The next day Yeshua had came down the mountain to His disciples. A great
throng surrounded them, and some of the Soferim were questioning them. When all
the people beheld Yeshua, they were greatly in awe of Him and ran to greet Him.
Yeshua asked these Soferim, "What question are you
debating?"
A man in the crowd answered, "Rabbi, I have brought you my son, who has an
unclean spirit which withholds speech. Adonai, have mercy on him! For he is an
epileptic and suffers much. Because whenever the spirit takes hold of him, it
cries out as it rips through him and throws him down, so that he foams from the
mouth and grates his teeth, and he has been severly bruised. I brought him to
your disciples so that they could cast it out, but they couldn't."
Then Yeshua said to him, "Oh untrusting and perverse
generation, how much longer will you have me here? How long will I put up with
you? Bring your son to me."
They brought him to Yeshua, and when he saw Yeshua, the unclean spirit ripped
through him and he fell on the ground, rolling around and foaming at the mouth.
Yeshua asked his father, "How long ago did this come
into him?"
"When he was a child." he said. "Often it has thrown him into the fire and
into the waters to destroy him, but if you can do anything, have compassion on
us and help us."
Yeshua said to him, "If you can trust. All things are
possible to the one who trusts."
Then the father of the child cried out with tears and said, "Adonai, I do
trust. Please help my lack of trust."
When Yeshua saw the people running up to watch, he rebuked the unclean
spirit, saying to it, "You speechless and deaf spirit, I
command you, come out of him, and enter no more into him."
The spirit screamed and ripped through him again, and came out of him. He
laid there like a dead person, and many said that he was dead. But Yeshua took
him by the hand and pulled him up and gave him back to his father. Everyone was
awestruck at the majesty of Elohim.
When Yeshua was back in the house His disciples asked him privately, "Why
couldn't we cast out the unclean spirit?"
"This type of thing will not come out except through
prayer and fasting," He answered. "And because of
your small amount of trust. Amen! I tell you, if you have trust like a grain of
mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Leave here and go over there' and
it will go from here and nothing will be impossible to you."
SECOND ANNOUNCEMENT OF HIS SUFFERING
They departed from there and passed through the Galil, and He did not want
anyone to know it. As they went, while all His disciples were excited about the
things He did, Yeshua was teaching them, "The Son of man
is to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him. But when he is
killed, he will rise after the third day." They were very sorrowful at
this, yet they did not fully understood what He was saying, and they were afraid
to ask him.
They came again to K'far-Nachum. Then those who collected the contribution
for the Mikdash came to Kefa, and said, "Doesn't your Rabbi pay the Mikdash
tax?"
Kefa said, "Yes."
When Kefa came into the house, Yeshua stopped him,
"What do you think, Shimon? From whom do the kings of the earth collect tribute
and customs? From their own children or from strangers?"
"From strangers," Kefa answered.
Yeshua said, "Then the children are not obligated.
Never-the-less, we should not offend them. Go to the lake and cast a hook. Take
the first fish that comes up. When you open its mouth you will find a coin. Take
it and give it to them for you and me."
Then Yeshua asked the disciples, "What was it that
you discussed among yourselves on the way here?"
But they did not reply. On the way they had discussed among themselves who of
them should be the greatest.
Yeshua knew what they were reasoning in their heart, so He sat down and
called the twelve, "If any man desires to be first, that
person will be the last of all, and the servant of all. Now, who among you is
the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven?"
Yeshua took a small child and set him in the middle of them, then He stood
him by His side and wrapped His arms around him. He said,
"Amen! Unless you do t'shuvah, and become as little
children, you will never even get into the Kingdom of Heaven! Whoever will
humble himself as this little child, that person is greatest in the Kingdom of
Heaven. Whoever accepts one such child in my name, accepts me. Whoever accepts
me, accepts not just me, but also Him who sent me. For the one who is least
among you all is the one who is great."
Yochanan said, "Rabbi, we saw a person casting out deceiving spirits using
your name, but He was not following us, so we stopped him from doing it, because
he did not follow us."
Yeshua said, "Do not stop him, for there is no one
who will do a miracle using my Name, who can easily speak wrongly about me. For
the one who is not against us is on our side. For whoever will give you a cup of
water to drink using my Name, because you belong to Mashiach, Amen! I tell you,
he will not lose his reward. And whoever causes one of these little ones who
trust in me to be discouraged, it would be better for him to have a millstone
hung around his neck and be thrown into the lake.
"Trouble is coming to the world because of the
opportunities to fall! For it is necessary for these opportunities to come, but
trouble will be on that one who brings the opportunities!
"So if your hand causes you to fall, cut it off. It
is better for you to enter into life maimed, than having two hands and go onto
the trash heap, into the fire that never will be put out. Their worm does not
die there and the fire never stops. And if your foot causes you to fall, cut it
off also. It is better for you to enter into life crippled, than having two feet
and to be cast onto the trash heap, into the fire that never will be put out.
Their worm does not die there, yet the fire never ends.
"And even if your own eye causes you to fall, pull it
out. It is better for you to enter into the Kingdom of Elohim with one eye, than
to have two eyes and to be cast onto the fires of the trash heap, where their
worm does not die and the fire is unstoppable.
"See to it you do not disdain one of these little
ones. I tell you, in Heaven their messengers always behold the face of Avi. It
is not the will of your Abba in Heaven for any one of these little ones to be
destroyed.
