Mark 2

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¹When Jesus came back to Capernaum a few days later, it was heard that He was at home. ✦ ²And many were gathered together, so that there was no longer space, not even near the door; and He was speaking the word to them. ✦ ³And some people *came, bringing to Him a man who was paralyzed, carried by four men. ✦ ⁴And when they were unable to get to Him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above Him; and after digging an opening, they let down the pallet on which the paralyzed man was lying. ✦ ⁵And Jesus, seeing their faith, *said to the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” ✦ ⁶But some of the scribes were sitting there and thinking it over in their hearts, ✦ ⁷“Why does this man speak that way? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins except God alone?” ✦ ⁸Immediately Jesus, aware in His spirit that they were thinking that way within themselves, *said to them, “Why are you thinking about these things in your hearts? ✦ ⁹Which is easier, to say to the paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven’; or to say, ‘Get up, and pick up your pallet and walk’? ✦ ¹⁰But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—He *said to the paralyzed man, ✦ ¹¹“I say to you, get up, pick up your pallet, and go home.” ✦ ¹²And he got up and immediately picked up the pallet and went out in the sight of everyone, so that they were all amazed and were glorifying God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!” ✦ ¹³And He went out again by the seashore; and all the people were coming to Him, and He was teaching them. ✦ ¹⁴As He passed by, He saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting in the tax office, and He *said to him, “Follow Me!” And he got up and followed Him. ✦ ¹⁵And it *happened that He was reclining at the table in his house, and many tax collectors and sinners were dining with Jesus and His disciples; for there were many of them, and they were following Him. ✦ ¹⁶When the scribes of the Pharisees saw that He was eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they said to His disciples, “Why is He eating with tax collectors and sinners?” ✦ ¹⁷And hearing this, Jesus *said to them, “It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick; I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” ✦ ¹⁸John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting; and they *came and *said to Him, “Why do John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?” ✦ ¹⁹And Jesus said to them, “While the groom is with them, the attendants of the groom cannot fast, can they? As long as they have the groom with them, they cannot fast. ✦ ²⁰But the days will come when the groom is taken away from them, and then they will fast, on that day. ✦ ²¹“No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; otherwise, the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear results. ✦ ²²And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost and the skins as well; but one puts new wine into fresh wineskins.” ✦ ²³And it happened that He was passing through the grainfields on the Sabbath, and His disciples began to make their way along while picking the heads of grain. ✦ ²⁴The Pharisees were saying to Him, “Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?” ✦ ²⁵And He *said to them, “Have you never read what David did when he was in need and he and his companions became hungry; ✦ ²⁶how he entered the house of God in the time of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the consecrated bread, which is not lawful for anyone to eat except the priests, and he also gave it to those who were with him?” ✦ ²⁷Jesus said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. ✦ ²⁸So the Son of Man is Lord, even of the Sabbath.” ✦

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Where this chapter connects

Matt 9 ·18 Luke 5 ·15 Mark 1 ·9 John 9 ·6 Luke 6 ·6 Mark 2 ·6 Luke 15 ·5 John 5 ·5

Christ at the center

Mark drives urgently to the cross, showing Jesus the Son of God as the suffering Servant who 'came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.'

How Mark 2 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Resources, by level

Lay

★ Start hereDocumentaryFollowing the MessiahAppian Media · Free · evangelical
A free, beautifully shot 10-part series walking the lands of Jesus' life — Bethlehem, Galilee, Jerusalem, and more.
★ Start hereAudioThrough the WordThrough the Word · ~10 min/chapter · Free · evangelical
A clear ~10-minute audio teaching for every one of the Bible's 1,189 chapters — the most systematic free way to study chapter by chapter.
VideoMike Winger — BibleThinkerMike Winger · Free · reformed
Free verse-by-verse studies through whole books plus careful apologetics — "learn to think biblically about everything." (Reformed-leaning, non-denominational.)

Pastoral

SermonChuck Smith — C2000 SeriesChuck Smith · Free · evangelical
Free verse-by-verse audio through the entire Bible from the founder of Calvary Chapel.

Commentaries & study tools

VideoBibleProject — Mark videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
VideoWatch teaching on Mark 2YouTube · Lay · Free
Sermons and chapter teaching from across YouTube.
CommentaryEnduring Word — Mark 2David Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical
Readable, verse-by-verse exposition of the whole chapter.
CommentaryMatthew Henry on MarkMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
ReferenceBlue Letter Bible — Mark 2Blue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free
Interlinear, lexicon, and study tools across the chapter.

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