Listen Queue
There is nothing in your queue.
You can add media by tapping the “add to queue” icon located near the media player.
August 13, 2003
Today’s skeptics might doubt that Jesus ever existed, while others assume He was simply a prophet or moral teacher. As Alistair Begg notes, King Herod and Jesus’ own disciples also confronted the question of Jesus’ identity—though for very different reasons. The weak and cowardly Herod wanted to satisfy his curiosity or desire for entertainment. Jesus’ disciples, though, were challenged to answer His question and, like us, to pursue the greater command of following and worshiping Him.
18pTake care then how you hear, qfor to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he thinks that he has will be taken away.”
19rThen his mother and shis brothers2 came to him, but they could not reach him because of the crowd. 20And he was told, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, desiring to see you.” 21But he answered them, “My mother and my brothers are those twho hear the word of God and do it.”
22uOne day he got into a boat with his disciples, and he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side of vthe lake.” So they set out, 23and as they sailed he fell asleep. And a windstorm came down on vthe lake, and they were filling with water and were in danger. 24And they went and woke him, saying, “Master, Master, we are perishing!” And he awoke and wrebuked the wind and the raging waves, and they ceased, xand there was a calm. 25He said to them, “Where is your faith?” And they ywere afraid, and they zmarveled, saying to one another, “Who then is this, that ahe commands even winds and water, and they obey him?”
26bThen they sailed to the country of the Gerasenes,3 which is opposite Galilee. 27When Jesus4 had stepped out on land, there met him a man from the city who had demons. For a long time he had worn no clothes, and he had not lived in a house cbut among the tombs. 28When he saw Jesus, he dcried out and fell down before him and said dwith a loud voice, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, eSon of fthe Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me.” 29For he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. (For many a time it had seized him. He was kept under guard and bound with chains and shackles, but he would break the bonds and be driven by the demon ginto the desert.) 30Jesus then asked him, “What is your name?” And he said, h“Legion,” for many demons had entered him. 31And they begged him not to command them to depart into ithe abyss. 32Now a large herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside, and they begged him to let them enter these. So he gave them permission. 33Then the demons came out of the man and entered the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into jthe lake and drowned.
34When the herdsmen saw what had happened, they fled and told it in the city and in the country. 35Then people went out to see what had happened, and they came to Jesus and found the man from whom the demons had gone, sitting kat the feet of Jesus, lclothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid. 36And those who had seen it told them how the demon-possessed5 man had been healed. 37Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Gerasenes masked him to depart from them, for they were seized with great fear. So he got into the boat and returned. 38The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with him, but Jesus sent him away, saying, 39“Return to your home, and ndeclare how much God has done for you.” And he went away, proclaiming throughout the whole city how much Jesus had done for him.
40Now when Jesus returned, the crowd owelcomed him, for they were all waiting for him. 41pAnd there came a man named Jairus, who was qa ruler of the synagogue. And falling at Jesus' feet, he implored him to come to his house, 42for he had ran only daughter, about twelve years of age, and she was dying.
As Jesus went, the people spressed around him. 43And there was a woman twho had had a discharge of blood for twelve years, and though she had spent all her uliving on physicians,6 she could not be healed by anyone. 44She came up behind him and touched vthe fringe of his garment, and wimmediately her discharge of blood ceased. 45And Jesus said, “Who was it that touched me?” When all denied it, Peter7 said, “Master, the crowds surround you and are pressing in on you!” 46But Jesus said, “Someone touched me, for I perceive that xpower has gone out from me.” 47And when the woman saw that she was not hidden, she came trembling, and falling down before him declared in the presence of all the people why she had touched him, and how she had been immediately healed. 48And he said to her, “Daughter, yyour faith has made you well; ygo in peace.”
49While he was still speaking, someone from zthe ruler's house came and said, “Your daughter is dead; ado not trouble bthe Teacher any more.” 50But Jesus on hearing this answered him, “Do not fear; only believe, and she will be well.” 51And when he came to the house, he allowed no one to enter with him, except cPeter and dJohn and James, and the father and mother of the child. 52And all were weeping and emourning for her, but he fsaid, “Do not weep, for gshe is not dead but hsleeping.” 53And they laughed at him, knowing that she was dead. 54But itaking her by the hand he called, saying, “Child, jarise.” 55And kher spirit returned, and she got up at once. And he directed that something should be given her to eat. 56And her parents were amazed, but lhe charged them to tell no one what had happened.
1mAnd he called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, 2nand he sent them out to oproclaim the kingdom of God and to heal. 3pAnd he said to them, “Take nothing for your journey, qno staff, nor bag, nor bread, nor money; and do not have two tunics.1 4And whatever house you enter, stay there, and from there depart. 5And wherever they do not receive you, when you leave that town rshake off the dust from your feet sas a testimony tagainst them.” 6uAnd they departed and went through the villages, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere.
7vNow wHerod the tetrarch heard about all that was happening, and he was perplexed, because it was said by some that xJohn had been raised from the dead, 8xby some that Elijah had appeared, and xby others that one of the prophets of old had risen. 9Herod said, “John I beheaded, but who is this about whom I hear such things?” And yhe sought to see him.
10On their return zthe apostles told him all that they had done. aAnd he took them and withdrew apart to a town called Bethsaida. 11When the crowds learned it, they followed him, and he bwelcomed them and cspoke to them of the kingdom of God and ccured those who had need of healing. 12Now dthe day began to wear away, and the twelve came and said to him, e“Send the crowd away to go into the surrounding villages and countryside to find lodging and get provisions, for we are here in a desolate place.” 13But he said to them, f“You give them something to eat.” They said, “We have no more than gfive loaves and two fish—unless we are to go and buy food for all these people.” 14For there were about five thousand men. And he said to his disciples, “Have them sit down in groups of about fifty each.” 15And they did so, and had them all sit down. 16And taking the five loaves and the two fish, hhe looked up to heaven and isaid a blessing over them. Then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to set before the crowd. 17And they all ate and were satisfied. And what was left over was picked up, twelve baskets of broken pieces.
18jNow it happened that as he was praying alone, the disciples were with him. And he asked them, “Who do the crowds say that I am?” 19And they answered, k“John the Baptist. But others say, lElijah, and others, that one of the prophets of old has risen.” 20Then he said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” And Peter answered, m“The Christ of God.”
21nAnd he strictly charged and commanded them to tell this to no one, 22osaying, p“The Son of Man must qsuffer many things and rbe rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on sthe third day be raised.”
7vNow wHerod the tetrarch heard about all that was happening, and he was perplexed, because it was said by some that xJohn had been raised from the dead, 8xby some that Elijah had appeared, and xby others that one of the prophets of old had risen. 9Herod said, “John I beheaded, but who is this about whom I hear such things?” And yhe sought to see him.
Copyright © 2024, Alistair Begg. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. The ESV text may not be quoted in any publication made available to the public by a Creative Commons license. The ESV may not be translated in whole or in part into any other language.
