Jesus Heals on the Sabbath

Mark 3

He entered the synagogue again, and there was a man there whose hand was withered. They watched him to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath day, that they might accuse him. He said to the man with the withered hand, “Stand up.” Then he said to them, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm? To save a life or to kill?” But they were silent. When he had looked around at them in anger, grieved at the hardness of their hearts, he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was restored. The Pharisees left immediately and conspired with the Herodians against him, as to how they might destroy him.

Crowds Follow Jesus

Jesus withdrew to the sea with his disciples, and a large crowd followed him from Galilee, from Judea, from Jerusalem, from Idumaea, beyond the Jordan, and those from around Tyre and Sidon. A large crowd, hearing what great things he did, came to him. He told his disciples that a little boat should be ready for him because of the crowd, so that they wouldn’t press toward him. For he had healed so many that those with diseases pressed toward him to touch him. Whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried, “You are the Son of God!” He sternly warned them that they should not make him known.

Jesus Appoints the Twelve Apostles

He went up into the mountain and called those whom he wanted, and they went to him. He appointed twelve that they might be with him, and that he might send them out to preach and to have authority to cast out demons. He appointed twelve: Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter), James the son of Zebedee, and John, the brother of James (he called them Boanerges, which means, “sons of thunder”), Andrew, Philip. Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James, the son of Alphaeus. Thaddaeus, Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him.

Everyone Doubts Jesus

Then he came into a house, and a crowd gathered again, so that they could not so much as eat. When his friends heard this, they went out to restrain him, for they said, “He is insane.” The scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and, “By the prince of the demons he casts out the demons.”

So he summoned them and began speaking to them in parables, “How can Satan cast out Satan? If an empire is divided against itself, that empire cannot stand. If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. If Satan has risen up against himself, and is divided, he can’t stand, but his end has come. But no one can enter into the house of the strong person to plunder unless he first binds the strong person. Then they can plunder the house.

“I tell y’all, all sins of the children of humanity will be forgiven, including their blasphemies they utter; but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven, but is guilty of an eternal sin. (because they said, “He has an unclean spirit.”)

His mother and his brothers came. Standing outside, they sent for him and calling him. A multitude was sitting around him, and they told him, “Look, your mother, your brothers, and your sisters are outside looking for you.”

He answered them, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” Looking around at those who sat around him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.”