Mark 2:15-28 ▼

15 Later, he was having dinner at Levi's house. Many tax collectors and sinners were also eating with Jesus and his disciples, because there were many who were following him.

16 When the scribes and the Pharisees saw him eating with sinners and tax collectors, they asked his disciples, |Why does he eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?|

17 When Jesus heard that, he told them, |Healthy people don't need a physician, but sick ones do. I did not come to call righteous people, but sinners.|

18 Now John's disciples and the Pharisees would fast regularly. Some people came and asked Jesus, |Why do John's disciples and the Pharisees' disciples fast, but your disciples don't fast?|

19 Jesus replied, |The wedding guests can't fast while the groom is with them, can they? As long as they have the groom with them, they can't fast.

20 But the time will come when the groom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast on that day.|

21 |No one patches an old garment with a piece of unshrunk cloth. If he does, the patch pulls away from it—the new from the old—and a worse tear is made.

22 And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will make the skins burst, and both the wine and the skins will be ruined. Instead, new wine is poured into fresh wineskins.|

23 Jesus happened to be going through the grain fields on a Sabbath. As they made their way, his disciples began picking the heads of grain.

24 The Pharisees asked him, |Look! Why are they doing what is not lawful on Sabbath days?|

25 He asked them, |Haven't you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need?

26 How was it that he went into the House of God during the lifetime of Abiathar the high priest and ate the Bread of the Presence, which was not lawful for anyone but the priests to eat, and gave some of it to his companions?|

27 Then he told them, |The Sabbath was made for people, not people for the Sabbath.

28 Therefore, the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.|