10
Jesus gave teaching about marriage
And you can read this story in Matthew 19:1-12 and in Luke 16:18
1 Jesus and his followers left Galilee and walked down south. They walked all across Judea and went into the country on the other side of the Jordan River. Crowds of people came to listen to Jesus and just like he did in other places, he kept on teaching them about God.
2 Some Jewish lawmen wanted to trick him and so they came to Jesus and said, “Is it alright for a married man to split up with his wife and send her away?”
3 Jesus said, “What did Moses write in God's book?”
4 The lawmen said, “Moses wrote that if a man wanted to split up from his wife, he had to write a special letter. That letter said that they were not married anymore. Then he could give that letter to his wife and send her away.”+
5 Jesus said to them, “Moses knew that you Israelite people are really hard, and that is why he had to write those words. You have closed your ears and you have not listened to God! 6 God's book says, that when God made the world, he made a man and a woman.+ 7 God's way is for a man to leave his father and mother and marry a woman so that they can join up together and make a new family.+ 8 So then, they are not just 2 people anymore. It is like they have become one body. 9 And so, if God has joined them together like that, no-one should try and split them up.”
10 Later on, when Jesus and his followers were sitting down in a house, his followers asked him, “What did you say to those Jewish lawmen?” 11 Jesus said, “If a man leaves his wife and marries another woman, he is sleeping with the wrong woman and he is breaking God's law.+ 12 And if a woman leaves her husband and marries another man, then she is sleeping with the wrong man and she is breaking God's law.”
Jesus held children in his arms
And you can read this story in Matthew 19:13-15 and in Luke 18:15-17
13 Some people took their children to Jesus. They wanted him to put his hand on them, and pray for them. But Jesus' followers growled at the parents and tried to block them.
14 Jesus got angry when he saw what they were doing and said, “No! Don't stop those children. Let them come to me. God's family is full of people like them. 15 I tell you straight, if you don't come into God's family like a little child, you can't be in God's family.”+
16 Then Jesus held those children in his arms. He put his hands on them and prayed, and asked God to be good to them.
A rich man asked Jesus how to live forever
And you can read this story in Matthew 19:16-30 and in Luke 18:18-30
17 When Jesus and his followers started to leave that place, a man ran up to Jesus and got down on his knees. He said, “Good teacher, what can I do to live with God forever?”
18 Jesus said, “Why do you say that I am good? God is the only one who is good! 19 You know God's laws.
Do not murder anyone.
Do not go to bed with anyone that is not your wife.
Do not steal things.
Do not tell lies.
Do not trick people to get anything from them.
You have to respect your father and your mother.” +
20 The man said, “Teacher, I have followed those laws all my life.”
21 Jesus looked at him, and was worried for him. Then Jesus said, “There is still one more thing you have to do. Go and sell everything you have and give all the money to people who have nothing. Then come and follow me and God will give you better things when you get to heaven.”
22 Straight away the man looked really sad. He walked away with his eyes looking down. He was a rich man and he did not want to give everything away.
23 Jesus watched the man walk away. Then he turned and looked at his followers and said, “Rich people have a lot of trouble letting God be the Lord of their lives.”
24 When the followers heard this, they were shocked. But Jesus kept on talking and said, “My little children, it is hard for anyone to come into God's family. 25 You know how a sewing needle has a little hole in it. Do you reckon that a camel can fit in that little hole? No, it can't. But it is easier for a camel to fit in that little hole than for a rich person to get into God's family.”
26 When Jesus' followers heard this, they were even more shocked, and they said to each other, “Might be, no-one can get into God's family!”
27 Jesus looked at them and said, “Nobody can get themselves into God's family. God is the only one who can do that. God can do anything!”
28 Peter said to Jesus, “We have left everything to follow you. What about us?”
29-30 Jesus said, “I tell you straight, people might leave their land, their house, their brothers, or sisters, or their mother or father so that they can follow me, and live my way. God will give them more land, more houses, more fathers and mothers, and more brothers and sisters. But I have to tell you, the people that follow me will get a lot of trouble. Then, later on, those people will live with God forever.
31 And there will come a time when people who are important today will stop being important. And people that are not important today will become the important ones.”+
Jesus told his followers, “They will kill me.”
And you can read this story in Matthew 20:17-19 and in Luke 18:31-34
32 Jesus was in front of his followers while they were walking along the road to Jerusalem. His close followers were really shocked that he was going there, and the rest of the people following Jesus were frightened.
Jesus stopped, and talked just to his 12 close followers. He told them what was going to happen to him later on. 33 He said, “We are all going to Jerusalem and someone is going to turn against me. That person will help the Chief Priests and law teachers arrest me. I am God's special man from heaven and the Jewish leaders will take me to their court. Those leaders will say that I am guilty of breaking God's law, and they will say that I have to die. Then those leaders will take me to the Romans. 34 Those Roman soldiers will rubbish me and spit on me. They will flog me with a whip and then they will kill me. But after 3 days I will come alive again.”
James and John asked Jesus to make them important
And you can read this story in Matthew 20:20-28
35 Then James and John, the 2 sons of Zebedee, went to Jesus and said, “Teacher, we want you to do something for us.”
36 Jesus asked them, “What do you want?”
37 They said, “When you are the Lord over everything and sitting on your special seat in heaven, can we 2 brothers sit down next to you? Can one brother sit on your right hand side and the other brother on your left hand side?”
38 Jesus said, “You do not know what you are asking me. People are going to hurt me and give me a really hard time. It will be like I am drinking a cup of poison and I will have too much pain. Do you think that you can have the same troubles and pain that I am going to have?”+
39 James and John said, “Yes. We can do that.”
So Jesus said, “You are right, you will get the same pain and trouble that I will get. 40 But I cannot give you what you want. My father in heaven is the one that says who will sit on my right hand side and who will sit on my left hand side.”
41 When the other 10 followers heard what James and John asked for, they got really angry. 42 So Jesus called all his followers together and said, “You know the leaders of this world like to be the boss over everyone and tell them what to do all the time.+ 43-44 I do not want you to be like that. If you want to be an important person in my family, then you have to be like a workman for the rest of my family. And if you want to be the leader of the family, you have to work hard for everyone else.+ 45 Just like that, I am God's special man that came from heaven, and I did not come here to be the boss and make people work for me. I came here to do a special job for people. I came to give up my life for them and pay for all the wrong things people have done. That way they will be free from blame.”
Jesus made a blind man see again
And you can read this story in Matthew 20:29-34 and in Luke 18:35-43
46 On their way to Jerusalem, Jesus and his followers came to a town called Jericho. When they left Jericho, a big crowd of people followed them. A blind man was sitting on the side of the road and he was waiting for people to give him money. The blind man's name was Bart-i-may-us (Bartimaeus) and his father's name was Tim-ay-us (Timaeus).
47 When Bart-i-may-us heard that Jesus from Nazareth was coming along the road, he shouted out, “Jesus from King David's family, please help me!”
48 A lot of people growled at the blind man and told him to be quiet. But he would not be quiet, he shouted even louder, “Jesus from King David's family. Please help me!”
49 Jesus stopped and said, “Tell him to come to me.” So the people called out to the blind man and said, “Old man, you can be happy now. Jesus is calling for you. Get up and go to him.”
50 That old man jumped up, he dropped his coat and walked to Jesus. 51 Jesus asked him, “What do you want me to do for you?”
The blind man said, “Teacher, I just want to see.”
52 Jesus said to him, “You believe in me and so I will make you better.” Straight away Bart-i-may-us could see again and then he followed Jesus as he walked along the road.
+ 10:4 Deuteronomy 24:1-4; Matthew 5:31 + 10:6 Genesis 1:27; 5:2 + 10:7 Genesis 2:24 + 10:11 Matthew 5:32; 1 Corinthians 7:10-11 + 10:15 Matthew 18:3 + 10:19 Exodus 20:12-16; Deuteronomy 5:16-20 + 10:31 Matthew 20:16; Luke 13:30 + 10:38 Luke 12:50 + 10:42 Luke 22:25-26 + 10:43-44 Matthew 23:11; Mark 9:35; Luke 22:26