The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible New Testament (71 page)

Healings at Simon's House

38
 And he arose and left the synagogue, and entered Simon's house. Now Simon's
mother-in-law
was ill with a high fever, and they asked him about her.
³⁹
And he stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her; and immediately she rose and served them.

40
 Now when the sun was setting, all those who had any that were sick with various diseases brought them to him; and he laid his hands on every one of them and healed them.
⁴¹
And demons also came out of many, crying, "You are the Son of God!" But he rebuked them, and would not allow them to speak, because they knew that he was the Christ.

Jesus Preaches in the Synagogues of Judea

42
 And when it was day he departed and went into a lonely place. And the people sought him and came to him, and would have kept him from leaving them;
⁴³
but he said to them, "I must preach the good news of the
kingdom of God
to the other cities also; for I was sent for this purpose."
⁴⁴
And he was preaching in the synagogues of
Judea
.
ⁿ

Jesus Calls the First Disciples

5
  While the people pressed upon him to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennes'aret.
²
And he saw two boats by the lake; but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets.
3
Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon's, he asked him to put out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people from the boat.
⁴
And when he had ceased speaking, he said to Simon, "Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch."
⁵
And Simon answered, "Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But
at your word
I will let down the nets."
⁶
And when they had done this, they enclosed a great shoal of fish; and as their nets were breaking,
⁷
they beckoned to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink.
⁸
But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, "Depart from me, for
I am a sinful man
, O Lord."
⁹
For he was astonished, and all that were with him, at the catch of fish which they had taken;
¹⁰
and so also were
James and John
, sons of Zeb'edee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, "Do not be afraid; henceforth you will be catching men."
¹¹
And when they had brought their boats to land,
they left everything
and followed him.

Jesus Cleanses a Leper

12
 While he was in one of the cities, there came a man full of
leprosy
; and when he saw Jesus, he fell on his face and begged him, "Lord, if you will, you can make me clean."
¹³
And he stretched out his hand, and
touched him
, saying, "I will; be clean." And immediately the leprosy left him.
¹⁴
And he charged him to tell no one; but "go and show yourself to the priest, and make an offering for your cleansing,
as Moses commanded
, for a proof to the people."
^o
15
But so much the more the report went abroad concerning him; and great multitudes gathered to hear and to be healed of their infirmities.
¹⁶
But
he withdrew
to the wilderness and prayed.

Jesus Heals a Paralytic

17
 On one of those days, as he was teaching, there were
Pharisees
and teachers of the law sitting by, who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem; and the power of the Lord was with him to heal.
^p
18
And behold, men were bringing on a bed a man who was paralyzed, and they sought to bring him in and lay him before Jesus;
^q
19
but finding no way to bring him in, because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down with his bed through the tiles into their midst before Jesus.
²⁰
And when he saw their faith he said, "Man, your sins are forgiven you."
²¹
And the scribes and the Pharisees began to question, saying, "Who is this that speaks blasphemies? Who can
forgive sins
but God only?"
²²
When Jesus perceived their questionings, he answered them, "Why do you question in your hearts?
²³
Which is easier, to say, 'Your sins are forgiven you,' or to say, 'Rise and walk'?
²⁴
But that you may know that the Son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins"—he said to the man who was paralyzed—"
I say to you, rise
, take up your bed and go home."
²⁵
And immediately he rose before them, and took up that on which he lay, and went home, glorifying God.
²⁶
And amazement seized them all, and
they glorified God
and were filled with awe, saying, "We have seen strange things today."

Jesus Calls Levi

27
 After this he went out, and saw a
tax collector
, named Levi, sitting at the tax office; and he said to him, "Follow me."
²⁸
And he left everything, and rose and followed him.

29
 And Levi made him a great feast in his house; and there was a large company of tax collectors and others sitting at table
^r
with them.
³⁰
And the Pharisees and their scribes murmured against his disciples, saying, "Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?"
³¹
And Jesus answered them, "Those who are well have no need of
a physician
, but those who are sick;
³²
I have
not come to call the righteous
, but sinners to repentance."

The Question about Fasting

33
 And they said to him, "The disciples of John fast often and offer prayers, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but
yours eat and drink
."
³⁴
And Jesus said to them, "Can you make wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them?
³⁵
The days will come, when
the bridegroom
is taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days."
³⁶
He told them a parable also: "No one tears a piece from
a new garment
and puts it upon an old garment; if he does, he will tear the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old.
³⁷
And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; if he does, the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed.
³⁸
But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins.
³⁹
And no one after drinking old wine desires new; for he says, 'The old is good.' "
^s

A Teaching about the Sabbath

6
  On a
sabbath
,
^t
while he was going through the grainfields, his disciples plucked and ate some heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands.
²
But some of the Pharisees said, "Why are you doing what is
not lawful
to do on the sabbath?"
³
And Jesus answered, "
Have you not read
what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him:
⁴
how he entered the house of God, and took and ate the
showbread
, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those with him?"
⁵
And he said to them, "The
Son of man
is lord of the sabbath."

The Man with a Withered Hand

6
 On another sabbath, when he entered the synagogue and taught, a man was there whose right hand was withered.
⁷
And the scribes and the Pharisees watched him, to see whether he would heal on the sabbath, so that they might find an accusation against him.
⁸
But he knew their thoughts, and he said to the man who had the withered hand, "Come and stand here." And he rose and stood there.
⁹
And Jesus said to them, "I ask you,
is it lawful
on the sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to destroy it?"
¹⁰
And he looked around on them all, and said to him, "Stretch out your hand." And he did so, and
his hand was restored
.
¹¹
But they were filled with fury and discussed with one another what they might do to Jesus.

Jesus Chooses the Twelve Disciples

12
 In these days he went out to the hills to pray; and
all night
he continued in prayer to God.
¹³
And when it was day, he called his disciples, and chose from them twelve, whom he named
apostles
;
¹⁴
Simon, whom he named Peter, and Andrew his brother, and James and John, and Philip, and Bartholomew,
¹⁵
and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphae'us, and Simon who was called the Zealot,
¹⁶
and Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.

Jesus Teaches and Heals

17
 And he came down with them and
stood on a level place
, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the seacoast of
Tyre and Si'don
, who came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases;
¹⁸
and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured.
¹⁹
And all the crowd sought to touch him, for power came forth from him and healed them all.

Blessings and Woes

20
 And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples,
and said
:
 
*

"Blessed are you poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.

21
 "
Blessed
are you that hunger now, for you shall be satisfied.

"Blessed are you that weep now, for you shall laugh.

22
 "Blessed are you when men hate you, and when they exclude you and revile you, and cast out your name as evil, on account of the Son of man!
²³
Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets.

24
 "But
woe
to you that are rich, for you have received your consolation.

25
 "Woe to you that are full now, for you shall hunger.

"Woe to you that laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep.

26
 "Woe to you, when all men speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets.

Love for Enemies

27
 "But I say to you that hear,
Love your enemies
, do good to those who hate you,
²⁸
bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.
²⁹
To him who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from
him who takes away
your cloak do not withhold your coat as well.
³⁰
Give to every one who begs from you; and of him who takes away your goods do not ask them again.
³¹
And as you wish that men would do to you,
do so to them
.

32
 "If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them.
³³
And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same.
³⁴
And if you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive as much again.
³⁵
But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return;
^v
and your reward will be great, and you will be
sons of the Most High
; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the selfish.
³⁶
Be merciful
, even as your Father is merciful.