The Paralytic Healed
1 Jesus returned to Capernaum, and a few days later the news went out that He was at home.
2 So many people gathered together that there was no longer room [for them], not even near the door; and Jesus was discussing with them the word [of God].
3 Then they came, bringing to Him a paralyzed man, who was being carried by four men.
4 When they were unable to get to Him because of the crowd, theyremoved the roof above Jesus; and when they had dug out an opening, they let down the mat on which the paralyzed man was lying.
5 When Jesus saw their [active] faith [springing from confidence in Him], He said to the paralyzed man,“Son, your sins are forgiven.”
6 But some of thescribes were sitting there debating in their hearts [the implication of what He had said],
7 “Why does this man talk that way? He is blaspheming; who can forgive sins [remove guilt, nullify sin’s penalty, and assign righteousness] except God alone?”
8 Immediately Jesus, being fully aware [of their hostility]andknowing in His spirit that they were thinking this, said to them,“Why are you debatingandarguing about these things in your hearts?
9 Which is easier, to say to the paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven’; or to say, ‘Get up, and pick up your mat and walk’?
10 But so that you may know that theSon of Man has the authorityandpower on earth to forgive sins”–He said to the paralyzed man,
11 “I say to you, get up, pick up your mat and go home.”
12 And he got up and immediately picked up the mat and went out before them all, so that they all were astonished and they glorifiedandpraised God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”
13 Jesus went out again along the [Galilean] seashore; and all the people were coming to Him, and He was teaching them.
Levi (Matthew) Called
14 As He was passing by, He saw Levi (Matthew) the son of Alphaeus sitting in thetax collector’s booth, and He said to him,“Follow Me[as My disciple, accepting Me as your Master and Teacher and walking the same path of life that I walk].” And he got up and followed Him [becoming His disciple, believing and trusting in Him and following His example].
15 And it happened that Jesus wasrecliningat the tablein Levi’s house, and many tax collectors and sinners [including non-observant Jews] were eating with Him and His disciples; for there were many of them and they werefollowing Him.
16 When the scribes [belonging to the sect] of thePharisees saw that Jesus was eating with the sinners [including non-observant Jews] and tax collectors, they asked His disciples, “Why does He eat and drink withtax collectors and sinners?”
17 When Jesus heard this, He said to them,“Those who are healthy have no need of a physician, but[only]those who are sick; I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners[who recognize their sin and humbly seek forgiveness].”
18 Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting [as a ritual]; and they came and asked Jesus, “Why are John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fasting, but Your disciples are not doing so?”
19 Jesus answered,“The attendants of the bridegroomcannot fast while the bridegroom is[still]with them, can they? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast.
20 But the days will come when the bridegroom is[forcefully]taken away from them, and they will fast at that time.
21 “No one sews a patch of unshrunk (new) cloth on an old garment; otherwise the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and the tear becomes worse.
22 No one puts new wine into oldwineskins; otherwise the[fermenting]wine will[expand and]burst the skins, and the wine is lost as well as the wineskins. But new wine must be put into new wineskins.”
Question of the Sabbath
23 One Sabbath He was walking along [with His disciples] through the grainfields, and as they went along, His disciples began picking the heads of grain.
24 The Pharisees said to Him, “Look, why are they doing whatis unlawful on the Sabbath?”
25 Jesus said to them,“Have you never read[in the Scriptures]what David did when he was in need and was hungry, he and his companions;
26 how he went into the house of God in the time of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the sacred bread, which is not lawful for anyone but the priests to eat, and how he also gave it to the men who were with him?”
27 Jesus said to them,“The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.
28 So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath[and He has authority over it].”