1 Some time later, Jesus went back to the town called Capernium. The people heard that Jesus was at a house there, 2 so they all went to see him. Soon the house was too full and there was a big mob outside too.

3 Jesus was inside the house, teaching the people God’s story. Then 4 men brought a crippled man to that house. He couldn’t walk so they carried him on a swag. They wanted to get that man close to Jesus, so that Jesus could make him better. 4 But those men found a lot of people blocking the house. So they carried the sick man up on to the flat roof of the house and made a hole in it. Then they picked up the sick man on his swag and put him down through the hole into the house where Jesus was.

5 Jesus saw them do that, and so he knew that they really trusted him. Then Jesus said to the crippled man, “You know all the bad things you did? I say you are not guilty of those things, and God will not punish you.”

6 But some of the Jewish law teachers didn’t like Jesus saying that. Those law teachers were thinking, 7 “He can’t say that. Only God can talk like that. This man is talking like he is God. He can’t talk like that. He is shaming God.”

8-9 Straight away, Jesus knew what the Jewish law teachers were thinking, so he said to them, “You are thinking the wrong way. I might say to this man, ‘You did bad things, but I say you are not guilty of them.’ Or I might say to him, ‘Get up, pick up your swag and go home.’ I can do both of those things. 10 I will show you that God made me the boss over both of those things, so I can say that people are not guilty, and God will not punish them. I’m God’s special man from heaven, and I have the power to say those things, and I have the power to do those things.”

Then Jesus looked at the crippled man and said, 11 “Come on, get up, pick up your swag and go home.”

12 Straight away, that man got up, and he picked up his swag in front of all the people, and he walked out of the house and went home. Everybody there saw him do it, and they were really surprised. They started talking about it. They praised God, telling him that he is really good. They said, “We’ve never seen anything like this before.”

13 After that, Jesus left the house and walked along next to the lake. The people from the town kept coming to him, so he kept on teaching them.

14 At that time, the Roman people were the bosses over all that country, and they got some Jewish people to take tax money from the other Jewish people and give it to the Roman government. One of those tax men was called Levi, and his father’s name was Alfius. Jesus walked along, and he saw Levi and said to him, “I want you to be one of my followers. Come on, follow me.” And straight away, Levi stood up and went with Jesus.

15 Later that day, Jesus and his followers were eating some food at Levi’s house. There were lots of people there. Some of them were men that used to get tax money from people and give it to the Roman government, and some other people there didn’t live God’s way. 16 Some of the Jewish law teachers saw Jesus eating with all those people. Those law teachers also belonged to the Pharisee mob. They were really strong for the law, so they asked Jesus’s followers, “Why does Jesus eat with those people that don’t live God’s way?”

17 Jesus heard them, and said to them, “Listen, sick people need a doctor, but healthy people don’t need a doctor. I’m telling you, I’m like a doctor. You mob reckon these people do bad things, so I’m here to help them turn around and do good things. But you mob think you never do anything wrong yourselves, so I can’t help you.”

18 The mob called Pharisees, that were strong for the Jewish law, they sometimes stopped eating food for a while to show God that they respected him. The followers of John the Baptiser did the same. Some people went to Jesus and asked him, “How come your followers don’t stop eating food to show God that you respect him, you know, just like the Pharisee mob and John’s followers do?”

19 Jesus said to them, “At a wedding ceremony everybody is happy, and they all eat food together with the man that is getting married. It’s the same way for my followers. I’m still here, so they are happy and don’t need to stop eating food. Not yet. 20 One day, my enemies will take me away, then my followers will be sad, and they will stop eating food.”

21 Then Jesus told them 2 picture stories about the things he was teaching, to get them to start thinking a new way. He said, “If you have an old coat with a hole in it, you can’t fix that hole with a new bit of cloth. If you try to do that, and then if you wash it, the new cloth will tear away from the old cloth, and the coat will still be useless.

22 And this is another story. You don’t put new drink into an old cracked bottle. That drink will all leak out and you will lose it. You have to put new drink into new bottles.”

23 One day, on the Jewish rest day, Jesus and his followers walked through a garden that had seed food growing in it. They walked along and they got a bit hungry, so his followers grabbed some of the seeds to eat.* Deuteronomy 23:25 24 Some of the Pharisee mob saw Jesus’s followers doing that. That mob were strong for the Jewish law, so they got angry. They said to Jesus, “Your mob are doing the wrong thing. Our Jewish law says that today is the rest day. But your mob are getting seeds off those plants. That is work. They are breaking our law.”

25-26 Jesus said to them, “Remember the story about David and his men. You know, it was when Abiathar was the big boss of the Jewish ceremonies. David and his men were really hungry, and they didn’t have any food. So David went into God’s ceremony place and got the special bread. Only the men that look after the Jewish ceremonies can eat that bread. But David and his men ate that special bread, and so they broke our Jewish law, but God didn’t punish them.”* 1 Samuel 21:1-6; Leviticus 24:9

27 Then Jesus said to them, “Listen to me now. God gave us the rest day to help us, not just to give us another law to follow. 28 Listen, I am God’s special man from heaven, and I’m boss over everything. I am even the boss of our Jewish rest day. So I’m not worried about my followers grabbing some seeds to eat.”