Study Desk

"It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher, and the bond-servant like his master. If they have called the head of the house Beelzebul (Satan), how much more [will they speak evil of] the members of his household.

"For John came neither eating nor drinking [with others], and they say, 'He has a demon!'

"The Son of Man came eating and drinking [with others], and they say, 'Look! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners [including non-observant Jews]!' Yet wisdom is justified and vindicated by her deeds [in the lives of those who respond to Me]."

Then He began to denounce [the people in] the cities in which most of His miracles were done, because they did not repent [and change their hearts and lives].

"Woe (judgment is coming) to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon [cities of the Gentiles], they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes [their hearts would have been changed and they would have expressed sorrow for their sin and rebellion against God].

how he went into the house of God, and they ate the consecrated bread, which was not lawful for him to eat nor for those with him, but for the priests only?

A man was there whose hand was withered. And they asked Jesus, "Is it lawful and permissible to heal on the Sabbath?"—they asked this so that they might accuse Him and bring charges into court.

But the Pharisees went out and conspired against Him, discussing how they could destroy Him.

"The men of Nineveh will stand up [as witnesses] at the judgment against this generation, and will condemn it because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and now, something greater than Jonah is here.

"Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and make their home there. And the last condition of that man becomes worse than the first. So will it also be with this wicked generation."

"Other seed fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil; and at once they sprang up because they had no depth of soil.

"But when the sun rose, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away.

"This is the reason I speak to the crowds in parables: because while [having the power of] seeing they do not see, and while [having the power of] hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand and grasp [spiritual things].

FOR THIS NATION'S HEART HAS GROWN HARD, AND WITH THEIR EARS THEY HARDLY HEAR, AND THEY HAVE [tightly] CLOSED THEIR EYES, OTHERWISE THEY WOULD SEE WITH THEIR EYES, AND HEAR WITH THEIR EARS, AND UNDERSTAND WITH THEIR HEART, AND TURN [to Me] AND I WOULD HEAL THEM [spiritually].'

"But blessed [spiritually aware, and favored by God] are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear.

"The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend [those things by which people are led into sin], and all who practice evil [leading others into sin],

and when it was full, they dragged it up on the beach; and they sat down and sorted out the good fish into baskets, but the worthless ones they threw away.

And after coming to [Nazareth] His hometown, He began teaching them in their synagogue, and they were astonished, and said, "Where did this Man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers [what is the source of His authority]?

"And His sisters, are they not [living here] among us? Where then did this Man get all this [wisdom and power]?"

And they took offense at Him [refusing to believe in Him]. But Jesus said to them, "A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household."