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.
Ancient cultures held much in common in regard to cosmology (the study of the beginning of the universe). Consequently, the considerable originality of Israelite ideas and their independence from other ancient Near Eastern cultures in regard to the beginning of the world becomes particularly significant. This uniqueness is found in at least three different areas, discussed in the following paragraphs.
First, creation has been explained in two ways regarding the nature of the creation being "good." Some would view this in a moral sense, and certainly, God is a morally good being. The moral nature of the God of Israel stands in striking contrast with the nations around Israel. Yahweh can bind His creation to high standards of morality because He is perfectly holy (Lev 11:44; Isa 6:3). The gods of the nations shared in heightened proportions the sins of peoples around the Israelites. The term "good," then, may be found at times in the Bible, such as there is none that is good, mentioned by Jesus in Mark 10:18. Yet, the word good found in Genesis 1 and 2 likely speaks of good in a different way. The text probably is speaking of "good" teleologically, that is, it satisfies his purpose in creation. This sense of "good" is like when a person is asked if they need some more help, or something else to eat at a restaurant. The response might be, "No thanks, I am good." The sense of this use is that I have everything I want, and that I have achieved what I was seeking to accomplish, though this may include the moral sense. Each of the days of creation, and finally all six days, ended with "it was good." His crowning work of creation was to create humans in His image (Gen 1:26-28) and created a male and female to tend the earth. In Genesis 1:31, Yahweh says that it is "very good" and so ended His creative acts.
Second, Israel's story of creation excludes a theogony (birth of the gods). In contrast to the ancient Near Eastern explanation of the origin of the gods, Israel had nothing to say about how God came into being. He never had a beginning but is the beginning of all things. This avoids dualism, a second principle in addition to God, as well as pantheism, which identifies God and the world.
Third, creation is ex nihilo (out of nothing). This is supported in four ways. First, heaven and earth in 1:1 refers to the entire cosmos, an example of merismus (two opposites encompassing totality). Second, one also observes the use of the Hebrew term bara (ברא), which always is used with God as its subject. Third, the use of bere'sit (בראשת) fixes an absolute beginning for creation, in contrast to the pagan mythology that considered the cosmos as having no beginning. Last of all, the emphasis in the biblical text is on the absolute freedom by which God acts.
Last of all, Genesis 1:1 excludes dualism, evolutionism, atheism, pantheism, and materialism. See The Initial Verse of the Bible Denies
See Gerhard Hasel, "Polemical Nature of the Genesis Account"; Umberto Cassuto, Commentary on Genesis, for further discussion of the creation account.