Jesus Heals a Paralytic

1And when he returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home.  2And many were gathered together, so that there was no more room, not even at the door. And he was preaching the word to them.  3And they came, bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men.  4And when they could not get near him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him, and when they had made an opening, they let down the bed on which the paralytic lay.  5And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”  6Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts,  7“Why does this man speak like that? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?”  8And immediately Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they thus questioned within themselves, said to them, “Why do you question these things in your hearts?  9Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise, take up your bed and walk’?  10But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the paralytic—  11“I say to you, rise, pick up your bed, and go home.”  12And he rose and immediately picked up his bed and went out before them all, so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, “We never saw anything like this!”

Jesus Calls Levi

13He went out again beside the sea, and all the crowd was coming to him, and he was teaching them.  14And as he passed by, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him.

15And as he reclined at table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners were reclining with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many who followed him.  16And the scribes of the Pharisees, when they saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, said to his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?”  17And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

A Question About Fasting

18Now John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. And people came and said to him, “Why do John's disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?”  19And Jesus said to them, “Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast.  20The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day.  21No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does, the patch tears away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made.  22And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins—and the wine is destroyed, and so are the skins. But new wine is for fresh wineskins.”

Jesus Is Lord of the Sabbath

23One Sabbath he was going through the grainfields, and as they made their way, his disciples began to pluck heads of grain.  24And the Pharisees were saying to him, “Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?”  25And he said to them, “Have you never read what David did, when he was in need and was hungry, he and those who were with him:  26how he entered the house of God, in the time of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those who were with him?”  27And he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.  28So the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.”