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Jesus A modern English blending of the New Testament
Introduction Table of Contents
Chapters
Charles Templeton Home Brad Templeton Home Brad's Photo Pages
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From that time on, Jesus avoided Judea since the officials there wanted
him dead. Now, it was a long-established custom of the Jews to
wash their hands carefully before eating and to clean cups, pots, and pans
with great diligence. It so happened that a delegation of Pharisees and Sadducees
had come from Jerusalem to see Jesus, and they noticed that his disciples
ate without having first washed their hands. "Why do your disciples flout the teachings of the elders
and not wash before meals?" they asked. "What hypocrites you are." Jesus said." Surely Isaiah was
thinking of men like you when he wrote: "You people are more interested in following your traditions
that in obeying God's commandments. For instance, Moses told you to honor
your parents and warned that the man who reviles them would die. But what
is your response? You teach that it is permissible for a son to say to his
needy parents, 'Sorry, I can't help you. What I might have given to you has
been dedicated to God.' The result is that in following your traditions God's
will is nullified." A crowd had gathered and he brought them in close.
"Listen to me carefully," he said. "Nobody is defiled by food. The things
that defile aren't the thing that go into a man; they're the things that
emerge from him." Later, inside the house, the disciples said to him, "Surely
you realize that you offended the Pharisees by what you said?" "Forget them," he said. "They're blind men, they're self-appointed
guides, and when the blind guide the blind they both end up in the ditch.
Don't be concerned about the Pharisees; nothing planted by my heavenly Father
will be uprooted." Simon Peter spoke to him "Then please explain to us what
you meant?" "Didn't you understand either?" he said. "What a man eats
can't defile his spirit because it merely goes into his stomach and is passed
by the bowels." (In saying this he removed all food from the "unclean" list.)
"It is the things that come from a man - base thoughts of fornication, adultery,
and lasciviousness, coveting and theft, deceit and slander, arrogance, lying,
folly - they are the things that defile. It has nothing to do with washing
before meals." Jesus left Galilee and went to the border area of Tyre. Although
he traveled incognito, it was impossible to keep his presence secret. He
had no sooner arrived than a woman who had heard about him -a Canaanitish
woman, a Syrophoenician by birth - came to beg his help. "Sir," she pleaded, "have mercy on me. Son of David have
mercy on me. My daughter has a devil and she's in a terrible state."
Jesus made no response to her so she began to badger the
disciples. They came to him. "Will you please tell her to go away. She follows us around,
pleading with us every day." "No," he said, "I've been sent only to the lost sheep of
the House of Israel." The woman was not deterred. Again she came to him,
"Please, sir," she begged, "help me!" "But the children must be fed first," he said. "Would it
be right to take food prepared for the children and throw it to the dogs?"
"No, sir," she said. "But even the dogs under the table are
allowed to have any crumbs that fall from the children's hands." "You have great faith, woman,"Jesus said to her, "Because
if what you said you may have what you ask. The devil has gone out of your
daughter." The woman went home and found her daughter in bed asleep,
with the devil gone. He left the area, passing through Sidon but skirting Decapolis,
and returned to the Lake Galilee area. A crowd quickly gathered, and someone
brought a man who was deaf and tongue-tied to Jesus. He begged Jesus to heal
the man. Jesus took the man's hand and led him away from the crowd. He put
his finger into the man's ears, wet his finger with. his own saliva and touched
it to the man's tongue. Then, raising his eyes, he sighed deeply and said,"
Open!" The man's ear's cleared, his tongue was loosened, and he was able
to speak normally. Jesus gave him strict instruction to keep to himself what
had happened but, as was usual, the man recounted it to everyone he met. The
people were flabbergasted. "There is nothing he can't do," they said. " He even cures
the deaf and dumb!" The crowds grew even larger. The people brought the sick
from everywhere, placing them on the ground in front of him - the lame, the
blind, the dumb, the crippled, and others. And as the people watched, mouths
agape with wonder, he healed them and they praised God. With the disciples, he took a boat and crossed to the area
of Dalmanutha. There he was met by a group of Pharisees and Sadducees who
put a series of questions to him in the hope of trapping
him. All the while they challenged him to show them some sign from heaven,
some validation of his ministry. He looked at them and heaved a great sigh.
"Signs from heaven? You're the experts at that. When
the horizon is red and clouding over in the morning you say, `Oh, oh, bad
weather today. And when the sky is red in the evening you say, `Fair weather
ahead.' You can predict the weather from signs in the sky but you can't interpret
the signs of the times. Why is the wicked and unfaithful generation always
after proof? I repeat, you'll get no proof except the sign of Jonah." He turned away, boarded the boat, and crossed the lake. When
they were out in open water, the disciples realized that they had forgotten
to lay in food and had only a single loaf of bread among them. While they
were talking about it, Jesus broke in on them. "Listen carefully," he said. "Be on your guard constantly
against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees." They looked at each other, perplexed. "What's he getting
at?" they asked each other. "Is his reference to yeast a rebuke because we
forget to bring bread?" He overheard them. "How could you think such a thing?" he
asked. "Are you so insensitive that you still don't understand? Think back.
When there were five thousand people to be fed and only five loaves, how
many basketful of leftovers did you gather?" "Twelve." "You still don't understand? I was referring to the yeast
of the Pharisees and Sadducees, which is hypocrisy. We have no need to be
concerned about bread." It was then they realized that he had been talking about
the insidious, permeating nature of the teachings of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
Soon they landed at Bethsaida and were met by some of
the villagers who brought them with them a blind man. They asked Jesus to
healed him. Again he led the man away from bystanders and
out of the village. He spat on the man's eyes and then placed his fingers
on them. "Do you see anything?" he asked. "Yes. I can see men. They're like trees, only they're walking."
He put his hands on the man's eyes again. The man stared
fixedly for a moment, then his vision cleared and he saw perfectly. "Go straight home," Jesus told him. "Don't even go back to
the village."
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