Read the Modern Pastor’s Version

He entered again into the synagogue. A man was there whose hand was shriveled up, unable to move it.

They watched Jesus closely, waiting for him to heal the man on the Sabbath day so they could accuse him of breaking the law. He looked at the man with the withered hand and said, "Stand up!" But he didn't heal him right then.

Jesus turned to the people watching him and asked, "Is it lawful on the Sabbath day to do good or to do harm, to save a life or to take one? Can anyone of you answer that?" They were silent.

He looked around at them with anger in his eyes because their hearts had become hardened against him. Then he turned back to the man and said, "Stretch out your hand." The man stretched it out, and suddenly his hand was healed, healthy as the other one.

The Pharisees immediately left and met with the Herodians to discuss how they could get rid of Jesus. They were plotting against him because they thought he was a threat to their authority.

Jesus pulled away from the crowd with his disciples and headed towards the sea. A large group had gathered from Galilee, Judea, Jerusalem, Idumaea, beyond the Jordan River, and even from Tyre and Sidon in response to hearing about all the amazing things he had done. They were following him wherever he went.

Jesus instructed his disciples to get a small boat ready so they could leave quickly if necessary, because there were so many people pressing in on them. He had healed so many that day that there wasn't enough room for everyone, and Jesus didn't want the crowd to overwhelm him.

As people approached him, evil spirits would cry out and fall at his feet, saying, "You are the Son of God!" But he strictly ordered them not to tell anyone who he was.

He went up a mountain with those he had chosen and called to himself, and they came to him. He chose twelve men that he wanted to be close to and send out to preach.

Jesus gave these twelve apostles authority to heal people's diseases and cast out evil spirits. One of the men he named was Simon, whom Jesus nicknamed Peter because it meant "rock." He also called James and John his brother Boanerges, which means "Sons of Thunder," as well as Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, and Simon the Zealot.

But one of them was Judas Iscariot, who would later betray Jesus. All these men went with him to stay in an empty house.

The crowd kept coming back to see Jesus again, so there wasn't even enough room for everyone to sit down to eat bread.

When Jesus' relatives heard about all this, they came to take charge of him, thinking he had lost his mind.

Some scribes who had traveled from Jerusalem said that Jesus was possessed by Beelzebub and that's why he could cast out demons. They thought he did it with the help of the devil.

Jesus called them over and asked, "How can Satan drive out himself? If a kingdom is divided against itself, it will not stand."

If a family is torn apart, it cannot stay together. And if Satan rises up against himself, he will surely fall apart and be destroyed.

"All sins and blasphemies that people commit will be forgiven," Jesus said, "but whoever says something evil against the Holy Spirit will never find forgiveness. They are putting themselves in danger of eternal judgment."

The reason they thought this way was because they had accused Jesus of being possessed by an unclean spirit.

Jesus' mother and brothers were standing outside, trying to get his attention. So they sent someone to call him over, saying, "Your mother and brothers are looking for you."

The people around Jesus told him that his family was waiting for him, but he looked at them with a question in his eyes. "Who is my mother?" he asked. "And who are my brothers?"

Then he looked around at the people sitting with him, including his true family members. "Look," he said, "my mother and brothers are right here among you! Anyone who does what God wants is my brother or sister, and they are all my mothers."

Now Jesus had entered a synagogue again.