New Testament · Gospels and Acts

Mark chapter 2

A few days later, Jesus came back to , and word got around that he was home.So many people packed in that there wasn’t even room left by the door. And he was speaking to them.Then some people came bringing a to him, carried by four of them.But they couldn’t get to Jesus because of the crowd, so they tore open the above where he was, dug through it, and lowered the the paralyzed man was lying on.When Jesus saw their , he said to the paralyzed man, “Friend, your are .”Now some of the were sitting there, thinking it over in their heads:“Why does this man talk like that? He’s ! Who can forgive failures except God alone?”Jesus immediately knew what they were thinking, and said to them, “Why are you thinking these things?”“Which is easier — to say to the paralyzed man, ‘Your failures are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, pick up your mat, and walk’?”“But so you’ll know that the has the on earth to forgive failures...” — he turned to the paralyzed man —“I’m telling you: get up, pick up your mat, and go home.”And the man got up, immediately picked up his mat, and walked out in front of everyone. They were all completely stunned and God, saying, “We’ve never seen anything like this!”Jesus went out again along , and the whole crowd kept coming to him, and he was teaching them.As he was walking along, he saw son of Alphaeus sitting at the . Jesus said to him, “.” And Levi got up and followed him.Later, Jesus was having dinner at Levi’s house, and a large number of tax collectors and were eating with Jesus and his — because many of them had started following him.When the religious scholars who were saw him eating with tax collectors and people known for their failures, they said to his followers, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and people known for their failures?”When Jesus heard this, he said to them, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor — sick people do. I didn’t come to call . I came for .” and the Pharisees were observing a . Some people came to Jesus and asked, “How come John’s followers and the Pharisees’ followers fast, but yours don’t?”Jesus answered, “Can go without eating while the is right there with them? As long as the groom is with them, they can’t fast.But the time will come when the groom is from them, and then — on that day — they will fast.“Nobody sews a patch of onto an old coat. If you do, the new patch will pull away from the old fabric and make the tear even worse.And nobody pours into stiff old . If you do, the wine will burst the skins, and you’ll lose both the wine and the skins. No — fresh wine goes into new, flexible wineskins.”One , Jesus was walking through the grain fields, and his followers began as they walked.The Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what’s on the Sabbath?”He said to them, “Haven’t you ever read what did when he and his men were hungry and in need?How he went into during the time of the high priest, and ate the , which only the priests were allowed to eat, and shared it with the men who were with him?”Then he told them, “The Sabbath was , not people for the Sabbath.So the is even of the Sabbath.”