October 15, 2009

Mark 6:30-8:21
30 The apostles gathered together with Jesus; and they reported to Him all that they had done and taught.31 And He said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a secluded place and rest a while.” (For there were many people coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat.)32 They went away in the boat to a secluded place by themselves.
33 The people saw them going, and many recognized them and ran there together on foot from all the cities, and got there ahead of them.34 When Jesus went ashore, He saw a large crowd, and He felt compassion for them because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and He began to teach them many things.35 When it was already quite late, His disciples came to Him and said, “This place is desolate and it is already quite late;36 send them away so that they may go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.”37 But He answered them, “You give them something to eat!” And they said to Him, “Shall we go and spend two hundred denarii on bread and give them something to eat?”38 And He said to them, “How many loaves do you have? Go look!” And when they found out, they said, “Five, and two fish.”39 And He commanded them all to sit down by groups on the green grass.40 They sat down in groups of hundreds and of fifties.41 And He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up toward heaven, He blessed the food and broke the loaves and He kept giving them to the disciples to set before them; and He divided up the two fish among them all.42 They all ate and were satisfied,43 and they picked up twelve full baskets of the broken pieces, and also of the fish.
44 There were five thousand men who ate the loaves.
45 Immediately Jesus made His disciples get into the boat and go ahead of Him to the other side to Bethsaida, while He Himself was sending the crowd away.
46 After bidding them farewell, He left for the mountain to pray.
47 When it was evening, the boat was in the middle of the sea, and He was alone on the land.48 Seeing them straining at the oars, for the wind was against them, at about the fourth watch of the night He came to them, walking on the sea; and He intended to pass by them.49 But when they saw Him walking on the sea, they supposed that it was a ghost, and cried out;50 for they all saw Him and were terrified. But immediately He spoke with them and said to them, “Take courage; it is I, do not be afraid.”51 Then He got into the boat with them, and the wind stopped; and they were utterly astonished,
52 for they had not gained any insight from the incident of the loaves, but their heart was hardened.
53 When they had crossed over they came to land at Gennesaret, and moored to the shore.54 When they got out of the boat, immediately the people recognized Him,55 and ran about that whole country and began to carry here and there on their pallets those who were sick, to the place they heard He was.56 Wherever He entered villages, or cities, or countryside, they were laying the sick in the market places, and imploring Him that they might just touch the fringe of His cloak; and as many as touched it were being cured.

Mark 7

1 The Pharisees and some of the scribes gathered around Him when they had come from Jerusalem,2 and had seen that some of His disciples were eating their bread with impure hands, that is, unwashed.3 (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they carefully wash their hands, thus observing the traditions of the elders;4 and when they come from the market place, they do not eat unless they cleanse themselves; and there are many other things which they have received in order to observe, such as the washing of cups and pitchers and copper pots.)5 The Pharisees and the scribes asked Him, “Why do Your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat their bread with impure hands?”
6 And He said to them, “Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written:
‘THIS PEOPLE HONORS ME WITH THEIR LIPS ,
BUT THEIR HEART IS FAR AWAY FROM ME .
7
‘BUT IN VAIN DO THEY WORSHIP ME ,
TEACHING AS DOCTRINES THE PRECEPTS OF MEN .’
8 “Neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men.”
9 He was also saying to them, “You are experts at setting aside the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition.10 “For Moses said, ‘HONOR YOUR FATHER AND YOUR MOTHER ’; and, ‘HE WHO SPEAKS EVIL OF FATHER OR MOTHER , IS TO BE PUT TO DEATH ’;11 but you say, ‘If a man says to his father or his mother, whatever I have that would help you is Corban (that is to say, given to God ),’12 you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or his mother;
13 thus invalidating the word of God by your tradition which you have handed down; and you do many things such as that.”
14 After He called the crowd to Him again, He began saying to them, “Listen to Me, all of you, and understand:15 there is nothing outside the man which can defile him if it goes into him; but the things which proceed out of the man are what defile the man.
16 [“If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.”]
17 When he had left the crowd and entered the house, His disciples questioned Him about the parable.18 And He said to them, “Are you so lacking in understanding also? Do you not understand that whatever goes into the man from outside cannot defile him,19 because it does not go into his heart, but into his stomach, and is eliminated?” ( Thus He declared all foods clean.)20 And He was saying, “That which proceeds out of the man, that is what defiles the man.21 “For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries,22 deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness.
23 “All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man.”
24 Jesus got up and went away from there to the region of Tyre. And when He had entered a house, He wanted no one to know of it; yet He could not escape notice.25 But after hearing of Him, a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately came and fell at His feet.26 Now the woman was a Gentile, of the Syrophoenician race. And she kept asking Him to cast the demon out of her daughter.27 And He was saying to her, “Let the children be satisfied first, for it is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”28 But she answered and said to Him, “Yes, Lord, but even the dogs under the table feed on the children’s crumbs.”29 And He said to her, “Because of this answer go; the demon has gone out of your daughter.”
30 And going back to her home, she found the child lying on the bed, the demon having left.
31 Again He went out from the region of Tyre, and came through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, within the region of Decapolis.32 They brought to Him one who was deaf and spoke with difficulty, and they implored Him to lay His hand on him.33 Jesus took him aside from the crowd, by himself, and put His fingers into his ears, and after spitting, He touched his tongue with the saliva; 34 and looking up to heaven with a deep sigh, He said to him, “Ephphatha!” that is, “Be opened!”35 And his ears were opened, and the impediment of his tongue was removed, and he began speaking plainly.36 And He gave them orders not to tell anyone; but the more He ordered them, the more widely they continued to proclaim it.37 They were utterly astonished, saying, “He has done all things well; He makes even the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.”

Mark 8

1 In those days, when there was again a large crowd and they had nothing to eat, Jesus called His disciples and said to them,2 “I feel compassion for the people because they have remained with Me now three days and have nothing to eat.3 “If I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way; and some of them have come from a great distance.”4 And His disciples answered Him, “Where will anyone be able to find enough bread here in this desolate place to satisfy these people?”5 And He was asking them, “How many loaves do you have?” And they said, “Seven.”6 And He directed the people to sit down on the ground; and taking the seven loaves, He gave thanks and broke them, and started giving them to His disciples to serve to them, and they served them to the people.7 They also had a few small fish; and after He had blessed them, He ordered these to be served as well.8 And they ate and were satisfied; and they picked up seven large baskets full of what was left over of the broken pieces.9 About four thousand were there; and He sent them away.
10 And immediately He entered the boat with His disciples and came to the district of Dalmanutha.
11 The Pharisees came out and began to argue with Him, seeking from Him a sign from heaven, to test Him.12 Sighing deeply in His spirit, He said, “Why does this generation seek for a sign? Truly I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation.”
13 Leaving them, He again embarked and went away to the other side.
14 And they had forgotten to take bread, and did not have more than one loaf in the boat with them.15 And He was giving orders to them, saying, “Watch out! Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.”16 They began to discuss with one another the fact that they had no bread.17 And Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why do you discuss the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet see or understand? Do you have a hardened heart?18 “HAVING EYES , DO YOU NOT SEE ? AND HAVING EARS , DO YOU NOT HEAR ? And do you not remember,19 when I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces you picked up?” They said to Him, “Twelve.”20 “When I broke the seven for the four thousand, how many large baskets full of broken pieces did you pick up?” And they said to Him, “Seven.”
21 And He was saying to them, “Do you not yet understand?”