The Living Bible (320 page)
Authors: Inc. Tyndale House Publishers
Tags: #BIBLES / Other Translations / Text
Then Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan River, being urged by the Spirit out into the barren wastelands of Judea, where Satan tempted him for forty days. He ate nothing all that time and was very hungry.
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Satan said, “If you are God’s Son, tell this stone to become a loaf of bread.”
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But Jesus replied,
“It is written in the Scriptures, ‘Other things in life are much more important than bread!’”
*
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Then Satan took him up and revealed to him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time;
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and the devil told him, “I will give you all these splendid kingdoms and their glory—for they are mine to give to anyone I wish—if you will only get down on your knees and worship me.”
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Jesus replied,
“We must worship God, and him alone. So it is written in the Scriptures.”
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Then Satan took him to Jerusalem to a high roof of the Temple and said, “If you are the Son of God, jump off! For the Scriptures say that God will send his angels to guard you and to keep you from crashing to the pavement below!”
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Jesus replied,
“The Scriptures also say, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to a foolish test.’”
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When the devil had ended all the temptations, he left Jesus for a while and went away.
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Then Jesus returned to Galilee, full of the Holy Spirit’s power. Soon he became well known throughout all that region
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for his sermons in the synagogues; everyone praised him.
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When he came to the village of Nazareth, his boyhood home, he went as usual to the synagogue on Saturday, and stood up to read the Scriptures.
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The book of Isaiah the prophet was handed to him, and he opened it to the place where it says:
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“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me; he has appointed me to preach Good News to the poor; he has sent me to heal the brokenhearted and to announce that captives shall be released and the blind shall see, that the downtrodden shall be freed from their oppressors, and that God is ready to give blessings to all who come to him.”
*
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He closed the book and handed it back to the attendant and sat down, while everyone in the synagogue gazed at him intently.
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Then he added,
“These Scriptures came true today!”
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All who were there spoke well of him and were amazed by the beautiful words that fell from his lips. “How can this be?” they asked. “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?”
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Then he said,
“Probably you will quote me that proverb, ‘Physician, heal yourself’—meaning, ‘Why don’t you do miracles here in your hometown like those you did in Capernaum?’
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But I solemnly declare to you that no prophet is accepted in his own hometown!
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For example, remember how Elijah the prophet used a miracle to help the widow of Zarephath—a foreigner from the land of Sidon. There were many Jewish widows needing help in those days of famine, for there had been no rain for three and a half years, and hunger stalked the land; yet Elijah was not sent to them.
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Or think of the prophet Elisha, who healed Naaman, a Syrian, rather than the many Jewish lepers needing help.”
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These remarks stung them to fury;
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and jumping up, they mobbed him and took him to the edge of the hill on which the city was built, to push him over the cliff.
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But he walked away through the crowd and left them.
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Then he returned to Capernaum, a city in Galilee, and preached there in the synagogue every Saturday.
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Here, too, the people were amazed at the things he said. For he spoke as one who knew the truth, instead of merely quoting the opinions of others as his authority.
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Once as he was teaching in the synagogue, a man possessed by a demon began shouting at Jesus,
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“Go away! We want nothing to do with you, Jesus from Nazareth. You have come to destroy us. I know who you are—the Holy Son of God.”
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Jesus cut him short.
“Be silent!”
he told the demon.
“Come out!”
The demon threw the man to the floor as the crowd watched, and then left him without hurting him further.
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Amazed, the people asked, “What is in this man’s words that even demons obey him?”
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The story of what he had done spread like wildfire throughout the whole region.
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After leaving the synagogue that day, he went to Simon’s home where he found Simon’s mother-in-law very sick with a high fever. “Please heal her,” everyone begged.
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Standing at her bedside he spoke to the fever, rebuking it, and immediately her temperature returned to normal, and she got up and prepared a meal for them!
*
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As the sun went down that evening, all the villagers who had any sick people in their homes, no matter what their diseases were, brought them to Jesus; and the touch of his hands healed every one!
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Some were possessed by demons; and the demons came out at his command, shouting, “You are the Son of God.” But because they knew he was the Christ, he stopped them and told them to be silent.
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Early the next morning he went out into the desert. The crowds searched everywhere for him, and when they finally found him, they begged him not to leave them but to stay at Capernaum.
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But he replied,
“I must preach the Good News of the Kingdom of God in other places too, for that is why I was sent.”
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So he continued to travel around preaching in synagogues throughout Judea.
One day as he was preaching on the shore of Lake Gennesaret, great crowds pressed in on him to listen to the Word of God.
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He noticed two empty boats standing at the water’s edge while the fishermen washed their nets.
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Stepping into one of the boats, Jesus asked Simon, its owner, to push out a little into the water, so that he could sit in the boat and speak to the crowds from there.
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When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon,
“Now go out where it is deeper and let down your nets and you will catch a lot of fish!”
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“Sir,” Simon replied, “we worked hard all last night and didn’t catch a thing. But if you say so, we’ll try again.”
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And this time their nets were so full that they began to tear!
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A shout for help brought their partners in the other boat, and soon both boats were filled with fish and on the verge of sinking.
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When Simon Peter realized what had happened, he fell to his knees before Jesus and said, “Oh, sir, please leave us—I’m too much of a sinner for you to have around.”
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For he was awestruck by the size of their catch, as were the others with him,
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and his partners too—James and John, the sons of Zebedee. Jesus replied,
“Don’t be afraid! From now on you’ll be fishing for the souls of men!”
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And as soon as they landed, they left everything and went with him.
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One day in a certain village he was visiting, there was a man with an advanced case of leprosy. When he saw Jesus, he fell to the ground before him, face downward in the dust, begging to be healed.
“Sir,” he said, “if you only will, you can clear me of every trace of my disease.”
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Jesus reached out and touched the man and said,
“Of course I will. Be healed.”
And the leprosy left him instantly!
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Then Jesus instructed him to go at once without telling anyone what had happened and be examined by the Jewish priest.
“Offer the sacrifice Moses’ law requires for lepers who are healed,”
he said.
“This will prove to everyone that you are well.”
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Now the report of his power spread even faster and vast crowds came to hear him preach and to be healed of their diseases.
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But he often withdrew to the wilderness for prayer.
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One day while he was teaching, some Jewish religious leaders
*
and teachers of the Law were sitting nearby. (It seemed that these men showed up from every village in all Galilee and Judea, as well as from Jerusalem.) And the Lord’s healing power was upon him.
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Then—look! Some men came carrying a paralyzed man on a sleeping mat. They tried to push through the crowd to Jesus but couldn’t reach him. So they went up on the roof above him, took off some tiles, and lowered the sick man down into the crowd, still on his sleeping mat, right in front of Jesus.
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Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the man,
“My friend, your sins are forgiven!”
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“Who does this fellow think he is?” the Pharisees and teachers of the Law exclaimed among themselves. “This is blasphemy! Who but God can forgive sins?”
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Jesus knew what they were thinking, and he replied,
“Why is it blasphemy?
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I, the Messiah,
*
have the authority on earth to forgive sins. But talk is cheap—anybody could say that. So I’ll prove it to you by healing this man.”
Then, turning to the paralyzed man, he commanded,
“Pick up your stretcher and go on home, for you are healed!”
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And immediately, as everyone watched, the man jumped to his feet, picked up his mat and went home praising God!
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Everyone present was gripped with awe and fear. And they praised God, remarking over and over again, “We have seen strange things today.”
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Later on as Jesus left the town he saw a tax collector—with the usual reputation for cheating—sitting at a tax collection booth. The man’s name was Levi. Jesus said to him,
“Come and be one of my disciples!”
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So Levi left everything, sprang up, and went with him.
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Soon Levi held a reception in his home with Jesus as the guest of honor. Many of Levi’s fellow tax collectors and other guests were there.
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But the Pharisees and teachers of the Law complained bitterly to Jesus’ disciples about his eating with such notorious sinners.
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Jesus answered them,
“It is the sick who need a doctor, not those in good health.
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My purpose is to invite sinners to turn from their sins, not to spend my time with those who think themselves already good enough.”
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Their next complaint was that Jesus’ disciples were feasting instead of fasting. “John the Baptist’s disciples are constantly going without food and praying,” they declared, “and so do the disciples of the Pharisees. Why are yours wining and dining?”
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Jesus asked,
“Do happy men fast? Do wedding guests go hungry while celebrating with the groom?
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But the time will come when the bridegroom will be killed;
*
then they won’t want to eat.”
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Then Jesus used this illustration:
“No one tears off a piece of a new garment to make a patch for an old one. Not only will the new garment be ruined, but the old garment will look worse with a new patch on it!
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And no one puts new wine into old wineskins, for the new wine bursts the old skins, ruining the skins and spilling the wine.
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New wine must be put into new wineskins.
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But no one after drinking the old wine seems to want the fresh and the new. ‘The old ways are best,’ they say.”