Jesus

Then He climbed into the boat with them, and the wind died down. And the disciples were utterly astounded,

As soon as they got out of the boat, the people recognized Jesus

and ran through that whole region, carrying the sick on mats to wherever they heard He was.

And wherever He went—villages and towns and countrysides—they laid the sick in the marketplaces and begged Him just to let them touch the fringe of His cloak. And all who touched Him were healed.

Then the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus,

and they saw some of His disciples eating with hands that were defiled—that is, unwashed.

So the Pharisees and scribes questioned Jesus: “Why do Your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders? Instead, they eat with defiled hands.”

Jesus answered them, “Isaiah prophesied correctly about you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘These people honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me.

They worship Me in vain; they teach as doctrine the precepts of men.’

Once again Jesus called the crowd to Him and said, “All of you, listen to Me and understand:

After Jesus had left the crowd and gone into the house, His disciples inquired about the parable.

“Are you still so dull?” He asked. “Do you not understand? Nothing that enters a man from the outside can defile him,

He continued: “What comes out of a man, that is what defiles him.

Jesus left that place and went to the region of Tyre. Not wanting anyone to know He was there, He entered a house, but was unable to escape their notice.

Instead, a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit soon heard about Jesus, and she came and fell at His feet.

Now she was a Greek woman of Syrophoenician origin, and she kept asking Jesus to drive the demon out of her daughter.

“First let the children have their fill,” He said. “For it is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.”

“Yes, Lord,” she replied, “even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.”

Then Jesus told her, “Because of this answer, you may go. The demon has left your daughter.”

Then Jesus left the region of Tyre and went through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee and into the region of the Decapolis.

Some people brought to Him a man who was deaf and hardly able to speak, and they begged Jesus to place His hand on him.

So Jesus took him aside privately, away from the crowd, and put His fingers into the man’s ears. Then He spit and touched the man’s tongue.

And looking up to heaven, He sighed deeply and said to him, “Ephphatha!” (which means, “Be opened!”).

Jesus ordered them not to tell anyone. But the more He ordered them, the more widely they proclaimed it.

The people were utterly astonished and said, “He has done all things well! He makes even the deaf hear and the mute speak!”