Mark 2

2 ¹ A few days later, when Jesus came back to Capernaum, word spread that he was home. ² So many people gathered that there was no longer room for them, not even at the door, and he was speaking the word to them. ³ Then some men came, bringing to him a paralyzed man carried by four of them. ⁴ And when they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they removed the roof above where he was, and after digging through it they lowered the mat on which the paralyzed man lay. ⁵ When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, "Son, your sins are forgiven."

⁶ Now some of the scribes were sitting there, reasoning in their hearts, ⁷ "Why does this man speak this way? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?"

⁸ At once Jesus knew in his spirit that they were reasoning this way within themselves, and he said to them, "Why are you reasoning about these things in your hearts? ⁹ Which is easier: to say to the paralyzed man, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up, take your mat, and walk'? ¹⁰ But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins" — he said to the paralyzed man, ^a a v10 The scribes had just said only God can forgive sins — and now Jesus, the Son of Man, forgives them. The title "Son of Man" reaches back to Daniel's vision of one given everlasting authority, and here it quietly reveals who Jesus is. ¹¹ "I say to you, get up, take your mat, and go home."

¹² And he got up, took his mat at once, and walked out in front of them all, so that they were all amazed and glorified our Father, saying, "We have never seen anything like this!"

Jesus Calls a Tax Collector

¹³ Jesus went out again beside the sea, and the whole crowd kept coming to him, and he was teaching them. ¹⁴ As he passed by, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, "Follow me." And Levi got up and followed him.

¹⁵ And it happened that as Jesus reclined at the table in Levi's house, many tax collectors and sinners were reclining with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. ¹⁶ When the scribes of the Pharisees saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, they said to his disciples, "Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?"

¹⁷ When Jesus heard it, he said to them, "Those who are healthy have no need of a doctor, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners."

New Wine, New Way

¹⁸ Now John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. And they came and said to him, "Why do John's disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but yours do not?"

¹⁹ Jesus said to them, "Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. ²⁰ But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast on that day. ²¹ No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does, the new patch pulls away from the old, and the tear becomes worse. ²² And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost along with the skins. Instead, new wine is put into fresh wineskins."

Son of Man, Lord of the Sabbath

²³ Now it happened that he was passing through the grainfields on the Sabbath, and his disciples began to make their way, picking the heads of grain. ²⁴ And the Pharisees said to him, "Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?"

²⁵ And he said to them, "Have you never read what David did when he was in need and hungry, he and those who were with him ²⁶ —how he entered the house of our Father in the days of Abiathar the high priest and ate the bread of the Presence, which is not lawful for anyone but the priests to eat, and he gave some also to those who were with him?"

²⁷ And he said to them, "The Sabbath was made for people, not man for the Sabbath. ²⁸ So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath."