Then he added,
“Pay close attention to what you hear.
The closer you listen,
the more understanding you will be given—
and you will receive even more.
To those who listen to my teaching,
more understanding will be given…
Then he added,
“Pay close attention to what you hear.
The closer you listen,
the more understanding you will be given—
and you will receive even more.
To those who listen to my teaching,
more understanding will be given…
The farmer plants seed by taking God’s word to others.
And the seed that fell on good soil
represents those who hear and accept God’s word
and produce a harvest of thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times
as much as had been planted!”
Then Jesus said to them,
“The Sabbath was made to meet the needs of people,
and not people to meet the requirements of the Sabbath.
So the Son of Man is Lord,
even over the Sabbath!”
As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus
sitting at his tax collector’s booth.
“Follow me and be my disciple,”
Jesus said to him.
So Levi got up and followed him.
But when the teachers of religious law who were Pharisees
saw him eating with tax collectors and other sinners,
they asked his disciples,
“Why does he eat with such scum?”
When Jesus heard this, he told them,
“Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do.
I have come to call not those who think they are righteous,
but those who know they are sinners.”
“The time promised by God has come at last!”
he announced.
“The Kingdom of God is near!
Repent of your sins and believe the Good News!”
…“I demand in the name of the living God—
tell us if you are the Messiah, the Son of God.”
Jesus replied, “You have said it.
And in the future you will see the Son of Man
seated in the place of power at God’s right hand
and coming on the clouds of heaven.”
On the way, Jesus told them,
“Tonight all of you will desert me.
For the Scriptures say,
‘God will strike the Shepherd,
and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’
But after I have been raised from the dead,
I will go ahead of you to Galilee and meet you there.”