Matthew 15-17 (Contemporary English Version)

Matthew 15

The Teaching of the Ancestors

(Mark 7.1-13)

 ¹About this time some Pharisees and teachers of the Law of Moses came from Jerusalem. They asked Jesus, ²"Why don't your disciples obey what our ancestors taught us to do? They don't even wash their hands ^[a] before they eat." ³Jesus answered:

   Why do you disobey God and follow your own teaching? ⁴Didn't God command you to respect your father and mother? Didn't he tell you to put to death all who curse their parents? ⁵But you let people get by without helping their parents when they should. You let them say that what they have has been offered to God. ^{[b] 6}Is this any way to show respect to your parents? You ignore God's commands in order to follow your own teaching. ⁷And you are nothing but show-offs! Isaiah the prophet was right when he wrote that God had said, ⁸"All of you praise me

   with your words,

   but you never really

   think about me.

    ⁹It is useless for you

   to worship me,

   when you teach rules

   made up by humans."

   

What Really Makes People Unclean

(Mark 7.14-23)

 ¹⁰Jesus called the crowd together and said, "Pay attention and try to understand what I mean. ¹¹The food that you put into your mouth doesn't make you unclean and unfit to worship God. The bad words that come out of your mouth are what make you unclean."

    ¹²Then his disciples came over to him and asked, "Do you know that you insulted the Pharisees by what you said?"

    ¹³Jesus answered, "Every plant that my Father in heaven did not plant will be pulled up by the roots. ¹⁴Stay away from those Pharisees! They are like blind people leading other blind people, and all of them will fall into a ditch."

    ¹⁵Peter replied, "What did you mean when you talked about the things that make people unclean?"

    ¹⁶Jesus then said:

   Don't any of you know what I am talking about by now? ¹⁷Don't you know that the food you put into your mouth goes into your stomach and then out of your body? ¹⁸But the words that come out of your mouth come from your heart. And they are what make you unfit to worship God. ¹⁹Out of your heart come evil thoughts, murder, unfaithfulness in marriage, vulgar deeds, stealing, telling lies, and insulting others. ²⁰These are what make you unclean. Eating without washing your hands will not make you unfit to worship God.

   

A Woman's Faith

(Mark 7.24-30)

 ²¹Jesus left and went to the territory near the cities of Tyre and Sidon. ²²Suddenly a Canaanite woman ^[c] from there came out shouting, "Lord and Son of David, ^[d] have pity on me! My daughter is full of demons." ²³Jesus did not say a word. But the woman kept following along and shouting, so his disciples came up and asked him to send her away. ²⁴Jesus said, "I was sent only to the people of Israel! They are like a flock of lost sheep."

    ²⁵The woman came closer. Then she knelt down and begged, "Please help me, Lord!"

    ²⁶Jesus replied, "It isn't right to take food away from children and feed it to dogs." ^{[e] 27}"Lord, that's true," the woman said, "but even dogs get the crumbs that fall from their owner's table."

    ²⁸Jesus answered, "Dear woman, you really do have a lot of faith, and you will be given what you want." At that moment her daughter was healed.

   

Jesus Heals Many People

 ²⁹From there, Jesus went along Lake Galilee. Then he climbed a hill and sat down. ³⁰Large crowds came and brought many people who were crippled or blind or lame or unable to talk. They placed them, and many others, in front of Jesus, and he healed them all. ³¹Everyone was amazed at what they saw and heard. People who had never spoken could now speak. The lame were healed, the crippled could walk, and the blind were able to see. Everyone was praising the God of Israel.

   

Jesus Feeds Four Thousand

(Mark 8.1-10)

 ³²Jesus called his disciples together and told them, "I feel sorry for these people. They have been with me for three days, and they don't have anything to eat. I don't want to send them away hungry. They might faint on their way home."

    ³³His disciples said, "This place is like a desert. Where can we find enough food to feed such a crowd?"

    ³⁴Jesus asked them how much food they had. They replied, "Seven small loaves of bread ^[f] and a few little fish." ³⁵After Jesus had told the people to sit down, ³⁶he took the seven loaves of bread and the fish and gave thanks. He then broke them and handed them to his disciples, who passed them around to the crowds.

    ³⁷Everyone ate all they wanted, and the leftovers filled seven large baskets.

    ³⁸There were four thousand men who ate, not counting the women and children.

    ³⁹After Jesus had sent the crowds away, he got into a boat and sailed across the lake. He came to shore near the town of Magadan. ^[g]

Matthew 16

A Demand for a Sign from Heaven

(Mark 8.11-13; Luke 12.54-56)

 ¹The Pharisees and Sadducees came to Jesus and tried to test him by asking for a sign from heaven. ²He told them:

   If the sky is red in the evening, you say the weather will be good. ³But if the sky is red and gloomy in the morning, you say it is going to rain. You can tell what the weather will be like by looking at the sky. But you don't understand what is happening now. ^{[h] 4}You want a sign because you are evil and won't believe! But the only sign you will be given is what happened to Jonah. ^[i] Then Jesus left.

   

The Yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees

(Mark 8.14-21)

 ⁵The disciples had forgotten to bring any bread when they crossed the lake. ^{[j] 6}Jesus then warned them, "Watch out! Guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees." ⁷The disciples talked this over and said to each other, "He must be saying this because we didn't bring along any bread."

    ⁸Jesus knew what they were thinking and said:

   You surely don't have much faith! Why are you talking about not having any bread? ⁹Don't you understand? Have you forgotten about the five thousand people and all those baskets of leftovers from just five loaves of bread? ¹⁰And what about the four thousand people and all those baskets of leftovers from only seven loaves of bread? ¹¹Don't you know by now that I am not talking to you about bread? Watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees!

    ¹²Finally, the disciples understood that Jesus wasn't talking about the yeast used to make bread, but about the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

   

Who Is Jesus?

(Mark 8.27-30; Luke 9.18-21)

 ¹³When Jesus and his disciples were near the town of Caesarea Philippi, he asked them, "What do people say about the Son of Man?"

    ¹⁴The disciples answered, "Some people say you are John the Baptist or maybe Elijah ^[k] or Jeremiah or some other prophet." ¹⁵Then Jesus asked them, "But who do you say I am?"

    ¹⁶Simon Peter spoke up, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God."

    ¹⁷Jesus told him:

   Simon, son of Jonah, you are blessed! You didn't discover this on your own. It was shown to you by my Father in heaven. ¹⁸So I will call you Peter, which means "a rock." On this rock I will build my church, and death itself will not have any power over it. ¹⁹I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven, and God in heaven will allow whatever you allow on earth. But he will not allow anything that you don't allow.

    ²⁰Jesus told his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.

   

Jesus Speaks about His Suffering and Death

(Mark 8.31--9.1; Luke 9.22-27)

 ²¹From then on, Jesus began telling his disciples what would happen to him. He said, "I must go to Jerusalem. There the nation's leaders, the chief priests, and the teachers of the Law of Moses will make me suffer terribly. I will be killed, but three days later I will rise to life."

    ²²Peter took Jesus aside and told him to stop talking like that. He said, "God would never let this happen to you, Lord!"

    ²³Jesus turned to Peter and said, "Satan, get away from me! You're in my way because you think like everyone else and not like God."

    ²⁴Then Jesus said to his disciples:

   If any of you want to be my followers, you must forget about yourself. You must take up your cross and follow me. ²⁵If you want to save your life, ^[l] you will destroy it. But if you give up your life for me, you will find it. ²⁶What will you gain, if you own the whole world but destroy yourself? What would you give to get back your soul? ²⁷The Son of Man will soon come in the glory of his Father and with his angels to reward all people for what they have done. ²⁸I promise you that some of those standing here will not die before they see the Son of Man coming with his kingdom.

   

Matthew 17

The True Glory of Jesus

(Mark 9.2-13; Luke 9.28-36)

 ¹Six days later Jesus took Peter and the brothers James and John with him. They went up on a very high mountain where they could be alone. ²There in front of the disciples, Jesus was completely changed. His face was shining like the sun, and his clothes became white as light.

    ³All at once Moses and Elijah were there talking with Jesus. ⁴So Peter said to him, "Lord, it is good for us to be here! Let us make three shelters, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah."

    ⁵While Peter was still speaking, the shadow of a bright cloud passed over them. From the cloud a voice said, "This is my own dear Son, and I am pleased with him. Listen to what he says!" ⁶When the disciples heard the voice, they were so afraid that they fell flat on the ground. ⁷But Jesus came over and touched them. He said, "Get up and don't be afraid!" ⁸When they opened their eyes, they saw only Jesus.

    ⁹On their way down from the mountain, Jesus warned his disciples not to tell anyone what they had seen until after the Son of Man had been raised from death.

    ¹⁰The disciples asked Jesus, "Don't the teachers of the Law of Moses say that Elijah must come before the Messiah does?"

    ¹¹Jesus told them, "Elijah certainly will come and get everything ready. ¹²In fact, he has already come. But the people did not recognize him and treated him just as they wanted to. They will soon make the Son of Man suffer in the same way." ¹³Then the disciples understood that Jesus was talking to them about John the Baptist.

   

Jesus Heals a Boy

(Mark 9.14-29; Luke 9.37-43a)

 ¹⁴Jesus and his disciples returned to the crowd. A man knelt in front of him ¹⁵and said, "Lord, have pity on my son! He has a bad case of epilepsy and often falls into a fire or into water. ¹⁶I brought him to your disciples, but none of them could heal him."

    ¹⁷Jesus said, "You people are too stubborn to have any faith! How much longer must I be with you? Why do I have to put up with you? Bring the boy here." ¹⁸Then Jesus spoke sternly to the demon. It went out of the boy, and right then he was healed.

    ¹⁹Later the disciples went to Jesus in private and asked him, "Why couldn't we force out the demon?"

    ^20-21Jesus replied:

   It is because you don't have enough faith! But I can promise you this. If you had faith no larger than a mustard seed, you could tell this mountain to move from here to there. And it would. Everything would be possible for you. ^[m]

Jesus Again Speaks about His Death

(Mark 9.30-32; Luke 9.43b-45)

 ²²While Jesus and his disciples were going from place to place in Galilee, he told them, "The Son of Man will be handed over to people ²³who will kill him. But three days later he will rise to life." All of this made the disciples very sad.

   

Paying the Temple Tax

 ²⁴When Jesus and the others arrived in Capernaum, the collectors for the temple tax came to Peter and asked, "Does your teacher pay the temple tax?"

    ²⁵"Yes, he does," Peter answered.

   After they had returned home, Jesus went up to Peter and asked him, "Simon, what do you think? Do the kings of this earth collect taxes and fees from their own people or from foreigners?" ^{[n] 26}Peter answered, "From foreigners."

   Jesus replied, "Then their own people ^[o] don't have to pay. ²⁷But we don't want to cause trouble. So go cast a line into the lake and pull out the first fish you hook. Open its mouth, and you will find a coin. Use it to pay your taxes and mine."