Study Desk

They couldn't bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, so they dug a hole through the roof above his head. Then they lowered the man on his mat, right down in front of Jesus.

He told them this because they were saying, "He's possessed by an evil spirit."

Other seed fell on shallow soil with underlying rock. The seed sprouted quickly because the soil was shallow.

Then Jesus demanded, "What is your name?" And he replied, "My name is Legion, because there are many of us inside this man."

And because of their unbelief, he couldn't do any miracles among them except to place his hands on a few sick people and heal them.

Herod Antipas, the king, soon heard about Jesus, because everyone was talking about him. Some were saying, "This must be John the Baptist raised from the dead. That is why he can do such miracles."

Then the king deeply regretted what he had said; but because of the vows he had made in front of his guests, he couldn't refuse her.

Then Jesus said, "Let's go off by ourselves to a quiet place and rest awhile." He said this because there were so many people coming and going that Jesus and his apostles didn't even have time to eat.

Jesus saw the huge crowd as he stepped from the boat, and he had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things.

At this they began to argue with each other because they hadn't brought any bread.

He said this because he didn't really know what else to say, for they were all terrified.

But they didn't answer, because they had been arguing about which of them was the greatest.

John said to Jesus, "Teacher, we saw someone using your name to cast out demons, but we told him to stop because he wasn't in our group."

If anyone gives you even a cup of water because you belong to the Messiah, I tell you the truth, that person will surely be rewarded.

So Jesus came to Jerusalem and went into the Temple. After looking around carefully at everything, he left because it was late in the afternoon. Then he returned to Bethany with the twelve disciples.

He noticed a fig tree in full leaf a little way off, so he went over to see if he could find any figs. But there were only leaves because it was too early in the season for fruit.

When the leading priests and teachers of religious law heard what Jesus had done, they began planning how to kill him. But they were afraid of him because the people were so amazed at his teaching.

But do we dare say it was merely human?" For they were afraid of what the people would do, because everyone believed that John was a prophet.

The religious leaders wanted to arrest Jesus because they realized he was telling the story against them—they were the wicked farmers. But they were afraid of the crowd, so they left him and went away.

Yet they shamelessly cheat widows out of their property and then pretend to be pious by making long prayers in public. Because of this, they will be more severely punished."