Forgiving Sins

After some days Jesus returned to Capernaum, and everyone heard that He was in His house.  In no time, so many people gathered there that they left no room, not even at the door.  And He spoke the Word [of God] to them.

Some people came to Him, bringing a paralyzed man, carried by four.  And since they couldn’t get near Jesus because of the crowd, they removed pieces of the roof where He was.  Making a hole, they lowered the cot on which the paralyzed man lay.  Then Jesus, observing their faith, said to the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins have been forgiven.”

Now some Scribes who were sitting there began arguing in their own hearts, “Why does this man say such things, blaspheming?  Who can forgive sins but God, alone?” 

And Jesus knew instantly in His spirit that they were reasoning this way within themselves.  He asked them, “Why do you argue such things in your hearts?  Which is easier to say to a paralyzed man: ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or, ‘Get up, and take your cot, and walk?’ 

“But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority here on earth to forgive sins…” He turned and said to the paralyzed man, “I say to you, Stand up!  Pick up your cot!  Go home!”

And the man jumped up, grabbed his cot, and walked out in front of everyone, astounding them all.  And the people gave glory to God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”

When Jesus left, He went again along the sea.  And all the people gathered to Him, so He taught them.

 A Friend of Sinners

Passing by, He saw Levi the son of Alpheus sitting at a tax collection table.  And He said to him, “Follow Me!”   And Levi got up and went with Him. 

Now it happened that as He relaxed at the table in [Levi’s] house, many tax collectors and common sinners also ate with Jesus and His disciples, since many of these people followed Him.  But when the Scribes and the Pharisees saw Him eating with tax collectors and common sinners, they asked His disciples, “Why does He eat and drink with these tax collectors and sinners?” 

Overhearing them, Jesus answered, “The healthy have no need of a doctor, only those who are sick.  I came to call not the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

Now the disciples of John [the Baptist] and those of the Pharisees practiced fasting [going without food].   So people came and asked Jesus, “Why do John’s disciples and those of the Pharisees fast, yet Yours don’t?”

And Jesus told them, “Can the bridegroom’s friends fast while the groom is with them?  No, they won’t fast as long as they have the groom with them.  But the days will come when the groom is taken away from them.  And then they will fast, in those days.

“Again, no one sews a patch of new cloth onto an old robe.  If they do, the new cloth will shrink, pulling at the old, ripping it even more.  And no one puts new wine into old wineskins.  Otherwise, the new wine will burst the wineskins and the wine pours out, and the skins are destroyed.  But new wine is put into new wineskins.”

 Jesus and the Sabbath

Now it so happened that He passed through some grain fields on the Sabbath, and His disciples began plucking the heads of grain as they made their way.  But the Pharisees said to Him, “Look, why do they do what is against the Law on the Sabbath?” 

And He asked them, “Did you never read what David did when he and those with him were desperate and starving?  How he went into the house of God (in the days of Abiathar, the high priest) and ate the Bread of Presentation, which is not lawful to eat, except for priests?  And he even gave some to those who were with him.”

Then Jesus said to them, “The Sabbath was made for people, and not people for the Sabbath.  So then, the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath, also.”