Mark
Jesus departed and went to the regions of Judea and beyond the Jordan.
Again crowds flocked to him, and as was his custom he was teaching them.
Some Pharisees came to see him to try to test him, asking whether it was lawful
for a man to divorce his wife.
“What did Moses command you to do?” he
asked in return.
“Moses permitted a certificate of divorce to be written and
the woman sent away,” they replied.
But Jesus said to them, “It was
because of your hard-hearted attitude that Moses wrote this command for
you.
But from the beginning, at creation, God made them male and female.
That is why a man leaves his father and mother,
and the two become
one flesh; so they are no longer two, but one flesh.
No one should separate
what God has joined together.”
When they were indoors, the disciples asked him about this.
“Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against
her,” he said to them,
“or if a wife divorces her husband and marries another
she commits adultery.”
People were bringing children to Jesus so that he would touch and bless
them, but the disciples reprimanded them.
When Jesus saw this he was
indignant and said to them, “Let the children come to me, and do not stop
them, because the Kingdom of God belongs to people like these children.
I
am telling you the truth: whoever does not receive the Kingdom of God like a
child will certainly not enter it.”
He hugged the children, and blessed them as he laid
his hands on them.
As Jesus was walking along, a man ran up and knelt before him. “Good
teacher,” he asked, “what should I do to inherit the Life of the Age to
Come?”
Jesus responded, “Why do you call me good? No one is
absolutely good, except God alone.
You know the commandments: do
not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not lie, do not defraud,
honor your father and mother.”
The man replied, “Teacher, I have kept all
these from my youth.”
Looking at him, Jesus felt love for him and said,
“You are just missing one thing. Go and sell everything you own, give the
money to the poor, and you will have treasure stored in heaven. Then come
and follow me.”
At these words the man’s face fell and he left very sad,
because he was very wealthy.
Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it will be for
wealthy people to enter the Kingdom of God!”
The disciples were shocked
at his words. But Jesus continued, “Children, how hard it is to enter the
Kingdom of God.
It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle
than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God.”
The disciples were all
the more astonished. “So who can be saved?” they said to each other.
Looking
straight at them, Jesus replied, “With people it is impossible, but not with
God, because everything is possible with God.”
Peter started saying, “Look, we have left everything to follow you.”
Jesus responded, “I am telling you the truth: anyone who has left behind
their home, brothers, sisters, mother, father, children or land, for the sake of
me and the Gospel,
will receive in this present age a hundred times as many
homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and land — along with persecution. And in the Age to Come they will receive the Life of that Age to Come.
But many
who are first will be last, and the last will be first.”
As they were on their way up to Jerusalem, with Jesus walking ahead,
the disciples were apprehensive and those following were afraid. Again he
took the twelve disciples aside and began to tell them what was about to
happen to him.
“Look, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man
will be handed over to the chief priests and religious teachers, and they will
condemn him to death. They in turn will hand him over to the Gentiles,
and
they will mock him, spit on him, flog him, and kill him. But three days later
he will rise again.”
James and John, Zebedee’s sons, approached him. “Teacher,” they began,
“we want you to do for us whatever we ask you.”
Jesus replied, “What do
you want me to do for you?”
They said to him, “Grant that one of us may sit on your right and one on your left in your glory.”
But
Jesus replied, “You have no idea what you are asking. Can you drink the cup
I drink? Can you be baptized with the baptism I experience?”
They assured
him, “We can do it.” Jesus said to them, “You will drink the cup I drink, and
you will be baptized with the baptism I experience.
But to sit on my right or
on my left is not mine to give. These places are for those for whom it has
been prepared.”
When the other ten disciples heard this, they were upset with James and
John.
Jesus called them together and said to them, “You know that those
who are recognized as rulers of nations oppress them, and their leaders act
like tyrants.
But it is not to be like this among you. Whoever wants to become important among you should be your servant,
and whoever wants to be first
among you should be everyone’s slave.
For even the Son of Man did not come
to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom in place of many.”
Then they arrived at Jericho. As Jesus and his disciples were leaving the
town, together with a large crowd, a blind beggar named Bartimaeus, the son
of Timaeus, was sitting by the road.
When he heard Jesus the Nazarene was
there, he started shouting out, “Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me!”
Many told him to be quiet, but he shouted even more, “Son of David,
have mercy on me!”
Jesus stopped and said, “Call him over.” So they called
him over, saying to him, “Take heart and stand up! He is calling you.”
Bartimaeus jumped up, threw aside his coat, and came to Jesus.
“What do
you want me to do for you?” Jesus asked him. “Rabbi,” he said to Jesus, “I
want to see again!”
Jesus said to him, “You can go. Your faith has healed
you.” Immediately he could see, and he followed Jesus along the road.
Mark