Mark 2

1Some days later he came back to Capernaum, and word got around that he was at home. 2So many people crowded in that there was no space left, even outside the door, and he spoke the word to them. 3Then some people arrived with a paralyzed man for him, carried by four of them. 4The crowd kept them from getting him near Jesus, so they took off part of the roof above where he was. They broke through it and lowered the mat with the paralyzed man lying on it. 5Jesus saw how they trusted in him, and he said to the paralyzed man, “My child, your sins are forgiven.” 6Some of the scribes were sitting there, and they were asking themselves, 7“Why does this fellow talk this way? It is blasphemy! Who but God alone can forgive sins?” 8At once Jesus knew in his spirit what they were thinking. “Why do you turn these things over in your hearts?” he asked them. 9“What is easier to say to this paralyzed man: ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or ‘Get up, take your mat, and walk’? 10But I want you to be sure of this: the Son of Man has the right on earth to forgive sins.” Then he turned to the paralyzed man. 11“Get up, I tell you. Take your mat and go home.” 12He got up, picked up his mat at once, and walked out while they all watched. They were all astonished and gave glory to God. “We have never seen anything like it!” they said.

13Once more he went out along the lakeshore. The whole crowd kept coming to him, and he taught them. 14As he walked along, he caught sight of Levi son of Alphaeus sitting in the tax office. “Follow me,” he said to him. He got up and followed him.

15Later Jesus was having a meal in Levi’s house, and many tax collectors and sinners shared the table with him and his disciples. There were many such people among those who followed him. 16Some scribes who were Pharisees saw him eating with sinners and tax collectors, and they asked his disciples, “Why is he eating with tax collectors and sinners?” 17Jesus heard it and told them, “People who are well do not need a doctor; sick people do. I came to call sinners, not the righteous.”

18John’s disciples and the Pharisees were keeping a fast. People came and asked him, “John’s disciples fast, and so do the Pharisees’ disciples. Why do your disciples not fast?” 19Jesus answered, “Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is there with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, fasting is out of the question. 20But days are coming when the bridegroom will be taken from them; on that day they will fast.

21Nobody sews a piece of new, unshrunk cloth onto an old coat. If they did, the new patch would shrink and tear away from the old cloth, and the hole would get worse. 22And nobody pours new wine into old wineskins. If they did, the wine would split the skins, and both wine and skins would be lost. New wine needs new skins.”

23One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and as his disciples made their way along, they started to pick heads of grain. 24The Pharisees said to him, “See there! Why are they doing something on the Sabbath that the law forbids?” 25He answered, “Have you not read what David did when he and his men were in need and hungry? 26In the days of Abiathar the high priest, he went into the house of God and ate the bread set out before God, which the law allows only the priests to eat. He even gave some to the men with him.” 27Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for people, not people for the Sabbath. 28So the Son of Man is Lord even over the Sabbath.”