Study Desk

Jesus called his twelve disciples together and gave them authority to drive out evil spirits and to heal every disease and every sickness.

These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon (called Peter) and his brother Andrew; James and his brother John, the sons of Zebedee;

"No pupil is greater than his teacher; no slave is greater than his master.

So a pupil should be satisfied to become like his teacher, and a slave like his master. If the head of the family is called Beelzebul, the members of the family will be called even worse names!

Whoever welcomes God's messenger because he is God's messenger, will share in his reward. And whoever welcomes a good man because he is good, will share in his reward.

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.

When John the Baptist heard in prison about the things that Christ was doing, he sent some of his disciples to him.

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.

The people in the towns where Jesus had performed most of his miracles did not turn from their sins, so he reproached those towns.

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.

Jesus answered, "Have you never read what David did that time when he and his men were hungry?

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.

"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.

Jesus was still talking to the people when his mother and brothers arrived. They stood outside, asking to speak with him.

Then he pointed to his disciples and said, "Look! Here are my mother and my brothers!

Jesus told them another parable: "The Kingdom of heaven is like this. A man sowed good seed in his field.

Jesus told them another parable: "The Kingdom of heaven is like this. A man takes a mustard seed and sows it in his field.

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."

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,

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."