Jesus Heals a Man's Hand

Jesus went into a synagogue again. A man with a crippled hand was there. The people watched to see if Jesus would heal him on the Sabbath Day, so they could accuse Him.

Jesus said to the man with the crippled hand, "Stand and come here in front of everyone."

He said to the people, "Is it right to do good things on the Sabbath Day or to do evil things? Is it right to save a life or to kill someone?" But they remained quiet. He looked at all of them with anger and He was deeply sad because their hearts were hard.

Then Jesus said to the man, "Reach out your hand." He reached out his hand, and it was healed completely. The Pharisees went out and began to plan immediately with the Herodians to kill Jesus.

Crowds of People Follow Jesus

Jesus and His followers went away from the people to the sea, and a very large crowd of people followed them from Galilee . A very large crowd of people came to Him also from Judea , Jerusalem , Idumea, the other side of the Jordan River , and from places near Tyre and Sidon , after they heard about the great things He did. Jesus told His followers to make a boat ready for Him so the crowd of people could not come too near to Him. He had healed many people, so all the people who had diseases tried to come near Him so they could touch Him.

The people with evil spirits fell down in front of Him whenever they saw Him, and the spirits called out, "You are the Son of God." He ordered them strongly not to say who He was.

Jesus Chooses Twelve Apostles

Then Jesus went up to the mountain and He called the men He wanted to come to Him, and they came to Him. He chose twelve of them, to be with Him and to send them out to preach and to have authority to order the evil spirits to leave. The twelve men He chose were Simon (whom He named Peter), James the son of Zebedee and his brother John (whom He named Boanerges, which means "Sons of Thunder"). He also chose Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon from Canaan ,and Judas Iscariot who turned against Him later.

Teachers of the Law Say Satan is Inside Jesus

Then Jesus went into a house. The crowd came together again and He and His followers could not even eat. His family came to take Him when they heard about it. This was because they said, "He is out of His mind."

The teachers of the religious law who came from Jerusalem said, "He is controlled by Beelzebub, and He orders evil spirits to leave by the authority of the ruler of the evil spirits."

Jesus called them to Him and said to them in stories, "How can Satan order Satan to leave? A kingdom cannot remain, if one part of the kingdom is against another part. A house cannot remain, if one part of the house is against another part. Satan cannot remain and he is destroyed, if part of what he rules is against the other part. No person can go into the house of a strong man and take the things he owns, unless he ties up the strong man first. Then he will take the things from the strong man's house. I tell you the truth that people will be forgiven for all their sins and for all the evil things they say against God. But any person who says evil things against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven. He is guilty of a sin that lasts forever." Jesus said this because they said, "He has an evil spirit."

The True Family of Jesus

Then His mother and brothers came and stood outside. They sent someone inside to call Him. A crowd of people was sitting near Him, and they said to Him, "Your mother and brothers are outside and they are looking for You."

He answered them, "Who are My mother and My brothers?" He looked at the people who sat in a circle around Him, and He said, "Here are My mother and My brothers! Any person who does what God wants is My brother and My sister and My mother."