— — — —

Gospel Reading:
Causing to Stumble

“If anyone causes one of these little ones—
those who believe in me—to stumble,
it would be better for them if a large millstone were hung around their neck
and they were thrown into the sea.
If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off.
It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell,
where the fire never goes out.
 And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off.
It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into hell.
And if your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out.
It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye
than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, ⁴⁸ where

“‘the worms that eat them do not die,
    and the fire is not quenched.’^[d]

Everyone will be salted with fire.

“Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness,
how can you make it salty again?
Have salt among yourselves,
and be at peace with each other.”
(Mark 9:42-50).

* * *

God sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.
We saw his son and are now telling others about him.
(1 John 4:14 NIV)

   — — — —

Gospel Reading:
Whoever Is Not Against Us Is for Us

“Teacher,” said John,
“we saw someone driving out demons in your name
and we told him to stop,
because he was not one of us.”

 “Do not stop him,” Jesus said.
“For no one who does a miracle in my name
can in the next moment say anything bad about me,
 for whoever is not against us is for us.
 Truly I tell you,
anyone who gives you a cup of water in my name
because you belong to the Messiah
will certainly not lose their reward.
(Mark 9:38-41).

* * *

God sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.
We saw his son and are now telling others about him.
(1 John 4:14 NIV)

   — — — —

Gospel Reading:
Jesus Predicts His Death a Second Time

They left that place and passed through Galilee.
Jesus did not want anyone to know where they were,
because he was teaching his disciples. He said to them,
“The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men.
They will kill him, and after three days he will rise.”
But they did not understand what he meant and were afraid to ask him about it.

They came to Capernaum.
When he was in the house, he asked them,
“What were you arguing about on the road?”
But they kept quiet because on the way they had argued about who was the greatest.

Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said,
“Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last,
and the servant of all.”

 He took a little child whom he placed among them.
Taking the child in his arms, he said to them,
 “Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me;
and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me.”
(Mark 9:30-37).

* * *

God sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.
We saw his son and are now telling others about him.
(1 John 4:14 NIV)

   — — — —

Gospel Reading:
The Transfiguration

After six days Jesus took Peter,
James and John with him and led them up a high mountain,
where they were all alone.
There he was transfigured before them.
 His clothes became dazzling white,
whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them.
And there appeared before them Elijah and Moses,
who were talking with Jesus.

Peter said to Jesus,
“Rabbi, it is good for us to be here.
Let us put up three shelters—
one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.”
 (He did not know what to say, they were so frightened.)

Then a cloud appeared and covered them,
and a voice came from the cloud:
“This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!”

 Suddenly, when they looked around,
they no longer saw anyone with them except Jesus.

As they were coming down the mountain,
Jesus gave them orders not to tell anyone what they had seen
until the Son of Man had risen from the dead.
 They kept the matter to themselves,
discussing what “rising from the dead” meant.

And they asked him,
“Why do the teachers of the law say that Elijah must come first?”

Jesus replied,
“To be sure, Elijah does come first,
and restores all things.
Why then is it written that
the Son of Man must suffer much and be rejected?
But I tell you, Elijah has come,
and they have done to him everything they wished,
just as it is written about him.”
(Mark 9:2-13).

* * *

God sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.
We saw his son and are now telling others about him.
(1 John 4:14 NIV)

   — — — —

Gospel Reading:
The Way of the Cross

Then he called the crowd to him
along with his disciples and said:
“Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves
and take up their cross and follow me.
For whoever wants to save their life will lose it,
but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it.
What good is it for someone to gain the whole world,
yet forfeit their soul?
 Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?
 If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation,
the Son of Man will be ashamed of them
when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.”
(Mark 8:34-38).

* * *

God sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.
We saw his son and are now telling others about him.
(1 John 4:14 NIV)

   — — — —

Gospel Reading:
Jesus Predicts His Death

He then began to teach them
that the Son of Man must suffer many things
and be rejected by the elders,
the chief priests and the teachers of the law,
and that he must be killed and after three days rise again.
He spoke plainly about this,
and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.

But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples,
he rebuked Peter. “Get behind me, Satan!” he said.
“You do not have in mind the concerns of God,
but merely human concerns.”
(Mark 8:31-33).

* * *

God sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.
We saw his son and are now telling others about him.
(1 John 4:14 NIV)

   — — — —

Gospel Reading:
Peter Declares That Jesus Is the Messiah

Jesus and his disciples went on to the villages
around Caesarea Philippi.
On the way he asked them,
“Who do people say I am?”

 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist;
others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.”

“But what about you?” he asked.
“Who do you say I am?”

Peter answered, “You are the Messiah.”

Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him.
(Mark 8:27-30).

* * *

God sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.
We saw his son and are now telling others about him.
(1 John 4:14 NIV)

   — — — —

Gospel Reading:
Jesus Heals a Blind Man at Bethsaida

They came to Bethsaida,
and some people brought a blind man
and begged Jesus to touch him.
He took the blind man by the hand
and led him outside the village.
When he had spit on the man’s eyes
and put his hands on him, Jesus asked,
“Do you see anything?”

He looked up and said,
“I see people; they look like trees walking around.”

Once more Jesus put his hands on the man’s eyes.
Then his eyes were opened, his sight was restored,
and he saw everything clearly.
 Jesus sent him home, saying,
“Don’t even go into the village.”
(Mark 8:22-26).

* * *

God sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.
We saw his son and are now telling others about him.
(1 John 4:14 NIV)

   — — — —

Gospel Reading:

The Yeast of the Pharisees and Herod

The disciples had forgotten to bring bread,
except for one loaf they had with them in the boat.
 “Be careful,” Jesus warned them.
“Watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees and that of Herod.”

They discussed this with one another and said,
“It is because we have no bread.”

 Aware of their discussion, Jesus asked them:
“Why are you talking about having no bread?
Do you still not see or understand?
Are your hearts hardened?
Do you have eyes but fail to see,
and ears but fail to hear?
And don’t you remember?
When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand,
how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?”

“Twelve,” they replied.

 “And when I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand,
how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?”

They answered, “Seven.”

²¹ He said to them,
“Do you still not understand?”
(Mark 8:14-21).

* * *

God sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.
We saw his son and are now telling others about him.
(1 John 4:14 NIV)

   — — — —

Gospel Reading:
Jesus Feeds the Four Thousand

 During those days another large crowd gathered.
Since they had nothing to eat,
Jesus called his disciples to him and said,
 “I have compassion for these people;
they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat.
 If I send them home hungry,
they will collapse on the way,
because some of them have come a long distance.”

 His disciples answered,
“But where in this remote place can anyone get enough bread to feed them?”

“How many loaves do you have?” Jesus asked.

“Seven,” they replied.

 He told the crowd to sit down on the ground.
When he had taken the seven loaves and given thanks,
he broke them and gave them to his disciples
to distribute to the people, and they did so.
 They had a few small fish as well;
he gave thanks for them also and told the disciples to distribute them.
The people ate and were satisfied.
Afterward the disciples picked up seven basketfuls
of broken pieces that were left over.
About four thousand were present.
After he had sent them away,
he got into the boat with his disciples
and went to the region of Dalmanutha.

The Pharisees came and began to question Jesus.
To test him, they asked him for a sign from heaven.
He sighed deeply and said,
“Why does this generation ask for a sign?
Truly I tell you, no sign will be given to it.”
 Then he left them,
got back into the boat and crossed to the other side.
(Mark 8:1-13).

* * *

God sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.
We saw his son and are now telling others about him.
(1 John 4:14 NIV)