1When he entered again into Capernaum after some days, it was heard that he was at home. 2Immediately many were gathered together, so that there was no more room, not even around the door; and he spoke the word to them. 3Four people came, carrying a paralytic to him. 4When they could not come near to him for the crowd, they removed the roof where he was. When they had broken it up, they let down the mat that the paralytic was lying on. 5Jesus, seeing their faith, said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven you.”
6But there were some of the scribes sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, 7“Why does this man speak blasphemies like that? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
8Immediately Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they so reasoned within themselves, said to them, “Why do you reason these things in your hearts? 9Which is easier, to tell the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven;’ or to say, ‘Arise, and take up your bed, and walk?’ 10But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the paralytic— 11“I tell you, arise, take up your mat, and go to your house.”
12He arose, and immediately took up the mat and went out in front of them all, so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, “We never saw anything like this!”
13He went out again by the seaside. All the multitude came to him, and he taught them. 14As he passed by, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax office. He said to him, “Follow me.” And he arose and followed him.
15He was reclining at the table in his house, and many tax collectors and sinners sat down with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many, and they followed him. 16The scribes and the Pharisees, when they saw that he was eating with the sinners and tax collectors, said to his disciples, “Why is it that he eats and drinks with tax collectors and sinners?”
17When Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are healthy have no need for a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”
18John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting, and they came and asked him, “Why do John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples don’t fast?”
19Jesus said to them, “Can the groomsmen fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they can’t fast. 20But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day. 21No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, or else the patch shrinks and the new tears away from the old, and a worse hole is made. 22No one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine will burst the skins, and the wine pours out, and the skins will be destroyed; but they put new wine into fresh wineskins.”
23He was going on the Sabbath day through the grain fields; and his disciples began, as they went, to pluck the ears of grain. 24The Pharisees said to him, “Behold, why do they do that which is not lawful on the Sabbath day?”
25He said to them, “Did you never read what David did when he had need and was hungry—he, and those who were with him? 26How he entered into God’s house at the time of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the show bread, which is not lawful to eat except for the priests, and gave also to those who were with him?”
27He said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. 28Therefore the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.”
Many of Jesus' healings were performed on the Sabbath, as in the case of the man at the pool of Bethesda (John 5:9). The strenuous objections of the Jews led to their persecution of Jesus (v. 16), and their plotting to kill Him (v. 18). But why was their concern so extreme?
The practice of setting apart the seventh day for rest and worship originated with God's rest from His work of creating the universe and man (Gen 2:2). It was formalized in the Mosaic Law as a provision for man and requirement for Israel. They were to do no work on the Sabbath (Exod 20:8-11; 35:3). To break the Sabbath was to rebel against God and become guilty of death (Exod 31:14). During the period between the Old and New Testaments, as works-based righteousness became more and more important, the religious leaders of Israel added myriads of detailed rules to Sabbath-keeping in an attempt to clarify what activities violated the Sabbath. Attempts were made to define what constituted forbidden work, such as what foods may be cooked before the Sabbath for consumption on the Sabbath, what animals could wear on the Sabbath, which knots could be tied on the Sabbath and how far one could walk on the Sabbath, among hundreds of other rules. This oral tradition substituted human law for God's law (Matt 15:9). It made Sabbath observance a burden of external rules that defeated its purpose of rest and delight in the Lord (Luke 11:46). The scribes and Pharisees held to the oral tradition of the elders, written down in the Mishnah, and later interpreted and commented upon in the Talmud, as being equally authoritative with God's Word. Jesus kept the Sabbath (Luke 4:16) and, as Lord of the Sabbath, He urged others to do so (Mark 2:28). But He condemned pharisaic Sabbath-abuse, which missed the benevolent purpose of God's provision (Luke 13:10-16; John 7:22, 23).