Jesus heals a paralyzed man
1 He went back to Capernaum in those days, but they heard he was in a house there. 2 So many gathered there that the house was packed (you couldn’t even get in the door), and he gave a speech to them. 3 Then a paralyzed person was carried there by four people. 4 But since they couldn’t get to him because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where Jesus was and dug a hole so they could lower the paralyzed person on the cot.
5 Now when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed person, “Dear child, your sins are forgiven!” 6 But some of the scribes sat there and muttered to themselves, 7 “How can he say such a thing? He is calling himself God! Who else can forgive sins except the one true God?” 8 But right away Jesus knew in his spirit what they were muttering to themselves, and he said to them, “What is this you’re muttering about? 9 Which is easier to say to the paralyzed person: ‘Your sins are forgiven’ or ‘Arise, pick up your cot and walk’?
10 “But observe the authority the Human has to forgive sins here on earth!” So he said to the paralyzed person, 11 “I tell you, arise, pick up your cot and go home!” 12 And right away he got up, picked up his cot, and walked out the door in front of everyone. Then they were all astounded and gave honor to God: “We have never seen anything like this!”
Jesus chooses Levi as a disciple
13 Jesus left again and went to the seaside. The whole crowd came with him, and he taught them. 14 As he passed by he saw Levi, son of Alpheus, sitting in his tax contractor’s office. So he said to him, “Follow me!” and he got up and followed.
15 When he went to eat at the tax contractor’s house, many other tax contractors and scoundrels were also reclining at the table with Jesus and his disciples, since they were following him. 16 But when the scribes who were Pharisees saw that he was eating with scoundrels and tax contractors, they complained to his disciples: “Why does he eat with tax contractors and scoundrels?”
17 Jesus heard this and said to them, “It is the sick, not the healthy, who need a physician. I didn’t come to call the righteous but the scoundrels.”
Jesus asked about fasting
18 The disciples of John and of the Pharisees were fasting, so they came and asked him, “Why is it that the disciples of John and of the Pharisees all fast, but your disciples do not?”
19 “Do the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them?” answered Jesus. “No, they cannot fast while they’re with the bridegroom. 20 But the days are coming when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast on that day.
21 “No one uses unshrunk cloth to patch an old article of clothing. Otherwise, the new cloth pulls away from the old and creates an even bigger tear than before. 22 Likewise, no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst through, and both the wineskin and the wine will be ruined. New wine belongs in new wineskins.”
Jesus explains the Sabbath
23 Now it happened on one of the Sabbaths that he was passing alongside some grain fields, and his disciples were picking heads of grain along the way. 24 But the Pharisees complained, “Look! What they’re doing is forbidden on the Sabbaths.”
25 “Haven’t you ever read what David did when he and his men were hungry, 26 during the time of Abiathar the high priest?” Jesus replied. “He went into the House of God and ate the bread that was presented as an offering, which only the priests are allowed to eat, and fed it to those with him as well.” 27 Jesus added, “The Sabbath is for the sake of the person, not the person for the Sabbath, 28 and the Human is Master of the Sabbath.”