yes, Father, this was how you were pleased to have it happen.
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"My Father has given me all things. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
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"Come to me, all of you who are tired from carrying heavy loads, and I will give you rest.
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Take my yoke and put it on you, and learn from me, because I am gentle and humble in spirit; and you will find rest.
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For the yoke I will give you is easy, and the load I will put on you is light."
1
Not long afterward Jesus was walking through some wheat fields on a Sabbath. His disciples were hungry, so they began to pick heads of wheat and eat the grain.
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When the Pharisees saw this, they said to Jesus, "Look, it is against our Law for your disciples to do this on the Sabbath!"
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Jesus answered, "Have you never read what David did that time when he and his men were hungry?
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He went into the house of God, and he and his men ate the bread offered to God, even though it was against the Law for them to eat it---only the priests were allowed to eat that bread.
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Or have you not read in the Law of Moses that every Sabbath the priests in the Temple actually break the Sabbath law, yet they are not guilty?
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I tell you that there is something here greater than the Temple.
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The scripture says, 'It is kindness that I want, not animal sacrifices.' If you really knew what this means, you would not condemn people who are not guilty;
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for the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath."
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Jesus left that place and went to a synagogue,
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where there was a man who had a paralyzed hand. Some people were there who wanted to accuse Jesus of doing wrong, so they asked him, "Is it against our Law to heal on the Sabbath?"
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Jesus answered, "What if one of you has a sheep and it falls into a deep hole on the Sabbath? Will you not take hold of it and lift it out?
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And a human being is worth much more than a sheep! So then, our Law does allow us to help someone on the Sabbath."
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Then he said to the man with the paralyzed hand, "Stretch out your hand." He stretched it out, and it became well again, just like the other one.
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Then the Pharisees left and made plans to kill Jesus.
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When Jesus heard about the plot against him, he went away from that place; and large crowds followed him. He healed all the sick
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and gave them orders not to tell others about him.
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He did this so as to make come true what God had said through the prophet Isaiah:
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"Here is my servant, whom I have chosen, the one I love, and with whom I am pleased. I will send my Spirit upon him, and he will announce my judgment to the nations.
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He will not argue or shout, or make loud speeches in the streets.
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He will not break off a bent reed, nor put out a flickering lamp. He will persist until he causes justice to triumph,
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and on him all peoples will put their hope."
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Then some people brought to Jesus a man who was blind and could not talk because he had a demon. Jesus healed the man, so that he was able to talk and see.
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The crowds were all amazed at what Jesus had done. "Could he be the Son of David?" they asked.
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When the Pharisees heard this, they replied, "He drives out demons only because their ruler Beelzebul gives him power to do so."
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Jesus knew what they were thinking, and so he said to them, "Any country that divides itself into groups which fight each other will not last very long. And any town or family that divides itself into groups which fight each other will fall apart.
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So if one group is fighting another in Satan's kingdom, this means that it is already divided into groups and will soon fall apart!
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You say that I drive out demons because Beelzebul gives me the power to do so. Well, then, who gives your followers the power to drive them out? What your own followers do proves that you are wrong!
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No, it is not Beelzebul, but God's Spirit, who gives me the power to drive out demons, which proves that the Kingdom of God has already come upon you.
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"No one can break into a strong man's house and take away his belongings unless he first ties up the strong man; then he can plunder his house.
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"Anyone who is not for me is really against me; anyone who does not help me gather is really scattering.
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For this reason I tell you: people can be forgiven any sin and any evil thing they say; but whoever says evil things against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.
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Anyone who says something against the Son of Man can be forgiven; but whoever says something against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven---now or ever.
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"To have good fruit you must have a healthy tree; if you have a poor tree, you will have bad fruit. A tree is known by the kind of fruit it bears.
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You snakes---how can you say good things when you are evil? For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.
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A good person brings good things out of a treasure of good things; a bad person brings bad things out of a treasure of bad things.
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"You can be sure that on the Judgment Day you will have to give account of every useless word you have ever spoken.
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Your words will be used to judge you---to declare you either innocent or guilty."
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Then some teachers of the Law and some Pharisees spoke up. "Teacher," they said, "we want to see you perform a miracle."
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"How evil and godless are the people of this day!" Jesus exclaimed. "You ask me for a miracle? No! The only miracle you will be given is the miracle of the prophet Jonah.
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In the same way that Jonah spent three days and nights in the big fish, so will the Son of Man spend three days and nights in the depths of the earth.
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On the Judgment Day the people of Nineveh will stand up and accuse you, because they turned from their sins when they heard Jonah preach; and I tell you that there is something here greater than Jonah!
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On the Judgment Day the Queen of Sheba will stand up and accuse you, because she traveled all the way from her country to listen to King Solomon's wise teaching; and I assure you that there is something here greater than Solomon!
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"When an evil spirit goes out of a person, it travels over dry country looking for a place to rest. If it can't find one,
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it says to itself, 'I will go back to my house.' So it goes back and finds the house empty, clean, and all fixed up.
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Then it goes out and brings along seven other spirits even worse than itself, and they come and live there. So when it is all over, that person is in worse shape than at the beginning. This is what will happen to the evil people of this day."
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Jesus was still talking to the people when his mother and brothers arrived. They stood outside, asking to speak with him.
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So one of the people there said to him, "Look, your mother and brothers are standing outside, and they want to speak with you."
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Jesus answered, "Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?"
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Then he pointed to his disciples and said, "Look! Here are my mother and my brothers!
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Whoever does what my Father in heaven wants is my brother, my sister, and my mother."
1
That same day Jesus left the house and went to the lakeside, where he sat down to teach.
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The crowd that gathered around him was so large that he got into a boat and sat in it, while the crowd stood on the shore.
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He used parables to tell them many things. "Once there was a man who went out to sow grain.
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As he scattered the seed in the field, some of it fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up.
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Some of it fell on rocky ground, where there was little soil. The seeds soon sprouted, because the soil wasn't deep.
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But when the sun came up, it burned the young plants; and because the roots had not grown deep enough, the plants soon dried up.
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Some of the seed fell among thorn bushes, which grew up and choked the plants.
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But some seeds fell in good soil, and the plants bore grain: some had one hundred grains, others sixty, and others thirty."
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And Jesus concluded, "Listen, then, if you have ears!"
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Then the disciples came to Jesus and asked him, "Why do you use parables when you talk to the people?"
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Jesus answered, "The knowledge about the secrets of the Kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them.
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For the person who has something will be given more, so that he will have more than enough; but the person who has nothing will have taken away from him even the little he has.
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The reason I use parables in talking to them is that they look, but do not see, and they listen, but do not hear or understand.
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So the prophecy of Isaiah applies to them: 'This people will listen and listen, but not understand; they will look and look, but not see,
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because their minds are dull, and they have stopped up their ears and have closed their eyes. Otherwise, their eyes would see, their ears would hear, their minds would understand, and they would turn to me, says God, and I would heal them.'
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"As for you, how fortunate you are! Your eyes see and your ears hear.
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I assure you that many prophets and many of God's people wanted very much to see what you see, but they could not, and to hear what you hear, but they did not.
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"Listen, then, and learn what the parable of the sower means.
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Those who hear the message about the Kingdom but do not understand it are like the seeds that fell along the path. The Evil One comes and snatches away what was sown in them.
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The seeds that fell on rocky ground stand for those who receive the message gladly as soon as they hear it.
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But it does not sink deep into them, and they don't last long. So when trouble or persecution comes because of the message, they give up at once.
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The seeds that fell among thorn bushes stand for those who hear the message; but the worries about this life and the love for riches choke the message, and they don't bear fruit.
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And the seeds sown in the good soil stand for those who hear the message and understand it: they bear fruit, some as much as one hundred, others sixty, and others thirty."
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Jesus told them another parable: "The Kingdom of heaven is like this. A man sowed good seed in his field.
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One night, when everyone was asleep, an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away.
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When the plants grew and the heads of grain began to form, then the weeds showed up.
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The man's servants came to him and said, 'Sir, it was good seed you sowed in your field; where did the weeds come from?'
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'It was some enemy who did this,' he answered. 'Do you want us to go and pull up the weeds?' they asked him.
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'No,' he answered, 'because as you gather the weeds you might pull up some of the wheat along with them.
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Let the wheat and the weeds both grow together until harvest. Then I will tell the harvest workers to pull up the weeds first, tie them in bundles and burn them, and then to gather in the wheat and put it in my barn.' "
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Jesus told them another parable: "The Kingdom of heaven is like this. A man takes a mustard seed and sows it in his field.
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It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it grows up, it is the biggest of all plants. It becomes a tree, so that birds come and make their nests in its branches."
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Jesus told them still another parable: "The Kingdom of heaven is like this. A woman takes some yeast and mixes it with a bushel of flour until the whole batch of dough rises."
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Jesus used parables to tell all these things to the crowds; he would not say a thing to them without using a parable.
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He did this to make come true what the prophet had said, "I will use parables when I speak to them; I will tell them things unknown since the creation of the world."
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When Jesus had left the crowd and gone indoors, his disciples came to him and said, "Tell us what the parable about the weeds in the field means."
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Jesus answered, "The man who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man;
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the field is the world; the good seed is the people who belong to the Kingdom; the weeds are the people who belong to the Evil One;
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and the enemy who sowed the weeds is the Devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvest workers are angels.
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Just as the weeds are gathered up and burned in the fire, so the same thing will happen at the end of the age:
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the Son of Man will send out his angels to gather up out of his Kingdom all those who cause people to sin and all others who do evil things,
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and they will throw them into the fiery furnace, where they will cry and gnash their teeth.
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Then God's people will shine like the sun in their Father's Kingdom. Listen, then, if you have ears!
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"The Kingdom of heaven is like this. A man happens to find a treasure hidden in a field. He covers it up again, and is so happy that he goes and sells everything he has, and then goes back and buys that field.
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"Also, the Kingdom of heaven is like this. A man is looking for fine pearls,
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and when he finds one that is unusually fine, he goes and sells everything he has, and buys that pearl.
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"Also, the Kingdom of heaven is like this. Some fishermen throw their net out in the lake and catch all kinds of fish.
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When the net is full, they pull it to shore and sit down to divide the fish: the good ones go into the buckets, the worthless ones are thrown away.
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It will be like this at the end of the age: the angels will go out and gather up the evil people from among the good
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and will throw them into the fiery furnace, where they will cry and gnash their teeth.
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"Do you understand these things?" Jesus asked them. "Yes," they answered.
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So he replied, "This means, then, that every teacher of the Law who becomes a disciple in the Kingdom of heaven is like a homeowner who takes new and old things out of his storage room."
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When Jesus finished telling these parables, he left that place
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and went back to his hometown. He taught in the synagogue, and those who heard him were amazed. "Where did he get such wisdom?" they asked. "And what about his miracles?
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Isn't he the carpenter's son? Isn't Mary his mother, and aren't James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas his brothers?
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Aren't all his sisters living here? Where did he get all this?"
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And so they rejected him. Jesus said to them, "A prophet is respected everywhere except in his hometown and by his own family."
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Because they did not have faith, he did not perform many miracles there.
