CHAPTER 15 The healing of a leper, of a paralytic, and of a man deaf from birth – who then thought he could hear all sounds.
“And it came to pass when He was in a certain city, behold a man full of leprosy who, seeing Jesus, fell toward the Earth and besought Him, saying, Lord, if Thou will Thou can make me clean. And He put forth His hand and touched Him saying, ‘Blessed be thou who believes I will, make thou clean. And immediately the leprosy departed from him.
And He charged him saying, ‘Tell no man, but go and show thyself to the priest and offer for thy cleansing according as Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them. But so much the more went there a fame abroad of Him, and great multitudes came together to hear and to be healed by Him of their infirmities. And He withdrew Himself into the wilderness and prayed.
And it came to pass on a certain day, as He was teaching, that there were Pharisees and doctors of the law sitting by, to see them which were come out of every town, from Galilee and Judaea and Jerusalem; and the power of God was present to heal them.
And behold, they brought in a bed a man who was taken with paralysis, and they sought means to bring him in and to lay him before Him. And when they could not find by what way they might bring him in, because of the multitude, they went upon the housetop and let him down through the tiling with his couch into the midst before Jesus. And when He saw their faith, He said unto him, ‘Man, thy sins are forgiven thee.’
And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, ‘Who is this which speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?’ But when Jesus perceived their thoughts, He answering said unto them, ‘What reason ye in your hearts? Can even God forgive sins, if man repent not? Who said, I forgive thee thy sins? Said I not rather, Thy sins are forgiven thee?
Whether it is easier to say, ‘Thy sins be forgiven thee, or, Rise up and walk? But that ye may know that the Son of man has power upon Earth to discern and declare the forgiveness of sins (He said unto the sick with paralysis) I say unto thee, arise and take up thy couch and go to thine house.’
And immediately he arose before them and took up that whereon he lay and departed to his own house, glorifying God. And they were all amazed, and they glorified God and were filled with the spirit of reverence, saying, ‘We have seen strange things today.’
And as Jesus was going into a certain village, there met Him a man who was deaf from his birth. And he believed not in the sound of the rushing wind or the thunder or the cries of the creatures or the birds which complained of their hunger or their hurt; nor that others heard them.
And Jesus breathed into his ears, and they were opened, and he heard. And he rejoiced with exceeding joy in the sounds he had before denied, and said. ‘Now I hear all things.’
But Jesus said unto him. ‘How say thou, I hear all things? Can thou hear the sighing of the prisoner, or the language of the birds or the creatures when they commune with each other, or the voices of angels and spirits? Think how much thou cannot hear, and be humble in thy lack of knowledge.’”
CHAPTER 16 […] When the new should wax old, the souls who now rejected would in later lives desire it.
“And after these things, He went forth and saw a tax gatherer named Levi sitting at the receipt of custom, and said unto him, ‘Follow me.’ And he left all, rose up, and followed Him. And Levi made Him a great feast in his own house, and there was a great company of tax-gatherers and of others that sat down with them. But the Scribes and Pharisees murmured against His disciples, saying, ‘Why do ye eat and drink with publicans and sinners?’ And Jesus answering said unto them, ‘They that are, whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.’
And they said unto Him, ‘Why do the disciples of John fast often and make prayers, and likewise the disciples of the Pharisees, but Thine do eat and drink?’ And He said unto them, ‘Whereunto shall I liken the men of this generation, and to what are they like? They are like unto children sitting in the marketplace and calling one to another and saying, “We have piped, unto you and ye have not danced, we have mourned to you, and ye have not lamented.” For John the Baptist came neither eating nor drinking, and ye say, “He has a devil. The Son of man comes eating and drinking the fruits of the Earth […] and the fruit of the vine, and ye say, behold a glutton […], a friend of publicans and sinners. Can ye make the children of the bridechamber fast, while the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they fast in those days.’
And He spoke also this parable unto them saying, ‘No man puts a piece of new cloth upon an old garment, for then the new agrees not with the old, and the garment is made worse. […] But the time comes when the new shall wax old, and then the new will be desired by them. For as one changes old garments for new ones, so do they also change the body of death for the body of life, and that which is past for that which is coming.’”
