Mark 2:13 – 3:6

Mark 2

The Calling of Levi (Matthew)

¹³ Jesus went out again along the sea. The whole crowd went to him, and he taught them. ¹⁴ As he was passing by, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth. “Follow me,” Jesus told him. And Levi got up and followed him.

¹⁵ Then when Jesus was reclining at a table in Levi’s house, many tax collectors and sinners were reclining with Jesus and his disciples because many of them also were following him. ¹⁶ When the experts in the law and the Pharisees saw that he was eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they said to his disciples, “Why is he eating and drinking with tax collectors and sinners?”

¹⁷ When Jesus heard this, he said to them, “Those who are healthy do not need a physician, but the sick do. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

A Question About Fasting

¹⁸ John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. They came and asked Jesus, “Why is it that John’s disciples and the Pharisees’ disciples fast, but your disciples do not fast?”

¹⁹ Jesus said to them, “The friends of the bridegroom cannot fast while the bridegroom is with them, can they? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. ²⁰ But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then on that day they will fast. ²¹ No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. Otherwise, the patch shrinks, the new tears away from the old, and a worse tear is made. ²² No one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins, the wine will pour out, ^[1] and the skins will be ruined. Instead, new wine is poured into new wineskins.”

Lord of the Sabbath

²³ Once on a Sabbath day, Jesus was passing through the grain fields, and his disciples began to pick heads of grain as they walked along. ²⁴ The Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath day?”

²⁵ He replied to them, “Have you never read what David did when he was in need and hungry (he and his companions)? ²⁶ He entered the house of God in the time of Abiathar the high priest and ate the Bread of the Presence, which is not lawful for anyone to eat, except for the priests. He also gave some to his companions.”

²⁷ Then Jesus said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. ²⁸ So the Son of Man is the Lord even of the Sabbath.”

Jesus Heals a Man With a Withered Hand

Mark 3

¹ Jesus entered the synagogue again, and a man was there with a withered ^[2] hand. ² They were watching Jesus closely to see if he would heal the man on the Sabbath day, so that they could accuse him. ³ He said to the man with the withered hand, “Step forward!” ^{[3] 4} Then he said to them, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath day to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they were silent. ⁵ Then he looked around at them with anger, deeply grieved at the hardness of their hearts. He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” The man stretched it out, and his hand was restored. ⁶ The Pharisees left and immediately began to conspire against Jesus with the Herodians, plotting how they might kill him.