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“Which Does the Torah Permit on the Sabbath: To Do Good, or to Do Harm?”
1 Then Jesus+ again went into the synagogue. There was a man there whose hand was shrunken and paralyzed,+
2 and some people+ were watching Jesus+ closely to see if he would heal the man+ on the Sabbath, so that they could have something of which to accuse him.+
3 “Stand up where everyone can see you,” Jesus+ said to the man with the paralyzed hand.
4 Then he asked them, “Which does the Torah permit+ on the Sabbath: To do good, or to do harm+? To save a life, or to kill it?” But they remained silent.
5 After looking around at them with anger, deeply grieved at their calloused hearts,++ he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” The man+ did so, and his hand was restored!
6 So the Pharisees went out and immediately began forming a plot+ against him with these people: Those politically loyal to the Herodian dynasty. Together they made plans to have him put to death.
“He Was Followed by a Very Large Crowd”
7 Jesus, with his disciples, withdrew to the lake. He was followed by a very large crowd from Galilee—and from Judea
8 and from Jerusalem and from Idumea and from the other side of the Jordan and from around Tyre and Sidon, a huge crowd! Hearing about all the things he was doing, they came to him.
9 He told his disciples to keep ready for him, because of the crowd, a small boat, so that the people+ wouldn’t crush him.
10 (He had healed so many people, you see, that all who were afflicted with diseases kept trying to press up against him in order to touch him.)
11 And as for the unclean spirits, at the mere sight of him they would fall down before him and begin screaming, “You are the Son of God!”
12 But he ordered them time and again, very sternly, not to disclose who he was.+
“He Appointed Twelve, Whom He Designated Apostles”
13 Then Jesus+ went up on the mountainside and called to himself those he chose,+ and they came to him.
14 He appointed twelve, whom he designated apostles, so that they could accompany+ him, and so that he could send them out to proclaim the message
15 and to have authority to drive out demons.
16 He appointed the Twelve. He gave Simon the name Peter,
17 and James, the son of Zebedee, and James’ brother John, he gave them the name Boanerges (which means “Sons of Thunder”). He also appointed
18 Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Zealot,
19 and Judas Iscariot, who later betrayed him.
“If Someone Speaks Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, He Will Never Receive Forgiveness”
20 Then Jesus went home, and once again a crowd gathered, so that Jesus and his disciples+ didn’t have time even for a meal.+
21 When his family heard about this, they set out to take charge of him. (A rumor was going around,+ you see, that Jesus+ had lost his mind.+)
22 The Torah-experts who had come down from Jerusalem were saying, “He’s possessed by Beelzebul,”+ and, “It is by the power of the ruler in charge of demons that he drives out demons.”
23 So having called them over to himself, Jesus+ began speaking to them in what? In parables. “How can Satan drive out Satan?” he asked.
24 “Indeed, if a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot survive.
25 Or suppose it is a household that is divided against itself—that household will not be able to survive.
26 So if Satan is at war+ against himself and is divided, he cannot survive; will surely meet his downfall.+
27 The truth is, no one can enter the strong one’s+ house and gain thorough control of his possessions, unless he first does what to the strong one? Ties him up. Only then can he gain thorough control of his house.
28 Amen, I solemnly tell ᵖyou this: People+ will be forgiven for indeed all the different kinds of sins they commit and the blasphemous things+ they speak.
29 If someone speaks blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, however, he will never receive forgiveness; he is guilty, indeed, of an eternal sin.”
30 (Jesus told them this because they were saying, “He has an unclean spirit.”)
“Here Are My Mother and My Brothers!”
31 Then his mother and his brothers arrived. Standing outside, they sent a message for him to come to them.
32 A crowd was sitting around him, and they said to him, “Look! It’s your mother and your brothers outside! They’re asking for you.”
33 “Who are my mother and my brothers?” Jesus asked them in response.
34 Then looking at those who were sitting down around him in a circle, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers!
35 Whoever does the will of God, you see, this person is my brother and sister and mother.”