Several days later, Jesus returned to Capernaum and it was reported that he was at home.

Then he told them, "The Sabbath was made for people, not people for the Sabbath.

Jesus happened to be going through the grain fields on a Sabbath. As they made their way, his disciples began picking the heads of grain.

When Jesus saw their faith, he told the paralyzed man, "Son, your sins are forgiven."

When Jesus heard that, he told them, "Healthy people don't need a physician, but sick ones do. I did not come to call righteous people, but sinners."

Now John's disciples and the Pharisees would fast regularly. Some people came and asked Jesus, "Why do John's disciples and the Pharisees' disciples fast, but your disciples don't fast?"

Since they couldn't bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof over the place where he was. They dug through it and let down the mat on which the paralyzed man was lying.

At once, Jesus knew in his spirit what they were saying to themselves. "Why are you arguing about such things among yourselves?" he asked them.

Now some scribes were sitting there, arguing among themselves,

"Which is easier: to say to the paralyzed man, "Your sins are forgiven,' or "Get up, pick up your mat, and walk'?

When the scribes and the Pharisees saw him eating with sinners and tax collectors, they asked his disciples, "Why does he eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?"

So the man got up, immediately picked up his mat, and went out in front of all of them. As a result, all of the people were amazed and began to glorify God as they kept on saying, "We have never seen anything like this!"

"I say to you, get up, pick up your mat, and go home!"

Such a large crowd gathered that there wasn't room for them, even in front of the door. Jesus was speaking his message to them

"No one patches an old garment with a piece of unshrunk cloth. If he does, the patch pulls away from it the new from the old and a worse tear is made.

Jesus replied, "The wedding guests can't fast while the groom is with them, can they? As long as they have the groom with them, they can't fast.

And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will make the skins burst, and both the wine and the skins will be ruined. Instead, new wine is poured into fresh wineskins."

How was it that he went into the House of God during the lifetime of Abiathar the high priest and ate the Bread of the Presence, which was not lawful for anyone but the priests to eat, and gave some of it to his companions?"

He asked them, "Haven't you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need?

But the time will come when the groom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast on that day."

The Pharisees asked him, "Look! Why are they doing what is not lawful on Sabbath days?"

Jesus went out again beside the sea. The whole crowd kept coming to him, and he kept teaching them.

As he was walking along, he saw Levi, the son of Alphaeus, sitting at the tax collector's desk. Jesus told him, "Follow me!" So Levi got up and followed him.

when some people came and brought him a paralyzed man being carried by four men.

Later, he was having dinner at Levi's house. Many tax collectors and sinners were also eating with Jesus and his disciples, because there were many who were following him.

Therefore, the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath."

But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins"" Then he told the paralyzed man,

"Why does this man talk this way? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?"