When Jesus came back to Capernaum a few days later, word got around that he was home. 2 So many people crowded in that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he was speaking the message to them.
3 Four men came carrying a paralyzed man, trying to bring him to Jesus. 4 But they couldn’t get near him because of the crowd, so they dug through the roof right above where Jesus was. When they had opened a hole, they lowered the mat the paralyzed man was lying on.[1]
5 Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralyzed man, “Child, your sins are forgiven.”
6 Some of the scribes were sitting there, and they began to reason in their hearts: 7 “Why does this man talk like that? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins except God alone?”
8 Right away Jesus knew in his spirit what they were turning over in their minds. He said to them, “Why are you reasoning about these things in your hearts? 9 Which is easier — to say to the paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, pick up your mat, and walk’? 10 But so you will know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins” — he said to the paralyzed man — 11 “I tell you, get up, pick up your mat, and go home.”
12 The man got up, immediately picked up his mat, and walked out in front of everyone. They were all astonished and praised God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this.”
13 Jesus went out again beside the sea. The whole crowd came to him, and he taught them. 14 As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth. “Follow me,” Jesus said to him. And Levi got up and followed him.[2]
15 Later, Jesus was reclining at a meal in Levi’s house. Many tax collectors and sinners were eating with Jesus and his disciples — there were many of them, and they were following him. 16 When the scribes who were Pharisees saw him eating with sinners and tax collectors, they said to his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
17 Jesus heard it and said to them, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor — sick people do. I didn’t come to call those who already do right, but sinners.”
18 John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. Some people came and asked Jesus, “Why do John’s disciples and the Pharisees’ disciples fast, but your disciples don’t?”[3]
19 Jesus answered, “Can the wedding guests fast while the groom is with them? As long as they have the groom with them, they can’t fast. 20 But the days will come when the groom is taken away from them — then, on that day, they will fast.
21 “No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth onto an old cloak. If they do, the new patch pulls away from the old fabric, and the tear gets worse. 22 And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the skins are ruined. No — new wine goes into fresh wineskins.”[4]
23 One Sabbath, Jesus was walking through the grainfields, and as his disciples made their way along, they began to pluck heads of grain. 24 The Pharisees said to him, “Look — why are they doing what isn’t lawful on the Sabbath?”
25 He answered, “Haven’t you ever read what David did when he and his men were hungry and in need? 26 He went into the house of God — in the time of Abiathar the high priest — and ate the bread of the Presence, which only the priests are allowed to eat, and he gave some to his men too.”[5]
27 Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for people, not people for the Sabbath. 28 So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”
Notes
Note 1. Houses in Capernaum had flat roofs built from wooden beams laid with reeds and packed with thick mud mortar, then smoothed and dried. Such a roof was sturdy enough to walk, sleep, and store goods on, but the packed earth and thinner slabs could be scraped and pried open. ↩
Note 2. A booth in a trade hub like Capernaum collected tolls and duties on goods moving through — payable in cash at gates, harbors, and roadside stations. Collectors worked the system for Roman-backed authorities, and their neighbors despised them as traitors, lumping them together with the openly disreputable. ↩
Note 3. Beyond the fasts required of everyone, devout Jews often took on extra fasts as private acts of piety — a Pharisee in Luke 18:12 says he fasts twice a week, and the Didache names those days as Monday and Thursday (8:1). ↩
Note 4. Wineskins were sewn from whole goat or lamb hides. A fresh skin could stretch as new wine kept fermenting and giving off gas, but a skin already stretched taut and gone brittle would split under the pressure — losing both the wine and the container. ↩
Note 5. The episode cited is in 1 Samuel 21, where the priest who hands David the bread is named Ahimelech — Abiathar is his son, who becomes high priest later. The mismatch is old and much-discussed; some manuscripts of Mark drop the phrase, and translators have long puzzled over it. ↩