Read the Gospels in 40 Days

God’s law and human tradition

7 The Pharisees gathered round Jesus, together with some legal experts from Jerusalem. ² They saw that some of his disciples were eating their food with unclean (that is, unwashed) hands.

³ (The Pharisees, you see—and indeed all the Jews—don’t eat unless they first carefully wash their hands. This is to maintain the tradition of the elders. ⁴ When they come in from the market, they never eat without washing. There are many other traditions which they observe: washings of cups, pots and bronze dishes.)

⁵ Anyway, the Pharisees and legal experts asked Jesus, “Why don’t your disciples follow the tradition of the elders? Why do they eat their food with unwashed hands?”

⁶ “Isaiah summed you up just right,” Jesus replied. “What hypocrites you are! What he said was this:

⁸ “You abandon God’s commands, and keep human tradition!

⁹ “So,” he went on, “you have a fine way of setting aside God’s command so as to maintain your tradition. ¹⁰ Here’s an example: Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘Anyone who slanders father or mother should die.’ ¹¹ But you say, ‘If someone says to their father or mother, “What you might get from me—it’s Korban!” ’ (which means, ‘given-to-God’), ¹² you don’t let them do anything else for their father or mother! ¹³ The net result is that you invalidate God’s word through this tradition which you hand on. And there are lots more things like that which you do.”

Clean and unclean

¹⁴ Jesus summoned the crowd again.

“Listen to me, all of you,” he said, “and get this straight. ¹⁵ What goes into you from outside can’t make you unclean. What makes you unclean is what comes out from inside.”

¹⁷ When they got back into the house, away from the crowd, his disciples asked him about the parable.

¹⁸ “You didn’t get it either?” he asked. “Don’t you see that whatever goes into someone from outside can’t make them unclean? ¹⁹ It doesn’t go into the heart; it only goes into the stomach, and then carries on, out down the drain.” (Result: all foods are clean.)

²⁰ “What makes someone unclean,” he went on, “is what comes out of them. ²¹ Evil intentions come from inside, out of people’s hearts—sexual immorality, theft, murder, ²² adultery, greed, wickedness, treachery, debauchery, envy, slander, pride, stupidity. ²³ These evil things all come from inside. They are what make someone unclean.”

The Syrophoenician woman

²⁴ Jesus got up, left that place, and went to the region of Tyre. When he went into a house, he didn’t want anyone to know, but it wasn’t possible for him to remain hidden. ²⁵ On the contrary: news of him at once reached a woman who had a young daughter with an unclean spirit. She came and threw herself down at his feet. ²⁶ She was Greek, a Syrophoenician by race; and she asked him to cast the demon out of her daughter.

²⁷ “First let the children eat what they want,” Jesus replied. “It’s not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”

²⁸ “Well, Master,” she said, “even the dogs under the table eat the crumbs that the children drop.”

²⁹ “Well said!” replied Jesus. “Off you go; the demon has left your daughter.”

³⁰ So she went home, and found the child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.

A deaf and mute man is healed

³¹ Jesus went away from the region of Tyre, through Sidon, round towards the sea of Galilee, and into the region of the Ten Towns. ³² They brought to him a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment, and asked that he would lay his hand on him.

³³ Jesus took the man off in private, away from the crowd. He put his fingers into his ears, spat, and touched his tongue. ³⁴ Then he looked up to heaven, groaned, and said to him, “Ephphatha” (that is, “Be opened”). ³⁵ Immediately the man’s ears were opened, and his tongue was untied, and he spoke clearly.

³⁶ Jesus gave them orders not to tell anyone. But the more he ordered them, the more they spread the news. ³⁷ They were totally astonished.

“Everything he does is marvelous!” they said. “He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak!”

The feeding of the four thousand

8 Once again, about that time, a large crowd gathered with nothing to eat.

Jesus called the disciples.

² “I’m really sorry for the people,” he said. “They’ve been with me three days now, and they haven’t got anything to eat. ³ If I send them home hungry, they’ll collapse on the way. Some of them have come from miles off.”

⁴ “Where could you get food for all this lot, out here in the wilderness?” answered his disciples.

⁵ “How many loaves have you got?” he asked. “Seven,” they replied.

⁶ He told the crowd to sit down on the ground. Then he took the seven loaves, gave thanks, broke them and gave them to his disciples to share around, and they gave them to the crowd. ⁷ They had a few small fish, which he also blessed and told them to distribute. ⁸ They ate; they were satisfied; and they took up seven baskets of leftover bits. ⁹ There were about four thousand people. And he sent them away.

¹⁰ At once Jesus got into the boat with his disciples and went to the region of Dalmanoutha.

The leaven of the Pharisees and Herod

¹¹ The Pharisees came out and began to dispute with Jesus. They were asking him for a sign from heaven, to test him out.

¹² Jesus groaned deeply in his spirit. “Why is this generation looking for a sign?” he said. “I’m telling you the truth: no sign will be given to this generation.” ¹³ He left them again, got into the boat, and crossed over to the other side.

¹⁴ They had forgotten to get any bread, and had only one loaf with them in the boat.

¹⁵ “Beware!” said Jesus sternly to them. “Watch out for leaven—the Pharisees’ leaven, and Herod’s leaven too!”

¹⁶ “It must be something to do with us not having any bread,” they said to each other.

¹⁷ “Why are you grumbling about not bringing bread?” said Jesus, who knew what they were thinking. “Don’t you get it? Don’t you understand? Have your hearts gone hard?

“And don’t you remember? ¹⁹ When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken bits were left over?”

“Twelve,” they said.

²⁰ “And the seven loaves for the four thousand—how many baskets full of bits were left over?”

“Seven,” they replied.

²¹ “You still don’t get it?” he asked.

Peter’s declaration of Jesus’ messiahship

²² They arrived at Bethsaida. A blind man was brought to Jesus, and they begged him to touch him. ²³ He took his hand, led him off outside the village, and put spittle on his eyes. Then he laid his hands on him, and asked, “Can you see anything?”

²⁴ “I can see people,” said the man, peering around, “but they look like trees walking about.”

²⁵ Then Jesus laid his hands on him once more. This time he looked hard, and his sight came back: he could see everything clearly. ²⁶ Jesus sent him back home.

“Don’t even go into the village,” he said.

²⁷ Jesus and his disciples came to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked his disciples, “Who are people saying that I am?”

²⁸ “John the Baptist,” they said, “or, some say, Elijah; or, others say, one of the prophets.”

²⁹ “What about you?” asked Jesus. “Who do you say I am?”

Peter spoke up. “You’re the Messiah,” he said.

³⁰ He gave them strict orders not to tell anyone about him.

Jesus predicts his death

³¹ Jesus now began to teach them something new.

“There’s big trouble in store for the son of man,” he said. “The elders, the chief priests and the scribes are going to reject him. He will be killed—and after three days he’ll be raised.” ³² He said all this quite explicitly.

At this, Peter took him aside and started to scold him. ³³ But he turned round, saw the disciples, and scolded Peter.

“Get behind me, Accuser!” he said. “You’re thinking human thoughts, not God’s thoughts.”

³⁴ He called the crowd to him, with his disciples. “If any of you want to come the way I’m going,” he said, “you must say ‘no’ to your own selves, pick up your cross, and follow me. ³⁵ Yes: if you want to save your life, you’ll lose it; but if you lose your life because of me and the message you’ll save it. ³⁶ After all, what use is it to win the world and lose your life? ³⁷ What can you give in exchange for your life? ³⁸ If you’re ashamed of me and my words in this cheating and sinning generation, the son of man will be ashamed of you when he ‘comes in the glory of his father with the holy angels.’

9 “I’m telling you the truth,” he said; “some people standing here won’t experience death before they see God’s kingdom come in power.”

The transfiguration

² A week later, Jesus took Peter, James and John away by themselves, and went up a high mountain. There he was transformed before their eyes. ³ His clothes shone with a whiteness that no laundry on earth could match. ⁴ Elijah appeared to them, and Moses too, and they were talking with Jesus.

⁵ “Teacher,” said Peter as he saw this, “it’s great to be here! Let’s make three shelters, one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah!” ⁶ (He didn’t know what to say; they were terrified.)

⁷ Then a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud: “This is my son, the one I love. Listen to him!”

⁸ Then, quite suddenly, they looked round and saw nobody there anymore, only Jesus with them.

⁹ As they came down the mountain, Jesus instructed them not to talk to anyone about what they had seen, “until,” he said, “the son of man has been raised from the dead.” ¹⁰ They held on to this saying among themselves, puzzling about what this “rising from the dead” might mean.

¹¹ “Why then,” they asked him, “do the legal experts say ‘Elijah must come first’?”

¹² “Elijah does come first,” he replied, “and his job is to put everything straight. But what do you think it means that ‘the son of man must suffer many things and be treated with contempt’? ¹³ Actually, listen to this: Elijah has already come, and they did to him whatever they wanted. That’s what scripture said about him.”

The demon-possessed boy

¹⁴ The four of them made their way back to the other disciples. There they saw a large crowd surrounding them, and legal experts arguing with them. ¹⁵ As soon as the crowd saw Jesus they were astounded, and they all ran up to greet him.

¹⁶ “What’s all the fuss about?” he asked.

¹⁷ “Teacher,” said someone from the crowd, “I brought my son to you. He’s got a spirit that stops him speaking. ¹⁸ Whenever it takes hold of him it throws him on the ground; he foams at the mouth, and grinds his teeth, and goes rigid. I spoke to your disciples about casting it out, but they couldn’t.”

¹⁹ “You unbelieving generation!” replied Jesus. “How much longer must I be with you? How much longer must I put up with you? Bring the boy to me.”

²⁰ They brought him to him. When the spirit saw Jesus, it immediately threw the boy into a convulsion, and he fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth.

²¹ “How long has it been like this with him?” asked Jesus.

“Since childhood,” replied the man. ²² “Often it even throws him into the fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything . . . please, please help us! Have pity on us!”

²³ “What d’you mean, ‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible to someone who believes.”

²⁴ At this the father gave a great shout. “I do believe!” he roared. “Help me in my unbelief!”

²⁵ Jesus saw that the crowd was getting bigger by the minute. He scolded the unclean spirit: “Speechless and deaf spirit,” he said, “I command you—come out of him, and never go back again!”

²⁶ The spirit yelled, gave the boy a huge convulsion, and came out. The boy seemed to be dead; in fact, several people did say “He’s dead!” ²⁷ But Jesus took him by the hand and helped him to his feet, and he stood up.

²⁸ “Why couldn’t we cast it out?” asked his disciples, once they were back in the house by themselves.

²⁹ “This sort,” replied Jesus, “can only be cast out by prayer.”

True greatness

³⁰ They went away from there and were traveling through Galilee. Jesus didn’t want anyone to know, ³¹ because he was teaching his disciples.

“The ‘son of man,’ ” he was saying, “is to be given over into human hands. They will kill him; and, when he’s been killed, after three days he will rise again.”

³² They didn’t understand the saying, and were afraid to ask him.

³³ They came to Capernaum. When they got into the house he asked them, “What were you arguing about on the road?”

³⁴ They said nothing, because on the road they had been arguing about which of them was the greatest.

³⁵ Jesus sat down and called the Twelve. “If you want to be first,” he said, “you must be last of all, and servant of all.” ³⁶ He took a small child, and stood it in the middle of them. Then he hugged the child, and said to them, ³⁷ “If anyone welcomes one child like this in my name, they welcome me. And if anyone welcomes me, it isn’t me they welcome, but the one who sent me.”

Warnings about sin

³⁸ “Teacher,” said John, “we saw someone casting out demons in your name. We stopped him, because he wasn’t following us.”

³⁹ “Don’t stop him,” said Jesus. “No one who does powerful things by my name will be able to say bad things about me soon afterwards. ⁴⁰ Anyone who’s not against us is on our side. ⁴¹ Anyone who even gives you a cup of water in my name, because you belong to the Messiah—I’m telling you the truth, that person won’t go unrewarded.

⁴² “Think about these little ones who believe in me,” he went on. “If anyone causes one of them to slip up, it would be much better for that person to have a huge millstone put around their neck, and be thrown into the sea.

⁴³ “And if your hand causes you to slip up, cut it off. It’s better for you to go into life maimed than to have two hands and go into Gehenna, into the fire that never goes out.

⁴⁵ “And if your foot causes you to slip up, cut it off. It’s better for you to go into life lame than to have two feet and be thrown into Gehenna.

⁴⁷ “And if your eye causes you to slip up, throw it away. It’s better for you to go into the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and to be thrown into Gehenna, ⁴⁸ where

⁴⁹ “You see, everyone will be salted with fire. ⁵⁰ Salt is great stuff; but if salt becomes unsalty, how can you make it salty again? You need salt among yourselves. Live at peace with each other.”