Immerse: Messiah - Flipbook - Page 289
9:44–10:17
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fires of hell with two hands. If your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It’s
better to enter eternal life with only one foot than to be thrown into hell
with two feet. And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out. It’s better
to enter the Kingdom of God with only one eye than to have two eyes
and be thrown into hell, ‘where the maggots never die and the fire never
goes out.’
“For everyone will be tested with fire. Salt is good for seasoning. But if it
loses its flavor, how do you make it salty again? You must have the qualities
of salt among yourselves and live in peace with each other.”
Then Jesus left Capernaum and went down to the region of Judea and into
the area east of the Jordan River. Once again crowds gathered around him,
and as usual he was teaching them.
Some Pharisees came and tried to trap him with this question: “Should
a man be allowed to divorce his wife?”
Jesus answered them with a question: “What did Moses say in the law
about divorce?”
“Well, he permitted it,” they replied. “He said a man can give his wife a
written notice of divorce and send her away.”
But Jesus responded, “He wrote this commandment only as a concession to your hard hearts. But ‘God made them male and female’ from
the beginning of creation. ‘This explains why a man leaves his father and
mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.’ Since
they are no longer two but one, let no one split apart what God has joined
together.”
Later, when he was alone with his disciples in the house, they brought
up the subject again. He told them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries someone else commits adultery against her. And if a woman divorces
her husband and marries someone else, she commits adultery.”
One day some parents brought their children to Jesus so he could touch
and bless them. But the disciples scolded the parents for bothering him.
When Jesus saw what was happening, he was angry with his disciples.
He said to them, “Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them! For the
Kingdom of God belongs to those who are like these children. I tell you
the truth, anyone who doesn’t receive the Kingdom of God like a child will
never enter it.” Then he took the children in his arms and placed his hands
on their heads and blessed them.
As Jesus was starting out on his way to Jerusalem, a man came running up
to him, knelt down, and asked, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit
eternal life?”
