¹ The Pharisees and Sadducees came, and to put him to the test they asked if he would show them a sign from heaven.

² He replied, 'In the evening you say, "It will be fine; there's a red sky,"

³ and in the morning, "Stormy weather today; the sky is red and overcast." You know how to read the face of the sky, but you cannot read the signs of the times.

⁴ It is an evil and unfaithful generation asking for a sign, and the only sign it will be given is the sign of Jonah.' And he left them and went off.

⁵ The disciples, having crossed to the other side, had forgotten to take any food.

⁶ Jesus said to them, 'Keep your eyes open, and be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.'

⁷ And they said among themselves, 'It is because we have not brought any bread.'

⁸ Jesus knew it, and he said, 'You have so little faith, why are you talking among yourselves about having no bread?

⁹ Do you still not understand? Do you not remember the five loaves for the five thousand and the number of baskets you collected?

¹⁰ Or the seven loaves for the four thousand and the number of baskets you collected?

¹¹ How could you fail to understand that I was not talking about bread? What I said was: Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.'

¹² Then they understood that he was telling them to be on their guard, not against yeast for making bread, but against the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

¹³ When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi he put this question to his disciples, 'Who do people say the Son of man is?'

¹⁴ And they said, 'Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.'

¹⁵ 'But you,' he said, 'who do you say I am?'

¹⁶ Then Simon Peter spoke up and said, 'You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.'

¹⁷ Jesus replied, 'Simon son of Jonah, you are a blessed man! Because it was no human agency that revealed this to you but my Father in heaven.

¹⁸ So I now say to you: You are Peter and on this rock I will build my community. And the gates of the underworld can never overpower it.

¹⁹ I will give you the keys of the kingdom of Heaven: whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven; whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.'

²⁰ Then he gave the disciples strict orders not to say to anyone that he was the Christ.

²¹ From then onwards Jesus began to make it clear to his disciples that he was destined to go to Jerusalem and suffer grievously at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes and to be put to death and to be raised up on the third day.

²² Then, taking him aside, Peter started to rebuke him. 'Heaven preserve you, Lord,' he said, 'this must not happen to you.'

²³ But he turned and said to Peter, 'Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle in my path, because you are thinking not as God thinks but as human beings do.'

²⁴ Then Jesus said to his disciples, 'If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross and follow me.

²⁵ Anyone who wants to save his life will lose it; but anyone who loses his life for my sake will find it.

²⁶ What, then, will anyone gain by winning the whole world and forfeiting his life? Or what can anyone offer in exchange for his life?

²⁷ 'For the Son of man is going to come in the glory of his Father with his angels, and then he will reward each one according to his behaviour.

²⁸ In truth I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the Son of man coming with his kingdom.'