Study Desk

Then some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked,

"Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don't wash their hands before they eat!"^(b)

Jesus replied, "And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition?

For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother'^[a](c) and ‘Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.'^[b](d)

But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is ‘devoted to God,'

they are not to ‘honor their father or mother' with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition.

You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you:

"‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.

They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.^(e)'^[c](f)"

Jesus called the crowd to him and said, "Listen and understand.

What goes into someone's mouth does not defile them,^(g) but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them."^(h)

Then the disciples came to him and asked, "Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this?"

He replied, "Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted⁽ⁱ⁾ will be pulled up by the roots.

Leave them; they are blind guides.^[d](j) If the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit."^(k)

Peter said, "Explain the parable to us."^(l)

"Are you still so dull?"^(m) Jesus asked them.

"Don't you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body?

But the things that come out of a person's mouth come from the heart,⁽ⁿ⁾ and these defile them.

For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.^(o)

These are what defile a person;^(p) but eating with unwashed hands does not defile them."

Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon.^(r)

A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, "Lord, Son of David,^(s) have mercy on me! My daughter is demon-possessed and suffering terribly."^(t)

Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, "Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us."

He answered, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel."^(u)

The woman came and knelt before him.^(v) "Lord, help me!" she said.

He replied, "It is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to the dogs."

"Yes it is, Lord," she said. "Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master's table."

Then Jesus said to her, "Woman, you have great faith!^(w) Your request is granted." And her daughter was healed at that moment.

Jesus left there and went along the Sea of Galilee. Then he went up on a mountainside and sat down.

Great crowds came to him, bringing the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute and many others, and laid them at his feet; and he healed them.^(aa)

The people were amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled made well, the lame walking and the blind seeing. And they praised the God of Israel.^(ab)

Jesus called his disciples to him and said, "I have compassion for these people;^(ac) they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away hungry, or they may collapse on the way."

His disciples answered, "Where could we get enough bread in this remote place to feed such a crowd?"

"How many loaves do you have?" Jesus asked. "Seven," they replied, "and a few small fish."

He told the crowd to sit down on the ground.

Then he took the seven loaves and the fish, and when he had given thanks, he broke them^(ad) and gave them to the disciples, and they in turn to the people.

They all ate and were satisfied. Afterward the disciples picked up seven basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over.^(ae)

The number of those who ate was four thousand men, besides women and children.

After Jesus had sent the crowd away, he got into the boat and went to the vicinity of Magadan.

The Pharisees and Sadducees^(b) came to Jesus and tested him by asking him to show them a sign from heaven.^(c)

He replied, "When evening comes, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red,'

and in the morning, ‘Today it will be stormy, for the sky is red and overcast.' You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times.^[a](d)

A wicked and adulterous generation looks for a sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah."^(e) Jesus then left them and went away.

When they went across the lake, the disciples forgot to take bread.

"Be careful," Jesus said to them. "Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees."^(f)

They discussed this among themselves and said, "It is because we didn't bring any bread."

Aware of their discussion, Jesus asked, "You of little faith,^(g) why are you talking among yourselves about having no bread?

Do you still not understand? Don't you remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many basketfuls you gathered?^(h)

Or the seven loaves for the four thousand, and how many basketfuls you gathered?⁽ⁱ⁾

How is it you don't understand that I was not talking to you about bread? But be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees."

Then they understood that he was not telling them to guard against the yeast used in bread, but against the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.^(j)

When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say the Son of Man is?"

They replied, "Some say John the Baptist;^(l) others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets."^(m)

"But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?"

Simon Peter answered, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God."⁽ⁿ⁾

Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood,^(o) but by my Father in heaven.^(p)

And I tell you that you are Peter,^[b](q) and on this rock I will build my church,^(r) and the gates of Hades^[c] will not overcome it.

I will give you the keys^(s) of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be^[d] bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be^[e] loosed in heaven."^(t)

Then he ordered his disciples not to tell anyone^(u) that he was the Messiah.

From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem^(w) and suffer many things^(x) at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law,^(y) and that he must be killed^(z) and on the third day^(aa) be raised to life.^(ab)

Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. "Never, Lord!" he said. "This shall never happen to you!"

Jesus turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan!^(ac) You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns."

Then Jesus said to his disciples, "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.^(ad)

For whoever wants to save their life^[f] will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.^(ae)

What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?

For the Son of Man^(af) is going to come^(ag) in his Father's glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done.^(ah)

"Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom."

After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John^(c) the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves.

There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light.

Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus.

Peter said to Jesus, "Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah."

While he was still speaking, a bright cloud covered them, and a voice from the cloud said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.^(d) Listen to him!"^(e)

When the disciples heard this, they fell facedown to the ground, terrified.

But Jesus came and touched them. "Get up," he said. "Don't be afraid."^(f)

When they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus.

As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus instructed them, "Don't tell anyone^(g) what you have seen, until the Son of Man^(h) has been raised from the dead."⁽ⁱ⁾

The disciples asked him, "Why then do the teachers of the law say that Elijah must come first?"

Jesus replied, "To be sure, Elijah comes and will restore all things.^(j)

But I tell you, Elijah has already come,^(k) and they did not recognize him, but have done to him everything they wished.^(l) In the same way the Son of Man is going to suffer^(m) at their hands."

Then the disciples understood that he was talking to them about John the Baptist.⁽ⁿ⁾

When they came to the crowd, a man approached Jesus and knelt before him.

"Lord, have mercy on my son," he said. "He has seizures^(p) and is suffering greatly. He often falls into the fire or into the water.

I brought him to your disciples, but they could not heal him."

"You unbelieving and perverse generation," Jesus replied, "how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me."

Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of the boy, and he was healed at that moment.

Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, "Why couldn't we drive it out?"

He replied, "Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith^(q) as small as a mustard seed,^(r) you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,' and it will move.^(s) Nothing will be impossible for you."

^[21][a]

When they came together in Galilee, he said to them, "The Son of Man^(t) is going to be delivered into the hands of men.

They will kill him,^(u) and on the third day^(v) he will be raised to life."^(w) And the disciples were filled with grief.

After Jesus and his disciples arrived in Capernaum, the collectors of the two-drachma temple tax^(x) came to Peter and asked, "Doesn't your teacher pay the temple tax?"

"Yes, he does," he replied. When Peter came into the house, Jesus was the first to speak. "What do you think, Simon?" he asked. "From whom do the kings of the earth collect duty and taxes^(y)—from their own children or from others?"

"From others," Peter answered. "Then the children are exempt," Jesus said to him.

"But so that we may not cause offense,^(z) go to the lake and throw out your line. Take the first fish you catch; open its mouth and you will find a four-drachma coin. Take it and give it to them for my tax and yours."