The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible New Testament (46 page)

A Teaching about the Sabbath

23
 One sabbath he was going through the grainfields; and as they made their way his disciples began to pluck heads of grain.
²⁴
And the Pharisees said to him, "Look, why are they doing what is
not lawful on the sabbath?"
²⁵
And he said to them, "
Have you never read
what David did, when he was in need and was hungry, he and those who were with him:
²⁶
how he entered the house of God,
when Abi'athar was high priest
, and ate the showbread, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those who were with him?"
²⁷
And he said to them, "
The sabbath
was made for man, not man for the sabbath;
²⁸
so the Son of man is lord even of the sabbath."

The Man with a Withered Hand

3
  Again he entered the synagogue, and a man was there who had a withered hand.
²
And they watched him, to see whether he would heal him on the sabbath, so that they might accuse him.
³
And he said to the man who had the withered hand, "Come here."
⁴
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.
⁵
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.
⁶
The
Pharisees went out, and immediately held counsel with the Hero'dians
against him, how to destroy him.

A Multitude by the Sea

7
 
Jesus withdrew
with his disciples to the sea, and a great multitude from Galilee followed; also from Judea
⁸
and Jerusalem and Idume'a and from beyond the Jordan and from about Tyre and Si'don a great multitude, hearing all that he did, came to him.
⁹
And he told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, lest they should crush him;
¹⁰
for he had healed many, so that all who had diseases pressed upon him to touch him.
¹¹
And whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, "You are the Son of God."
¹²
And he strictly ordered them not to make him known.

Jesus Appoints the Twelve

13
 And he went up on the mountain, and called to him those whom he desired; and they came to him.
¹⁴
And
he appointed
twelve,
 
^k
to be with him, and to be sent out to preach
¹⁵
and have authority to cast out demons:
¹⁶
Simon whom he surnamed Peter;
¹⁷
James the son of Zeb'edee and John the brother of James, whom he surnamed Bo-aner'ges, that is, sons of thunder;
¹⁸
Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphae'us, and Thaddae'us, and Simon the Cananaean,
¹⁹
and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.

Jesus and Beelzebul

Then he went home;
²⁰
and the crowd came together again, so that they could not even eat.
²¹
And when his friends heard it, they went out to seize him, for they said, "He is beside himself."
²²
And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, "He is possessed by
Be-el'zebul
, and by the prince of demons he casts out the demons."
²³
And he called them to him, and said to them in parables, "How can Satan cast out Satan?
²⁴
If a kingdom is divided
against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.
²⁵
And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand.
²⁶
And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but is coming to an end.
²⁷
But no one can enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man; then indeed he may plunder his house.

28
 "Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they utter;
²⁹
but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of
an eternal sin
"—
³⁰
for they had said, "He has an unclean spirit."

The True Kindred of Jesus

31
 And his mother and his brethren
 
came; and standing outside they sent to him and called him.
³²
And a crowd was sitting about him; and they said to him, "Your mother and
your brethren
 
^l
are outside, asking for you."
³³
And he replied, "Who are my mother and my brethren?"
³⁴
And looking around on those who sat about him, he said, "Here are my mother and my brethren!
³⁵
Whoever does
the will of God
is my brother, and sister, and mother."

The Parable of the Sower

4
  Again he began to teach beside the sea. And a very large crowd gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat in it on the sea; and the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land.
²
And he taught them many things
in parables
, and in his teaching he said to them:
³
"Listen!
A sower
went out to sow.
⁴
And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it.
⁵
Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it had not much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil;
⁶
and when the sun rose it was scorched, and since it had no root it withered away.
⁷
Other seed fell among thorns and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain.
⁸
And other seeds fell into good soil and brought forth grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold."
⁹
And he said, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear."

Explanation of the Parable

10
 And when he was alone, those who were about him with the Twelve asked him concerning the parables.
¹¹
And he said to them, "
To you has been given
the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables;
¹²
so that
 
they may indeed
see but not perceive
, and may indeed hear but not understand; lest they should turn again, and be forgiven."
¹³
And he said to them, "Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables?
¹⁴
The sower sows
the word.
¹⁵
And these are the ones along the path, where the word is sown; when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word which is sown in them.
¹⁶
And these in like manner are the ones sown upon rocky ground, who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy;
¹⁷
and they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away.
 
^m
18
And others are the ones sown among thorns; they are those who hear the word,
¹⁹
but the cares of the world, and the delight in riches, and the desire for other things, enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.
²⁰
But those that were sown upon the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold."

A Lamp Is Not Hidden

21
 And he said to them, "
Is a lamp
brought in to be put under a bushel, or under a bed, and not on a stand?
²²
For there is nothing hidden, except to be made manifest; nor is anything secret, except to come to light.
²³
If any man has ears to hear, let him hear."
²⁴
And he said to them, "Take heed what you hear; the measure you give will be the measure you get, and still more will be given you.
²⁵
For to him who has will more be given; and from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away."

A Parable about Seeds

26
 And he said, "The kingdom of God is as if a
man should scatter seed
upon the ground,
²⁷
and should sleep and rise night and day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he knows not how.
²⁸
The earth produces of itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear.
²⁹
But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because
the harvest
has come."

30
 And he said, "
With what can we compare
the kingdom of God, or what parable shall we use for it?
³¹
It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth;
³²
yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade."

The Use of Parables

33
 With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it;
³⁴
he did not speak to them without a parable, but privately to his own disciples he explained everything.

Jesus Calms a Storm on the Sea

35
 
On that day
, when evening had come, he said to them, "Let us go across to the other side."
³⁶
And leaving the crowd, they took him with them, just as he was, in the boat. And other boats were with him.
³⁷
And a great storm of wind arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already filling.
³⁸
But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him and said to him, "Teacher, do you not care if we perish?"
³⁹
And he awoke and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, "Peace! Be still!" And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.
⁴⁰
He said to them, "Why are you afraid? Have you no faith?"
⁴¹
And they were filled with awe, and said to one another, "Who then is this, that even wind and sea obey him?"

Jesus Heals the Gerasene Demoniac

5
  They came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the
Ger'asenes
.
 
^n
2
And when he had come out of the boat, there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit,
³
who lived among the tombs; and no one could bind him any more, even with a chain;
⁴
for he had often been bound with shackles and chains, but the chains he wrenched apart, and the shackles he broke in pieces; and no one had the strength to subdue him.
⁵
Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he was always crying out, and bruising himself with stones.
⁶
And when he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and worshiped him;
⁷
and crying out with a loud voice, he said, "What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me."
⁸
For he had said to him, "Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!"
⁹
And Jesus
 
^o
asked him, "What is your name?" He replied, "My name is
Legion
; for we are many."
¹⁰
And he begged him eagerly not to send them out of the country.
¹¹
Now a great herd of swine was feeding there on the hillside;
¹²
and they begged him, "Send us to the swine, let us enter them."
¹³
So he gave them leave. And the unclean spirits came out, and entered the swine; and the herd, numbering about two thousand, rushed down the steep bank
into the sea
, and were drowned in the sea.