Mark 2:15-28

Later, Jesus and his disciples went to have a meal with Levi. Among the guests in Levi’s home were many tax collectors and notable sinners sharing a meal with Jesus, for there were many kinds of people who followed him. But when the religious scholars and the Pharisees found out that Jesus was keeping company and dining with sinners and tax collectors, they were indignant. So they approached Jesus’ disciples and said to them, “Why is it that someone like Jesus defiles himself by eating with sinners and tax collectors?” But when Jesus overheard their complaint, he said to them, “Who goes to the doctor for a cure? Those who are well or those who are sick? I have not come to call the ‘righteous,’ but those who are sinners and bring them to repentance.” One time, the disciples of John the Baptizer and the Pharisees were fasting. So they came to Jesus and asked, “Why is it that John’s disciples and disciples of the Pharisees are fasting but your disciples are not?” Jesus answered, “How can the sons of the bridal chamber fast when the bridegroom is next to them? As long as the bridegroom is with them they won’t, but the days of fasting will come when the Bridegroom is taken from them. “And who would mend worn-out clothing with new fabric? When the new cloth shrinks, it will rip, making the tear worse than before. And who would pour new wine into an old wineskin? Eventually the wine will ferment and make the wineskin burst, losing everything—the wine will be spilled and the wineskin ruined. Instead, new wine is always poured into new wineskins.” One Sabbath, Jesus and his disciples were walking through a field of wheat. The disciples were hungry, so they plucked off some heads of grain to eat. But when some of the Pharisees saw what was happening, they said to him, “Look! Your disciples shouldn’t be harvesting grain on the Sabbath!” Jesus responded, “Haven’t you ever read what King David and his men did when they were hungry? They entered the house of God when Abiathar was high priest and ate the sacred bread of God’s presence. They violated the law by eating bread that only the priests were allowed to eat. But there is one here who is even greater than the temple.” Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for the sake of people, and not people for the Sabbath. For this reason the Son of Man exercises his lordship over the Sabbath.”

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