Mark 1:9-13

1:9-11 - It was in those days that Jesus arrived from the Galilean village of Nazareth and was baptized by John in the Jordan. All at once, as he came up out of the water, he saw the heavens split open, and the Spirit coming down upon him like a dove. A voice came out of Heaven, saying, “You are my dearly-beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased!”

1:12-13 - Then the Spirit sent him out at once into the desert, and there he remained for forty days while Satan tempted him. During this time no one was with him but wild animals, and only the angels were there to care for him.

Mark 1:1-8

1:1 - The Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God …..

1:2-3 - … begins with the fulfillment of this prophecy of Isaiah - ‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you’. ‘The voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight’ .

1:4-5 - For John came and began to baptize men in the desert, proclaiming baptism as the mark of a complete change of heart and of the forgiveness of sins. All the people of the Judean countryside and everyone in Jerusalem went out to him in the desert and received his baptism in the river Jordan, publicly confessing their sins.

1:6-8 - John himself was dressed in camel-hair, with a leather belt round his waist, and he lived on locusts and wild honey. The burden of his preaching was, “There is someone coming after me who is stronger than I - indeed I am not good enough to kneel down and undo his shoes. I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

Matthew 9:35-38

9:35-36 - Jesus now travelled through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the Gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of illness and disability. As he looked at the vast crowds he was deeply moved with pity for them, for they were as bewildered and miserable as a flock of sheep with no shepherd.

9:37-38 - “The harvest is great enough,” he remarked to his disciples, “but the reapers are few. So you must pray to the Lord of the harvest to send men out to reap it.”

Matthew 9:18-34

9:18 - While he was saying these thing to them an official came up to him and, bowing low before him, said, “My daughter has just this moment died. Please come and lay your hand on her and she will come back to life!”

9:19-20 - At this Jesus got to his feet and followed him, accompanied by his disciples. And on the way a woman who had a hemorrhage for twelve years approached him from behind and touched the edge of his cloak.

9:21 - “If I can only touch his cloak,” she kept saying to herself, “I shall be all right.”

9:22 - But Jesus turned right round and saw her. “Cheer up, my daughter,” he said, “your faith has made you well!” And the woman was completely cured from that moment.

9:23-24 - Then when Jesus came into the official’s house and noticed the flute-players and the noisy crowd he said, “You must all go outside; the little girl is not dead, she is fast asleep.”

9:25-26 - This was met with scornful laughter. But when Jesus had forced the crowd to leave, he came right into the room, took hold of her hand, and the girl got up. And this became the talk of the whole district.

9:27-28 - As Jesus passed on his way two blind men followed him with the cry, “have pity on us, Son of David!” And when he had gone inside the house these two came up to him. “Do you believe I can do it?” he said to them. “Yes, Lord,” they replied.

9:29 - Then he touched their eyes, saying, “You have believed and you will not be disappointed.”

9:30-31 - Then their sight returned, but Jesus sternly warned them, “Don’t let anyone know about his.” Yet they went outside and spread the story throughout the whole district.

9:32-34 - Later, when Jesus and his party were coming out, they brought to him a dumb man who was possessed by a devil. As soon as the devil had been ejected the dumb man began to talk. The crowds were simply amazed and said, “Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel.” But the Pharisees’ comment was, “He throws out these devils because he is in league with the devil himself.”

Matthew 9:14-17

9:14 - Then John’s disciples approached him with the question, “Why is it that we and the Pharisees observe the fasts, but your disciples do nothing of the kind?”

9:15 - “Can you expect wedding-guests to mourn while they have the bridegroom with them?” replied Jesus. “The day will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them - they will certainly fast then!”

9:16-17 - “Nobody sews a patch of unshrunken cloth on to an old coat, for the patch will pull away from the coat and the hole will be worse than ever. Nor do people put new wine into old wineskins - otherwise the skins burst, the wine is spilt and the skins are ruined. But they put new wine into new skins and both are preserved.”