Mark 2–3

A Paralytic is Healed

Matt. 9:1–8; Luke 5:17–26

2And again ^aHe entered Capernaum after some days, and it was heard that He was in the house. ²¹Immediately many gathered together, so that there was no longer room to receive them, not even near the door. And He preached the word to them. ³Then they came to Him, bringing a ^bparalytic who was carried by four men. ⁴And when they could not come near Him because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where He was. So when they had broken through, they let down the bed on which the paralytic was lying.

⁵When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven you.”

⁶And some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, ⁷“Why does this Man speak blasphemies like this? ^cWho can forgive sins but God alone?”

⁸But immediately, when Jesus perceived in His spirit that they reasoned thus within themselves, He said to them, “Why do you reason about these things in your hearts? ^9dWhich is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Arise, take up your bed and walk’? ¹⁰But that you may know that the Son of Man has ²power on earth to forgive sins”—He said to the paralytic, ¹¹“I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.” ¹²Immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went out in the presence of them all, so that all were amazed and ^eglorified God, saying, “We never saw anything like this!”

Call of Matthew

Matt. 9:9–13; Luke 5:27–32

^13fThen He went out again by the sea; and all the multitude came to Him, and He taught them. ^14gAs He passed by, He saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, ^h “Follow Me.” So he arose and ⁱfollowed Him.

^15jNow it happened, as He was dining in Levi’s house, that many tax collectors and sinners also sat together with Jesus and His disciples; for there were many, and they followed Him. ¹⁶And when the scribes ³and Pharisees saw Him eating with the tax collectors and sinners, they said to His disciples, “How is it that He eats and drinks with tax collectors and sinners?”

¹⁷When Jesus heard it, He said to them, ^k “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, ⁴to repentance.”

Parable of Cloth and Wineskins

Matt. 9:14–17; Luke 5:33–39

^18lThe disciples of John and of the Pharisees were fasting. Then they came and said to Him, “Why do the disciples of John and of the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?”

¹⁹And Jesus said to them, “Can the ⁵friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them they cannot fast. ²⁰But the days will come when the bridegroom will be ^mtaken away from them, and then they will fast in those days. ²¹No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; or else the new piece pulls away from the old, and the tear is made worse. ²²And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine bursts the wineskins, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But new wine must be put into new wineskins.”

Controversy Over Sabbath-Work

Matt. 12:1–8; Luke 6:1–5

²³ⁿNow it happened that He went through the grainfields on the Sabbath; and as they went His disciples began ^oto pluck the heads of grain. ²⁴And the Pharisees said to Him, “Look, why do they do what is ^pnot lawful on the Sabbath?”

²⁵But He said to them, “Have you never read ^qwhat David did when he was in need and hungry, he and those with him: ²⁶how he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the showbread, ^rwhich is not lawful to eat except for the priests, and also gave some to those who were with him?”

²⁷And He said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the ^sSabbath. ²⁸Therefore ^tthe Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath.”

Controversy Over Sabbath-Healing

Matt 12:9–13; Luke 6:6–10

3And ^aHe entered the synagogue again, and a man was there who had a withered hand. ²So they ^bwatched Him closely, whether He would ^cheal him on the Sabbath, so that they might ¹accuse Him. ³And He said to the man who had the withered hand, ² “Step forward.” ⁴Then He said to them, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they kept silent. ⁵And when He had looked around at them with anger, being grieved by the ^dhardness of their hearts, He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored ³as whole as the other.

Pharisees Counsel to Destroy Jesus

Matt. 12:14–16; Luke 6:11

^6eThen the Pharisees went out and immediately plotted with ^fthe Herodians against Him, how they might destroy Him.

⁷But Jesus withdrew with His disciples to the sea. And a great multitude from Galilee followed Him, ^gand from Judea ⁸and Jerusalem and Idumea and beyond the Jordan; and those from Tyre and Sidon, a great multitude, when they heard how ^hmany things He was doing, came to Him. ⁹So He told His disciples that a small boat should be kept ready for Him because of the multitude, lest they should crush Him. ¹⁰For He healed ⁱmany, so that as many as had afflictions pressed about Him to ^jtouch Him. ^11kAnd the unclean spirits, whenever they saw Him, fell down before Him and cried out, saying, ^l“You are the Son of God.” ¹²But ^mHe sternly warned them that they should not make Him known.

Selection of the Twelve

Luke 6:12–16

¹³ⁿAnd He went up on the mountain and called to Him those He Himself wanted. And they came to Him. ¹⁴Then He appointed twelve, ⁴that they might be with Him and that He might send them out to preach, ¹⁵and to have ⁵power ⁶to heal sicknesses and to cast out demons: ¹⁶⁷Simon, ^oto whom He gave the name Peter; ¹⁷James the son of Zebedee and John the brother of James, to whom He gave the name Boanerges, that is, “Sons of Thunder”; ¹⁸Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Cananite; ¹⁹and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed Him. And they went into a house.

Opposition of His Friends

²⁰Then the multitude came together again, ^pso that they could not so much as eat bread. ²¹But when His ^qown people heard about this, they went out to lay hold of Him, ^rfor they said, “He is out of His mind.”

Scribes Commit the Unpardonable Sin

Matt. 12:24–32; Luke 11:17–23

²²And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, ^s“He has Beelzebub,” and, “By the ^truler of the demons He casts out demons.”

^23uSo He called them to Himself and said to them in parables: “How can Satan cast out Satan? ²⁴If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. ²⁵And if a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. ²⁶And if Satan has risen up against himself, and is divided, he cannot stand, but has an end. ^27vNo one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. And then he will plunder his house.

^28w“Assuredly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they may utter; ²⁹but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is subject to eternal condemnation”—³⁰because they ^xsaid, “He has an unclean spirit.”

New Relationships are Defined

Matt. 12:46–50; Luke 8:19–21

^31yThen His brothers and His mother came, and standing outside they sent to Him, calling Him. ³²And a multitude was sitting around Him; and they said to Him, “Look, Your mother and Your brothers ⁸are outside seeking You.”

³³But He answered them, saying, “Who is My mother, or My brothers?” ³⁴And He looked around in a circle at those who sat about Him, and said, “Here are My mother and My brothers! ³⁵For whoever does the ^zwill of God is My brother and My sister and mother.”