Study Desk

So he continued to travel around, preaching in synagogues throughout Judea.

Stepping into one of the boats, Jesus asked Simon, its owner, to push it out into the water. So he sat in the boat and taught the crowds from there.

"Master," Simon replied, "we worked hard all last night and didn't catch a thing. But if you say so, I'll let the nets down again."

And this time their nets were so full of fish they began to tear!

but they couldn't reach him because of the crowd. So they went up to the roof and took off some tiles. Then they lowered the sick man on his mat down into the crowd, right in front of Jesus.

Jesus knew what they were thinking, so he asked them, "Why do you question this in your hearts?

So I will prove to you that the Son of Man has the authority on earth to forgive sins." Then Jesus turned to the paralyzed man and said, "Stand up, pick up your mat, and go home!"

So Levi got up, left everything, and followed him.

One day some people said to Jesus, "John the Baptist's disciples fast and pray regularly, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees. Why are your disciples always eating and drinking?"

But Jesus knew their thoughts. He said to the man with the deformed hand, "Come and stand in front of everyone." So the man came forward.

He looked around at them one by one and then said to the man, "Hold out your hand." So the man held out his hand, and it was restored!

"So why do you keep calling me ‘Lord, Lord!' when you don't do what I say?

So they earnestly begged Jesus to help the man. "If anyone deserves your help, he does," they said,

So Jesus went with them. But just before they arrived at the house, the officer sent some friends to say, "Lord, don't trouble yourself by coming to my home, for I am not worthy of such an honor.

The disciples of John the Baptist told John about everything Jesus was doing. So John called for two of his disciples,

They are like children playing a game in the public square. They complain to their friends, ‘We played wedding songs, and you didn't dance, so we played funeral songs, and you didn't weep.'

One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to have dinner with him, so Jesus went to his home and sat down to eat.

But neither of them could repay him, so he kindly forgave them both, canceling their debts. Who do you suppose loved him more after that?"

"I tell you, her sins—and they are many—have been forgiven, so she has shown me much love. But a person who is forgiven little shows only little love."

He replied, "You are permitted to understand the secrets of the Kingdom of God. But I use parables to teach the others so that the Scriptures might be fulfilled: ‘When they look, they won't really see. When they hear, they won't understand.'