10th Sunday of Matthew

For those who have served well gain for themselves a good standing and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus.

¹⁴These things I write to you, hoping to come to you shortly, ¹⁵but if I wait long, that you may know how men ought to behave themselves in God’s house, which is the assembly of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. ¹⁶Without controversy, the mystery of godliness is great: God was revealed in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen by angels, preached among the nations, believed on in the world, and received up in glory.

¹But the Spirit says expressly that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons, ²through the hypocrisy of men who speak lies, branded in their own conscience as with a hot iron, ³forbidding marriage and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. ⁴For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving. ⁵For it is sanctified through the word of God and prayer.

When they came to the multitude, a man came to him, kneeling down to him and saying, ¹⁵“Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is epileptic and suffers grievously; for he often falls into the fire, and often into the water. ¹⁶So I brought him to your disciples, and they could not cure him.”

¹⁷Jesus answered, “Faithless and perverse generation! How long will I be with you? How long will I bear with you? Bring him here to me.” ¹⁸Jesus rebuked the demon, and it went out of him, and the boy was cured from that hour.

¹⁹Then the disciples came to Jesus privately, and said, “Why weren’t we able to cast it out?”

²⁰He said to them, “Because of your unbelief. For most certainly I tell you, if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you will tell this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. ²¹But this kind doesn’t go out except by prayer and fasting.”

²²While they were staying in Galilee, Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is about to be delivered up into the hands of men,

²³and they will kill him, and the third day he will be raised up.” They were exceedingly sorry.