Old/New Testament
Jesus heals an epileptic boy
37-40 Then on the following day, as they came down the hill-side, a great crowd met him. Suddenly a man from the crowd shouted out, “Master, please come and look at my son! He’s my only child, and without any warning some spirit gets hold of him and he calls out suddenly. Then it convulses him until he foams at the mouth, and only after a fearful struggle does it go away and leave him bruised all over. I begged your disciples to get rid of it, but they couldn’t.”
41 “You really are an unbelieving and difficult people,” replied Jesus. “How long must I be with you, how long must I put up with you? Bring him here to me.”
42-43a But even while the boy was on his way, the spirit hurled him to the ground in a dreadful convulsion. Then Jesus reprimanded the evil spirit, healed the lad and handed him back to his father. And everybody present was amazed at this demonstration of the power of God.
The realism of Jesus in the midst of enthusiasm
43b-44 And while everybody was full of wonder at all the things they saw him do, Jesus was saying to the disciples, “Store up in your minds what I tell you nowadays, for the Son of Man is going to be handed over to the power of men.”
45 But they made no sense of this saying—something made it impossible for them to understand it, and they were afraid to ask him what he meant.
Jesus and “greatness”
46-48 Then an argument arose among them as to who should be the greatest. But Jesus, knowing what they were arguing about, took a little child and made him stand by his side. And then he said to them, “Anyone who accepts a little child in my name is really accepting me, and the man who accepts me is really accepting the one who sent me. It is the humblest among you all who is really the greatest.”
49 Then John broke in, “Master, we saw a man driving out evil spirits in your name, but we stopped him, for he is not one of us who follow you.”
50 But Jesus told him, “You must not stop him. The man who is not against you is on your side.”
He sets off for Jerusalem to meet inevitable death
51-54 Now as the days before he should be taken back into Heaven were running out, he resolved to go to Jerusalem, and sent messengers in front of him. They set out and entered a Samaritan village to make preparations for him. But the people there refused to welcome him because he was obviously intending to go to Jerusalem. When the disciples James and John saw this, they said, “Master, do you want us to call down fire from heaven and burn them all up?”
55-56 But Jesus turned and reproved them, and they all went on to another village.
57 As the little company made its way along the road, a man said to him, “I’m going to follow you wherever you go.”
58 And Jesus replied, “Foxes have earths, birds have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere that he can call his own.”
59 But he said to another man, “Follow me.” And he replied, “Let me go and bury my father first.”
60 But Jesus told him, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead. You must come away and preach the kingdom of God.”
61 Another man said to him, “I am going to follow you, Lord, but first let me bid farewell to my people at home.”
62 But Jesus told him, “Anyone who puts his hand to the plough and then looks behind him is useless for the kingdom of God.”
The New Testament in Modern English by J.B Phillips copyright © 1960, 1972 J. B. Phillips. Administered by The Archbishops’ Council of the Church of England. Used by Permission.