Day 242 of 365

¹Now after the Sabbath, as it began to dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb.

²Behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from the sky, and came and rolled away the stone, and sat on it.

³His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow.

⁴For fear of him, the guards shook, and became like dead men.

⁵The angel answered the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus, who has been crucified.

⁶He is not here, for he has risen, just like he said. Come, see the place where he was lying.

⁷Go quickly and tell his disciples, 'He has risen from the dead, and behold, he goes before you into Galilee; there you will see him.' Behold, I have told you."

⁸They departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to bring his disciples word.

⁹And behold, Jesus met them, saying, "Rejoice!" They came and took hold of his feet, and worshiped him.

¹⁰Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid. Go tell my brothers that they should go into Galilee, and there they will see me."

¹¹Now while they were going, behold, some of the guards came into the city, and told the chief priests all the things that had happened.

¹²When they were assembled with the elders, and had taken counsel, they gave a large amount of silver to the soldiers,

¹³saying, "Say that his disciples came by night, and stole him away while we slept.

¹⁴If this comes to the governor's ears, we will persuade him and make you free of worry."

¹⁵So they took the money and did as they were told. This saying was spread abroad among the Jewish people, and continues until this day.

¹⁶But the eleven disciples went into Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had sent them.

¹⁷When they saw him, they bowed down to him, but some doubted.

¹⁸Jesus came to them and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth.

¹⁹Therefore go, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

²⁰teaching them to observe all things that I commanded you. Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."

¹When he entered again into Capernaum after some days, it was heard that he was in the house.

²And many were gathered together, so that there was no more room, not even around the door; and he spoke the word to them.

³Four people came, carrying a paralytic to him.

⁴When they could not come near to him for the crowd, they removed the roof above him. When they had broken it up, they let down the mat that the paralytic was lying on.

⁵Jesus, seeing their faith, said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven you."

⁶But there were some of the scribes sitting there, and reasoning in their hearts,

⁷"Why does this man speak like that? He is blaspheming; who can forgive sins but God alone?"

⁸Immediately Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they so reasoned within themselves, said to them, "Why do you reason these things in your hearts?

⁹Which is easier, to tell the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven;' or to say, 'Arise, and take up your bed, and walk?'

¹⁰But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins", he said to the paralytic,

¹¹"I tell you, arise, take up your mat, and go to your house."

¹²And he arose immediately, and took up the mat, and went out in front of them all; so that they were all amazed, and glorified God, saying, "We never saw anything like this!"

¹³And he went out again by the seaside. All the multitude came to him, and he taught them.

¹⁴As he passed by, he saw Levi, the son of Alphaeus, sitting at the tax office, and he said to him, "Follow me." And he arose and followed him.

¹⁵It happened, that he was reclining at the table in his house, and many tax collectors and sinners sat down with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many, and they followed him.

¹⁶The scribes of the Pharisees, when they saw him eating with the tax collectors and sinners, said to his disciples, "Why is it that he eats and drinks with tax collectors and sinners?"

¹⁷But when Jesus heard it, he said to them, "Those who are healthy have no need for a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners."

¹⁸John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting, and they came and asked him, "Why do the disciples of John and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?"

¹⁹And Jesus said to them, "Can the groomsmen fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast.

²⁰But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then will they fast in those days.

²¹No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, or else the patch shrinks and the new tears away from the old, and a worse hole is made.

²²And no one puts new wine into old wineskins, or else the new wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost, and the skins will be destroyed; but they put new wine into fresh wineskins."

²³It happened that he was going on the Sabbath day through the grain fields, and his disciples began, as they went, to pluck the ears of grain.

²⁴The Pharisees said to him, "Behold, why do they do that which is not lawful on the Sabbath day?"

²⁵He said to them, "Did you never read what David did, when he had need, and was hungry-he, and those who were with him?

²⁶How he entered into the house of God when Abiathar was high priest, and ate the show bread, which is not lawful to eat except for the priests, and gave also to those who were with him?"

²⁷He said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.

²⁸Therefore the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath."

¹He entered again into the synagogue, and there was a man there who had his hand withered.

²They watched him, whether he would heal him on the Sabbath day, that they might accuse him.

³He said to the man with the withered hand, "Stand up in the middle."

⁴He said to them, "Is it lawful on the Sabbath day to do good, or to do harm? To save a life, or to kill?" But they were silent.

⁵When he had looked around at them with anger, being grieved at the hardening of their hearts, he said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." He stretched it out, and his hand was restored.

⁶The Pharisees went out, and immediately conspired with the Herodians against him, how they might destroy him.

⁷Jesus withdrew to the sea with his disciples, and a great multitude followed from Galilee, from Judea,

⁸from Jerusalem, from Idumaea, beyond the Jordan, and those from around Tyre and Sidon. A great multitude, when they heard what great things he did, came to him.

⁹And he told his disciples that a small boat should stay near him because of the crowd, so that they would not press on him.

¹⁰For he had healed many, so that as many as had diseases pressed on him that they might touch him.

¹¹The unclean spirits, whenever they saw him, fell down before him, and shouted, "You are the Son of God!"

¹²And he sternly warned them that they should not make him known.

¹³And he went up into the mountain, and called to himself those whom he wanted, and they went to him.

¹⁴And he appointed twelve, designating them apostles, and that he might send them out to preach,

¹⁵and to have authority to cast out demons:

¹⁶And he appointed the Twelve: Simon, to whom he gave the name Peter;

¹⁷Jacob the son of Zebedee; John, the brother of Jacob, and he surnamed them Boanerges which means, Sons of Thunder;

¹⁸Andrew; Philip; Bartholomew; Matthew; Thomas; Jacob, the son of Alphaeus; Thaddaeus; Simon the Zealot;

¹⁹and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him.

²⁰Then he came into a house. The multitude came together again, so that they could not so much as eat bread.

²¹When his family heard it, they went out to take charge of him: for they said, "He is out of his mind."

²²The scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, "He has Beelzebul," and, "By the prince of the demons he casts out the demons."

²³So he summoned them, and said to them in parables, "How can Satan cast out Satan?

²⁴If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.

²⁵If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand.

²⁶If Satan has risen up against himself, and is divided, he cannot stand, but has an end.

²⁷But no one can enter into the house of the strong man to plunder, unless he first binds the strong man; and then he will plunder his house.

²⁸Truly I tell you, all sins of the sons of men will be forgiven, including their blasphemies with which they may blaspheme;

²⁹but whoever may blaspheme against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal judgment"

³⁰-because they said, "He has an unclean spirit."

³¹Then his brothers and his mother came, and standing outside, they sent to him, calling him.

³²A multitude was sitting around him, and they told him, "Behold, your mother and your brothers are outside looking for you."

³³And he answered them, saying, "Who are my mother or my brothers?"

³⁴Looking around at those who sat around him, he said, "Behold, my mother and my brothers!

³⁵For whoever does the will of God, the same is my brother, and my sister, and mother."

¹Again he began to teach by the seaside. A great multitude was gathered to him, so that he entered into a boat in the sea, and sat down. All the multitude were on the land by the sea.

²Then he taught them many things in parables, and told them in his teaching,

³"Listen! Behold, the farmer went out to sow,

⁴and it happened, as he sowed, some seed fell by the road, and the birds came and devoured it.

⁵Others fell on the rocky ground, where it had little soil, and immediately it sprang up, because it had no depth of soil.

⁶But when the sun had risen, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away.

⁷Others fell among the thorns, and the thorns grew up, and choked it, and it yielded no fruit.

⁸Others fell into the good ground, and yielded fruit, growing up and increasing. Some brought forth thirty times, some sixty times, and some one hundred times as much."

⁹He said, "Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear."

¹⁰When he was alone, those who were around him with the twelve asked him about the parables.

¹¹And he said to them, "To you has been given the mystery of the Kingdom of God, but to those who are outside, all things are done in parables,

¹²that 'seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand; lest perhaps they should return and be forgiven.'"

¹³And he said to them, "Do you not understand this parable? How will you understand all of the parables?

¹⁴The farmer sows the word.

¹⁵The ones by the road are the ones where the word is sown; and when they have heard, immediately Satan comes, and takes away the word which has been sown in them.

¹⁶These are those who are sown on the rocky places, who, when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with joy.

¹⁷They have no root in themselves, but are short-lived. When oppression or persecution arises because of the word, immediately they stumble.

¹⁸And others are those who are sown among the thorns; these are the ones who have heard the word,

¹⁹but the cares of the age, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.

²⁰But those which were sown on the good ground are those who hear the word, and accept it, and bear fruit, some thirty times, some sixty times, and some one hundred times."

²¹And he said to them, "Is the lamp brought to be put under a basket or under a bed? Is not it put on a stand?

²²For there is nothing hidden, except that it should be made known; neither was anything made secret, but that it should come to light.

²³If any man has ears to hear, let him hear."

²⁴And he said to them, "Take heed what you hear. With whatever measure you measure, it will be measured to you, and more will be given to you.

²⁵For whoever has, more will be given, and he who does not have, even that which he has will be taken away from him."

²⁶And he said, "The Kingdom of God is as if a man should cast seed on the earth,

²⁷and should sleep and rise night and day, and the seed should spring up and grow, he does not know how.

²⁸For the earth bears fruit: first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear.

²⁹But when the fruit is ripe, immediately he puts forth the sickle, because the harvest has come."

³⁰And he said, "To what will we liken the Kingdom of God? Or with what parable will we use for it?

³¹It's like a grain of mustard seed, which, when it is sown in the earth, though it is less than all the seeds that are on the earth,

³²yet when it is sown, grows up, and becomes greater than all the herbs, and puts out great branches, so that the birds of the sky can lodge under its shadow."

³³With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it.

³⁴Without a parable he did not speak to them; but privately to his own disciples he explained everything.

³⁵On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, "Let us go over to the other side."

³⁶Leaving the multitude, they took him with them, even as he was, in the boat. Other boats were also with him.

³⁷A big wind storm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so much that the boat was already filled.

³⁸He himself was in the stern, asleep on the cushion, and they woke him up, and told him, "Teacher, do you not care that we are dying?"

³⁹And he awoke, and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, "Peace! Be still!" The wind ceased, and there was a great calm.

⁴⁰And he said to them, "Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?"

⁴¹And they were greatly afraid, and said to one another, "Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?"