Beginning
15 Some Pharisees and other Jewish leaders now arrived from Jerusalem to interview Jesus.
2 “Why do your disciples disobey the ancient Jewish traditions?” they demanded. “For they ignore our ritual of ceremonial handwashing before they eat.” 3 He replied, “And why do your traditions violate the direct commandments of God? 4 For instance, God’s law is ‘Honor your father and mother; anyone who reviles his parents must die.’ 5-6 But you say, ‘Even if your parents are in need, you may give their support money to the church[a] instead.’ And so, by your man-made rule, you nullify the direct command of God to honor and care for your parents. 7 You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, 8 ‘These people say they honor me, but their hearts are far away. 9 Their worship is worthless, for they teach their man-made laws instead of those from God.’[b]”
10 Then Jesus called to the crowds and said, “Listen to what I say and try to understand: 11
12 Then the disciples came and told him, “You offended the Pharisees by that remark.”
13-14 Jesus replied, “Every plant not planted by my Father shall be rooted up, so ignore them. They are blind guides leading the blind, and both will fall into a ditch.”
15 Then Peter asked Jesus to explain what he meant when he said that people are not defiled by nonkosher food.
16 “Don’t you understand?” Jesus asked him. 17 “Don’t you see that anything you eat passes through the digestive tract and out again? 18 But evil words come from an evil heart and defile the man who says them. 19 For from the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, lying, and slander. 20 These are what defile; but there is no spiritual defilement from eating without first going through the ritual of ceremonial handwashing!”
21 Jesus then left that part of the country and walked the fifty miles to Tyre and Sidon.[d]
22 A woman from Canaan who was living there came to him, pleading, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, King David’s Son! For my daughter has a demon within her, and it torments her constantly.”
23 But Jesus gave her no reply—not even a word. Then his disciples urged him to send her away. “Tell her to get going,” they said, “for she is bothering us with all her begging.”
24 Then he said to the woman, “I was sent to help the Jews—the lost sheep of Israel—not the Gentiles.”
25 But she came and worshiped him and pled again, “Sir, help me!”
26 “It doesn’t seem right to take bread from the children and throw it to the dogs,” he said.
27 “Yes, it is!” she replied, “for even the puppies beneath the table are permitted to eat the crumbs that fall.”
28 “Woman,” Jesus told her, “your faith is large, and your request is granted.” And her daughter was healed right then.
29 Jesus now returned to the Sea of Galilee and climbed a hill and sat there. 30 And a vast crowd brought him their lame, blind, maimed, and those who couldn’t speak, and many others, and laid them before Jesus, and he healed them all. 31 What a spectacle it was! Those who hadn’t been able to say a word before were talking excitedly, and those with missing arms and legs had new ones; the crippled were walking and jumping around, and those who had been blind were gazing about them! The crowds just marveled and praised the God of Israel.
32 Then Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I pity these people—they’ve been here with me for three days now and have nothing left to eat; I don’t want to send them away hungry or they will faint along the road.”
33 The disciples replied, “And where would we get enough here in the desert for all this mob to eat?”
34 Jesus asked them, “How much food do you have?” And they replied, “Seven loaves of bread and a few small fish!”
35 Then Jesus told all of the people to sit down on the ground, 36 and he took the seven loaves and the fish, and gave thanks to God for them, and divided them into pieces, and gave them to the disciples who presented them to the crowd. 37-38 And everyone ate until full—four thousand men besides the women and children! And afterwards, when the scraps were picked up, there were seven basketfuls left over!
39 Then Jesus sent the people home and got into the boat and crossed to Magadan.
16 One day the Pharisees and Sadducees[e] came to test Jesus’ claim of being the Messiah by asking him to show them some great demonstrations in the skies.
2-3 He replied, “You are good at reading the weather signs of the skies—red sky tonight means fair weather tomorrow; red sky in the morning means foul weather all day—but you can’t read the obvious signs of the times! 4 This evil, unbelieving nation is asking for some strange sign in the heavens, but no further proof will be given except the miracle that happened to Jonah.” Then Jesus walked out on them.
5 Arriving across the lake, the disciples discovered they had forgotten to bring any food.
6 “Watch out!” Jesus warned them. “Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”
7 They thought he was saying this because they had forgotten to bring bread.
8 Jesus knew what they were thinking and told them, “O men of little faith! Why are you so worried about having no food? 9 Won’t you ever understand? Don’t you remember at all the five thousand I fed with five loaves, and the basketfuls left over? 10 Don’t you remember the four thousand I fed, and all that was left? 11 How could you even think I was talking about food? But again I say, ‘Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.’”
12 Then at last they understood that by yeast he meant the wrong teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
13 When Jesus came to Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who are the people saying I[f] am?”
14 “Well,” they replied, “some say John the Baptist; some, Elijah; some, Jeremiah or one of the other prophets.”
15 Then he asked them,
16 Simon Peter answered, “The Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
17 “God has blessed you, Simon, son of Jonah,” Jesus said, “for my Father in heaven has personally revealed this to you—this is not from any human source. 18 You are Peter, a stone; and upon this rock I will build my church; and all the powers of hell shall not prevail against it. 19 And I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven; whatever doors you lock on earth shall be locked in heaven; and whatever doors you open on earth shall be open in heaven!”
20 Then he warned the disciples against telling others that he was the Messiah.
21 From then on Jesus began to speak plainly to his disciples about going to Jerusalem, and what would happen to him there—that he would suffer at the hands of the Jewish leaders,[g] that he would be killed, and that three days later he would be raised to life again.
22 But Peter took him aside to remonstrate with him. “Heaven forbid, sir,” he said. “This is not going to happen to you!”
23 Jesus turned on Peter and said, “Get away from me, you Satan! You are a dangerous trap to me. You are thinking merely from a human point of view, and not from God’s.”
24 Then Jesus said to the disciples, “If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25 For anyone who keeps his life for himself shall lose it; and anyone who loses his life for me shall find it again. 26 What profit is there if you gain the whole world—and lose eternal life? What can be compared with the value of eternal life? 27 For I, the Son of Mankind, shall come with my angels in the glory of my Father and judge each person according to his deeds. 28 And some of you standing right here now will certainly live to see me coming in my Kingdom.”
17 Six days later Jesus took Peter, James, and his brother John to the top of a high and lonely hill, 2 and as they watched, his appearance changed so that his face shone like the sun and his clothing became dazzling white.
3 Suddenly Moses and Elijah appeared and were talking with him. 4 Peter blurted out, “Sir, it’s wonderful that we can be here! If you want me to, I’ll make three shelters,[h] one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.”
5 But even as he said it, a bright cloud came over them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my beloved Son, and I am wonderfully pleased with him. Obey him.”[i]
6 At this the disciples fell face downward to the ground, terribly frightened. 7 Jesus came over and touched them. “Get up,” he said, “don’t be afraid.”
8 And when they looked, only Jesus was with them.
9 As they were going down the mountain, Jesus commanded them not to tell anyone what they had seen until after he had risen from the dead.
10 His disciples asked, “Why do the Jewish leaders insist Elijah must return before the Messiah comes?”[j]
11 Jesus replied, “They are right. Elijah must come and set everything in order. 12 And, in fact, he has already come, but he wasn’t recognized, and was badly mistreated by many. And I, the Messiah,[k] shall also suffer at their hands.”
13 Then the disciples realized he was speaking of John the Baptist.
14 When they arrived at the bottom of the hill, a huge crowd was waiting for them. A man came and knelt before Jesus and said, 15 “Sir, have mercy on my son, for he is mentally deranged and in great trouble, for he often falls into the fire or into the water; 16 so I brought him to your disciples, but they couldn’t cure him.”
17 Jesus replied, “Oh, you stubborn, faithless people! How long shall I bear with you? Bring him here to me.” 18 Then Jesus rebuked the demon in the boy and it left him, and from that moment the boy was well.
19 Afterwards the disciples asked Jesus privately, “Why couldn’t we cast that demon out?”
20 “Because of your little faith,” Jesus told them. “For if you had faith even as small as a tiny mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, ‘Move!’ and it would go far away. Nothing would be impossible. 21 But this kind of demon won’t leave unless you have prayed and gone without food.”[l]
22-23 One day while they were still in Galilee, Jesus told them, “I am going to be betrayed into the power of those who will kill me, and on the third day afterwards I will be brought back to life again.” And the disciples’ hearts were filled with sorrow and dread.
24 On their arrival in Capernaum, the Temple tax collectors came to Peter and asked him, “Doesn’t your master pay taxes?”
25 “Of course he does,” Peter replied.
Then he went into the house to talk to Jesus about it, but before he had a chance to speak, Jesus asked him, “What do you think, Peter? Do kings levy assessments against their own people or against conquered foreigners?”
26-27 “Against the foreigners,” Peter replied.
“Well, then,” Jesus said, “the citizens are free! However, we don’t want to offend them, so go down to the shore and throw in a line, and open the mouth of the first fish you catch. You will find a coin to cover the taxes for both of us; take it and pay them.”
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.