Jesus and Religious Traditions
1One Sabbath day, Jesus and his disciples were walking through a field of ripe wheat. His disciples plucked some heads of grain and rubbed the husks off with their hands and ate it. 2This infuriated some of the Jewish religious leaders. They said to Jesus, “Why are you allowing your disciples to harvest grain on the Sabbath day? Don’t you know it’s not permissible according to the law?”
3Jesus replied, “Haven’t you read the Scriptures? Haven’t you read what King David did when he was hungry? 4He entered the sanctuary of God, took the bread of God’s presence right off the sacred table, and shared it with his men. It was only lawful for the priests to eat the bread of God’s presence. 5You need to know that the Son of Man is no slave to the Sabbath day, for I am master over the Sabbath.”
6-7On another Sabbath day, Jesus was teaching in the synagogue. In the room with him was a man with a deformed right hand. Everyone watched Jesus closely, especially the Jewish religious leaders and the religious scholars, to see if Jesus would heal on a Sabbath day, for they were eager to find a reason to accuse him of breaking the Jewish laws.
8Jesus, knowing their every thought, said to the man with the deformed hand, “Come and stand here in the middle of the room.”So he got up and came forward.
9Jesus said to all who were there, “Let me ask you a question. Which is better: to heal or to do harm on the Sabbath day? I have come to save a life, but you have come to find a life to destroy.”
10One by one Jesus looked into the eyes of each person in the room. Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your arm and open your hand!”
With everyone watching intently, he stretched out his arm, and his hand was completely healed!
11The room erupted with bitter rage because of this Sabbath-day healing. And from that moment on, the religious leaders plotted among themselves about how they might harm Jesus.
Jesus Chooses Twelve Apostles
12After this, Jesus went up into the high hills to spend the whole night in prayer to God. 13At daybreak he called together all of his followers and selected twelve from among them, and he appointed them to be his apostles.
14-16Here are their names: Simon, whom he named Peter; Andrew, Peter’s brother; Jacob; John; Philip; Bartholomew; Matthew; Thomas; Jacob the son of Alpheus; Simon, known as a fiery political zealot; Judah the son of Jacob; and Judas the locksmith, who later betrayed Jesus.
17Jesus and his apostles came down from the hillside to a level field, where a large number of his disciples waited, along with a massive crowd of people who had gathered from all over Judea, Jerusalem, and the coastal district of Tyre and Sidon. 18They had all come to listen to the Manifestation so that they could be healed of their diseases and be set free from the demonic powers that tormented them. 19The entire crowd eagerly tried to come near Jesus so they could touch him and be healed, because a tangible supernatural power emanated from him, healing all who came close to him.