Study Desk

But his mother said, "No, he will be named John."

The people said to Elizabeth, "But no one in your family has that name."

When the festival was over, they went home, but Jesus stayed in Jerusalem. His parents did not know about it.

but they did not find him. So they went back to Jerusalem to look for him there.

But they did not understand the meaning of what he said to them.

Crowds of people came to be baptized by John. But he said to them, "You are all snakes! Who warned you to run from God's judgment that is coming?

Change your hearts! And show by your lives that you have changed. I know what you are about to say—‘but Abraham is our father!' That means nothing. I tell you that God can make children for Abraham from these rocks!

John's answer to this was, "I baptize you in water, but there is someone coming later who is able to do more than I can. I am not good enough to be the slave who unties his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.

Jesus answered, "But the Scriptures also say, ‘You must not test the Lord your God.'"

"During the time of Elijah it did not rain in Israel for three and a half years. There was no food anywhere in the whole country. There were many widows in Israel during that time. But the fact is, Elijah was sent to none of those widows in Israel. He was sent only to a widow in Zarephath, a town in Sidon.

"And there were many people with leprosy living in Israel during the time of the prophet Elisha. But none of them were healed; the only one was Naaman. And he was from the country of Syria, not Israel."

But he walked through the middle of the crowd and went away.

But Jesus warned the evil spirit to stop. He said, "Be quiet! Come out of the man!" The evil spirit threw the man down on the ground in front of everyone. Then the evil spirit left the man and did not hurt him.

Demons came out of many people. The demons shouted, "You are the Son of God." But Jesus gave a strong command for the demons not to speak, because they knew he was the Messiah.

But he said to them, "I must tell the Good News about God's kingdom to other towns too. This is why I was sent."

Simon answered, "Master, we worked hard all night trying to catch fish and caught nothing. But you say I should put the nets into the water, so I will."

Then Jesus said, "Don't tell anyone about what happened. But go and let the priest look at you. And offer a gift to God for your healing as Moses commanded. This will show people that you are healed."

But the news about Jesus spread more and more. Many people came to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses.

But there were so many people that they could not find a way to Jesus. So they went up on the roof and lowered the crippled man down through a hole in the ceiling. They lowered the mat into the room so that the crippled man was lying before Jesus.

The Jewish teachers of the law and the Pharisees thought to themselves, "Who is this man who dares to say such things? What an insult to God! No one but God can forgive sins."