Mark 2–3

Jesus Forgives and Heals a Paralyzed Man

2:3–12pp—Mt 9:2–8; Lk 5:18–26

2A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. ²They gathered in such large numbers^w that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them. ³Some men came, bringing to him a paralyzed man,^x carried by four of them. ⁴Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus by digging through it and then lowered the mat the man was lying on. ⁵When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”^y

⁶Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, ⁷“Why does this fellow talk like that? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?”^z

⁸Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them, “Why are you thinking these things? ⁹Which is easier: to say to this paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat and walk’? ¹⁰But I want you to know that the Son of Man^a has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the man, ¹¹“I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” ¹²He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God,^b saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”^c

Jesus Calls Levi and Eats With Sinners

2:14–17pp—Mt 9:9–13; Lk 5:27–32

¹³Once again Jesus went out beside the lake. A large crowd came to him,^d and he began to teach them. ¹⁴As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,”^e Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him.

¹⁵While Jesus was having dinner at Levi’s house, many tax collectors and sinners were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. ¹⁶When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees^f saw him eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?”^g

¹⁷On hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”^h

Jesus Questioned About Fasting

2:18–22pp—Mt 9:14–17; Lk 5:33–38

¹⁸Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting.ⁱ Some people came and asked Jesus, “How is it that John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees are fasting, but yours are not?”

¹⁹Jesus answered, “How can the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? They cannot, so long as they have him with them. ²⁰But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them,^j and on that day they will fast.

²¹“No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. Otherwise, the new piece will pull away from the old, making the tear worse. ²²And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins.”

Jesus Is Lord of the Sabbath

2:23–28pp—Mt 12:1–8; Lk 6:1–5 3:1–6pp—Mt 12:9–14; Lk 6:6–11

²³One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and as his disciples walked along, they began to pick some heads of grain.^{k 24}The Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?”^l

²⁵He answered, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need? ²⁶In the days of Abiathar the high priest,^m he entered the house of God and ate the consecrated bread, which is lawful only for priests to eat.ⁿ And he also gave some to his companions.”^o

²⁷Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man,^p not man for the Sabbath.^{q 28}So the Son of Man^r is Lord even of the Sabbath.”

Jesus Heals on the Sabbath

3Another time Jesus went into the synagogue,^s and a man with a shriveled hand was there. ²Some of them were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely^t to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath.^{u 3}Jesus said to the man with the shriveled hand, “Stand up in front of everyone.”

⁴Then Jesus asked them, “Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they remained silent.

⁵He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored. ⁶Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians^v how they might kill Jesus.^w

Crowds Follow Jesus

3:7–12pp—Mt 12:15,16; Lk 6:17–19

⁷Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the lake, and a large crowd from Galilee followed.^{x 8}When they heard about all he was doing, many people came to him from Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, and the regions across the Jordan and around Tyre and Sidon.^{y 9}Because of the crowd he told his disciples to have a small boat ready for him, to keep the people from crowding him. ¹⁰For he had healed many,^z so that those with diseases were pushing forward to touch him.^{a 11}Whenever the impure spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, “You are the Son of God.”^{b 12}But he gave them strict orders not to tell others about him.^c

Jesus Appoints the Twelve

3:16–19pp—Mt 10:2–4; Lk 6:14–16; Ac 1:13

¹³Jesus went up on a mountainside and called to him those he wanted, and they came to him.^{d 14}He appointed twelve^ae that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach ¹⁵and to have authority to drive out demons.^{f 16}These are the twelve he appointed: Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter),^{g 17}James son of Zebedee and his brother John (to them he gave the name Boanerges, which means “sons of thunder”), ¹⁸Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Zealot ¹⁹and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.

Jesus Accused by His Family and by Teachers of the Law

3:23–27pp—Mt 12:25–29; Lk 11:17–22 3:31–35pp—Mt 12:46–50; Lk 8:19–21

²⁰Then Jesus entered a house, and again a crowd gathered,^h so that he and his disciples were not even able to eat.^{i 21}When his family^b heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, “He is out of his mind.”^j

²²And the teachers of the law who came down from Jerusalem^k said, “He is possessed by Beelzebul!^l By the prince of demons he is driving out demons.”^m

²³So Jesus called them over to him and began to speak to them in parables:ⁿ “How can Satan^o drive out Satan? ²⁴If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. ²⁵If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. ²⁶And if Satan opposes himself and is divided, he cannot stand; his end has come. ²⁷In fact, no one can enter a strong man’s house without first tying him up. Then he can plunder the strong man’s house.^{p 28}Truly I tell you, people can be forgiven all their sins and every slander they utter, ²⁹but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; they are guilty of an eternal sin.”^q

³⁰He said this because they were saying, “He has an impure spirit.”

³¹Then Jesus’ mother and brothers arrived.^r Standing outside, they sent someone in to call him. ³²A crowd was sitting around him, and they told him, “Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you.”

³³“Who are my mother and my brothers?” he asked.

³⁴Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! ³⁵Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.”