Mark 8

1During those days a large crowd had gathered again, and there was no food for them. So Jesus called his disciples to him and said to them, 2“My heart goes out to these people. They have been with me for three days now, and they have nothing left to eat. 3Send them home without food, and they will collapse on the road. Some of them have traveled a long way.” 4His disciples replied, “Out here in this empty country, where could anyone find bread enough to fill all these people?” 5He asked them, “How many loaves have you got?” “Seven,” they answered. 6He had the crowd sit on the ground. Taking the seven loaves, he gave thanks, broke them, and kept handing them to his disciples to pass around, and they served them to the crowd. 7They also had a few small fish. He blessed them and told the disciples to hand those out too. 8Everyone ate and had plenty. Then they collected the leftover pieces, enough to fill seven large baskets. 9There were about 4,000 people. Then he sent them on their way. 10At once he boarded the boat with his disciples and came to the area of Dalmanutha.

11The Pharisees came out and started to dispute with him. They demanded a sign from heaven, to put him to the test. 12He groaned from deep within and said, “Why does this generation look for a sign? Truly I tell you, this generation will be given no sign at all.” 13Leaving them, he got into the boat again and went off to the far shore.

14Now the disciples had forgotten to bring bread. They had just one loaf with them in the boat. 15He gave them a warning: “Be careful! Watch out for the Pharisees’ yeast and Herod’s yeast.” 16They began to talk it over among themselves: they had no bread. 17Jesus knew what they were saying, and he said, “Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not see it or understand? Have your hearts been hardened? 18You have eyes; can you not see? You have ears; can you not hear? Do you not remember? 19When I broke five loaves for the 5,000, how many baskets of leftover pieces did you gather?” “Twelve,” they told him. 20“And when I broke seven loaves for the 4,000, how many large baskets of pieces did you gather?” “Seven,” they said. 21He said to them, “And you still do not understand?” 22They came to Bethsaida. Some people brought a blind man to him and pleaded with him to touch him. 23He took hold of the blind man’s hand and took him outside the village. Then he spat on the man’s eyes, laid his hands on him, and asked, “Can you see anything?” 24The man looked up and said, “I see people, but to me they are like trees moving about.” 25Then Jesus laid his hands on the man’s eyes once more. The man looked hard, his sight came back, and he could see everything clearly. 26Jesus sent him off home, telling him, “Do not even set foot in the village.”

27Jesus and his disciples set out for the villages of the Caesarea Philippi area. As they went, he asked them, “Who do people say I am?” 28They answered, “Some say John the Baptist; some, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets.” 29“And you,” he asked them, “who do you say I am?” Peter answered, “You are Christ.” 30He gave them strict orders not to tell anyone about him.

31He then began teaching them that the Son of Man had to undergo great suffering, be rejected by elders, chief priests and scribes, be put to death, and rise again after three days. 32He spoke about this quite plainly. Peter took him to one side and began to rebuke him. 33But Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, and he rebuked Peter. “Get behind me, Satan!” he said. “Your mind is not on what God cares about, but on what people care about.”

34Then he called the crowd over, together with his disciples, and said to them, “If anyone desires to come after me, they must say no to themselves, take up their cross, and follow me. 35Anyone set on keeping their life safe will lose it, and anyone who loses their life because of me and the gospel will save it. 36What does anyone gain by winning the whole world, if it costs them their life? 37What could anyone give to buy their life back? 38Whoever is ashamed of me and of what I say, here among this adulterous, sinful generation, the Son of Man will in turn be ashamed of them, when he comes with the holy angels in the glory of his Father.”