Bible Reading Plan – Day 279

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.”

₁₇Jesus answered, “How unbelieving and wrong you people are! How long must I stay with you? How long do I have to put up with you? Bring the boy here to me!” ₁₈Jesus gave a command to the demon, and it went out of the boy, and at that very moment he was healed.

₁₉Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked him, “Why couldn't we drive the demon out?”

₂₀“It was because you haven't enough faith,” answered Jesus. “I assure you that if you have faith as big as a mustard seed, you can say to this hill, ‘Go from here to there!’ and it will go. You could do anything!”

₂₂When the disciples all came together in Galilee, Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is about to be handed over to people ₂₃who will kill him; but three days later he will be raised to life.”

The disciples became very sad.

₂₄When Jesus and his disciples came to Capernaum, the collectors of the temple tax came to Peter and asked, “Does your teacher pay the temple tax?”

₂₅“Of course,” Peter answered.

When Peter went into the house, Jesus spoke up first, “Simon, what is your opinion? Who pays duties or taxes to the kings of this world? The citizens of the country or the foreigners?”

₂₆“The foreigners,” answered Peter.

“Well, then,” replied Jesus, “that means that the citizens don't have to pay. ₂₇But we don't want to offend these people. So go to the lake and drop in a line. Pull up the first fish you hook, and in its mouth you will find a coin worth enough for my temple tax and yours. Take it and pay them our taxes.”

₁At that time the disciples came to Jesus, asking, “Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven?”

₂So Jesus called a child, made him stand in front of them, ₃and said, “I assure you that unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the Kingdom of heaven. ₄The greatest in the Kingdom of heaven is the one who humbles himself and becomes like this child. ₅And whoever welcomes in my name one such child as this, welcomes me.

₆“If anyone should cause one of these little ones to lose his faith in me, it would be better for that person to have a large millstone tied round his neck and be drowned in the deep sea. ₇How terrible for the world that there are things that make people lose their faith! Such things will always happen — but how terrible for the one who causes them!

₈“If your hand or your foot makes you lose your faith, cut it off and throw it away! It is better for you to enter life without a hand or a foot than to keep both hands and both feet and be thrown into the eternal fire. ₉And if your eye makes you lose your faith, take it out and throw it away! It is better for you to enter life with only one eye than to keep both eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.

₁₀“See that you don't despise any of these little ones. Their angels in heaven, I tell you, are always in the presence of my Father in heaven.

₁₂“What do you think a man does who has 100 sheep and one of them gets lost? He will leave the other 99 grazing on the hillside and go and look for the lost sheep. ₁₃When he finds it, I tell you, he feels far happier over this one sheep than over the 99 that did not get lost. ₁₄In just the same way your Father in heaven does not want any of these little ones to be lost.