But when he saw many Pharisees ¹  and Sadducees ²  coming to his baptism, he said to them, “You offspring of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?

“When ¹  you fast, do not look sullen like the hypocrites, for they make their faces unattractive ²  so that people will see them fasting. I tell you the truth, ³  they have their reward.

so that it will not be obvious to others when you are fasting, but only to your Father who is in secret. And your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you.

When ¹  Jesus heard this he was amazed and said to those who followed him, “I tell you the truth, ²  I have not found such faith in anyone in Israel!

When he came to the other side, to the region of the Gadarenes, ¹  two demon-possessed men coming from the tombs met him. They were extremely violent, so that no one was able to pass by that way.

Just then ¹  some people ²  brought to him a paralytic lying on a stretcher. ³  When Jesus saw their ⁴  faith, he said to the paralytic, “Have courage, son! Your sins are forgiven.” ⁵ 

Jesus said to them, “The wedding guests ¹  cannot mourn while the bridegroom ²  is with them, can they? But the days ³  are coming when the bridegroom will be taken from them, ⁴  and then they will fast.

When ¹  he went into the house, the blind men came to him. Jesus ²  said to them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” They said to him, “Yes, Lord.”

Now when Jesus ¹  realized what they were thinking, he said to them, ²  “Every kingdom divided against itself is destroyed, ³  and no town or house divided against itself will stand.

The people ¹  of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented when Jonah preached to them ²  – and now, ³  something greater than Jonah is here!

When anyone hears the word about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one ¹  comes and snatches what was sown in his heart; ²  this is the seed sown along the path.

It is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest garden plant and becomes a tree, ¹  so that the wild birds ²  come and nest in its branches.” ³ 

When evening arrived, his disciples came to him saying, “This is an isolated place ¹  and the hour is already late. Send the crowds away so that they can go into the villages and buy food for themselves.”

As a result, the crowd was amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled healthy, the lame walking, and the blind seeing, and they praised the God of Israel.

He said, “Yes.” When Peter came into the house, Jesus spoke to him first, ¹  “What do you think, Simon? From whom do earthly kings collect tolls or taxes – from their sons ²  or from foreigners?”

But when the chief priests and the experts in the law ¹  saw the wonderful things he did and heard the children crying out in the temple courts, ²  “Hosanna to the Son of David,” they became indignant

“Woe to you, experts in the law ¹  and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You cross land and sea to make one convert, ²  and when you get one, ³  you make him twice as much a child of hell ⁴  as yourselves!

As ¹  he was sitting on the Mount of Olives, his disciples came to him privately and said, “Tell us, when will these things ²  happen? And what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”

Then they too will answer, ¹  ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not give you whatever you needed?’

I ¹  tell you, from now on I will not drink of this fruit ²  of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”