Study Desk

These last words made Jesus angry. But he touched him and said, "I want to heal you. Be healed!"

Jesus told the man to go, but he gave him a strong warning:

"Don't tell anyone about what I did for you. But go and let the priest look at you. And offer a gift to God because you have been healed. Offer the gift that Moses commanded. This will show everyone that you are healed."

The man left there and told everyone he saw that Jesus had healed him. So the news about Jesus spread. And that is why he could not enter a town if people saw him. He stayed in places where people did not live. But people came from all the towns to the places where he was.

But they could not get the man inside to Jesus because the house was so full of people. So they went to the roof above Jesus and made a hole in it. Then they lowered the mat with the paralyzed man on it.

"Why does this man say things like that? What an insult to God! No one but God can forgive sins."

The Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins. But how can I prove this to you? Maybe you are thinking it was easy for me to say to the crippled man, ‘Your sins are forgiven.' There's no proof it really happened. But what if I say to the man, ‘Stand up. Take your mat and walk'? Then you will be able to see if I really have this power or not." So Jesus said to the paralyzed man,

The followers of John and the Pharisees were fasting. Some people came to Jesus and said, "John's followers fast, and the followers of the Pharisees fast. But your followers don't fast. Why?"

But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them. Then they will fast.

Jesus looked at the people. He was angry, but he felt very sad because they were so stubborn. He said to the man, "Hold out your hand." The man held out his hand, and it was healed.

But Jesus gave the spirits a strong warning not to tell anyone who he was.

Then Jesus went home, but again a large crowd gathered there. There were so many people that he and his followers could not eat.

But anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven. They will always be guilty of that sin."

But then the sun rose and the plants were burned. They died because they did not have deep roots.

But some of the seed fell on good ground. There it began to grow, and it made grain. Some plants made 30 times more grain, some 60 times more, and some 100 times more."

Jesus said, "Only you can know the secret truth about God's kingdom. But to those other people I tell everything by using stories.

I do this so that ‘They will look and look but never really see; they will listen and listen but never understand. If they saw and understood, they might change and be forgiven.'"

But they don't allow it to go deep into their lives. They keep it only a short time. As soon as trouble or persecution comes because of the teaching they accepted, they give up.

but their lives become full of other things: the worries of this life, the love of money, and everything else they want. This keeps the teaching from growing, and it does not produce a crop in their lives.

Think carefully about what you are hearing. God will know how much to give you by how much you understand now. But he will give you more than you deserve.