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The yeast of the Pharisees

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The Pharisees and other Jewish leaders approached Jesus with a test, asking him to show them a sign from heaven.

He sighed deeply and said “You know how to read the signs in the sky. When the sky is red at night, you know there will be good weather the next day, and when the sky is red in the morning you know there will be storms. Yet you don’t know how to read the signs of the times! Why does this wicked generation demand to see a sign? It will see nothing except the sign of Jonah.” He walked away from them, got back on the boat, and went to the other side of the sea.

When they reached the other side, the disciples realized that they had forgotten to get more bread. They had only one loaf with them. Jesus said “Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees.” They began to talk among themselves about the fact that they didn’t have any more bread.

Jesus was aware of this and he said “Why are you talking about not having any more bread? Don’t you understand yet? Do you have eyes and ears and yet are blind and deaf? Don’t you remember how five loaves of bread were able to feed 5000 people, or that seven loaves of bread fed 4000 people? Remember the number of large baskets of leftover pieces? Why do you not understand that when I said ‘Beware the yeast of the Pharisees,’ I wasn’t talking about bread?”

Then they understood that he was talking about what the Pharisees taught.

MT 16:1-12, MK 8:11-21

Feeding 4,000 people

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Another large crowd had gathered around Jesus. He called his disciples to him and said “I have compassion for this crowd because they have stayed with me three days and they have nothing to eat. If I send them home hungry then they might collapse on the way, and some of them have come from very far away.”

The disciples replied “Where can we possibly find enough bread in this isolated place to feed such a large crowd?” Jesus asked them “How many loaves do you have with you?” They answered “Seven, and a few small fish.”

He then ordered everyone in the crowd to sit down on the ground. Taking the seven loaves and the fish, he gave thanks and broke them into pieces. He kept on distributing the pieces to the disciples, who then gave them to the crowds. Everyone ate until they were full. They picked up seven large baskets of leftover pieces after the meal. There were 4000 men, along with women and children, in the crowd. He then dismissed the crowd, got into the boat with his disciples, and traveled to a different region.

MT 15:32-39, MK 8:1-10

Healing many people

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Jesus then traveled alongside the Sea of Galilee. He climbed up a mountain and sat down. Large crowds came to him there, bringing to him people who were lame, blind, deformed, mute, or had other maladies. He healed everyone who was brought to him.

The crowd was amazed when they saw those who were mute began to speak, those who were lame able to walk, and those who were blind able to see. Even people who were deformed were made whole. Everyone in the crowd gave glory to the God of Israel.

MT 15:29-31

A man who was deaf and had a speech impediment was brought there by a person who begged Jesus to lay his hands on the man and heal him.

Jesus led him away from the crowds so he could heal him privately. He put his fingers in the man’s ears, spat, and then touched the man’s tongue. He then looked up to heaven, sighed deeply, and said in Aramaic “Ephphatha!” which means “Be opened!” The man was instantly freed from his afflictions and was able to see and speak perfectly.

He ordered the crowd to not tell anyone about what had happened, but the more he ordered them, the more they spread the news. They were amazed and told everyone “He does everything well! He even makes deaf people hear and cures people of being unable to speak!”

MK 7:31-37

The Transfiguration

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About a week later, Jesus led Peter, John, and James up a high mountain to be alone with them. He was transformed in front of them as he was praying. His face began to shine like the sun and his clothes became radiant with a white light. Suddenly Elijah and Moses appeared in glory and began talking with Jesus about his upcoming death that was to happen in Jerusalem.

Peter said to Jesus, “Teacher, it is good that we are here! Let us make three shelters, one for each of you.” He didn’t know what he should say because they were all terrified.

While he was speaking, a bright cloud formed around them and overshadowed them. A voice came from the cloud saying “This is my beloved son, the chosen one! I take delight in him, listen to him!”

The disciples were even more terrified when they heard this voice, and they fell facedown. Then Jesus came up to them and touched them, saying “Get up. Don’t be afraid.” Then they noticed that they were alone with Jesus – Elijah and Moses were gone.

While they were coming down from the mountain, Jesus said “Don’t tell anybody about what you just saw until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.” They spoke about the event only among themselves, wondering what being “raised from the dead” meant. The disciples began to question him, saying “Why do the Jewish leaders say that Elijah must come first?”

“Elijah does come first and will restore everything,” he answered. “But I tell you that Elijah has already come and they didn’t recognize him, but did whatever they wanted to him just as it was prophesied. The Son of Man is going to suffer in the same way.”

The disciples then understood that he was talking about John the Baptist.

MT 17:1-13, MK 9:2-13, LK 9:28-36

The power of faith over a demon.

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A large crowd met them when they came down from the mountain the next day. Scribes were arguing with the rest of the disciples. Jesus asked them “What are you arguing with them about?”

A man in the crowd answered, saying “Lord, have compassion on my only son. He has a spirit that makes him shriek instead of being able to speak normally. Often the spirit seizes him and makes him have convulsions. He foams at the mouth, grinds his teeth, and becomes rigid when this happens. The spirit often throws him to the ground or into fire or water. I asked your disciples to drive the demon out of my son but they couldn’t.”

Jesus said “You unbelieving and corrupt generation! How long will I be here with you to help you out? How long must I put up with your lack of faith? Bring your son to me.”

They brought the boy, and when the spirit saw Jesus it immediately made the boy have convulsions. He fell on the ground, rolling around, and was foaming at the mouth.

Jesus asked the father “How long has this been happening?” “From his childhood,” said the boy’s father. “It has often tried to destroy him. If you are able to, have compassion on us and help us.”

“’If you are able’? Everything is possible if you believe.” The boy’s father immediately cried out “I believe! Help my unbelief!”

Then Jesus noticed a large crowd was quickly gathering around them. Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, saying “You deaf and mute spirit, I command you to come out of him and never enter him again.” It came out of the boy, making him violently convulse and shriek. Many people in the crowd thought he was dead. But Jesus took him by the hand, helped him stand up, and gave him back to his father. The boy was healed from that moment on. The crowd was amazed at the greatness of God.

Later the disciples asked him privately, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?” He told them “This kind of spirit can only come out by prayer and fasting.”

MT 17:14-21, MK 9:14-29, LK 9:37-42

Restoring a brother

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“If your brother sins against you, you should confront him about it in private. If he listens to you, you have won him back. But if he won’t listen to you, then take one or two other people with you to speak with him again, so that these witnesses may be able to establish the truth. If he still won’t listen, then tell the congregation. If he won’t listen even then, treat him as you would treat an unbeliever or a tax collector.”

“I’ll share this truth with you – whatever you unite on earth is united in heaven, and whatever you let go on earth is let go in heaven. Here’s another truth – if two of you agree about anything that you pray for then my Father in heaven will do it for you. Wherever two or three people gather together in my name, I am there with them.”

MT 18:15-20

A Gentile mother’s faith.

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Jesus traveled to the area of Tyre and Sidon. A woman who wasn’t Jewish approached him and kept crying out to him “Have mercy on me Lord, son of David! My daughter is tormented by an unclean spirit.” Jesus didn’t reply to her, but his disciples approached him and asked him to make her go away because she kept following them and yelling for help. Jesus said “I am called to help only the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

But the woman came and knelt before him begging him to drive the demon out of her daughter. He said “Let the children have their fill first, because it isn’t right to take their bread and throw it to the dogs.” But she replied “Yes, but even the dogs under the table eat the crumbs that fall.” Jesus answered “Your faith is great, woman. Because of how you answered you will receive what you have asked for.”

Her daughter was free of the demon that very hour.

MT 15:21-28, MK 7:24-30

Defilement is from within.

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Jesus gathered the crowd around him and asked them to listen carefully to what he was about to say. “It isn’t what you put into your mouth that makes you defiled. Instead it’s what comes out of your mouth that gets you into trouble.”

Then he went into the house and away from the crowd. The disciples asked him if he knew that the Pharisees were offended by his remarks. Jesus answered “Every plant not planted by my Father will be uprooted, so don’t worry about them. They are blind leaders, and they are guiding blind people. Both they and who follow them will fall into a pit.”

Then Peter and the other disciples asked him to explain the parable to them. He said “Do you also not understand? Don’t you yet understand that nothing a man puts into himself can make him unclean? It doesn’t go into his heart. Instead it goes into his stomach and then passes out of him. But what comes out of the mouth comes from the heart and that makes him unclean. Deep within people’s hearts come evil thoughts, inappropriate sexual practices, murders, theft, pride, deceit, lying and blasphemy. All these things cause defilement, but eating without ceremonially washing your hands doesn’t harm you at all.”

MT 15:10-20, MK 7:14-23

Handwashing. (The tradition of the elders)

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Some Pharisees and other Jewish leaders traveled from Jerusalem to question Jesus. They asked “Why do your disciples not follow the tradition of the elders? They don’t practice the ritual of ceremonially washing their hands before they eat.”

Jesus asked them “Why do you follow your tradition and break God’s commandments? You have made God’s commandments invalid so that you could preserve your tradition. For example, Moses said “Honor your father and mother,” and “Whoever speaks against his parents must be put to death”. But instead you say that people should give their gifts to the Temple instead of helping out their needy parents. You make it impossible for people to do anything for their parents. You have done away with God’s word by your man-made traditions. And you do many other things like this.”

“The prophet Isaiah spoke correctly about you hypocrites when he said ‘These people draw near to Me with what they say, but their hearts are far from Me. In vain they worship Me because they teach the rules of men as if they are My commandments.’”

MT 15:1-9, MK 7:1-13

Who is the most important?

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The disciples came up to Jesus and asked him “Who is the most important in the kingdom of heaven?” They had been arguing about it.

To answer them he called a child to him and had him stand in the middle of them. Jesus said “If anyone wants to be the most important, he has to be the least important, even like a servant to everyone.

“Mark my words, unless you change your ways and become innocent like children you will never get into the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever is able to humble himself in the same way that this child is, that person is the most important in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever receives an innocent child like this in my name is also welcoming me. And whoever welcomes me also welcomes The One who sent me.”

Mt 18:1-5, MK 9:33-37, LK 9:46-48

“It is impossible to avoid the causes of sin, but it is a terrible thing to be someone who is responsible for those stumbling blocks! He would be better off if a huge rock were to be tied around his neck and he was thrown into the sea than for him to cause the downfall of an innocent person who believes in me!”

MT 18:6-7, LK 17:1-2, MK 9:42

“If your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. Likewise, if your eye leads you into temptation, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better to lose one of the parts of your body than for all of your body to go to hell, where the prophet Isaiah tells us that ‘Their worm does not die, and the fire never goes out.'”

MT 18:8-9, MT 5:29-30, MK 9:43-48

“Everyone will be salted with fire in the same way that every sacrifice made at the Temple is salted. You are the salt of the earth. Salt is good, but if it loses its flavor how can you make it salty again? Then it is no longer good for anything, even the compost pile. The only thing you can do is throw it out for people to walk on. If you have salt among yourselves you will be at peace with one another.

MK 9:49-50, MT 5:13, LK 14:34-35