Study Desk

He trusts in God—let God, if he wants to, deliver him now because he said, ‘I am God's Son'!"

The guards were shaken and became like dead men because they were so afraid of him.

The people there were amazed by his teaching, because he taught them like one who had authority, not like the experts in the law.

So he healed many who were sick with various diseases and drove out many demons. But he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him.

When they were not able to bring him in because of the crowd, they removed the roof above Jesus. Then, after tearing it out, they lowered the stretcher the paralytic was lying on.

Because of the crowd, he told his disciples to have a small boat ready for him so the crowd would not press toward him.

(because they said, "He has an unclean spirit").

Other seed fell on rocky ground where it did not have much soil. It sprang up at once because the soil was not deep.

When the sun came up it was scorched, and because it did not have sufficient root, it withered.

But they have no root in themselves and do not endure. Then, when trouble or persecution comes because of the word, immediately they fall away.

And when the grain is ripe, he sends in the sickle because the harvest has come."

And he was amazed because of their unbelief. Then he went around among the villages and taught.

Now King Herod heard this, for Jesus' name had become known. Some were saying, "John the baptizer has been raised from the dead, and because of this, miraculous powers are at work in him."

For Herod himself had sent men, arrested John, and bound him in prison on account of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, because Herod had married her.

because Herod stood in awe of John and protected him, since he knew that John was a righteous and holy man. When Herod heard him, he was thoroughly baffled, and yet he liked to listen to John.

Although it grieved the king deeply, he did not want to reject her request because of his oath and his guests.

As Jesus came ashore he saw the large crowd and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he taught them many things.

He saw them straining at the oars, because the wind was against them. As the night was ending, he came to them walking on the sea, for he wanted to pass by them.

because they did not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened.

There is nothing outside of a person that can defile him by going into him. Rather, it is what comes out of a person that defiles him." Now when Jesus had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about the parable. He said to them, "Are you so foolish? Don't you understand that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him? For it does not enter his heart but his stomach, and then goes out into the sewer." (This means all foods are clean.) He said, "What comes out of a person defiles him. For from within, out of the human heart, come evil ideas, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, evil, deceit, debauchery, envy, slander, pride, and folly. All these evils come from within and defile a person." After Jesus left there, he went to the region of Tyre. When he went into a house, he did not want anyone to know, but he was not able to escape notice. Instead, a woman whose young daughter had an unclean spirit immediately heard about him and came and fell at his feet. The woman was a Greek, of Syrophoenician origin. She asked him to cast the demon out of her daughter. He said to her, "Let the children be satisfied first, for it is not right to take the children's bread and to throw it to the dogs." She answered, "Yes, Lord, but even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs." Then he said to her, "Because you said this, you may go. The demon has left your daughter." She went home and found the child lying on the bed, and the demon gone. Then Jesus went out again from the region of Tyre and came through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee in the region of the Decapolis. They brought to him a deaf man who had difficulty speaking, and they asked him to place his hands on him. After Jesus took him aside privately, away from the crowd, he put his fingers in the man's ears, and after spitting, he touched his tongue. Then he looked up to heaven and said with a sigh, "Ephphatha" (that is, "Be opened"). And immediately the man's ears were opened, his tongue loosened, and he spoke plainly. Jesus ordered them not to tell anyone. But as much as he ordered them not to do this, they proclaimed it all the more. People were completely astounded and said, "He has done everything well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak."