Teaching About Divorce

¹zAnd he left there and went ato the region of Judea and beyond the Jordan, and crowds gathered to him again. And again, as was his custom, he taught them.

²And Pharisees came up and in order bto test him asked, c“Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” ³He answered them, “What did Moses command you?” ⁴They said, d“Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of divorce and to send her away.” ⁵And Jesus said to them, “Because of your ehardness of heart he wrote you this commandment. ⁶But ffrom the beginning of creation, ‘God made them gmale and female.’ ⁷h‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife,1 ⁸and ithe two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two but one flesh. ⁹jWhat therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.”

¹⁰And in the house the disciples asked him again about this matter. ¹¹And he said to them, k“Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her, ¹²and lif she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.”

Let the Children Come to Me

¹³mAnd they were bringing children to him that he might touch them, and the disciples nrebuked them. ¹⁴But when Jesus saw it, he was indignant and said to them, o“Let the children come to me; pdo not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. ¹⁵qTruly, I say to you, whoever does not rreceive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.” ¹⁶And she took them in his arms and blessed them, tlaying his hands on them.

The Rich Young Man

¹⁷uAnd as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and vknelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to winherit eternal life?” ¹⁸And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. ¹⁹You know the commandments: x‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’” ²⁰And he said to him, “Teacher, yall these I have kept from my youth.” ²¹And Jesus, zlooking at him, aloved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, bsell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have ctreasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” ²²dDisheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

²³And Jesus elooked around and said to his disciples, f“How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter gthe kingdom of God!” ²⁴And the disciples hwere amazed at his words. But Jesus said to them again, i“Children, jhow difficult it is2 to enter gthe kingdom of God! ²⁵It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter gthe kingdom of God.” ²⁶And they were exceedingly astonished, and said to him,3 “Then who can be saved?” ²⁷Jesus klooked at them and said, l“With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.” ²⁸Peter began to say to him, “See, mwe have left everything and followed you.” ²⁹Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, nthere is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and ofor the gospel, ³⁰who will not receive a hundredfold pnow in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, qwith persecutions, and in rthe age to come eternal life. ³¹But smany who are first will be last, and the last first.”

Jesus Foretells His Death a Third Time

³²tAnd they were on the road, going up to Jerusalem, and uJesus was walking ahead of them. And vthey were amazed, and those who followed were afraid. And taking the twelve again, he began to tell them what was to happen to him, ³³saying, “See, wwe are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will xcondemn him to death and ydeliver him over to the Gentiles. ³⁴And they will zmock him and aspit on him, and flog him and kill him. And bafter three days he will rise.”

The Request of James and John

³⁵cAnd James and John, dthe sons of Zebedee, came up to him and said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us ewhatever we ask of you.” ³⁶And he said to them, f“What do you want me to do for you?” ³⁷And they said to him, “Grant us gto sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, hin your glory.” ³⁸Jesus said to them, i“You do not know what you are asking. Are you able jto drink the cup that I drink, or kto be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” ³⁹And they said to him, “We are able.” And Jesus said to them, l“The cup that I drink myou will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized, nyou will be baptized, ⁴⁰but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, obut it is for those for whom it has been pprepared.” ⁴¹And when the ten heard it, they began to be indignant at James and John. ⁴²qAnd Jesus called them to him and said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles rlord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. ⁴³But sit shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant,4 ⁴⁴and whoever would be first among you must be tslave5 of all. ⁴⁵For even the Son of Man came not to be served but uto serve, and vto give his life as a ransom for wmany.”

Jesus Heals Blind Bartimaeus

⁴⁶xAnd they came to Jericho. And yas he was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a great crowd, Bartimaeus, za blind beggar, the son of Timaeus, was sitting by the roadside. ⁴⁷And when he heard that it was aJesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” ⁴⁸And many brebuked him, telling him to be silent. But he cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” ⁴⁹And Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.” And they called the blind man, saying to him, c“Take heart. Get up; he is calling you.” ⁵⁰And throwing off his dcloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus. ⁵¹And Jesus said to him, e“What do you want me to do for you?” And the blind man said to him, f“Rabbi, let me recover my sight.” ⁵²And Jesus said to him, “Go your way; gyour faith has hmade you well.” And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him on the way.

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The Triumphal Entry

¹iNow when they drew near to Jerusalem, to jBethphage and Bethany, at kthe Mount of Olives, Jesus1 sent ltwo of his disciples ²and said to them, “Go into the village in front of you, and immediately as you enter it you will find a colt tied, mon which no one has ever sat. Untie it and bring it. ³If anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord has need of it and will send it back here immediately.’” ⁴And they went away and found a colt tied at a door outside in the street, and they untied it. ⁵And some of those standing there said to them, “What are you doing, untying the colt?” ⁶And they told them what Jesus had said, and they let them go. ⁷And they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it, and he sat on it. ⁸And many nspread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut from the fields. ⁹And those who went before and those who followed were shouting, o“Hosanna! pBlessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! ¹⁰Blessed is qthe coming rkingdom of sour father rDavid! oHosanna tin the highest!”

¹¹uAnd he entered Jerusalem and went into the temple. And when he had looked around at everything, as it was already late, vhe went out to Bethany with the twelve.

Jesus Curses the Fig Tree

¹²wOn the following day, when they came from Bethany, xhe was hungry. ¹³yAnd seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to see if he could find anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for zit was not the season for figs. ¹⁴And he said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard it.

Jesus Cleanses the Temple

¹⁵aAnd they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of bthe money-changers and the seats of those who sold cpigeons. ¹⁶And he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. ¹⁷And he was teaching them and saying to them, “Is it not written, d‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But eyou have made it a den of robbers.” ¹⁸And the chief priests and the scribes heard it and fwere seeking a way to destroy him, for they feared him, because gall the crowd was astonished at his teaching. ¹⁹hAnd when evening came they2 went out of the city.

The Lesson from the Withered Fig Tree

²⁰iAs they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots. ²¹And Peter remembered and said to him, j“Rabbi, look! The fig tree that you cursed has withered.” ²²And Jesus answered them, “Have kfaith in God. ²³lTruly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, m‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not ndoubt in his heart, but obelieves that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. ²⁴Therefore I tell you, pwhatever you ask in prayer, obelieve that you qhave received3 it, and it will be yours. ²⁵And whenever ryou stand praying, sforgive, tif you have anything against anyone, so that uyour Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.”4

The Authority of Jesus Challenged

²⁷vAnd they came again to Jerusalem. And as he was walking in the temple, the chief priests and the scribes and the elders came to him, ²⁸and they said to him, w“By what authority are you doing these things, or who gave you this authority to do them?” ²⁹Jesus said to them, “I will ask you one question; answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things. ³⁰Was the baptism of John xfrom heaven or from man? Answer me.” ³¹And they discussed it with one another, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, y‘Why then did you not believe him?’ ³²But shall we say, ‘From man’?”—zthey were afraid of the people, for they all held that John really was aa prophet. ³³So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.” And Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”

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