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“Why does this fellow talk like that? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
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Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them, “Why are you thinking these things?
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Which is easier: to say to this paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat and walk’?
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But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the man,
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He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”
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Jesus Calls Levi and Eats With Sinners
Once again Jesus went out beside the lake. A large crowd came to him, and he began to teach them.
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While Jesus was having dinner at Levi’s house, many tax collectors and sinners were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him.
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When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
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On hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
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Jesus answered, “How can the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? They cannot, so long as they have him with them.
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But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them, and on that day they will fast.
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Jesus Is Lord of the Sabbath
One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and as his disciples walked along, they began to pick some heads of grain.
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He answered, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need?
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In the days of Abiathar the high priest, he entered the house of God and ate the consecrated bread, which is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions.”
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Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.
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So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”
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Jesus Heals on the Sabbath
Another time Jesus went into the synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there.
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Some of them were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath.
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Jesus said to the man with the shriveled hand, “Stand up in front of everyone.”
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Then Jesus asked them, “Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they remained silent.
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He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored.
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Crowds Follow Jesus
Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the lake, and a large crowd from Galilee followed.
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When they heard about all he was doing, many people came to him from Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, and the regions across the Jordan and around Tyre and Sidon.
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Because of the crowd he told his disciples to have a small boat ready for him, to keep the people from crowding him.
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For he had healed many, so that those with diseases were pushing forward to touch him.
