JESUS TEACHES THE PEOPLE IN THE SYNAGOGUE AT CAPERNAUM; HEALS THE DEAF MAN; FEEDS THE MULTITUDE WITH SEVEN LOAVES AND A FEW FISHES, AND FORETELLS HIS DEATH AND RESURRECTION. HE IS TRANSFIGURED. HE SENDS PETER TO FIND MONEY IN THE MOUTH OF A FISH. THE PARABLE OF THE KING WHO TOOK ACCOUNT OF HIS SERVANTS.
JESUS came again to Capernaum, and went into the synagogue and taught the Jews. And they asked him, saying, What shall we do to please God? He answered, Believe that I am the Saviour whom he was to send into the world. But the Jews had expected the Saviour, when he should come, to be a great soldier who would set them free from the Romans and make them into a kingdom, and rule over them like the kings of other nations. Therefore when Jesus came as a poor man, telling them to repent of their sins and obey God's commandments, they were not pleased with him, and refused to believe that he was the Saviour.
Then he said to the twelve apostles, Will you also go away, and leave me? Peter answered him, Lord, if we leave thee, to whom shall we go to be saved? Jesus answered, I have chosen you twelve to be my apostles, and one of you is my enemy. He meant Judas Iscariot, who he knew was going to betray and sell him to the chief priests and elders of the Jews, that they might put him to death. The chief priests were the chief, or principal, ones, in the different courses of priests that served by turns at the temple. There were twenty-four chief priests. Like the Scribes and Pharisees, they hated the Saviour, and did all they could to keep the people from believing on him.
And Jesus went out of the land of Israel and came near the cities of Tyre and Sidon. The people of those cities were not Jews, but Gentiles. Yet a woman who lived there, when she heard that Jesus had come, went to him and begged him to cast an evil spirit out of her daughter. At first he turned away as if unwilling to hear her, because she was not a Jew; but he did this only to try whether she truly believed in him. Then she prayed the more earnestly, and fell at his feet and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me. Jesus answered and said to her, Because thou hast faith in me thy daughter is made well. And when she came to her house, she found the evil spirit gone out and her daughter laid upon the bed.
Jesus came again into the land of Israel, by the sea of Galilee. And the people brought to him a man that was deaf, and could hardly speak, and they asked him to lay his hands on the man that he might be healed. Then Jesus took him aside from the multitude and put his fingers into the deaf man's ears, and spit and touched his tongue, and looking up to heaven, said, Be opened. And immediately the man was made well, so that he could both hear and speak.
And many persons came to him, bringing those who were lame and blind and dumb, and laid them down at his feet that he might heal them. And Jesus healed them all, so that the people wondered when they saw the lame to walk, the dumb to speak, and the blind to see. And they thanked God for what had been done to them.
And the multitude being very great, Jesus fed them again with only a few loaves and fishes, for they had been with him three days, and had nothing to eat. He said to his disciples, If I send them away to their homes without food, they will grow weary and faint by the way, for many of them have come from far. And he asked, How many loaves have you? His disciples answered, Seven, and a few small fishes. Then he commanded the people to sit down on the ground. And he took the seven loaves and the fishes, and thanked God for them, and gave them to his disciples to give to the people. And they all ate and had enough. Afterward they took up of the pieces that were left seven baskets full. Those that had eaten were about four thousand persons: and Jesus sent them away.
And he came to the city of Bethsaida, and they brought a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him. And he took him by the hand and led him out of the town; and when he had spit on his eyes and put his hands on him, he asked if he could see. The blind man answered, I see men, yet they do not look like men, but like trees walking. Then Jesus put his hands again on the man's eyes, and made him look up, and he saw everything clearly.
As Jesus came with his apostles toward the city of Cesarea, he asked them, Who do the people say that I am? They answered, Some say that thou art John the Baptist risen from the dead, some that thou art the prophet Elijah, and others the prophet Jeremiah, come back to the earth again. Then Jesus asked, But who do you say that I am? Peter answered, Thou art the Christ, the Son of God. Peter meant to tell Jesus that the apostles believed him to be the Saviour whom God had promised to send into the world.
We have read that the Jews expected this Saviour when he should come, to set them free from the Romans and make them into a kingdom, and to reign over them like other earthly kings. And even the apostles who were with Jesus all the time, and believed that he was the Saviour, thought he was going to set up an earthly kingdom. For although they saw he was now a poor man, they did not think he would stay so, but expected he would soon become rich and great and would make them great too. Like the rest of the Jews, they had not yet learned that he had come to rule only in their hearts, and to have his kingdom there; and that instead of fighting battles for them and ruling over them as a king, he was going to die on the cross for their sins.
But from this time he began to tell them what was really going to happen to him; that he must go to Jerusalem and there be cruelly treated by the chief priests, the scribes and the elders of the Jews; and that he would be killed by them, but would rise from the dead on the third day. When Peter heard this he was surprised, and said, No, these things shall not happen to thee. Yet it was to suffer these things that Jesus had come into the world, and when Peter said they should not happen to him, it seemed as if he wanted Jesus to live, and set up an earthly kingdom, rather than die to save the people from their sins. Therefore Jesus was much displeased with Peter, and called him his enemy, because Peter did not want him to do the things that would please God, but the things that would please Peter himself.
Then Jesus said that if any man wanted to be his disciple, he must not seek his own pleasure, but must take up his cross every day and follow him. Jesus meant that his disciples must follow his example and do what is right, no matter how hard and painful it may be. For, he asked, what good would it do any one, to have all that he wanted in this world, or even to have everything that is in the world given to him as long as he lives; if, after he died, he should lose his own soul.
After six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John, three of his apostles, and went up on a high mountain to pray. And while he prayed, his face was changed, so that it shone bright like the sun, and his raiment glistened, and was white as snow. And suddenly two men were with him. They were Moses and Elijah, who had come back to this world to talk with him about his being crucified at Jerusalem. The Bible says they appeared in glory; this means, we suppose, that they looked beautiful and glorious as they may look in heaven.
The apostles knew that it was Moses and Elijah, and they wanted to stay there on the mount with them, and not go down any more. Peter said, Master, it is good for us to be here; if thou art willing, let us make three tents, one for thee, one for Moses, and one for Elijah. While he was speaking, there came a bright cloud and covered them, and God's voice spoke out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son, hear him. When the apostles heard it, they bowed down with their faces to the ground, and were greatly afraid. But Jesus came and touched them, and said, Arise, be not afraid. And when they had risen up and looked around, Moses and Elijah were gone, and they saw no one except Jesus. Jesus said to them, Tell no man of the things you have seen, until I be risen from the dead. But they did not understand him when he spoke of rising from the dead, and they asked one another what that saying could mean The next day when they had come down from the mountain, many people were waiting to see Jesus. And there came a man kneeling to him, and saying, Master, I beseech thee, look upon my son; for he is my only child, and an evil spirit has gone into him, that often makes him fall into the fire and into the water, to destroy him. And I took him to thy disciples, that they might heal him, but they could not. Jesus answered, Bring him to me. As they brought him, the spirit threw him down, and he rolled on the ground and foamed at the mouth. Jesus asked his father, saying, How long ago did this come upon him? He answered, When he was a child. And Jesus said to the evil spirit, I command thee to come out of him, and go no more into him. Then the spirit, crying with a loud voice, shook him greatly and came out of him, leaving him weak, like one dead, so that many said, He is dead. But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he stood upon his feet and was well.
And they went into Capernaum. Now the Jews who lived in the different cities of the land used to send money to the priests at the temple, to buy sacrifices with. And the men who took this money in the city of Capernaum, came to Peter, and asked whether his Master would give them any. Jesus knew what the men had asked, and when he came into the house, he said to Peter, Go thou to the sea of Galilee, and cast a hook into the water, and take up the fish that is first caught, and when thou hast opened its mouth thou shalt find there a piece of money. Give that to the men for me and for thee. And Peter did as Jesus commanded, and found the piece of money, and gave it to the men.
Now, although Jesus had told the apostles plainly, what was going to happen to him, how he would be cruelly treated and put to death at Jerusalem, yet they had never understood him when he spoke of these things. They still expected, whatever he might have to suffer, that afterward he would set up an earthly kingdom and become very great, and that then they would become great also.
And while they walked by the way, they began to dispute with one another as to which of them should be greatest. Jesus knew what they said, and when they had come into the house, he asked them saying, What is it that you disputed among yourselves by the way? But they were ashamed and did not answer him. Then he called a little child and set him in the midst of them, and told them that unless they should put away their pride and their desire to rule over one another, they could not belong to the kingdom which he was going to set up. Whoever therefore, he said, should be most humble and willing to obey, like that little child, would be the greatest in his kingdom.
And he said, If thy hand or thy foot cause thee to do wrong, cut them off, and cast them from thee; he meant, that if his disciples were committing any sin, which they loved so much that it seemed as hard to part with, even as a hand or a foot, still they must cease committing it and put it away from them. For, he said, it would be better for them to part with that sin, and at the day of Judgment be taken up to heaven, than to keep on committing it, and be cast into hell, into the fire that never would go out.
And Jesus told his disciples that whenever they should meet together in any place to worship him, though only two or three of them might be there, he would be with them; he meant that his Spirit would be with them. And he said that if one of them should sin against another, and afterward confess his fault, the one he had sinned against must forgive him. Peter asked how many times they should forgive, whether as often as seven times. Jesus answered that they should forgive one another, not only seven times, but seventy times seven; he meant always.
Then he spoke to them a parable. He said, There was a king who wished to take an account of the money that his servants owed him. And one was brought who owed him a very great sum, as much as ten thousand talents. But as he had nothing to pay with, the king commanded that he and his wife and his children should be sold as slaves, so that the money they were sold for, might be paid to him for the debt. Then the servant fell down on his knees before the king, and prayed that he would have patience with him till he could earn the money, or get it from those who owed it to him, Then, he said, I will pay thee all. And the king, when he saw his distress, pitied him, and was kind to him, and forgave the debt altogether.
But that same servant went out and found one of his fellow-servants, who owed him only a hundred pence. And he came to him, and caught him by the throat, and said, Pay me what thou owest. And his fellow-servant fell down at his feet, and begged him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. And he would not, but went and cast him into prison, to be kept there till he should pay THE debt.
Therefore, the king's other servants who saw what he had done, were very sorry, and they came and told the king. Then the king, when he had called him, said to him, O thou wicked servant! I forgave thee all thy debt, because thou didst ask me. Shouldst thou not, also, have pitied thy fellow-servant as I pitied thee? And the king was greatly offended, and sent him to be punished till he should pay all that he owed him.
In this parable the king means God, and the servant who owed him the ten thousand talents means us, because we have sinned so often against him. As the king punished that wicked servant because he would not forgive his fellow-servant, so, Jesus says, God will punish us, if we do not forgive one another our trespasses.
As Jesus journeyed toward Jerusalem, he sent James and John, two of his apostles, on before him, to make ready a place where he might stop and rest by the way. And they came to a village of the Samaritans, but the men of that village would not let Jesus stop there, because he was a Jew and was going toward Jerusalem. Then James and John were very angry, and asked him if they might not call down fire from heaven, to destroy those men, as the prophet Elijah had called down fire to burn up the captain, with his fifty men, whom the king of Israel had sent to take him. But Jesus was displeased with James and John for asking this; he said to them, I did not come on the earth to destroy men's lives, but to save them. And they went on to another village.
As they went, there came ten men who were lepers, to meet Jesus. These men stayed with each other because they were all sick of the same dreadful disease, and were not allowed to come near persons who were well. Therefore, they did not come near Jesus and his disciples, but stood a good way off and cried out, saying, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. Now, as we have read, Moses had commanded every leper who was healed, to go and show himself to the priest, that the priest might give him permission to live among the people again. When Jesus heard these poor men crying out, he said to them, Go, show yourselves to the priest. And as they went they were healed. And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and, with a loud voice, praised God, and came and knelt down at the feet of Jesus, giving him thanks; the man was a Samaritan. Jesus said, Were there not ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Only this Samaritan comes back to thank God for what has been done to him.