Mark 2

Healing and Forgiving a Paralytic

2:1 Now1 after some days, when he returned to Capernaum,2 the news spread3 that he was at home. 2:2 So many gathered that there was no longer any room, not even by4 the door, and he preached the word to them. 2:3 Some people5 came bringing to him a paralytic, carried by four of them.6 2:4 When they were not able to bring him in because of the crowd, they removed the roof7 above Jesus.8 Then,9 after tearing it out, they lowered the stretcher the paralytic was lying on. 2:5 When Jesus saw their10 faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”11 2:6 Now some of the experts in the law12 were sitting there, turning these things over in their minds:13 2:7 “Why does this man speak this way? He is blaspheming!14 Who can forgive sins but God alone?” 2:8 Now15 immediately, when Jesus realized in his spirit that they were contemplating such thoughts,16 he said to them, “Why are you thinking such things in your hearts?17 2:9 Which is easier,18 to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Stand up, take your stretcher, and walk’? 2:10 But so that you may know19 that the Son of Man20 has authority on earth to forgive sins,” – he said to the paralytic212:11 “I tell you, stand up, take your stretcher, and go home.”22 2:12 And immediately the man23 stood up, took his stretcher, and went out in front of them all. They were all amazed and glorified God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”

The Call of Levi; Eating with Sinners

2:13 Jesus24 went out again by the sea. The whole crowd came to him, and he taught them. 2:14 As he went along, he saw Levi, the son of Alphaeus, sitting at the tax booth.25 “Follow me,” he said to him. And he got up and followed him. 2:15 As Jesus26 was having a meal27 in Levi’s28 home, many tax collectors29 and sinners were eating with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. 2:16 When the experts in the law30 and the Pharisees31 saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, they said to his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?”32 2:17 When Jesus heard this he said to them, “Those who are healthy don’t need a physician, but those who are sick do.33 I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

The Superiority of the New

2:18 Now34 John’s35 disciples and the Pharisees36 were fasting.37 So38 they came to Jesus39 and said, “Why do the disciples of John and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples don’t fast?” 2:19 Jesus40 said to them, “The wedding guests41 cannot fast while the bridegroom42 is with them, can they?43 As long as they have the bridegroom with them they do not fast. 2:20 But the days are coming when the bridegroom will be taken from them,44 and at that time45 they will fast. 2:21 No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; otherwise, the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and the tear becomes worse. 2:22 And no one pours new wine into old wineskins;46 otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the skins will be destroyed. Instead new wine is poured into new wineskins.”47

Lord of the Sabbath

2:23 Jesus48 was going through the grain fields on a Sabbath, and his disciples began to pick some heads of wheat49 as they made their way. 2:24 So50 the Pharisees51 said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is against the law on the Sabbath?” 2:25 He said to them, “Have you never read what David did when he was in need and he and his companions were hungry – 2:26 how he entered the house of God when Abiathar was high priest52 and ate the sacred bread,53 which is against the law54 for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to his companions?”55 2:27 Then56 he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for people,57 not people for the Sabbath. 2:28 For this reason the Son of Man is lord58 even of the Sabbath.”

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