Read the Gospels in 40 Days

John Prepares for Jesus

1 This is the beginning of the Good News about Jesus Christ, the Son of God,^{[a] 2} as the prophet Isaiah wrote:

⁴ John was baptizing people in the desert. He preached a baptism of changed hearts and lives for the forgiveness of sins. ⁵ All the people from Judea and Jerusalem were going out to John. They told about the sins they had done. Then they were baptized by him in the Jordan River. ⁶ John wore clothes made from camel’s hair and had a leather belt around his waist. He ate locusts and wild honey. ⁷ This is what John preached to the people: “There is one coming later who is greater than I. I am not good enough even to kneel down and untie his sandals. ⁸ I baptize you with water. But the one who is coming will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

Jesus Is Baptized

⁹ At that time Jesus came from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to the place where John was. John baptized Jesus in the Jordan River. ¹⁰ When Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven open. The Holy Spirit came down on him like a dove. ¹¹ A voice came from heaven and said: “You are my Son and I love you. I am very pleased with you.”

¹² Then the Spirit sent Jesus into the desert alone. ¹³ He was in the desert 40 days and was there with the wild animals. While he was in the desert, he was tempted by Satan. Then angels came and took care of Jesus.

Jesus Chooses Some Followers

¹⁴ After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee and preached the Good News from God. ¹⁵ Jesus said, “The right time has come. The kingdom of God is near. Change your hearts and lives and believe the Good News!”

¹⁶ When Jesus was walking by Lake Galilee, he saw Simon^[b] and Simon’s brother, Andrew. They were fishermen and were throwing a net into the lake to catch fish. ¹⁷ Jesus said to them, “Come and follow me. I will make you fishermen for men.” ¹⁸ So Simon and Andrew immediately left their nets and followed him.

¹⁹ Jesus continued walking by Lake Galilee. He saw two more brothers, James and John, the sons of Zebedee. They were in their boat, preparing their nets to catch fish. ²⁰ Their father Zebedee and the men who worked for him were in the boat with the brothers. When Jesus saw the brothers, he called them to come with him. They left their father and followed Jesus.

Jesus Removes an Evil Spirit

²¹ Jesus and his followers went to Capernaum. On the Sabbath day Jesus went to the synagogue and began to teach. ²² The people there were amazed at his teaching. He did not teach like their teachers of the law. He taught like a person who had authority. ²³ While he was in the synagogue, a man was there who had an evil spirit in him. The man shouted, ²⁴ “Jesus of Nazareth! What do you want with us? Did you come to destroy us? I know who you are—God’s Holy One!”

²⁵ Jesus said strongly, “Be quiet! Come out of the man!” ²⁶ The evil spirit made the man shake violently. Then the spirit gave a loud cry and came out of him.

²⁷ The people were amazed. They asked each other, “What is happening here? This man is teaching something new. And he teaches with authority. He even gives commands to evil spirits, and they obey him.” ²⁸ And the news about Jesus spread quickly everywhere in the area of Galilee.

Jesus Heals Many People

²⁹ Jesus and his followers left the synagogue. They all went at once with James and John to the home of Simon^[c] and Andrew. ³⁰ Simon’s mother-in-law was sick in bed with a fever. The people there told Jesus about her. ³¹ So Jesus went to her bed, took her hand, and helped her up. Immediately the fever left her, and she was healed. Then she began serving them.

³² That night, after the sun went down, the people brought to Jesus all who were sick. They also brought those who had demons in them. ³³ The whole town gathered at the door of the house. ³⁴ Jesus healed many who had different kinds of sicknesses. He also forced many demons to leave people. But he would not allow the demons to speak, because they knew who he was.

³⁵ Early the next morning, Jesus woke and left the house while it was still dark. He went to a place to be alone and pray. ³⁶ Later, Simon and his friends went to look for Jesus. ³⁷ They found him and said, “Everyone is looking for you!”

³⁸ Jesus answered, “We should go somewhere else, to other towns around here. Then I can preach there too. That is the reason I came.” ³⁹ So he traveled everywhere in Galilee. He preached in the synagogues and forced demons to leave people.

Jesus Heals a Sick Man

⁴⁰ A man who had a harmful skin disease came to Jesus. The man fell to his knees and begged Jesus, “I know that you can heal me if you will.”

⁴¹ Jesus felt sorry for the man. So he touched him and said, “I want to heal you. Be healed!” ⁴² At once the disease left the man, and he was healed.

⁴³ Jesus told the man to go at once. But Jesus warned him strongly, ⁴⁴ “Don’t tell anyone about what I did for you. But go and show yourself to the priest. And offer a gift to God because you have been healed. Offer the gift that Moses commanded.^[d] This will show the people that you are healed.” ⁴⁵ The man left there, but he told everyone he saw that Jesus had healed him. So the news about Jesus spread. That is the reason Jesus could not enter a town if people saw him. He stayed in places where nobody lived. But people came from all the towns to wherever he was.

Jesus Heals a Paralyzed Man

2 A few days later, Jesus came back to Capernaum. The news spread that he was home. ² So many people gathered to hear him preach that the house was full. There was no place to stand, not even outside the door. Jesus was teaching them. ³ Some people came, bringing a paralyzed man to Jesus. Four of them were carrying the paralyzed man. ⁴ But they could not get to Jesus because of the crowd. So they went to the roof above Jesus and made a hole in the roof. Then they lowered the mat with the paralyzed man on it. ⁵ Jesus saw that these men had great faith. So he said to the paralyzed man, “Young man, your sins are forgiven.”

⁶ Some of the teachers of the law were sitting there. They saw what Jesus did, and they said to themselves, ⁷ “Why does this man say things like that? He is saying things that are against God. Only God can forgive sins.”

⁸ At once Jesus knew what these teachers of the law were thinking. So he said to them, “Why are you thinking these things? ⁹ Which is easier: to tell this paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to tell him, ‘Stand up. Take your mat and walk’? ¹⁰ But I will prove to you that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So Jesus said to the paralyzed man, ¹¹ “I tell you, stand up. Take your mat and go home.” ¹² Immediately the paralyzed man stood up. He took his mat and walked out while everyone was watching him.

The people were amazed and praised God. They said, “We have never seen anything like this!”

¹³ Jesus went to the lake again. A crowd followed him there, and he taught them. ¹⁴ While he was walking beside the lake, he saw a tax collector named Levi son of Alphaeus. Levi was sitting in the tax office. Jesus said to him, “Follow me.” And Levi stood up and followed Jesus.

¹⁵ Later that day, Jesus ate at Levi’s house. There were many tax collectors and “sinners” eating there with Jesus and his followers. Many people like this followed Jesus. ¹⁶ The teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw Jesus eating with the tax collectors and “sinners.” They asked his followers, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

¹⁷ Jesus heard this and said to them, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor. It is the sick who need a doctor. I did not come to invite good people. I came to invite sinners.”

Jesus’ Followers Are Criticized

¹⁸ One day the followers of John^[e] and the Pharisees were giving up eating.^[f] Some people came to Jesus and said, “John’s followers and the followers of the Pharisees give up eating. But your followers don’t. Why?”

¹⁹ Jesus answered, “When there is a wedding, the friends of the bridegroom are not sad while he is with them. They do not give up eating while the bridegroom is still there. ²⁰ But the time will come when the bridegroom will leave them. Then the friends will be sad and will give up eating.

²¹ “When a person sews a patch over a hole on an old coat, he never uses a piece of cloth that is not yet shrunk. If he does, the patch will shrink and pull away from the coat. Then the hole will be worse. ²² Also, no one ever pours new wine into old leather bags for holding wine. If he does, the new wine will break the bags, and the wine will be ruined along with the bags for the wine. People always put new wine into new leather bags.”

Jesus Is Lord of the Sabbath

²³ On the Sabbath day, Jesus was walking through some grainfields. His followers were with him and picked some grain to eat. ²⁴ The Pharisees saw this and said to Jesus, “Why are your followers doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?”

²⁵ Jesus answered, “You have read what David did when he and those with him were hungry and needed food. ²⁶ It was during the time of Abiathar the high priest. David went into God’s house and ate the bread that was made holy for God. The law of Moses says that only priests may eat that bread. But David also gave some of the bread to those who were with him.”

²⁷ Then Jesus said to the Pharisees, “The Sabbath day was made to help people. They were not made to be ruled by the Sabbath day. ²⁸ The Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”

Jesus Heals a Man’s Crippled Hand

3 Another time when Jesus went into a synagogue, a man with a crippled hand was there. ² Some people there wanted to see Jesus do something wrong so they could accuse him. They watched him closely to see if he would heal the man on the Sabbath day.

³ Jesus said to the man with the crippled hand, “Stand up here in front of everyone.”

⁴ Then Jesus asked the people, “Which is right on the Sabbath day: to do good, or to do evil? Is it right to save a life or to destroy one?” But they said nothing to answer him.

⁵ Jesus was angry as he looked at the people. But he felt very sad because they were stubborn. Then he said to the man, “Let me see your hand.” The man put his hand out for Jesus, and it was healed. ⁶ Then the Pharisees left and began making plans with the Herodians^[g] about a way to kill Jesus.

Many People Follow Jesus

⁷ Jesus left with his followers for the lake. A large crowd from Galilee followed him. ⁸ Also many people came from Judea, from Jerusalem, from Idumea, from the lands across the Jordan River, and from the area of Tyre and Sidon. They came because they had heard about all the things Jesus was doing. ⁹ Jesus saw the crowds. So he told his followers to get a boat ready for him. He wanted the boat so that the many people would not crowd themselves against him. ¹⁰ He had healed many people. So all the sick were pushing toward him to touch him. ¹¹ Some had evil spirits in them. When the evil spirits saw Jesus, they fell down before him and shouted, “You are the Son of God!” ¹² But Jesus strongly commanded the spirits not to tell who he was.

Jesus Chooses His 12 Apostles

¹³ Then Jesus went up on a hill and called some men to come to him. These were the men Jesus wanted, and they went up to him. ¹⁴ Jesus chose 12 men and called them apostles.^[h] He wanted these 12 to be with him, and he wanted to send them to other places to preach. ¹⁵ He also wanted them to have the power to force demons out of people. ¹⁶ These are the 12 men he chose: Simon (Jesus gave him the name Peter); ¹⁷ James and John, the sons of Zebedee (Jesus gave them the name Boanerges, which means “Sons of Thunder”); ¹⁸ Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Zealot, ¹⁹ and Judas Iscariot. Judas is the one who gave Jesus to his enemies.

People Say Jesus Has a Devil

²⁰ Then Jesus went back home. But again a crowd gathered. There were so many people that Jesus and his followers could not eat. ²¹ His family heard about all these things. They went to get him because people were saying that Jesus was out of his mind.

²² And the teachers of the law from Jerusalem were saying, “Beelzebul is living inside him! He uses power from the ruler of demons to force demons out.”

²³ So Jesus called the people together and used stories to teach them. He said, “Satan will not force his own demons out of people. ²⁴ A kingdom that fights against itself cannot continue. ²⁵ And a family that is divided cannot continue. ²⁶ And if Satan is against himself and fights against his own people, then he cannot continue. And that is the end of Satan. ²⁷ If a person wants to enter a strong man’s house and steal his things, first he must tie up the strong man. Then the thief can steal the things from the strong man’s house. ²⁸ I tell you the truth. All sins that people do can be forgiven. And all the bad things people say against God can be forgiven. ²⁹ But any person who says bad things against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven. He is guilty of a sin that continues forever.”

³⁰ Jesus said this because the teachers of the law said that Jesus had an evil spirit inside him.

Jesus’ True Family

³¹ Then Jesus’ mother and brothers arrived. They stood outside and sent someone in to tell him to come out. ³² Many people were sitting around Jesus. They said to him, “Your mother and brothers^[i] are waiting for you outside.”

³³ Jesus asked, “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?” ³⁴ Then Jesus looked at those sitting around him. He said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! ³⁵ My true brother and sister and mother are those who do the things God wants.”