Mark 2King James Version
Four men dig through a roof to lower a paralyzed friend down to Jesus. He says, 'Son, thy sins be forgiven thee.' The scribes are scandalized. Levi the tax collector is called. Jesus eats with publicans and sinners: 'They that are whole have no need of the physician.' New wine must be put into new bottles. The disciples pluck grain on the sabbath. The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath.
Jesus heals a paralyzed man lowered through a roof, first forgiving his sins, which outrages the scribes. He calls Levi the tax collector, then eats with sinners and outcasts. Pharisees question the fasting habits of his disciples. He defends his disciples for picking grain on the Sabbath. Two controversies are paired: the new does not fit the old, and the Sabbath was made for people, not people for the Sabbath.
Jesus consistently crosses the lines religious leaders have drawn around who belongs, who is clean, and what the rules are actually for.
17: "When Jesus heard it, he saith unto them, They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners." The mission statement in one sentence: not to reward the already-good, but to reach the ones who know they need help.
Tax collectors in Roman-occupied Galilee worked for the empire and were despised as collaborators. Levi sits at his tax booth, probably on the main road through Capernaum, collecting duties on goods moving between territories. When Jesus calls him, there is no negotiation. Levi gets up and throws a party.
A paralyzed man and the four friends who carry him; scribes who watch for blasphemy; Levi the tax collector called from his booth; Pharisees who monitor eating and fasting; Jesus, who answers every challenge without yielding.
The conflict pattern that will end at Golgotha starts here. Each confrontation shows Jesus redefining categories: sin and its forgiveness, who is worthy of table fellowship, and what religious law is ultimately for. The religious establishment sees danger in every move he makes.
For when you have been told you do not qualify, or do not fit the picture of who God wants. This chapter puts Jesus at a table full of people the religious world had already written off.
1And again he entered into Capernaum after some days; and it was noised that he was in the house.
2And straightway many were gathered together, insomuch that there was no room to receive them, no, not so much as about the door: and he preached the word unto them.
3And they come unto him, bringing one sick of the palsy, which was borne of four.
4And when they could not come nigh unto him for the press, they uncovered the roof where he was: and when they had broken it up, they let down the bed wherein the sick of the palsy lay.
5When Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee.
6But there were certain of the scribes sitting there, and reasoning in their hearts,
7Why doth this man thus speak blasphemies? who can forgive sins but God only?
8And immediately when Jesus perceived in his spirit that they so reasoned within themselves, he said unto them, Why reason ye these things in your hearts?
9Whether is it easier to say to the sick of the palsy, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and take up thy bed, and walk?
10But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (he saith to the sick of the palsy,)
11I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy bed, and go thy way into thine house.
12And immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went forth before them all; insomuch that they were all amazed, and glorified God, saying, We never saw it on this fashion.
13And he went forth again by the sea side; and all the multitude resorted unto him, and he taught them.
14And as he passed by, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the receipt of custom, and said unto him, Follow me. And he arose and followed him.
15And it came to pass, that, as Jesus sat at meat in his house, many publicans and sinners sat also together with Jesus and his disciples: for there were many, and they followed him.
16And when the scribes and Pharisees saw him eat with publicans and sinners, they said unto his disciples, How is it that he eateth and drinketh with publicans and sinners?
17When Jesus heard it, he saith unto them, They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
18And the disciples of John and of the Pharisees used to fast: and they come and say unto him, Why do the disciples of John and of the Pharisees fast, but thy disciples fast not?
19And Jesus said unto them, Can the children of the bridechamber fast, while the bridegroom is with them? as long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast.
20But the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then shall they fast in those days.
21No man also seweth a piece of new cloth on an old garment: else the new piece that filled it up taketh away from the old, and the rent is made worse.
22And no man putteth new wine into old bottles: else the new wine doth burst the bottles, and the wine is spilled, and the bottles will be marred: but new wine must be put into new bottles.
23And it came to pass, that he went through the corn fields on the sabbath day; and his disciples began, as they went, to pluck the ears of corn.
24And the Pharisees said unto him, Behold, why do they on the sabbath day that which is not lawful?
25And he said unto them, Have ye never read what David did, when he had need, and was an hungred, he, and they that were with him?
26How he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest, and did eat the shewbread, which is not lawful to eat but for the priests, and gave also to them which were with him?
27And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath:
28Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath.