3
Jesus made a man better on a Jewish rest day
And you can read this story in Matthew 12:9-14 and in Luke 6:6-11
1 On another Jewish rest day, Jesus went to a meeting house* and saw a man with a crippled hand. 2 Some lawmen wanted to make trouble for Jesus. So they watched him to see if he would make the man better on the Jewish rest day. If Jesus made the man better, then those lawmen would say that Jesus was doing work and that he was breaking their law.
3 Jesus said to the man with the crippled hand, “Come here so that everyone can see you.”
4 Then Jesus said to the lawmen, “What does our law say about our rest day? Is it right to do good things, or is it alright to do really bad things? Is it alright to save someone or is it alright to kill them?”
But the lawmen said nothing.
5 Jesus looked at those men. He could see that they didn't want to change and so Jesus was sad and angry. Then he said to the man with the crippled hand, “Hold out your hand.” The man put out his hand and straight away his hand was better. It was not crippled anymore.
6 The lawmen went away and had a meeting with another group of Jewish men that were good friends with King Herod. King Herod was the government boss of Israel. At that meeting, they tried to work out a way to kill Jesus.
A crowd followed Jesus to the big lake
7 Jesus and his followers left the town and walked down to Lake Galilee, and a big crowd of people went with them. 8 Those people came from Galilee, Judea, Jerusalem and Id-you-me-a (Idumea). Id-you-me-a is a long way south from Jerusalem. Some other people came from the towns called Tyre and Sidon that were near the sea, and some people even came from the country that is on the other side of the Jordan River. All these people had heard what Jesus was doing and so they came to listen to him.
9-10 On that day, Jesus made a lot of people better, and even more people wanted to touch him so that they could be made better too. There were too many people pushing close to Jesus, so he said to his followers, “Can you get a boat ready for me? I will get into it if I need more room.”+
11 Some of the people had bad spirits inside them. And every time those spirits saw Jesus, those bad spirits made the person fall down on the ground and shout out, “You are God's son.”
12 And every time they shouted out like that, Jesus growled at them and told them to be quiet. He said in a strong way, “Do not tell anyone who I am.”
Jesus picked 12 men to be his close followers
And you can read this story in Matthew 10:1-4 and in Luke 6:12-16
13-15 One day Jesus walked up a hill and a group of people were following him. Jesus stopped and picked 12 of them to be his close followers. Then those men went to stand closer to Jesus. Hhe said to them, “I want you to live with me and follow me everywhere I go. Later on, I will send you to other places so that you can tell people God's story. And I will give you the power to send bad spirits out of people.”
16-19 These are the names of the 12 men that Jesus picked to be his close followers.
Simon. Jesus named him Peter.
James and John. Zebedee the fisherman was their father.
James and John were angry men, so Jesus called them “Men that sound like thunder.”
Andrew.
Philip.
Bar-thol-o-mew (Bartholomew).
Matthew.
Thomas.
James. Al-fay-us (Alphaeus) was his father.
Thad-e-us (Thaddaeus).
Simon the Zealot. †
Judas Iscariot. Later on, he was the one that turned against Jesus and helped the Jewish leaders arrest him.
Jesus is stronger than the Devil
20 Then Jesus went into a house, and a big crowd of people went to listen to him. Jesus and his followers were so busy they did not have time to eat. 21 Someone went and told his family what Jesus was doing. Jesus' family listened to that news and they thought that Jesus had gone mad, so they went to take him home to look after him.
22 Some Jewish law teachers came from Jerusalem. They were watching Jesus too. They said, “We think that Jesus has the Cheeky One, called the Devil, living inside him, and Jesus is using the Devil's power to send bad spirits out of people.”
23 Jesus knew what they were saying, so he called them to come and listen to some stories. He wanted them to understand what he was saying. He said, “Do you think that the Devil would fight against his own mob of spirits? 24 If a tribe splits up into 2 groups and they fight each other, that tribe will get weak and finish up. 25 In the same way, if people in a family fight each other all the time, they will split up and they will stop being a family. 26 So, if the Devil is fighting against his own workers, he will get weak and he will have no power.
27 Listen to another story. If someone wants to steal what is in a strong man's house, he has to tie up that strong man first. And after he has tied up that strong man, he can take whatever he wants from the house.‡
28 Listen, people might turn away from God. They might do bad things and say bad things against God, but if they are sorry for everything they have said and done, God will say they are not guilty. He will forgive them and he will not punish them. 29 But if anybody keeps on saying bad things about the Holy Spirit, those people will always be guilty, and God will punish them forever for saying those things. Saying bad things about the Holy Spirit is a sin that can never be forgiven.”+
30 Those Jewish lawmen thought that Jesus got all his power from the Devil and that is why Jesus talked to them like that.
Jesus talked about his true family
31 Jesus' mother and brothers came to the house where he was teaching, and they sent someone in to get him. 32 There were a lot of people sitting there listening to Jesus, and the messenger said to him, “Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you!” 33-34 Jesus looked around at the people sitting there and said, “Do you want to know who my real family is? The people sitting here, they are my real family. 35 My real family are those people that listen to God and do what he says. They are my brothers, my sisters, and my mothers.”
* 3:1 A Jewish meeting house is called a Syn-a-gog (Synagogue) + 3:9-10 Mark 4:1; Luke 5:1-3 † 3:16-19 Simon and other people called Zealots wanted to fight the Romans all the time. ‡ 3:27 What Jesus is saying in this story. He is saying that the strong man in his story is a picture of the Devil, and he is like the man that tied him up. Jesus is saying that he has more power than the Devil and that he, Jesus, is taking the people that the Devil has locked up. + 3:29 Luke 12:10