Mark 2

What happens: Back in Kfar Nachum, a paralytic is lowered through the dug-open roof; Yeshua tells him his sins are forgiven, drawing the charge of blasphemy from the scribes — "who can forgive sins but God?" He answers that "the Son of Man has authority to forgive sins on the land," and heals the man as proof. He calls Levi the tax collector and dines with tax collectors and sinners, answering critics: "I did not come to call the righteous but sinners." Asked why his disciples do not fast, he speaks of the bridegroom, and of new wine in fresh wineskins. Passing through grainfields on the sabbath, his disciples pluck heads of grain; challenged, he cites David eating the loaves of presentation and declares, "The sabbath came into being for the human, not the human for the sabbath; so the Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath."

Key themes: "Son of Man" introduced (authority to forgive; lord of the sabbath); forgiveness of sins as a divine prerogative claimed; the gathering of outsiders (Levi, tax collectors, sinners); the bridegroom and the newness that bursts old containers; sabbath as gift for humanity; the first hardening of opposition that culminates at 3:6.

Watch for: "Son of Man" is literally "the son of the human" — an idiom that ranges from "a human being" to the Daniel 7:13 figure; the TT keeps "Son of Man" and notes the range. The reference to "Evyatar (Abiathar) the high priest" (2:26) names a different priest than 1 Samuel 21 (Ahimelech) — a well-known crux, flagged not smoothed. Pneuma at 2:8 is Yeshua's own inner spirit (no wind/spirit slash, unlike the divine spirit of chapter 1).

Connection: The forgiveness controversy presupposes the HB conviction that only God forgives sin (e.g. Isa 43:25). The David episode draws on 1 Samuel 21:1–6 (the loaves of presentation, Lev 24:5–9). "Son of Man" reaches toward Daniel 7:13. The bridegroom imagery echoes the HB marriage metaphor for God and Israel (Hos 2; Isa 62:5).

¹And entering again into Kfar Nachum (Capernaum) after some days, it was heard that he is in a house. ²And many gathered together, so that there was no longer room, not even at the door, and he was speaking the word to them. ³And they come, bringing to him a paralytic, carried by four. ⁴And not being able to bring him to him because of the crowd, they unroofed the roof where he was, and having dug it out, they lower the mat where the paralytic was lying. ⁵And Yeshua (Jesus), seeing their trust, says to the paralytic, "Child, your sins are forgiven."

⁶But some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, ⁷"Why does this one speak thus? He blasphemes! Who is able to forgive sins except one — God?" ⁸And immediately Jesus, knowing in his spirit that they reason thus among themselves, says to them, "Why do you reason these things in your hearts? ⁹Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Rise and take up your mat and walk'? ¹⁰But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority to forgive sins on the land" — he says to the paralytic — ¹¹"To you I say, rise, take up your mat, and go to your house." ¹²And he rose and immediately, taking up the mat, went out before all, so that all were amazed and glorified God, saying, "We never saw anything like this."

¹³And he went out again alongside the sea; and all the crowd was coming to him, and he was teaching them. ¹⁴And passing by, he saw Levi the son of Chalfai (Alphaeus) sitting at the tax booth, and he says to him, "Follow me." And rising, he followed him. ¹⁵And it happens that he reclines in his house, and many tax collectors and sinners were reclining with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many, and they were following him. ¹⁶And the scribes of the Perushim (Pharisees), seeing that he eats with the sinners and tax collectors, were saying to his disciples, "Why does he eat with the tax collectors and sinners?" ¹⁷And hearing it, Jesus says to them, "Those who are strong have no need of a physician, but those having it badly. I did not come to call the righteous but sinners."

¹⁸And the disciples of Yochanan (John) and the Pharisees were fasting. And they come and say to him, "Why do the disciples of John and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?" ¹⁹And Jesus said to them, "Can the sons of the bridal-chamber fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. ²⁰But days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day. ²¹No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; otherwise the fullness pulls away from it — the new from the old — and a worse tear happens. ²²And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the wine will burst the wineskins, and the wine is destroyed, and the wineskins; but 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, plucking the heads of grain. ²⁴And the Pharisees were saying to him, "See, why do they do on the sabbath what is not lawful?" ²⁵And he says to them, "Did you never read what David did when he had need and was hungry, he and those with him? ²⁶How he entered into the house of God in the time of Evyatar (Abiathar) the high priest and ate the loaves of presentation, which it is not lawful to eat except for the priests, and gave also to those being with him?" ²⁷And he was saying to them, "The sabbath came into being for the human, and not the human for the sabbath; ²⁸so the Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath."