When hope fails us – 8 December 2020

₁₆“Now, to what can I compare the people of this day? They are like children sitting in the market place. One group shouts to the other,

₁Not long afterwards Jesus was walking through some cornfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry, so they began to pick ears of corn and eat the grain. ₂When the Pharisees saw this, they said to Jesus, “Look, it is against our Law for your disciples to do this on the Sabbath!”

₃Jesus answered, “Have you never read what David did that time when he and his men were hungry? ₄He went into the house of God, and he and his men ate the bread offered to God, even though it was against the Law for them to eat it — only the priests were allowed to eat that bread. ₅Or have you not read in the Law of Moses that every Sabbath the priests in the Temple actually break the Sabbath law, yet they are not guilty? ₆I tell you that there is something here greater than the Temple. ₇The scripture says, ‘It is kindness that I want, not animal sacrifices.’ If you really knew what this means, you would not condemn people who are not guilty; ₈for the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”

₉Jesus left that place and went to a synagogue, ₁₀where there was a man who had a paralysed hand. Some people were there who wanted to accuse Jesus of doing wrong, so they asked him, “Is it against our Law to heal on the Sabbath?”

₁₁Jesus answered, “What if one of you has a sheep and it falls into a deep hole on the Sabbath? Will you not take hold of it and lift it out? ₁₂And a human being is worth much more than a sheep! So then, our Law does allow us to help someone on the Sabbath.” ₁₃Then he said to the man with the paralysed hand, “Stretch out your hand.”

He stretched it out, and it became well again, just like the other one. ₁₄Then the Pharisees left and made plans to kill Jesus.

₁₅When Jesus heard about the plot against him, he went away from that place; and large crowds followed him. He healed all those who were ill ₁₆and gave them orders not to tell others about him. ₁₇He did this so as to make what God had said through the prophet Isaiah come true:

₂₂Then some people brought to Jesus a man who was blind and could not talk because he had a demon. Jesus healed the man, so that he was able to talk and see. ₂₃The crowds were all amazed at what Jesus had done. “Could he be the Son of David?” they asked.

₂₄When the Pharisees heard this, they replied, “He drives out demons only because their ruler Beelzebul gives him power to do so.”

₂₅Jesus knew what they were thinking, so he said to them, “Any country that divides itself into groups which fight each other will not last very long. And any town or family that divides itself into groups which fight each other will fall apart. ₂₆So if one group is fighting another in Satan's kingdom, this means that it is already divided into groups and will soon fall apart! ₂₇You say that I drive out demons because Beelzebul gives me the power to do so. Well, then, who gives your followers the power to drive them out? What your own followers do proves that you are wrong! ₂₈No, it is not Beelzebul, but God's Spirit, who gives me the power to drive out demons, which proves that the Kingdom of God has already come upon you.

₂₉“No one can break into a strong man's house and take away his belongings unless he first ties up the strong man; then he can plunder his house.

₃₀“Anyone who is not for me is really against me; anyone who does not help me gather is really scattering. ₃₁And so I tell you that people can be forgiven any sin and any evil thing they say; but whoever says evil things against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. ₃₂Anyone who says something against the Son of Man can be forgiven; but whoever says something against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven — now or ever.

₃₃“To have good fruit you must have a healthy tree; if you have a poor tree, you will have bad fruit. A tree is known by the kind of fruit it bears. ₃₄You snakes — how can you say good things when you are evil? For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of. ₃₅A good person brings good things out of a treasure of good things; a bad person brings bad things out of a treasure of bad things.

₃₆“You can be sure that on Judgement Day everyone will have to give account of every useless word he has ever spoken. ₃₇Your words will be used to judge you — to declare you either innocent or guilty.”

₃₈Then some teachers of the Law and some Pharisees spoke up. “Teacher,” they said, “we want to see you perform a miracle.”

₃₉“How evil and godless are the people of this day!” Jesus exclaimed. “You ask me for a miracle? No! The only miracle you will be given is the miracle of the prophet Jonah. ₄₀In the same way that Jonah spent three days and nights in the big fish, so will the Son of Man spend three days and nights in the depths of the earth. ₄₁On Judgement Day the people of Nineveh will stand up and accuse you, because they turned from their sins when they heard Jonah preach; and I tell you that there is something here greater than Jonah! ₄₂On Judgement Day the Queen of Sheba will stand up and accuse you, because she travelled all the way from her country to listen to King Solomon's wise teaching; and I assure you that there is something here greater than Solomon!

₄₃“When an evil spirit goes out of a person, it travels over dry country looking for a place to rest. If it can't find one, ₄₄it says to itself, ‘I will go back to my house.’ So it goes back and finds the house empty, clean, and all tidy. ₄₅Then it goes out and brings along seven other spirits even worse than itself, and they come and live there. So when it is all over, that person is in a worse state than he was at the beginning. This is what will happen to the evil people of this day.”

₄₆Jesus was still talking to the people when his mother and brothers arrived. They stood outside, asking to speak with him. ₄₇So one of the people there said to him, “Look, your mother and brothers are standing outside, and they want to speak with you.”

₄₈Jesus answered, “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?” ₄₉Then he pointed to his disciples and said, “Look! Here are my mother and my brothers! ₅₀Whoever does what my Father in heaven wants him to do is my brother, my sister, and my mother.”

₁That same day Jesus left the house and went to the lakeside, where he sat down to teach. ₂The crowd that gathered round him was so large that he got into a boat and sat in it, while the crowd stood on the shore. ₃He used parables to tell them many things.

“Once there was a man who went out to sow corn. ₄As he scattered the seed in the field, some of it fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. ₅Some of it fell on rocky ground, where there was little soil. The seeds soon sprouted, because the soil wasn't deep. ₆But when the sun came up, it burnt the young plants; and because the roots had not grown deep enough, the plants soon dried up. ₇Some of the seed fell among thorn bushes, which grew up and choked the plants. ₈But some seeds fell in good soil, and the plants produced corn; some produced 100 grains, others sixty, and others thirty.”

₉And Jesus concluded, “Listen, then, if you have ears!”

₁₀Then the disciples came to Jesus and asked him, “Why do you use parables when you talk to the people?”

₁₁Jesus answered, “The knowledge about the secrets of the Kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. ₁₂For the person who has something will be given more, so that he will have more than enough; but the person who has nothing will have taken away from him even the little he has. ₁₃The reason I use parables in talking to them is that they look, but do not see, and they listen, but do not hear or understand. ₁₄So the prophecy of Isaiah applies to them:

₁₆“As for you, how fortunate you are! Your eyes see and your ears hear. ₁₇I assure you that many prophets and many of God's people wanted very much to see what you see, but they could not, and to hear what you hear, but they did not.

₁₈“Listen, then, and learn what the parable of the sower means. ₁₉Those who hear the message about the Kingdom but do not understand it are like the seeds that fell along the path. The Evil One comes and snatches away what was sown in them. ₂₀The seeds that fell on rocky ground stand for those who receive the message gladly as soon as they hear it. ₂₁But it does not sink deep into them, and they don't last long. So when trouble or persecution comes because of the message, they give up at once. ₂₂The seeds that fell among thorn bushes stand for those who hear the message; but the worries about this life and the love for riches choke the message, and they don't bear fruit. ₂₃And the seeds sown in the good soil stand for those who hear the message and understand it: they bear fruit, some as much as 100, others sixty, and others thirty.”

₂₄Jesus told them another parable: “The Kingdom of heaven is like this. A man sowed good seed in his field. ₂₅One night, when everyone was asleep, an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. ₂₆When the plants grew and the ears of corn began to form, then the weeds showed up. ₂₇The man's servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, it was good seed you sowed in your field; where did the weeds come from?’ ₂₈‘It was some enemy who did this,’ he answered. ‘Do you want us to go and pull up the weeds?’ they asked him. ₂₉‘No,’ he answered, ‘because as you gather the weeds you might pull up some of the wheat along with them. ₃₀Let the wheat and the weeds both grow together until harvest. Then I will tell the harvest workers to pull up the weeds first, tie them in bundles and burn them, and then to gather in the wheat and put it in my barn.’ ”

₃₁Jesus told them another parable: “The Kingdom of heaven is like this. A man takes a mustard seed and sows it in his field. ₃₂It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it grows up, it is the biggest of all plants. It becomes a tree, so that birds come and make their nests in its branches.”

₃₃Jesus told them still another parable: “The Kingdom of heaven is like this. A woman takes some yeast and mixes it with forty litres of flour until the whole batch of dough rises.”

₃₄Jesus used parables to tell all these things to the crowds; he would not say a thing to them without using a parable. ₃₅He did this to make what the prophet had said come true:

₃₆When Jesus had left the crowd and gone indoors, his disciples came to him and said, “Tell us what the parable about the weeds in the field means.”

₃₇Jesus answered, “The man who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man; ₃₈the field is the world; the good seed is the people who belong to the Kingdom; the weeds are the people who belong to the Evil One; ₃₉and the enemy who sowed the weeds is the Devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvest workers are angels. ₄₀Just as the weeds are gathered up and burnt in the fire, so the same thing will happen at the end of the age: ₄₁the Son of Man will send out his angels to gather up out of his Kingdom all those who cause people to sin and all others who do evil things, ₄₂and they will throw them into the fiery furnace, where they will cry and grind their teeth. ₄₃Then God's people will shine like the sun in their Father's Kingdom. Listen, then, if you have ears!

₄₄“The Kingdom of heaven is like this. A man happens to find a treasure hidden in a field. He covers it up again, and is so happy that he goes and sells everything he has, and then goes back and buys that field.

₄₅“Also, the Kingdom of heaven is like this. A man is looking for fine pearls, ₄₆and when he finds one that is unusually fine, he goes and sells everything he has, and buys that pearl.

₄₇“Also, the Kingdom of heaven is like this. Some fishermen throw their net out in the lake and catch all kinds of fish. ₄₈When the net is full, they pull it to shore and sit down to divide the fish: the good ones go into their buckets, the worthless ones are thrown away. ₄₉It will be like this at the end of the age: the angels will go out and gather up the evil people from among the good ₅₀and will throw them into the fiery furnace, where they will cry and grind their teeth.

₅₁“Do you understand these things?” Jesus asked them.

“Yes,” they answered.

₅₂So he replied, “This means, then, that every teacher of the Law who becomes a disciple in the Kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who takes new and old things out of his storeroom.”

₅₃When Jesus finished telling these parables, he left that place ₅₄and went back to his home town. He taught in the synagogue, and those who heard him were amazed. “Where did he get such wisdom?” they asked. “And what about his miracles? ₅₅Isn't he the carpenter's son? Isn't Mary his mother, and aren't James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas his brothers? ₅₆Aren't all his sisters living here? Where did he get all this?” ₅₇And so they rejected him.

Jesus said to them, “A prophet is respected everywhere except in his home town and by his own family.” ₅₈Because they did not have faith, he did not perform many miracles there.

₁At that time Herod, the ruler of Galilee, heard about Jesus. ₂“He is really John the Baptist, who has come back to life,” he told his officials. “That is why he has this power to perform miracles.”

₃For Herod had earlier ordered John's arrest, and he had him chained and put in prison. He had done this because of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife. ₄For some time John the Baptist had told Herod, “It isn't right for you to be married to Herodias!” ₅Herod wanted to kill him, but he was afraid of the Jewish people, because they considered John to be a prophet.

₆On Herod's birthday the daughter of Herodias danced in front of the whole group. Herod was so pleased ₇that he promised her, “I swear that I will give you anything you ask for!”

₈At her mother's suggestion she asked him, “Give me here and now the head of John the Baptist on a dish!”

₉The king was sad, but because of the promise he had made in front of all his guests he gave orders that her wish be granted. ₁₀So he had John beheaded in prison. ₁₁The head was brought in on a dish and given to the girl, who took it to her mother. ₁₂John's disciples came, carried away his body, and buried it; then they went and told Jesus.

₁₃When Jesus heard the news about John, he left there in a boat and went to a lonely place by himself. The people heard about it, so they left their towns and followed him by land. ₁₄Jesus got out of the boat, and when he saw the large crowd, his heart was filled with pity for them, and he healed those who were ill.

₁₅That evening his disciples came to him and said, “It is already very late, and this is a lonely place. Send the people away and let them go to the villages to buy food for themselves.”

₁₆“They don't have to leave,” answered Jesus. “You yourselves give them something to eat!”

₁₇“All we have here are five loaves and two fish,” they replied.

₁₈“Then bring them here to me,” Jesus said. ₁₉He ordered the people to sit down on the grass; then he took the five loaves and the two fish, looked up to heaven, and gave thanks to God. He broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. ₂₀Everyone ate and had enough. Then the disciples took up twelve baskets full of what was left over. ₂₁The number of men who ate was about 5,000, not counting the women and children.

₂₂Then Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side of the lake, while he sent the people away. ₂₃After sending the people away, he went up a hill by himself to pray. When evening came, Jesus was there alone; ₂₄and by this time the boat was far out in the lake, tossed about by the waves, because the wind was blowing against it.

₂₅Between three and six o'clock in the morning Jesus came to the disciples, walking on the water. ₂₆When they saw him walking on the water, they were terrified. “It's a ghost!” they said, and screamed with fear.

₂₇Jesus spoke to them at once. “Courage!” he said. “It is I. Don't be afraid!”

₂₈Then Peter spoke up. “Lord, if it is really you, order me to come out on the water to you.”

₂₉“Come!” answered Jesus. So Peter got out of the boat and started walking on the water to Jesus. ₃₀But when he noticed the strong wind, he was afraid and started to sink down in the water. “Save me, Lord!” he cried.

₃₁At once Jesus reached out and grabbed hold of him and said, “How little faith you have! Why did you doubt?”

₃₂They both got into the boat, and the wind died down. ₃₃Then the disciples in the boat worshipped Jesus. “Truly you are the Son of God!” they exclaimed.

₃₄They crossed the lake and came to land at Gennesaret, ₃₅where the people recognized Jesus. So they sent for the sick people in all the surrounding country and brought them to Jesus. ₃₆They begged him to let those who were ill at least touch the edge of his cloak; and all who touched it were made well.

₁Then some Pharisees and teachers of the Law came from Jerusalem to Jesus and asked him, ₂“Why is it that your disciples disobey the teaching handed down by our ancestors? They don't wash their hands in the proper way before they eat!”

₃Jesus answered, “And why do you disobey God's command and follow your own teaching? ₄For God said, ‘Respect your father and your mother,’ and ‘Whoever curses his father or his mother is to be put to death.’ ₅But you teach that if a person has something he could use to help his father or mother, but says, ‘This belongs to God,’ ₆he does not need to honour his father. In this way you disregard God's command, in order to follow your own teaching. ₇You hypocrites! How right Isaiah was when he prophesied about you!

₁₀Then Jesus called the crowd to him and said to them, “Listen and understand! ₁₁It is not what goes into a person's mouth that makes him ritually unclean; rather, what comes out of it makes him unclean.”

₁₂Then the disciples came to him and said, “Do you know that the Pharisees had their feelings hurt by what you said?”

₁₃“Every plant which my Father in heaven did not plant will be pulled up,” answered Jesus. ₁₄“Don't worry about them! They are blind leaders of the blind; and when one blind man leads another, both fall into a ditch.”

₁₅Peter spoke up, “Explain this saying to us.”

₁₆Jesus said to them, “You are still no more intelligent than the others. ₁₇Don't you understand? Anything that goes into a person's mouth goes into his stomach and then on out of his body. ₁₈But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these are the things that make a person ritually unclean. ₁₉For from his heart come the evil ideas which lead him to kill, commit adultery, and do other immoral things; to rob, lie, and slander others. ₂₀These are the things that make a person unclean. But to eat without washing your hands as they say you should — this doesn't make a person unclean.”

₂₁Jesus left that place and went off to the territory near the cities of Tyre and Sidon. ₂₂A Canaanite woman who lived in that region came to him. “Son of David!” she cried out. “Have mercy on me, sir! My daughter has a demon and is in a terrible condition.”

₂₃But Jesus did not say a word to her. His disciples came to him and begged him, “Send her away! She is following us and making all this noise!”

₂₄Then Jesus replied, “I have been sent only to the lost sheep of the people of Israel.”

₂₅At this the woman came and fell at his feet. “Help me, sir!” she said.

₂₆Jesus answered, “It isn't right to take the children's food and throw it to the dogs.”

₂₇“That's true, sir,” she answered; “but even the dogs eat the leftovers that fall from their masters' table.”

₂₈So Jesus answered her, “You are a woman of great faith! What you want will be done for you.” And at that very moment her daughter was healed.

₂₉Jesus left there and went along by Lake Galilee. He climbed a hill and sat down. ₃₀Large crowds came to him, bringing with them the lame, the blind, the crippled, the dumb, and many other sick people, whom they placed at Jesus' feet; and he healed them. ₃₁The people were amazed as they saw the dumb speaking, the crippled made whole, the lame walking, and the blind seeing; and they praised the God of Israel.

₃₂Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I feel sorry for these people, because they have been with me for three days and now have nothing to eat. I don't want to send them away without feeding them, for they might faint on their way home.”

₃₃The disciples asked him, “Where will we find enough food in this desert to feed this crowd?”

₃₄“How much bread have you?” Jesus asked.

“Seven loaves,” they answered, “and a few small fish.”

₃₅So Jesus ordered the crowd to sit down on the ground. ₃₆Then he took the seven loaves and the fish, gave thanks to God, broke them, and gave them to the disciples; and the disciples gave them to the people. ₃₇They all ate and had enough. Then the disciples took up seven baskets full of pieces left over. ₃₈The number of men who ate was 4,000, not counting the women and children.

₃₉Then Jesus sent the people away, got into a boat, and went to the territory of Magadan.

₁Some Pharisees and Sadducees who came to Jesus wanted to trap him, so they asked him to perform a miracle for them, to show that God approved of him. ₂But Jesus answered, “When the sun is setting, you say, ‘We are going to have fine weather, because the sky is red.’ ₃And early in the morning you say, ‘It is going to rain, because the sky is red and dark.’ You can predict the weather by looking at the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs concerning these times! ₄How evil and godless are the people of this day! You ask me for a miracle? No! The only miracle you will be given is the miracle of Jonah.”

So he left them and went away.

₅When the disciples crossed over to the other side of the lake, they forgot to take any bread. ₆Jesus said to them, “Take care; be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”

₇They started discussing among themselves, “He says this because we didn't bring any bread.”

₈Jesus knew what they were saying, so he asked them, “Why are you discussing among yourselves about not having any bread? How little faith you have! ₉Don't you understand yet? Don't you remember when I broke the five loaves for the 5,000 men? How many baskets did you fill? ₁₀And what about the seven loaves for the 4,000 men? How many baskets did you fill? ₁₁How is it that you don't understand that I was not talking to you about bread? Guard yourselves from the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees!”

₁₂Then the disciples understood that he was not warning them to guard themselves from the yeast used in bread but from the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

₁₃Jesus went to the territory near the town of Caesarea Philippi, where he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”

₁₄“Some say John the Baptist,” they answered. “Others say Elijah, while others say Jeremiah or some other prophet.”

₁₅“What about you?” he asked them. “Who do you say I am?”

₁₆Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

₁₇“Good for you, Simon son of John!” answered Jesus. “For this truth did not come to you from any human being, but it was given to you directly by my Father in heaven. ₁₈And so I tell you, Peter: you are a rock, and on this rock foundation I will build my church, and not even death will ever be able to overcome it. ₁₉I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of heaven; what you prohibit on earth will be prohibited in heaven, and what you permit on earth will be permitted in heaven.”

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

₂₁From that time on Jesus began to say plainly to his disciples, “I must go to Jerusalem and suffer much from the elders, the chief priests, and the teachers of the Law. I will be put to death, but three days later I will be raised to life.”

₂₂Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “God forbid it, Lord!” he said. “That must never happen to you!”

₂₃Jesus turned around and said to Peter, “Get away from me, Satan! You are an obstacle in my way, because these thoughts of yours don't come from God, but from human nature.”

₂₄Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone wants to come with me, he must forget self, carry his cross, and follow me. ₂₅For whoever wants to save his own life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. ₂₆Will people gain anything if they win the whole world but lose their life? Of course not! There is nothing they can give to regain their life. ₂₇For the Son of Man is about to come in the glory of his Father with his angels, and then he will reward each one according to his deeds. ₂₈I assure you that there are some here who will not die until they have seen the Son of Man come as King.”

₁Six days later Jesus took with him Peter and the brothers James and John and led them up a high mountain where they were alone. ₂As they looked on, a change came over Jesus: his face was shining like the sun, and his clothes were dazzling white. ₃Then the three disciples saw Moses and Elijah talking with Jesus. ₄So Peter spoke up and said to Jesus, “Lord, how good it is that we are here! If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”

₅While he was talking, a shining cloud came over them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my own dear Son, with whom I am pleased — listen to him!”

₆When the disciples heard the voice, they were so terrified that they threw themselves face downwards on the ground. ₇Jesus came to them and touched them. “Get up,” he said. “Don't be afraid!” ₈So they looked up and saw no one there but Jesus.

₉As they came down the mountain, Jesus ordered them, “Don't tell anyone about this vision you have seen until the Son of Man has been raised from death.”

₁₀Then the disciples asked Jesus, “Why do the teachers of the Law say that Elijah has to come first?”

₁₁“Elijah is indeed coming first,” answered Jesus, “and he will get everything ready. ₁₂But I tell you that Elijah has already come and people did not recognize him, but treated him just as they pleased. In the same way they will also ill-treat the Son of Man.”

₁₃Then the disciples understood that he was talking to them about John the Baptist.

₁₄When they returned to the crowd, a man came to Jesus, knelt before him, ₁₅and said, “Sir, have mercy on my son! He is an epileptic and has such terrible fits that he often falls in the fire or into water. ₁₆I brought him to your disciples, but they could not heal him.”