Part 3

002:007 "Why does this man use such words?" they said; "he is blaspheming. Who can pardon sins but One--that is, God?"

002:008 At once perceiving by His spirit that they were reasoning within themselves, Jesus asked them, "Why do you thus argue in your minds?

002:009 Which is easier?--to say to this paralytic, 'Your sins are pardoned,' or to say, 'Rise, take up your mat, and walk?'

002:010 But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to pardon sins"--He turned to the paralytic, and said,

002:011 "To you I say, 'Rise, take up your mat and go home.'"

002:012 The man rose, and immediately under the eyes of all took up his mat and went out, so that they were all filled with astonishment, gave the glory to God, and said, "We never saw anything like this."

002:013 Again He went out to the shore of the Lake, and the whole multitude kept coming to Him, and He taught them.

002:014 And as He passed by, He saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the Toll Office, and said to him, "Follow me." So he rose and followed Him.

002:015 When He was sitting at table in Levi's house, a large number of tax-gatherers and notorious sinners were at table with Jesus and His disciples; for there were many such who habitually followed Him.

002:016 But when the Scribes of the Pharisee sect saw Him eating with the sinners and the tax-gatherers, they said to His disciples, "He is eating and drinking with the tax-gatherers and sinners!"

002:017 Jesus heard the words, and He said, "It is not the healthy who require a doctor, but the sick: I did not come to appeal to the righteous, but to sinners."

002:018 (Now John's disciples and those of the Pharisees were keeping a fast.) And they came and asked Him, "How is it that John's disciples and those of the Pharisees are fasting, and yours are not?"

002:019 "Can a wedding party fast while the bridegroom is among them?" replied Jesus. "So long as they have the bridegroom with them, fasting is impossible.

002:020 But a time will come when the Bridegroom will be taken away from them; then they will fast.

002:021 No one mends an old garment with a piece of unshrunk cloth. Otherwise, the patch put on would tear away from it-- the new from the old--and a worse hole would be made.

002:022 And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise the wine would burst the skins, and both wine and skins would be lost. New wine needs fresh skins!"

002:023 One Sabbath He was walking through the wheatfields when His disciples began to pluck the ears of wheat as they went.

002:024 So the Pharisees said to Him, "Look! why are they doing what on the Sabbath is unlawful?"

002:025 "Have you never read," Jesus replied, "what David did when the necessity arose and he and his men were hungry:

002:026 how he entered the house of God in the High-priesthood of Abiathar, and ate the Presented Loaves--which none but the priests are allowed to eat--and gave some to his men also?"

002:027 And Jesus said to them: "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath;

002:028 so that the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath."

003:001 At another time, when He went to the synagogue, there was a man there with one arm shrivelled up.

003:002 They closely watched Him to see whether He would cure him on the Sabbath--so as to have a charge to bring against Him.

003:003 "Come forward," said He to the man with the shrivelled arm.

003:004 Then He asked them, "Are we allowed to do good on the Sabbath, or to do evil? to save a life, or to destroy one?" They remained silent.

003:005 Grieved and indignant at the hardening of their hearts, He looked round on them with anger, and said to the man, "Stretch out your arm." He stretched it out, and the arm was completely restored.

003:006 But no sooner had the Pharisees left the synagogue than they held a consultation with the Herodians against Jesus, to devise some means of destroying Him.