2Mark 2

Jesus Heals a Paralyzed Man

1A few days later Jesus went back to Capernaum, and the news spread that he was at home.Select Mark 2:1

2So many people came together that there was no room left, not even out in front of the door. Jesus was preaching the message to themSelect Mark 2:2

3when four men arrived, carrying a paralyzed man to Jesus.Select Mark 2:3

4Because of the crowd, however, they could not get the man to him. So they made a hole in the roof right above the place where Jesus was. When they had made an opening, they let the man down, lying on his mat.Select Mark 2:4

5Seeing how much faith they had, Jesus said to the paralyzed man, “My son, your sins are forgiven.”Select Mark 2:5

6Some teachers of the Law who were sitting there thought to themselves,Select Mark 2:6

7“How does he dare talk like this? This is blasphemy! God is the only one who can forgive sins!”Select Mark 2:7

8At once Jesus knew what they were thinking, so he said to them, “Why do you think such things?Select Mark 2:8

9Is it easier to say to this paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, pick up your mat, and walk’?Select Mark 2:9

10I will prove to you, then, that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the paralyzed man,Select Mark 2:10

11“I tell you, get up, pick up your mat, and go home!”Select Mark 2:11

12While they all watched, the man got up, picked up his mat, and hurried away. They were all completely amazed and praised God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”Select Mark 2:12

Jesus Calls Levi

13Jesus went back again to the shore of Lake Galilee. A crowd came to him, and he started teaching them.Select Mark 2:13

14As he walked along, he saw a tax collector, Levi son of Alphaeus, sitting in his office. Jesus said to him, “Follow me.” Levi got up and followed him.Select Mark 2:14

15Later on Jesus was having a meal in Levi's house. A large number of tax collectors and other outcasts was following Jesus, and many of them joined him and his disciples at the table.Select Mark 2:15

16Some teachers of the Law, who were Pharisees, saw that Jesus was eating with these outcasts and tax collectors, so they asked his disciples, “Why does he eat with such people?”Select Mark 2:16

17Jesus heard them and answered, “People who are well do not need a doctor, but only those who are sick. I have not come to call respectable people, but outcasts.”Select Mark 2:17

The Question about Fasting

18On one occasion the followers of John the Baptist and the Pharisees were fasting. Some people came to Jesus and asked him, “Why is it that the disciples of John the Baptist and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but yours do not?”Select Mark 2:18

19Jesus answered, “Do you expect the guests at a wedding party to go without food? Of course not! As long as the bridegroom is with them, they will not do that.Select Mark 2:19

20But the day will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.Select Mark 2:20

21“No one uses a piece of new cloth to patch up an old coat, because the new patch will shrink and tear off some of the old cloth, making an even bigger hole.Select Mark 2:21

22Nor does anyone pour new wine into used wineskins, because the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the skins will be ruined. Instead, new wine must be poured into fresh wineskins.”Select Mark 2:22

The Question about the Sabbath

23Jesus was walking through some wheat fields on a Sabbath. As his disciples walked along with him, they began to pick the heads of wheat.Select Mark 2:23

24So the Pharisees said to Jesus, “Look, it is against our Law for your disciples to do that on the Sabbath!”Select Mark 2:24

25Jesus answered, “Have you never read what David did that time when he needed something to eat? He and his men were hungry,Select Mark 2:25

26so he went into the house of God and ate the bread offered to God. This happened when Abiathar was the High Priest. According to our Law only the priests may eat this bread—but David ate it and even gave it to his men.”Select Mark 2:26

27And Jesus concluded, “The Sabbath was made for the good of human beings; they were not made for the Sabbath.Select Mark 2:27

28So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”Select Mark 2:28