Chronological

The Pharisees watch what Jesus does on the day of rest

12 On a Jewish day of rest, Jesus was walking through some fields where wheat was growing. His disciples were hungry. So they began to pick some of the grains of wheat. They began to eat them. ² While the disciples were picking the grains, some Pharisees saw them. They said to Jesus, ‘Look at what your disciples are doing! It is against God's Law to do that on our day of rest.’

³ Jesus replied, ‘You have certainly read about what David did one day. He and the men who were with him were hungry. ⁴ David went into the temple. He ate the special bread that was there. He also gave some of it to his men to eat as well. But it is against God's Law for anyone except the priests to eat that special bread.^[a]

⁵ Also, you certainly know what God's Law says about the priests. They work in the temple, even on the day of rest. They have not obeyed the Law about the day of rest. But God's Law tells us that they have not done anything that is wrong. ⁶ But I tell you this. There is someone here now who has greater authority even than the temple. ⁷ You should understand what the Bible teaches. God says there, “I want people to be kind to each other. I do not just want them to offer sacrifices to me.” If you had understood this, then you would not have said to me, “Your disciples are doing something wrong.” ⁸ The Son of Man has authority over the Law about the day of rest.’

⁹ Then Jesus left that place. He went into the Jewish meeting place. ¹⁰ A man was there. His hand was very small and weak, so he could not use it. Some Pharisees asked Jesus, ‘Is it right to make someone well again on our day of rest?’ They wanted to find a reason to say that Jesus was doing wrong things.

¹¹ Jesus said to them, ‘Maybe one of you has a sheep that falls into a deep hole on our day of rest. What will you do? You will take hold of it and you will lift it out of the hole. ¹² You know that a man is much more valuable than a sheep. So it is right for us to do good things on our day of rest.’

¹³ Then Jesus said to the man with the weak hand, ‘Lift up your hand.’ So the man lifted up his hand and it became well again. It was now as strong as his other hand. ¹⁴ Then the Pharisees went out from the meeting place. They began to talk to each other about how they could kill Jesus.

God chose Jesus to do an important job

¹⁵ Jesus knew that the Pharisees wanted to kill him. So he went away from that place. A large crowd of people followed him. He made all the sick people become well again. ¹⁶ He said to these people, ‘You must not tell anyone about me.’ ¹⁷ This happened so that what the prophet Isaiah had spoken long ago became true. Isaiah wrote what God said:

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]

Jesus teaches about the Jewish day of rest

6 On a Jewish day of rest, Jesus and his disciples were walking through some fields where wheat was growing. His disciples began to pick some of the wheat. They were rubbing it between their hands and eating the seeds.

² Some of the Pharisees were walking with them. They said, ‘You should not be doing that on our day of rest. It is against God's Law.’

³ Jesus replied, ‘You have certainly read about what David did one day. He and the men who were with him were hungry. ⁴ He went into the temple. He took the special bread that was there. It is against God's Law for anyone except the priests to eat that bread. But David ate some of it. He gave some of the bread to his men to eat as well.’

⁵ Then Jesus said to them, ‘The Son of Man has authority over the Law about the day of rest.’^[a]

Jesus makes a man well on the day of rest

⁶ On another Jewish day of rest, Jesus went into the Jewish meeting place and he taught the people. A man was there. His right hand had become small and weak and he could not use it. ⁷ Some teachers of God's Law and some Pharisees were watching Jesus carefully. They wanted to find a reason to say that he was doing something wrong. So they watched Jesus to see if he would make the man well on the day of rest. ⁸ But Jesus knew what they were thinking. So he said to the man, ‘Get up and stand in front of everyone.’ The man got up and he stood there. ⁹ Then Jesus said to the people, ‘Let me ask you something. 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 destroy their life?’ ¹⁰ Jesus looked round at everyone. Then he said to the man, ‘Lift up your hand.’ When the man lifted his hand, it became well. He could use it again.

¹¹ Then the Pharisees and the teachers of God's Law were very angry. They began to talk to each other about what they could do to Jesus.

Jesus chooses 12 men

¹² One day Jesus went up a mountain to pray. He remained there all night and he was praying to God. ¹³ In the morning, he asked all his disciples to come to him. Then he chose 12 of them and he called them his apostles.^[b] These are their names:

Jesus teaches people

¹⁷ After Jesus had chosen these 12 men, they all came down the mountain. He stopped and he stood on a flat place. A large crowd of his disciples stood around him. There were also many people from Jerusalem, and from other towns of Judea, and from places on the coast near Tyre and Sidon. ¹⁸ These people had all come to hear Jesus teach. Those people who were ill wanted him to make them well. He also made well those people who had bad spirits. ¹⁹ All the people were trying to touch him, because he was using great power to make each person well.

²⁰ Jesus looked at his disciples. He spoke this message to them:

²² People may hate you, because you believe in me, the Son of Man. They may say bad things against you and make you go away from them. They may say that you are very bad. When that happens, be happy. ²³ God will prepare many good things for you in heaven. So be very happy when people do these bad things to you! Jump up and down because you are so happy. Their ancestors did the same bad things to God's prophets long ago.

²⁶ If people always say good things about you now, it will be very bad for you. Their ancestors also said good things about the false prophets long ago.’

Love people that want to hurt you

²⁷ Jesus then said, ‘I say this to you who are listening carefully to me: Love the people who want to hurt you. Do good things to people that hate you. ²⁸ Say good things to people that say bad things against you. Pray for people who give you pain.

²⁹ Someone may slap you on one side of your face. Then you should let him slap the other side of your face too. Someone may take away your coat. If he does, do not stop him from taking your shirt too. ³⁰ When anyone asks you for something, give it to him. Someone may take something that belongs to you. If he does, let him keep it. Do not ask to have it back again. ³¹ Do the good things for other people that you would want them to do for you.

³² Do you only love people who love you? God will not praise you just for doing that! Even bad people love those people who love them. ³³ Do you only do good things to people that do good things to you? God will not praise you just for doing that! Even bad people do the same thing. ³⁴ Do you lend things only to people that will give your things back to you? God will not praise you for doing that! Even bad people lend things to other people when they believe that they will get them back again. ³⁵ No! I am telling you to love people that want to hurt you. Do good things to them. Lend things to people even though you may not receive your things back again. Then God will prepare good things for you. He is kind even to people who do not say “thank you”. He is kind even to very bad people. If you live like this, you will show that you really are children of the powerful God who is over all. ³⁶ You should be kind to other people, as God your Father is kind.

³⁷ Do not say to anyone, “You are a bad person.” Then God will not say to you, “You are a bad person.” Do not say to anyone, “God should punish you because you are bad.” Then God will not say that you are guilty. Forgive other people and God will forgive you. ³⁸ Give to other people and God will give to you. He will give to you even more than you gave. He will fill your pocket until no more will go in.^[f] It will be so full that it will come out over the top. Think about how you give to other people. God will give in the same way to you.’

³⁹ Jesus also used a story to teach the people. He said, ‘A blind person cannot lead another blind person. If he does, then both of them will fall into a deep hole.

⁴⁰ A student is not more important than his teacher is. But each student who has learned everything will be like his teacher.

⁴¹ Perhaps you want to tell a friend about his little mistake. If you want to tell him, first remember your own bigger mistakes. ⁴² If you do not do that, you will be like a person who has a big piece of wood in his eye. But then he says to his friend, “My friend, you have a little piece of dirt in your eye. Let me take it out for you.” Do not be like that person. You think you are better than your friend. But you are not. First, you must take the big piece of wood out of your eye. After that, your eyes will be clear and you will see well. Then you can take the small piece of dirt out of your friend's eye.’

A story about a tree and its fruit

⁴³ Jesus said, ‘Good trees only make good fruit. Bad trees only make bad fruit. ⁴⁴ In this way you can know if a tree is good or bad. You can know this by the fruit that the tree makes. Figs and grapes do not grow on thorn bushes.

⁴⁵ People are also like that. A good man keeps good things in his mind. In his life, he brings those good things out from there. But a bad man keeps bad things in his mind. He brings those bad thoughts out from there. When a person speaks, his words show what is really in his mind.’

A story about men that are building a house

⁴⁶ Jesus said, ‘If you refuse to obey me, do not call me, “Master, Master.” ⁴⁷ Some people come to me. They listen to my message and they obey it. Let me tell you what those people are like. They are like a man who built a house. ⁴⁸ This man dug down in the ground to the rock. He put the first line of stones on the rock. After that, he built the house on top of the rock. Then a storm came and it brought a lot of water. The water hit the house but it could not move it. The water could not move the house because the man had built it very well.

⁴⁹ Some other people hear my message but they do not obey it. Those people are like another man who built a house. This man did not dig down deep to the rock. Instead, he put the first line of stones on the top of the ground. Then he built his house on them. A storm came and it brought a lot of water. It hit that house and it fell down immediately. The water completely destroyed it.’