15Some Pharisees and some teachers of the law came from Jerusalem to see Jesus. They asked, ²“Why don’t your disciples obey what the elders teach? Your disciples don’t wash their hands before they eat!”

³Jesus replied, “And why don’t you obey God’s command? You would rather follow your own teachings! ⁴God said, ‘Honor your father and mother.’ He also said, ‘If anyone calls down a curse on his father or mother, he will be put to death.’ ⁵But you allow people to say to their parents, ‘Any help you might have received from us is a gift set apart for God.’ ⁶So they do not need to honor their parents with their gift. You make the word of God useless in order to follow your own teachings.

⁷“You pretenders! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you. He said,

⁸“ ‘These people honor me by what they say.

But their hearts are far away from me.

⁹Their worship doesn’t mean anything to me.

They teach nothing but human rules.’ ”

¹⁰Jesus called the crowd to him. He said, “Listen and understand. ¹¹What goes into your mouth does not make you ‘unclean.’ It’s what comes out of your mouth that makes you ‘unclean.’ ”

¹²Then the disciples came to him. They asked, “Do you know that the Pharisees were angry when they heard this?”

¹³Jesus replied, “There are plants that my Father in heaven has not planted. They will be pulled up by the roots. ¹⁴Leave them. The Pharisees are blind guides. If a blind person leads another who is blind, both of them will fall into a pit.”

¹⁵Peter said, “Explain this to us.”

¹⁶“Don’t you understand yet?” Jesus asked them. ¹⁷“Don’t you see? Everything that enters the mouth goes into the stomach. Then it goes out of the body. ¹⁸But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart. Those are the things that make you ‘unclean.’ ¹⁹Evil thoughts come out of the heart. So do murder, adultery, and other sexual sins. And so do stealing, false witness, and telling lies about others. ²⁰Those are the things that make you ‘unclean.’ But eating without washing your hands does not make you ‘unclean.’ ”

The Faith of a Woman From Canaan

²¹Jesus left Galilee and went to the area of Tyre and Sidon. ²²A woman from Canaan lived near Tyre and Sidon. She came to him and cried out, “Lord! Son of David! Have mercy on me! A demon controls my daughter. She is suffering terribly.”

²³Jesus did not say a word. So his disciples came to him. They begged him, “Send her away. She keeps crying out after us.”

²⁴Jesus answered, “I was sent only to the people of Israel. They are like lost sheep.”

²⁵Then the woman fell to her knees in front of him. “Lord! Help me!” she said.

²⁶He replied, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to their dogs.”

²⁷“Yes, Lord,” she said. “But even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their owners’ table.”

²⁸Then Jesus answered, “Woman, you have great faith! You will be given what you are asking for.” And her daughter was healed at that very moment.

Jesus Feeds the Four Thousand

²⁹Jesus left there. He walked along the Sea of Galilee. Then he went up on a mountainside and sat down. ³⁰Large crowds came to him. They brought blind people and those who could not walk. They also brought disabled people, those who could not speak, and many others. They laid them at his feet, and he healed them.

³¹The people were amazed. Those who could not speak were speaking. The disabled were made well. Those not able to walk were walking. Those who were blind could see. So the people praised the God of Israel.

³²Then Jesus called for his disciples to come to him. He said, “I feel deep concern for these people. They have already been with me three days. They don’t have anything to eat. I don’t want to send them away hungry. If I do, they will become too weak on their way home.”

³³His disciples answered him. “There is nothing here,” they said. “Where could we get enough bread to feed this large crowd?”

³⁴“How many loaves do you have?” Jesus asked.

“Seven,” they replied, “and a few small fish.”

³⁵Jesus told the crowd to sit down on the ground. ³⁶He took the seven loaves and the fish and gave thanks. Then he broke them and gave them to the disciples. And the disciples passed them out to the people. ³⁷All of them ate and were satisfied. After that, the disciples picked up seven baskets of leftover pieces. ³⁸The number of men who ate was 4,000. Women and children also ate.

³⁹After Jesus had sent the crowd away, he got into the boat. He went to the area near Magadan.

Jesus Is Asked for a Miraculous Sign

16The Pharisees and Sadducees came to put Jesus to the test. They asked him to show them a miraculous sign from heaven.

²He replied, “In the evening you look at the sky. You say, ‘It will be good weather. The sky is red.’ ³And in the morning you say, ‘Today it will be stormy. The sky is red and cloudy.’ You know the meaning of what you see in the sky. But you can’t understand the signs of what is happening right now. ⁴An evil and unfaithful people look for a miraculous sign. But none will be given to them except the sign of Jonah.”

Then Jesus left them and went away.

The Yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees

⁵The disciples crossed over to the other side of the lake. They had forgotten to take bread. ⁶“Be careful,” Jesus said to them. “Watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”

⁷The disciples talked about this among themselves. They said, “He must be saying this because we didn’t bring any bread.”

⁸Jesus knew what they were saying. So he said, “Your faith is so small! Why are you talking to each other about having no bread? ⁹Don’t you understand yet? Don’t you remember the five loaves for the 5,000? Don’t you remember how many baskets of pieces you gathered? ¹⁰Don’t you remember the seven loaves for the 4,000? Don’t you remember how many baskets of pieces you gathered? ¹¹How can you possibly not understand? I wasn’t talking to you about bread. But watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”

¹²Then the disciples understood that Jesus was not telling them to watch out for the yeast used in bread. He was warning them against what the Pharisees and Sadducees taught.

Peter Says That Jesus Is the Christ

¹³Jesus went to the area of Caesarea Philippi. There he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”

¹⁴They replied, “Some say John the Baptist. Others say Elijah. Still others say Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.”

¹⁵“But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”

¹⁶Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ. You are the Son of the living God.”

¹⁷Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon, son of Jonah! No mere man showed this to you. My Father in heaven showed it to you. ¹⁸Here is what I tell you. You are Peter. On this rock I will build my church. The gates of hell will not be strong enough to destroy it. ¹⁹I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. What you lock on earth will be locked in heaven. What you unlock on earth will be unlocked in heaven.”

²⁰Then Jesus warned his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Christ.

Jesus Tells About His Coming Death

²¹From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples what would happen to him. He told them he must go to Jerusalem. There he must suffer many things from the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law. He must be killed and on the third day rise to life again.

²²Peter took Jesus to one side and began to scold him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This will never happen to you!”

²³Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are standing in my way. You do not have in mind the things of God. Instead, you are thinking about human things.”

²⁴Then Jesus spoke to his disciples. He said, “If anyone wants to follow me, he must say no to himself. He must pick up his cross and follow me. ²⁵If he wants to save his life, he will lose it. But if he loses his life for me, he will find it.

²⁶“What good is it if someone gains the whole world but loses his soul? Or what can anyone trade for his soul? ²⁷The Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory. His angels will come with him. And he will reward everyone in keeping with what they have done.

²⁸“What I’m about to tell you is true. Some who are standing here will not die before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”

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