Jesus Heals a Paralyzed Man^(A)

2 Several days later, Jesus^[a] returned to Capernaum and it was reported that he was at home. ² Such a large crowd gathered that there wasn’t room for them, even in front of the door. Jesus^[b] was speaking his message to them ³ when some people^[c] came and brought him a paralyzed man being carried by four men. ⁴ Since they couldn’t bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof over the place where he was. They dug through it and let down the mat on which the paralyzed man was lying.

⁵ When Jesus saw their faith, he told the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”

⁶ Now some scribes were sitting there, arguing among themselves,^{[d] 7} “Why does this man talk this way? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

⁸ At once, Jesus knew in his spirit what they were saying to themselves. “Why are you arguing about such things among yourselves?”^[e] he asked them. ⁹ “Which is easier: to say to the paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or ‘Get up, pick up your mat, and walk’? ¹⁰ But I want you to know^[f] that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins…” Then he told the paralyzed man, ¹¹ “I say to you, get up, pick up your mat, and go home!” ¹² So the man^[g] got up, immediately picked up his mat, and went out in front of all of them.

As a result, all of the people were amazed and began to glorify God as they kept on saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”

Jesus Calls Matthew^(B)

¹³ Jesus^[h] went out again beside the sea. The whole crowd kept coming to him, and he kept teaching them. ¹⁴ As he was walking along, he saw Levi, the son of Alphaeus, sitting at the tax collector’s desk. Jesus^[i] told him, “Follow me!” So Levi^[j] got up and followed him.

¹⁵ Later, he was having dinner at Levi’s^[k] house. Many tax collectors and sinners were also eating with Jesus and his disciples, because there were many who were following him. ¹⁶ When the scribes and the Pharisees saw him eating with sinners and tax collectors, they asked his disciples, “Why does he eat and drink^[l] with tax collectors and sinners?”

¹⁷ When Jesus heard that, he told them, “Healthy people don’t need a physician, but sick ones do. I did not come to call righteous people, but sinners.”

A Question about Fasting^(C)

¹⁸ Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees would fast regularly. Some people^[m] came and asked Jesus,^[n] “Why do John’s disciples and the Pharisees’ disciples fast, but your disciples don’t fast?”

¹⁹ Jesus replied, “The wedding guests^[o] can’t fast while the groom is with them, can they? As long as they have the groom with them, they can’t fast. ²⁰ But the time will come when the groom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast on that day.”

The Unshrunk Cloth^(D)

²¹ “No one patches an old garment with a piece of unshrunk cloth. If he does, the patch pulls away from it—the new from the old—and a worse tear is made. ²² And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will make the skins burst, and both the wine and the skins will be ruined. Instead, new wine is poured^[p] into fresh wineskins.”

Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath^(E)

²³ Jesus^[q] happened to be going through the grain fields on a Sabbath.^[r] As they made their way, his disciples began picking the heads of grain. ²⁴ The Pharisees asked him, “Look! Why are they doing what is not lawful on Sabbath days?”^[s]

²⁵ He asked them, “Haven’t you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need? ²⁶ How was it that he went into the House of God during the lifetime^[t] of Abiathar the high priest and ate the Bread of the Presence, which was not lawful for anyone but the priests to eat, and gave some of it to his companions?”

²⁷ Then he told them, “The Sabbath was made for people, not people for the Sabbath. ²⁸ Therefore, the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”