Just then a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak.
She said to herself, ‘If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed.’
Jesus turned and saw her. ‘Take heart, daughter,’ he said, ‘your faith has healed you.’ And the woman was healed at that moment.
As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed him, calling out, ‘Have mercy on us, Son of David!’
When he had gone indoors, the blind men came to him, and he asked them, ‘Do you believe that I am able to do this?’
‘Yes, Lord,’ they replied.
Then he touched their eyes and said, ‘According to your faith let it be done to you’;
and their sight was restored. Jesus warned them sternly, ‘See that no-one knows about this.’
Then some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked,
‘Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don’t wash their hands before they eat!’
Jesus replied, ‘And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition?
For God said, “Honour your father and mother” and “Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.”
But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is “devoted to God,”
they are not to “honour their father or mother” with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition.
You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you:
‘ “These people honour me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
They worship me in vain;
their teachings are merely human rules.” ’
Jesus called the crowd to him and said, ‘Listen and understand.
What goes into someone’s mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them.’
Then the disciples came to him and asked, ‘Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this?’
He replied, ‘Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots.
Leave them; they are blind guides. If the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.’
Peter said, ‘Explain the parable to us.’
‘Are you still so dull?’ Jesus asked them.
‘Don’t you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body?
But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them.
For out of the heart come evil thoughts – murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.
These are what defile a person; but eating with unwashed hands does not defile them.’
Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon.
A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, ‘Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is demon-possessed and suffering terribly.’
Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, ‘Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.’
He answered, ‘I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.’
The woman came and knelt before him. ‘Lord, help me!’ she said.
He replied, ‘It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.’
‘Yes it is, Lord,’ she said. ‘Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.’
Then Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.’ And her daughter was healed at that moment.
Jesus left there and went along the Sea of Galilee. Then he went up on a mountainside and sat down.
Great crowds came to him, bringing the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute and many others, and laid them at his feet; and he healed them.
The people were amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled made well, the lame walking and the blind seeing. And they praised the God of Israel.
Jesus called his disciples to him and said, ‘I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away hungry, or they may collapse on the way.’
His disciples answered, ‘Where could we get enough bread in this remote place to feed such a crowd?’
‘How many loaves do you have?’ Jesus asked.
‘Seven,’ they replied, ‘and a few small fish.’
He told the crowd to sit down on the ground.
Then he took the seven loaves and the fish, and when he had given thanks, he broke them and gave them to the disciples, and they in turn to the people.
They all ate and were satisfied. Afterwards the disciples picked up seven basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over.
The number of those who ate was four thousand men, besides women and children.
After Jesus had sent the crowd away, he got into the boat and went to the vicinity of Magadan.
After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.
There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it.
His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow.
The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.
The angel said to the women, ‘Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified.
He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay.
Then go quickly and tell his disciples: “He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.” Now I have told you.’
So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples.
Suddenly Jesus met them. ‘Greetings,’ he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshipped him.
Then Jesus said to them, ‘Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.’
While the women were on their way, some of the guards went into the city and reported to the chief priests everything that had happened.
When the chief priests had met with the elders and devised a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money,
telling them, ‘You are to say, “His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep.”
If this report gets to the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.’
So the soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed. And this story has been widely circulated among the Jews to this very day.
Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go.
When they saw him, they worshipped him; but some doubted.
Then Jesus came to them and said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.’
‘ “If you can”?’ said Jesus. ‘Everything is possible for one who believes.’
In the morning, as they went along, they saw the fig-tree withered from the roots.
Peter remembered and said to Jesus, ‘Rabbi, look! The fig-tree you cursed has withered!’
‘Have faith in God,’ Jesus answered.
‘Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, “Go, throw yourself into the sea,” and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them.
Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.
Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus travelled along the border between Samaria and Galilee.
As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance
and called out in a loud voice, ‘Jesus, Master, have pity on us!’
When he saw them, he said, ‘Go, show yourselves to the priests.’ And as they went, they were cleansed.
One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice.
He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him – and he was a Samaritan.
Jesus asked, ‘Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine?
Has no-one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?’
Then he said to him, ‘Rise and go; your faith has made you well.’
As Jesus approached Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging.
When he heard the crowd going by, he asked what was happening.
They told him, ‘Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.’
He called out, ‘Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!’
Those who led the way rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, ‘Son of David, have mercy on me!’
Jesus stopped and ordered the man to be brought to him. When he came near, Jesus asked him,
‘What do you want me to do for you?’
‘Lord, I want to see,’ he replied.
Jesus said to him, ‘Receive your sight; your faith has healed you.’
Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus, praising God. When all the people saw it, they also praised God.
In Lystra there sat a man who was lame. He had been that way from birth and had never walked.
He listened to Paul as he was speaking. Paul looked directly at him, saw that he had faith to be healed
and called out, ‘Stand up on your feet!’ At that, the man jumped up and began to walk.
Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.
This is what the ancients were commended for.
By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.
By faith Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did. By faith he was commended as righteous, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith Abel still speaks, even though he is dead.
By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death: ‘He could not be found, because God had taken him away.’ For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God.
And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven.