Jesus makes a man well

3 Another time, Jesus went into the Jewish meeting place. A man was there. His hand was very small and weak, so he could not use it. ² Some Pharisees were watching Jesus carefully. They wanted to find a reason to say that Jesus was doing wrong things. It was the Jewish day of rest. So the Pharisees watched Jesus to see if he would make the man well on this day. ³ Jesus said to the man, ‘Stand here in front of everyone.’

⁴ Then Jesus said to the Pharisees, ‘Is it right for us to do good things on our day of rest? Or should we do bad things? Should we save a person's life? Or should we kill people?’

Nobody said anything.

⁵ Jesus looked round at everybody. He felt angry with them. He also felt sad because they did not want to learn. Then he said to the man, ‘Lift up your hand.’ The man lifted his hand and it became well. He could use it again. ⁶ The Pharisees left the meeting place immediately. They went to meet with some other people who were friends with the ruler, Herod.^[a] The Pharisees talked with them about how they could kill Jesus.

Crowds follow Jesus

⁷ Jesus left that place and he went away to Lake Galilee with his disciples. A large crowd of people from Galilee followed them. ⁸ Many people also came to him from Judea, from Jerusalem and from a region of Israel called Idumea. They also came from places on the other side of the Jordan River, and from the towns called Tyre and Sidon. Many people had heard about the things that Jesus was doing. That is why all these people came to him. ⁹ The crowd was very large. So Jesus asked his disciples to prepare a small boat for him. They did this so that the people would not push against him. ¹⁰ Sick people were pushing to the front, because they were trying to touch him. They knew that he had made many people well. ¹¹ Often, a person with a bad spirit saw Jesus. Then, the spirit caused the person to fall down on the ground in front of Jesus. The spirit caused that person to shout out, ‘You are the Son of God.’ ¹² Jesus often had to say to the bad spirits, ‘You must not tell anyone who I am.’

Jesus chooses 12 apostles

¹³ Jesus went up a mountain. He chose some men and he asked them to go there with him. So they met together with him there. ¹⁴ He chose a group of 12 men. He called them his apostles.^[b] He wanted them to be with him. And he would send them to teach people about God. ¹⁵ He gave these men authority to cause bad spirits to leave people. ¹⁶ These are the names of the 12 apostles:

Jesus talks about Satan

²⁰ Then Jesus went into a house. A crowd of people came together there again. There were so many people that Jesus and his disciples were not even able to eat. ²¹ People told his family what was happening. So they went to take him away with them. They thought that Jesus was crazy.^[e]

²² Some teachers of God's Law came from Jerusalem. They said, ‘Jesus has a bad spirit called Beelzebul in him. That is Satan, the one who rules all the bad spirits. This man can send bad spirits out of people because Satan gives him authority.’^[f]

²³ So Jesus spoke to the teachers of God's Law. He said, ‘Come here and listen to me.’ He used stories to explain to them, ‘Satan would not fight against himself! ²⁴ If armies in the same country start to fight each other, then they will destroy their own country. ²⁵ And if the people in one family start to fight against each other, they will destroy their own family. ²⁶ So Satan would not attack himself. If he did that, he would destroy his own power. That would be the end of him. ²⁷ Nobody can easily go into the house of a strong man to rob him. To do that, he must first tie up the strong man. Then he can take away all that man's valuable things. ²⁸ I tell you this: God can forgive all the wrong things that people do. He can also forgive people who say bad things against him. ²⁹ But God will never forgive people who say bad things against the Holy Spirit. Those people will always be guilty of a terrible sin.’

³⁰ Jesus said that to the teachers of God's Law, because they had said, ‘Jesus has a bad spirit in him.’

Jesus' mother and his brothers come to look for him

³¹ Then, Jesus' mother and his brothers arrived and they stood outside the house. They sent someone into the house with a message. They wanted Jesus to come out to speak to them. ³² A crowd of people was sitting around Jesus. Somebody said to him, ‘Look! Your mother and brothers are outside. They are looking for you.’

³³ Jesus replied, ‘I will tell you who my mother and brothers really are.’

³⁴ Then he looked at the people who were sitting around him. He said, ‘Look! Here are my mother and my brothers! ³⁵ My brothers and sisters and my mother are the people who do what God wants.’^[g]