Tuesday, July 14

¹⁴Now when Jesus entered Peter’s house, he saw his mother-in-law lying down, sick with a fever. ¹⁵He touched her hand, and the fever left her. Then she got up and began to serve them. ¹⁶When it was evening, many demon-possessed people were brought to him. He drove out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick.

¹⁷In this way what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah was fulfilled: “He took our weaknesses and carried our diseases.”

¹⁸Now when Jesus saw a large crowd around him, he gave orders to go to the other side of the lake. ¹⁹Then an expert in the law came to him and said, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.” ²⁰Jesus said to him, “Foxes have dens, and the birds in the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” ²¹Another of the disciples said to him, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” ²²But Jesus said to him, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.”

²³As he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. ²⁴And a great storm developed on the sea so that the waves began to swamp the boat. But he was asleep. ²⁵So they came and woke him up saying, “Lord, save us! We are about to die!” ²⁶But he said to them, “Why are you cowardly, you people of little faith?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and it was dead calm. ²⁷And the men were amazed and said, “What sort of person is this? Even the winds and the sea obey him!”

²⁸When he came to the other side, to the region of the Gadarenes, two demon-possessed men coming from the tombs met him. They were extremely violent, so that no one was able to pass by that way. ²⁹They cried out, “Son of God, leave us alone! Have you come here to torment us before the time?” ³⁰A large herd of pigs was feeding some distance from them. ³¹Then the demons begged him, “If you drive us out, send us into the herd of pigs.” ³²And he said, “Go!” So they came out and went into the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep slope into the lake and drowned in the water. ³³The herdsmen ran off, went into the town, and told everything that had happened to the demon-possessed men. ³⁴Then the entire town came out to meet Jesus. And when they saw him, they begged him to leave their region.

¹After getting into a boat he crossed to the other side and came to his own town. ²Just then some people brought to him a paralytic lying on a stretcher. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Have courage, son! Your sins are forgiven.” ³Then some of the experts in the law said to themselves, “This man is blaspheming!” ⁴When Jesus perceived their thoughts he said, “Why do you respond with evil in your hearts? ⁵Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven’ or to say, ‘Stand up and walk’? ⁶But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—then he said to the paralytic—“Stand up, take your stretcher, and go home.” ⁷So he stood up and went home. ⁸When the crowd saw this, they were afraid and honored God who had given such authority to men.

⁹As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax booth. “Follow me,” he said to him. So he got up and followed him. ¹⁰As Jesus was having a meal in Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with Jesus and his disciples. ¹¹When the Pharisees saw this they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” ¹²When Jesus heard this he said, “Those who are healthy don’t need a physician, but those who are sick do. ¹³Go and learn what this saying means: ‘I want mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”