This is where the pace changes. Up to now the story has moved in months; from here it moves in crowds. By the end of this part He will have chosen the Twelve, preached the Sermon on the Mount, and sent His disciples out on their own.

Nazareth turns on Him

He begins a preaching tour of Galilee, and returns to His hometown. It does not go well — they attempt to kill Him. So He moves His home base to Capernaum, and it is there that most of what follows happens.

Luke 4:14–30 · Matthew 4:13–17 · Luke 4:31–32

The first disciples

At the lakeside He calls Andrew, Peter, James, and John to follow Him.

Matthew 4:18–22 · Mark 1:16–20

The miracles in Capernaum

A demoniac in the synagogue. Peter’s mother-in-law. Then, as evening comes, the whole town at the door — “many sick.” The catch of fish. A leper healed. A paralytic lowered through a roof. The call of Matthew the tax collector. Grain picked on the Sabbath, and a man with a withered hand restored — both of which harden the opposition further.

Through it all He keeps withdrawing to solitary places to pray. The crowds keep finding Him.

Mark 1:21–3:6 · Matthew 8:1–17; 9:1–17; 12:1–14 · Luke 4:33–6:11

The Twelve

After a night of prayer, He chooses twelve from among His followers. This is roughly a year after His baptism, and He will be headed back to Jerusalem for Passover within a month or so.

Mark 3:7–19 · Matthew 10:2–4 · Luke 6:13–16

The Sermon on the Mount

This one has a page of its own. The Sermon on the Mount — what I think Jesus is doing across Matthew 5–7, and why I do not read it as a programme of self-improvement.

Matthew 5:1–7:29 · Luke 6:17–49

What “the Kingdom of Heaven” meant to them

Before the parables, it is worth pausing on a phrase we routinely misread. When Jesus speaks of the Kingdom of Heaven, He is not primarily talking about heaven and hell. He is speaking from a Jewish worldview, to a very mixed crowd who were waiting for the kingdom of David and Solomon to be restored.

Think of it in terms of the deliverance from Egypt — the pattern that runs through the whole Old Testament. There is slavery, and someone doing the enslaving. A deliverer comes. Deliverance happens through a miraculous confrontation with the oppressor. Then deliverance becomes a journey, secured through perseverance and confrontation, with miraculous supply along the way. And the end of it is a promised land, and a kingdom.

That is the shape they had in their minds. Hold it while you read what follows.

The parables

The Sower. The Tares. The Mustard Seed. The Leaven. The Candle. The Treasure in a Field. The Net. The seed that grows without human help.

Matthew 13:1–52 · Mark 4:1–34 · Luke 8:4–18

Back to the story

He calms a storm. He frees the Gergesene demoniac. He raises Jairus’ daughter, and heals the woman with the issue of blood on the way. A second visit to Nazareth. Two blind men. Another demoniac. His own family comes to see Him, concerned.

Then, from Capernaum, He sends the Twelve out on their own.

Mark 4:35–6:13 · Matthew 8:23–34; 9:18–10:42 · Luke 8:22–9:6

He is now watched at every turn by the religious elite and the political powers. His reputation grows, the crowds grow, and the demand on His time grows with them.