“I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” — Mark 2:17 Mark 2 is where the early goodwill in Galilee starts to fracture. The crowds are still coming, the healings are still happening, but the religious leaders are now watching, and Mark arranges five scenes in a row that each pose a question: who…
“The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” — Mark 1:1 Mark opens without ceremony. No genealogy, no angel visitations, no shepherds, no wise men. Just a single declarative sentence that names exactly who this is and exactly what is beginning. The gospel. Of Jesus Christ. The Son of God. Everything…
“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to…
“Truly this was the Son of God.” — Matthew 27:54 Judas and the Thirty Pieces of Silver (Verses 1–10) When morning comes, the chief priests and elders bind Jesus and hand him over to Pilate the governor. Judas, seeing that Jesus has been condemned, is seized with remorse. He brings the thirty pieces of silver…
“My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.” — Matthew 26:39 The Plot Against Jesus (Verses 1–5) Jesus finishes the Olivet Discourse and tells his disciples plainly: after two days is the Passover, and the Son of Man will be delivered up…
“Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.” — Matthew 25:40 The Ten Virgins (Verses 1–13) The kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five were wise and…
“But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.” — Matthew 24:36 The Temple Will Fall (Verses 1–2) Leaving the temple after the woes of chapter twenty-three, Jesus’s disciples draw his attention to the buildings — their scale, their stones, their magnificence….
“You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell?” — Matthew 23:33 The Warning to the Crowds (Verses 1–12) Jesus speaks first to the crowds and his disciples about the scribes and Pharisees. They sit on Moses’ seat — they hold the authority of the tradition and their teaching…
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” — Matthew 22:37–40…
“The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes.” — Matthew 21:42 The Triumphal Entry (Verses 1–11) Approaching Jerusalem from the east, Jesus sends two disciples ahead to retrieve a donkey and her colt from the village of Bethphage. The instructions are…