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1 So he got into a boat and crossed back to the other side of the lake, and he came to his own town.
“Take Courage, Son! Your Sins Are Forgiven.”
2 Now here’s a story: Some men+ were carrying to him a paralyzed man lying on a mat. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, “Take courage, son! Your sins are forgiven.”
3 At that, some from this group—the Torah-experts—said to themselves, “This man is speaking blasphemy!”
4 Perceiving their thoughts, Jesus said, “Why are ᵖyou thinking wicked things in your hearts?
5 For which is easier: To say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’?+
6 Well, in order that ᵖyou may understand+ that the Son of Man has authority over the earth+ to forgive sins….” Then he said to the paralyzed man, “Get up, pick up your mat and go home.”
7 And the man got up and left for home!
8 When the crowds saw this, they were struck with fear and glorified God, who had granted authority such as this to men.
“It Is Not the Healthy Who Need a Physician, but Those Who Are Sick”
9 As Jesus was walking along from there, he saw a man sitting at the tax collector’s booth. Matthew was his name. “Come along with me as my disciple,”+ Jesus said to him. So Matthew got up and began to accompany him.
10 Later, Jesus+ was reclining at the table for a meal in Matthew’s+ house, when these people showed up and began reclining at the table to eat with Jesus and his disciples: A large number of tax collectors and sinners.
11 When the Pharisees saw this, they began saying to his disciples, “Tax collectors and sinners? Why is ᵖyour teacher eating with such people?”
12 When Jesus+ heard this, he said, “It is not the healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick.
13 But go and learn what this means: ‘What I desire is mercy, not sacrifice.’+ I’m here to call+ not the righteous,+ you see, but sinners.”
“People Put New Wine into New Wineskins”
14 Then John’s disciples came up to Jesus+ and said, “We and the Pharisees fast regularly. Your disciples, however, don’t fast. Why+ is this?”
15 “Surely the wedding guests+ can’t mourn while the bridegroom is with them, can they?” Jesus said to them. “Of course not. The time will come, however, when the bridegroom will be taken away from them; then they will fast.
16 Now, no one puts a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, because the patch would pull away from the garment and an even worse tear is sure to occur.
17 Nor do people+ put new wine into old wineskins. If they were to do that,+ the wineskins would burst apart, and the wine would spill out, and the wineskins would be lost. No, people+ put new wine into new wineskins, and so both are preserved.”
“This Faith of Yours Has Healed You”...“The Girl Isn’t Dead”
18 These things Jesus was telling them, when suddenly there came and fell down before him a certain Jewish leader.+
19 “My daughter is about to die!”+ he said. “But come and place your hand on her, and she will live.”
19 So Jesus got up and went with him, along with his disciples.
20 Just then, there came up behind Jesus+ a woman who had been suffering from abnormal bleeding+ for twelve years. She touched the blue-corded tassel+ on his cloak,
21 for she kept saying to herself, “If I can just touch his cloak, I will be healed.+”
22 Jesus, then, when he turned around and saw her, said, “Take courage, daughter! This faith of yours has healed you.” And the woman was healed from that moment!
23 When Jesus arrived at the leader’s house and saw the flute players and the crowd wailing wildly,
24 he told them repeatedly,+ “Everybody out!+ The girl isn’t dead, but only asleep.” And they started laughing at him.
25 But when the crowd had been driven outside, Jesus+ went in and took her by the hand, and the girl got up!
26 The news of this spread throughout that entire area.
“Have Mercy on Us, Son of David!”
27 As Jesus went on from there, two blind men began to follow him, shouting, “Have mercy on us, Son of David!”
28 When he had gone into the house, the blind men came up to him. “Do ᵖyou believe that I am able to do this?” Jesus asked them.
“Yes, Lord,” they said to him.
29 Then he touched their eyes. “Let it be done for you,” he said, “according to ᵖyour faith.”
30 And their eyes were opened!
31 But they went out and spread the news about him throughout that entire area.
“Never Has Anything Like This Happened in Israel”
32 Just as the men+ were leaving, some people brought to Jesus+ a man who couldn’t talk because he had a demon.+
33 And when the demon was driven out, the man began to speak! The crowds were in awe. “Never has anything like this happened in Israel!” they exclaimed.
34 The Pharisees, however, were saying, “It is by the power of the ruler of demons that he drives out demons.”
“Though the Harvest Is Vast, the Workers Are Few”
35 Then Jesus traveled about through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel about the kingdom and healing every kind of disease and sickness.
36 Now when he saw the crowds, his heart went out to them,+ because they were harassed+ and defeated,+ like sheep without a shepherd.
37 At that time he said to his disciples, “Though the harvest is vast, the workers are few.
38 Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest.”