Lord of the Sabbath

6 When Jesus was going through the grain fields on a Sabbath day, his disciples were picking heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands, and eating them. ² But some of the Pharisees said, “Why are you doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?”

³ Jesus answered them, “Haven’t you read what David did when he was hungry (he and his companions)? ⁴ He went into the house of God, took and ate the Bread of the Presence, which is lawful only for the priests to eat. He also gave some to his companions.” ⁵ Jesus also said to them, “The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”

Jesus Heals a Man With a Withered Hand

⁶ On another Sabbath he went into the synagogue and taught. A man was there whose right hand was withered. ⁷ The experts in the law and the Pharisees were watching him closely, to see if he would heal on the Sabbath. They wanted to find a reason to accuse him. ⁸ But he always knew their thoughts. He said to the man with the withered hand, “Stand up and step forward.”^[a] He got up and stood there. ⁹ Then Jesus said to them, “I will ask you something. Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it?” ¹⁰ He looked around at all of them and told the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He did, and his hand was restored. ¹¹ They were filled with rage and began discussing with one another what they could do to Jesus.

Jesus Sends Out the Twelve

¹² It happened in those days that Jesus went up on the mountain to pray, and he spent all night in prayer to God. ¹³ When it was day, he summoned his disciples and chose twelve of them, whom he also called apostles: ¹⁴ Simon, whom he also named Peter, and his brother Andrew; James and John; Philip and Bartholomew; ¹⁵ Matthew and Thomas; James the son of Alphaeus, also Simon, who was called the Zealot; ¹⁶ Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.

Jesus Heals Many

¹⁷ He went down with them and stood on a level place with a large crowd of his disciples and a large number of people from all Judea and Jerusalem, as well as from the coastal area of Tyre and Sidon. These people came to listen to him and to be healed of their diseases. ¹⁸ Those who were troubled by unclean spirits were also cured. ¹⁹ The whole crowd kept trying to touch him, because power was going out from him and healing them all.

Blessings and Woes

²⁰ He lifted up his eyes to his disciples and said:

²³ “Rejoice in that day and leap for joy because of this: Your reward is great in heaven! The fact is, their fathers constantly did the same things to the prophets.”

Love Your Enemies

²⁷ “But I say to you who are listening: Love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you. ²⁸ Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who mistreat you. ²⁹ If someone strikes you on one cheek, offer the other too. If someone takes away your coat, do not withhold your shirt. ³⁰ Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes away your things, do not demand them back.

³¹ “Treat others just as you would want them to treat you. ³² If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? To be sure, even the sinners love those who love them. ³³ And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? Even the sinners do the same thing. ³⁴ If you lend to those from whom you expect to be repaid, what credit is that to you? Even the sinners lend to sinners in order to be paid back in full. ³⁵ Instead, love your enemies, do good and lend, expecting nothing in return. Your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the unthankful and the evil. ³⁶ Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

Consider the Beam in Your Own Eye

³⁷ “Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. ³⁸ Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be poured into your lap. In fact, the measure with which you measure will be measured back to you.”

³⁹ He also told them a parable: “A blind man cannot guide a blind man, can he? Won’t they both fall into a pit? ⁴⁰ A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher. ⁴¹ Why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but fail to notice the beam in your own eye? ⁴² Or how can you tell your brother, ‘Brother, let me remove the speck in your eye,’ when you do not see the beam in your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove the beam from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck in your brother’s eye.

Listen and Do

⁴³ “Certainly a good tree does not produce bad fruit, and a bad tree does not produce good fruit. ⁴⁴ In fact, each tree is known by its own fruit. For people do not gather figs from thorn bushes, and they do not gather grapes from a bramble bush. ⁴⁵ The good person brings what is good out of the good stored in his heart, and the evil person brings what is evil out of the evil within.^[b] To be sure, what his mouth speaks flows from the heart.

⁴⁶ “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say? ⁴⁷ Everyone who comes to me and listens to my words and does them—I will show you what he is like: ⁴⁸ He is like a man building a house who dug down deep and laid a foundation on bedrock. When a flood came, the river beat against that house but could not shake it, because it was founded on bedrock.^{[c] 49} But the one who listened to my words and did not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the river broke against it, it fell immediately, and that house was completely destroyed.”