1He arose from there and came into the borders of Judea and beyond the Jordan. Multitudes came together to him again. As he usually did, he was again teaching them.
2Pharisees came to him testing him, and asked him, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?”
3He answered, “What did Moses command you?”
4They said, “Moses allowed a certificate of divorce to be written, and to divorce her.”
5But Jesus said to them, “For your hardness of heart, he wrote you this commandment. 6But from the beginning of the creation, God made them male and female. 7For this cause a man will leave his father and mother, and will join to his wife, 8and the two will become one flesh, so that they are no longer two, but one flesh. 9What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate.”
10In the house, his disciples asked him again about the same matter. 11He said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her. 12If a woman herself divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.”
13They were bringing to him little children, that he should touch them, but the disciples rebuked those who were bringing them. 14But when Jesus saw it, he was moved with indignation and said to them, “Allow the little children to come to me! Don’t forbid them, for God’s Kingdom belongs to such as these. 15Most certainly I tell you, whoever will not receive God’s Kingdom like a little child, he will in no way enter into it.” 16He took them in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands on them.
17As he was going out into the way, one ran to him, knelt before him, and asked him, “Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?”
18Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except one—God. 19You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder,’ ‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not give false testimony,’ ‘Do not defraud,’ ‘Honor your father and mother.’”
20He said to him, “Teacher, I have observed all these things from my youth.”
21Jesus looking at him loved him, and said to him, “One thing you lack. Go, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me, taking up the cross.”
22But his face fell at that saying, and he went away sorrowful, for he was one who had great possessions.
23Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How difficult it is for those who have riches to enter into God’s Kingdom!”
24The disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus answered again, “Children, how hard it is for those who trust in riches to enter into God’s Kingdom! 25It is easier for a camel to go through a needle’s eye than for a rich man to enter into God’s Kingdom.”
26They were exceedingly astonished, saying to him, “Then who can be saved?”
27Jesus, looking at them, said, “With men it is impossible, but not with God, for all things are possible with God.”
28Peter began to tell him, “Behold, we have left all and have followed you.”
29Jesus said, “Most certainly I tell you, there is no one who has left house, or brothers, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or land, for my sake, and for the sake of the Good News, 30but he will receive one hundred times more now in this time: houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and land, with persecutions; and in the age to come eternal life. 31But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”
32They were on the way, going up to Jerusalem; and Jesus was going in front of them, and they were amazed; and those who followed were afraid. He again took the twelve, and began to tell them the things that were going to happen to him. 33“Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem. The Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and the scribes. They will condemn him to death, and will deliver him to the Gentiles. 34They will mock him, spit on him, scourge him, and kill him. On the third day he will rise again.”
35James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came near to him, saying, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we will ask.”
36He said to them, “What do you want me to do for you?”
37They said to him, “Grant to us that we may sit, one at your right hand and one at your left hand, in your glory.”
38But Jesus said to them, “You don’t know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?”
39They said to him, “We are able.”
Jesus said to them, “You shall indeed drink the cup that I drink, and you shall be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with; 40but to sit at my right hand and at my left hand is not mine to give, but for whom it has been prepared.”
41When the ten heard it, they began to be indignant toward James and John.
42Jesus summoned them and said to them, “You know that they who are recognized as rulers over the nations lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. 43But it shall not be so among you, but whoever wants to become great among you shall be your servant. 44Whoever of you wants to become first among you shall be bondservant of all. 45For the Son of Man also came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
46They came to Jericho. As he went out from Jericho with his disciples and a great multitude, the son of Timaeus, Bartimaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the road. 47When he heard that it was Jesus the Nazarene, he began to cry out and say, “Jesus, you son of David, have mercy on me!” 48Many rebuked him, that he should be quiet, but he cried out much more, “You son of David, have mercy on me!”
49Jesus stood still and said, “Call him.”
They called the blind man, saying to him, “Cheer up! Get up. He is calling you!”
50He, casting away his cloak, sprang up, and came to Jesus.
51Jesus asked him, “What do you want me to do for you?”
The blind man said to him, “Rabboni, that I may see again.”
52Jesus said to him, “Go your way. Your faith has made you well.” Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus on the way.
Mark 4:13 “dwelt” – Site Study about first century house construction
House construction in the Holy Land in the first century was basically uniform in design, but size, materials, and decoration varied greatly, depending mostly on the socio-economic status of its owner, but also according to location and local building materials. In Galilee, houses were constructed primarily of the plentiful local basalt, while in Judea and Jerusalem houses were built (and still are) with limestone.
Houses were usually a single room or several rooms arranged around a central courtyard or room. In lower class homes, the one room functioned as a living room, kitchen, dining room, and bedroom all in one, whereas these functions would be separated in upper class homes. In rural areas houses were stand-alone, but from smaller villages to large cities, houses were mostly connected in settlement-blocks, and often in the Roman style called insulae. In Jerusalem particularly, being the largest city in Judea, houses were packed closely together, if not sharing common walls, especially in the walled portions of the city.
Floors in these houses were made by packing the earth on which the house was constructed (in lower class houses), packed pebbles, crushed rock or, in the case of upper-class dwellings, paved with stones. In the most palatial homes, the floors were made of elaborate mosaics. Although packed earth was the floor of the lower-class, they were nevertheless carefully made. They typically had alternating layers of clay and ash and were carefully leveled. Pebbles were gathered from local sources and also packed and leveled carefully. Stone floors took a great amount of time and labor, as did mosaic floors, which required the work of skilled craftsmen.
Walls in Roman period homes were almost universally stone. In the poorest homes, stones were built up and filled with small rocks and pebbles. In middle-class homes the walls were mortared with mud and pebbles and sometimes plastered.[1] In the houses of the rich walls were constructed using quarried and finished stone blocks, plastered, and often decorated with frescoes.
Roof construction in first-century homes varied. Lower class homes had simple roofs, made with tree branches and thatching. Sometimes palm branches were laid across the tree branches, and then covered with a mixture of mud and straw. Such a roof may have been the one over the home the paralytic was lowered through in an effort to be healed by Jesus (Mk 2:4).[2] In middle-class dwellings, sometimes the roof served as an open-air second story, such as in Capernaum, where outside staircases led from open courtyards to the roof.[3] In upper-class homes roofs were of the familiar terracotta tile type and often had devices to aid in catching rainwater and sending it to underground cisterns.
[1] Jack Finegan, The Archaeology of the New Testament: The Life of Jesus and the Beginning of the Early Church, (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1992), 98.
[2] Ibid, The Archaeology of the New Testament, 107
[3] Ibid, The Archaeology of the New Testament, 98.