Chapter 3

A Man with a Crippled Hand

¹The next time that Jesus went into the meeting place, a man with a crippled hand was there. ²The Pharisees wanted to accuse Jesus of doing something wrong, and they kept watching to see if Jesus would heal him on the Sabbath.

³Jesus told the man to stand up where everyone could see him. ⁴Then he asked, "On the Sabbath should we do good deeds or evil deeds? Should we save someone's life or destroy it?" But no one said a word.

⁵Jesus was angry as he looked around at the people. Yet he felt sorry for them because they were so stubborn. Then he told the man, "Stretch out your hand." He did, and his bad hand was healed.

⁶The Pharisees left. And right away they started making plans with Herod's followers to kill Jesus.

Large Crowds Come to Jesus

⁷Jesus led his disciples down to the shore of the lake. Large crowds followed him from Galilee, Judea, ⁸and Jerusalem. People came from Idumea, as well as other places east of the Jordan River. They also came from the region around the cities of Tyre and Sidon. All of these crowds came because they had heard what Jesus was doing. ⁹He even had to tell his disciples to get a boat ready to keep him from being crushed by the crowds.

¹⁰After Jesus had healed many people, the other sick people begged him to let them touch him. ¹¹And whenever any evil spirits saw Jesus, they would fall to the ground and shout, "You are the Son of God!" ¹²But Jesus warned the spirits not to tell who he was. 

Jesus Chooses His Twelve Apostles

¹³Jesus decided to ask some of his disciples to go up on a mountain with him, and they went. ¹⁴Then he chose twelve of them to be his apostles, so that they could be with him. He also wanted to send them out to preach ¹⁵and to force out demons. ¹⁶Simon was one of the twelve, and Jesus named him Peter. ¹⁷There were also James and John, the two sons of Zebedee. Jesus called them Boanerges, which means "Thunderbolts." ¹⁸Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus were also apostles. The others were Simon, known as the Eager One,  ¹⁹and Judas Iscariot, who later betrayed Jesus.

Jesus and the Ruler of Demons 

²⁰Jesus went back home, and once again such a large crowd gathered that there was no chance even to eat. ²¹When Jesus' family heard what he was doing, they thought he was crazy and went to get him under control.

²²Some teachers of the Law of Moses came from Jerusalem and said, "This man is under the power of Beelzebul, the ruler of demons! He is even forcing out demons with the help of Beelzebul."

²³Jesus told the people to gather around him. Then he spoke to them in riddles and said:

How can Satan force himself out? ²⁴A nation whose people fight each other won't last very long. ²⁵And a family that fights won't last long either. ²⁶So if Satan fights against himself, that will be the end of him.

²⁷How can anyone break into the house of a strong man and steal his things, unless he first ties up the strong man? Then he can take everything.

²⁸I promise you that any of the sinful things you say or do can be forgiven, no matter how terrible those things are. ²⁹But if you speak against the Holy Spirit, you can never be forgiven. That sin will be held against you forever.

³⁰Jesus said this because the people were saying that he had an evil spirit in him.

Jesus' Mother and Brothers

³¹Jesus' mother and brothers came and stood outside. Then they sent someone with a message for him to come out to them. ³²The crowd that was sitting around Jesus told him, "Your mother and your brothers and sisters are outside and want to see you."

³³Jesus asked, "Who is my mother and who are my brothers?" ³⁴Then he looked at the people sitting around him and said, "Here are my mother and my brothers. ³⁵Anyone who obeys God is my brother or sister or mother."