5th Sunday of Matthew

This saying is faithful and worthy of all acceptance. ¹⁰For to this end we both labor and suffer reproach, because we have set our trust in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of those who believe. ¹¹Command and teach these things.

¹²Let no man despise your youth; but be an example to those who believe, in word, in your way of life, in love, in spirit, in faith, and in purity. ¹³Until I come, pay attention to reading, to exhortation, and to teaching. ¹⁴Don’t neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the elders. ¹⁵Be diligent in these things. Give yourself wholly to them, that your progress may be revealed to all.

When he came to the other side, into the country of the Gergesenes, two people possessed by demons met him there, coming out of the tombs, exceedingly fierce, so that nobody could pass that way. ²⁹Behold, they cried out, saying, “What do we have to do with you, Jesus, Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?” ³⁰Now there was a herd of many pigs feeding far away from them. ³¹The demons begged him, saying, “If you cast us out, permit us to go away into the herd of pigs.”

³²He said to them, “Go!” They came out and went into the herd of pigs; and behold, the whole herd of pigs rushed down the cliff into the sea and died in the water. ³³Those who fed them fled and went away into the city and told everything, including what happened to those who were possessed with demons. ³⁴Behold, all the city came out to meet Jesus. When they saw him, they begged that he would depart from their borders.

¹He entered into a boat and crossed over, and came into his own city.