Bible Society of South Africa

Bible Reading Plan – Day 336

Bible text(s)

The Preaching of John the Baptist

1This is the Good News about Jesus Christ, the Son of God. 2It began as the prophet Isaiah had written:

“God said, ‘I will send my messenger ahead of you

to clear the way for you.’

3Someone is shouting in the desert,

‘Get the road ready for the Lord;

make a straight path for him to travel!’ ”

4So John appeared in the desert, baptizing and preaching. “Turn away from your sins and be baptized,” he told the people, “and God will forgive your sins.” 5Many people from the province of Judea and the city of Jerusalem went out to hear John. They confessed their sins, and he baptized them in the River Jordan.

6John wore clothes made of camel's hair, with a leather belt round his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. 7He announced to the people, “The man who will come after me is much greater than I am. I am not good enough even to bend down and untie his sandals. 8I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

The Baptism and Temptation of Jesus

9Not long afterwards Jesus came from Nazareth in the province of Galilee, and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10As soon as Jesus came up out of the water, he saw heaven opening and the Spirit coming down on him like a dove. 11And a voice came from heaven, “You are my own dear Son. I am pleased with you.”

12At once the Spirit made him go into the desert, 13where he stayed forty days, being tempted by Satan. Wild animals were there also, but angels came and helped him.

Jesus Calls Four Fishermen

14After John had been put in prison, Jesus went to Galilee and preached the Good News from God. 15“The right time has come,” he said, “and the Kingdom of God is near! Turn away from your sins and believe the Good News!”

16As Jesus walked along the shore of Lake Galilee, he saw two fishermen, Simon and his brother Andrew, catching fish with a net. 17Jesus said to them, “Come with me, and I will teach you to catch people.” 18At once they left their nets and went with him.

19He went a little farther on and saw two other brothers, James and John, the sons of Zebedee. They were in their boat getting their nets ready. 20As soon as Jesus saw them, he called them; they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and went with Jesus.

A Man with an Evil Spirit

21Jesus and his disciples came to the town of Capernaum, and on the next Sabbath Jesus went to the synagogue and began to teach. 22The people who heard him were amazed at the way he taught, for he wasn't like the teachers of the Law; instead, he taught with authority.

23Just then a man with an evil spirit in him came into the synagogue and screamed, 24“What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Are you here to destroy us? I know who you are — you are God's holy messenger!”

25Jesus ordered the spirit, “Be quiet, and come out of the man!”

26The evil spirit shook the man hard, gave a loud scream, and came out of him. 27The people were all so amazed that they started saying to one another, “What is this? Is it some kind of new teaching? This man has authority to give orders to the evil spirits, and they obey him!”

28And so the news about Jesus spread quickly everywhere in the province of Galilee.

Jesus Heals Many People

29Jesus and his disciples, including James and John, left the synagogue and went straight to the home of Simon and Andrew. 30Simon's mother-in-law was sick in bed with a fever, and as soon as Jesus arrived, he was told about her. 31He went to her, took her by the hand, and helped her up. The fever left her, and she began to wait on them.

32After the sun had set and evening had come, people brought to Jesus all the sick and those who had demons. 33All the people of the town gathered in front of the house. 34Jesus healed many who were sick with all kinds of diseases and drove out many demons. He would not let the demons say anything, because they knew who he was.

Jesus Preaches in Galilee

35Very early the next morning, long before daylight, Jesus got up and left the house. He went out of the town to a lonely place, where he prayed. 36But Simon and his companions went out searching for him, 37and when they found him, they said, “Everyone is looking for you.”

38But Jesus answered, “We must go on to the other villages round here. I have to preach in them also, because that is why I came.”

39So he travelled all over Galilee, preaching in the synagogues and driving out demons.

Jesus Heals a Man

40A man suffering from a dreaded skin disease came to Jesus, knelt down, and begged him for help. “If you want to,” he said, “you can make me clean.”

41Jesus was filled with pity, and stretched out his hand and touched him. “I do want to,” he answered. “Be clean!” 42At once the disease left the man, and he was clean. 43Then Jesus spoke sternly to him and sent him away at once, 44after saying to him, “Listen, don't tell anyone about this. But go straight to the priest and let him examine you; then in order to prove to everyone that you are cured, offer the sacrifice that Moses ordered.”

45But the man went away and began to spread the news everywhere. Indeed, he talked so much that Jesus could not go into a town publicly. Instead, he stayed out in lonely places, and people came to him from everywhere.

Jesus Heals a Paralysed Man

(Mt 9.1–8; Lk 5.17–26)

1A few days later Jesus went back to Capernaum, and the news spread that he was at home. 2So many people came together that there was no room left, not even out in front of the door. Jesus was preaching the message to them 3when four men arrived, carrying a paralysed man to Jesus. 4Because of the crowd, however, they could not get the man to him. So they made a hole in the roof right above the place where Jesus was. When they had made an opening, they let the man down, lying on his mat. 5Seeing how much faith they had, Jesus said to the paralysed man, “My son, your sins are forgiven.”

6Some teachers of the Law who were sitting there thought to themselves, 7“How does he dare to talk like this? This is blasphemy! God is the only one who can forgive sins!”

8At once Jesus knew what they were thinking, so he said to them, “Why do you think such things? 9Is it easier to say to this paralysed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven’, or to say, ‘Get up, pick up your mat, and walk’? 10I will prove to you, then, that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the paralysed man, 11“I tell you, get up, pick up your mat, and go home!”

12While they all watched, the man got up, picked up his mat, and hurried away. They were all completely amazed and praised God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”

Jesus Calls Levi

(Mt 9.9–13; Lk 5.27–32)

13Jesus went back again to the shore of Lake Galilee. A crowd came to him, and he started teaching them. 14As he walked along, he saw a tax collector, Levi son of Alphaeus, sitting in his office. Jesus said to him, “Follow me.” Levi got up and followed him.

15Later on Jesus was having a meal in Levi's house. A large number of tax collectors and other outcasts were following Jesus, and many of them joined him and his disciples at the table. 16Some teachers of the Law, who were Pharisees, saw that Jesus was eating with these outcasts and tax collectors, so they asked his disciples, “Why does he eat with such people?”

17Jesus heard them and answered, “People who are well do not need a doctor, but only those who are sick. I have not come to call respectable people, but outcasts.”

The Question about Fasting

(Mt 9.14–17; Lk 5.33–39)

18On one occasion the followers of John the Baptist and the Pharisees were fasting. Some people came to Jesus and asked him, “Why is it that the disciples of John the Baptist and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but yours do not?”

19Jesus answered, “Do you expect the guests at a wedding party to go without food? Of course not! As long as the bridegroom is with them, they will not do that. 20But the day will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.

21“No one uses a piece of new cloth to patch up an old coat, because the new patch will shrink and tear off some of the old cloth, making an even bigger hole. 22Nor does anyone pour new wine into used wineskins, because the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the skins will be ruined. Instead, new wine must be poured into fresh wineskins.”

The Question about the Sabbath

(Mt 12.1–8; Lk 6.1–5)

23Jesus was walking through some cornfields on the Sabbath. As his disciples walked along with him, they began to pick the ears of corn. 24So the Pharisees said to Jesus, “Look, it is against our Law for your disciples to do that on the Sabbath!”

25Jesus answered, “Have you never read what David did that time when he needed something to eat? He and his men were hungry, 26so he went into the house of God and ate the bread offered to God. This happened when Abiathar was the High Priest. According to our Law only the priests may eat this bread — but David ate it and even gave it to his men.”

27And Jesus concluded, “The Sabbath was made for the good of human beings; they were not made for the Sabbath. 28So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”

The Man with a Paralysed Hand

1Then Jesus went back to the synagogue, where there was a man who had a paralysed hand. 2Some people were there who wanted to accuse Jesus of doing wrong; so they watched him closely to see whether he would heal the man on the Sabbath. 3Jesus said to the man, “Come up here to the front.” 4Then he asked the people, “What does our Law allow us to do on the Sabbath? To help or to harm? To save someone's life or to destroy it?”

But they did not say a thing. 5Jesus was angry as he looked round at them, but at the same time he felt sorry for them, because they were so stubborn and wrong. Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and it became well again. 6So the Pharisees left the synagogue and met at once with some members of Herod's party, and they made plans to kill Jesus.

A Crowd by the Lake

7Jesus and his disciples went away to Lake Galilee, and a large crowd followed him. They had come from Galilee, from Judea, 8from Jerusalem, from the territory of Idumea, from the territory on the east side of the Jordan, and from the region round the cities of Tyre and Sidon. All these people came to Jesus because they had heard of the things he was doing. 9The crowd was so large that Jesus told his disciples to get a boat ready for him, so that the people would not crush him. 10He had healed many people, and all those who were ill kept pushing their way to him in order to touch him. 11And whenever the people who had evil spirits in them saw him, they would fall down before him and scream, “You are the Son of God!”

12Jesus sternly ordered the evil spirits not to tell anyone who he was.

Jesus Chooses the Twelve Apostles

13Then Jesus went up a hill and called to himself the men he wanted. They came to him, 14and he chose twelve, whom he named apostles. “I have chosen you to be with me,” he told them. “I will also send you out to preach, 15and you will have authority to drive out demons.”

16These are the twelve he chose: Simon (Jesus gave him the name Peter); 17James and his brother John, the sons of Zebedee (Jesus gave them the name Boanerges, which means “Men of Thunder”); 18Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Patriot, 19and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Jesus.

Jesus and Beelzebul

20Then Jesus went home. Again such a large crowd gathered that Jesus and his disciples had no time to eat. 21When his family heard about it, they set out to take charge of him, because people were saying, “He's gone mad!”

22Some teachers of the Law who had come from Jerusalem were saying, “He has Beelzebul in him! It is the chief of the demons who gives him the power to drive them out.”

23So Jesus called them to him and spoke to them in parables: “How can Satan drive out Satan? 24If a country divides itself into groups which fight each other, that country will fall apart. 25If a family divides itself into groups which fight each other, that family will fall apart. 26So if Satan's kingdom divides into groups, it cannot last, but will fall apart and come to an end.

27“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.

28“I assure you that people can be forgiven all their sins and all the evil things they may say. 29But whoever says evil things against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven, because he has committed an eternal sin.” 30(Jesus said this because some people were saying, “He has an evil spirit in him.”)

Jesus' Mother and Brothers

31Then Jesus' mother and brothers arrived. They stood outside the house and sent in a message, asking for him. 32A crowd was sitting round Jesus, and they said to him, “Look, your mother and your brothers and sisters are outside, and they want you.”

33Jesus answered, “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?” 34He looked at the people sitting round him and said, “Look! Here are my mother and my brothers! 35Whoever does what God wants him to do is my brother, my sister, my mother.”

Mark 1:1-3:35GNBOpen in Bible reader
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