Jesus foretells His Death a Third Time

And they were on the road, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking up  ahead of them. And they were amazed, and those who followed were afraid. And taking the twelve again, he began tell them what was to happen to him, saying, “See we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles. And they will mock him and spit upon him, and flog him and kill him. And after three days he will rise. 

Teaching About Divorce

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

And Pharisees came up and in order to test him  asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?”  He answered them, “What did Moses command you?”  They said, “Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of divorce and send her away.” And Jesus said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart he wrote  you this commandment. But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.  So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let no man separate.”

And he said to them, “Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God after it has come with power.

The Transfiguration

And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became radiant, intensely white, as no one on earth could bleach them. And there appeared with them Elijah and Moses, and they were talking with Jesus. And Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.”  For he did not know what to say, for they were terrified. And a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud, “This is my beloved Son; listen to him.”   And suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone with them but Jesus only.

And as they were coming down the mountain, he charged them to tell no one what they had seen, until the Son of Man had risen from the dead.  So them kept the matter to themselves, questioning what this rising from the dead might mean. And they asked him, “Why do the scribes say that first Elijah must come?”  And he said unto them, “Elijah does come first to restore all things. And how is it written of the Son of Man that he should suffer many things and be treated with contempt? But I tell you that Elijah has come, and they did to him whatever they pleased, as it is written of him.”

Jesus Heals a Blind Man at Bethsaida

And they came to Bethsaida. And some people brought to him a blind man and begged him to touch him.  And he took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village, and when he had spit on his eyes and laid his hands upon him,  he asked him, “Do you see anything?”  And he looked up and said, “I see people, but they look like trees walking.”  Then Jesus laid his hands on his eyes again, and he opened his eyes, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly.  And he sent him to his home, saying, “Do not even enter the village.”

What Defiles a Person 

And he called the people to him again and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand: there is nothing outside a person that is going into him that can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him.”  And when he had entered the house and left the people, his disciple asked him about the parable. And he said to  them, “Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?” (Thus he declared all foods clean.)  And he said “What comes out of a person is what defiles him.  For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness.  All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”

Jesus Rejected and Nazareth  

He went away from there and came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him. And on the Sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astonished, saying, “Where did this man get these things? What is the wisdom given to him? How are such mighty works done by his hands? Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Jose and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him.  And Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor, except in his hometown and among his relatives and in his own household.” And he could do no mighty works there, except he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them.  And he marveled because of their unbelief.

And he went about among the villages teaching.

A Man with a Withered Hand

Again he entered the synagogue, and a man was there with a withered hand. And they watched Jesus, to see whether he would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse him.  And he said to the man with the withered, “Come here.”  And he said to them, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?”  But they were silent.  And he looked around at them with anger,  grieved at their hardness of heart, and said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.”  He stretched it out and his hand was restored. The Pharisees immediately went out and held counsel with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him.

A Great Crowd Follows Jesus 

Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the sea, and a great crowd followed, from Galilee and Judea, and Jerusalem and Idumea and from beyond the Jordan and from Tyre and Sidon. When the great crowd heard all that he was doing, they came to him.  And he told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, lest they crush him, for he had healed many,  so that all who had diseases pressed around him to touch him. And whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, “You are the Son of  God.”  And he strictly ordered them not to make him known.

Jesus Heals a Paralytic

And when he returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home. And many were gathered together, so that there was no more room, not even at the door.  And he was preaching the word to them.  And they came, bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men.  And when they could not get near him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him, and when they had made an opening,  they let down the bed on which the paralytic lay.  And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts, “Why does this man speak like that? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?”  And immediately Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they thus questioned within themselves, said to them, “Why do you question these things in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise take up your bed and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”   he said to the paralytic – “I say to you , rise, pick up your bed and go home.”  And he rose and immediately picked up his bed and went out before them all, so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, “We never saw anything like this!”