Part IV: The Spread of the Kingdom

IN THE spring and summer of the second year of His public life He won the faith and love of increasing numbers of the people, but the opposition of their leaders became sharp and bitter. While in Jerusalem for the Passover, He cured a paralytic on the Sabbath. This breach of their law, together with His claims of divine origin, turned the suspicions of the Pharisees and Scribes into relentless, brooding hatred; when He returned to Galilee after the feast, they sent out agents to watch and heckle Him.
Early in the summer He went into the regions of Tyre and Sidon, on the north coast of Palestine, then journeyed east into the district of the Decapolis, beyond the Jordan. Events of this journey included His encounter with a Syrophoenician woman and the healing of her afflicted child; curing the dumb, blind, lame, and maimed in the Decapolis; a second miraculous feeding of a multitude; and the promise to Peter that he would be the leader of Christ's Church. At this time Jesus first predicted to the apostles His passion and resurrection.
Shortly after His return to Galilee, He took Peter, James, and John, and ascended a mountain, where He appeared transfigured, in the company of Moses and Elias. On coming down from the mountain He healed a possessed boy, the disciples' attempts at exorcism having failed. At the end of this period we find Him preaching to the disciples in Capharnaum.