Mark 2

2 ¹A few days later, when Jesus came back to Capernaum, word spread that he was home. ²So many gathered that there was no room left, not even at the door, and he was speaking the word to them. ³Then some men came, bringing to him a paralyzed man carried by four of them. ⁴Unable to bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, they removed the roof over him, dug through it, and lowered the mat the paralyzed man lay on.

⁵When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, "Son, your sins are forgiven."

⁶Now 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?"

⁸Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit they were reasoning this way within themselves, and said to them, "Why are you reasoning these things in your hearts? ⁹Which is easier—telling the paralyzed man, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or, 'Get up, take your mat, and walk'? ¹⁰But so you'll know the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins"—he told 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."

¹²He got up, immediately took his mat, and went out before them all, so that everyone was amazed and praised our Father, saying, "We've never seen anything like this."

Jesus Calls a Tax Collector

¹³Jesus went out beside the sea again; the whole crowd came to him, and he taught them.

¹⁴Passing by, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth and said, "Follow me." He got up and followed him.

¹⁵While Jesus reclined at the table in Levi's house, many tax collectors and sinners reclined with Jesus and his disciples, since many were following him. ¹⁶Seeing him eat with sinners and tax collectors, the Pharisees' scribes asked his disciples, "Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?"

¹⁷Hearing this, Jesus said to them, "The healthy don't need a doctor, but the sick do. I didn't come to call the righteous, but sinners."

New Wine, New Way

¹⁸John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. They came and asked him, "Why do John's disciples and the Pharisees' disciples fast, but yours don't?"

¹⁹Jesus said to them, "Can wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. ²⁰But days will come when the bridegroom is taken from them; then, on that day, they will fast. ²¹No one sews unshrunk cloth on an old garment; otherwise the new patch tears away from the old, and the tear worsens. ²²No one puts new wine into old wineskins; the wine bursts the skins, and both are ruined. New wine goes into new wineskins."

Son of Man, Lord of the Sabbath

²³One Sabbath, he walked through the grainfields, and as they went, his disciples began picking heads of grain. ²⁴The Pharisees said to him, "Look, why are they doing what's not lawful on the Sabbath?"

²⁵And he said to them, "Have you never read what David did when he was in need and hungry, he and those with him, ²⁶how he entered the house of our Father in the days of Abiathar the high priest, ate the bread of the Presence—which only priests may eat—and gave some to those with him?"

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