Read The Jewish Annotated New Testament Online
Authors: Amy-Jill Levine
Given these and other excoriations, potentially neutral or even friendly actions of Pharisees take on more ominous hues. When “some Pharisees” warn Jesus that Herod seeks to kill him (13.31), they can be seen as attempting to thwart Jesus from his mission. When a Pharisee inquires about the timing of the kingdom of God (17.20–21), he could be seen as misunderstanding Jesus’ program. In their last appearance (19.37–40), “some” Pharisees exhort Jesus to rebuke his disciples for hailing Jesus as a king. Rather than see them as fearing that the acclamation would prompt Roman reprisal, they can equally be seen as seeking to reject the disciples’ claims.
12
Once, when he was in one of the cities, there was a man covered with leprosy.
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When he saw Jesus, he bowed with his face to the ground and begged him, “Lord, if you choose, you can make me clean.”
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Then Jesus
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stretched out his hand, touched him, and said, “I do choose. Be made clean.” Immediately the leprosy
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left him.
14
And he ordered him to tell no one. “Go,” he said, “and show yourself to the priest, and, as Moses commanded, make an offering for your cleansing, for a testimony to them.”
15
But now more than ever the word about Jesus
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spread abroad; many crowds would gather to hear him and to be cured of their diseases.
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But he would withdraw to deserted places and pray.
17
One day, while he was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting near by (they had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem); and the power of the Lord was with him to heal.
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18
Just then some men came, carrying a paralyzed man on a bed. They were trying to bring him in and lay him before Jesus;
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19
but finding no way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down with his bed through the tiles into the middle of the crowd
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in front of Jesus.
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When he saw their faith, he said, “Friend,
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your sins are forgiven you.”
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Then the scribes and the Pharisees began to question, “Who is this who is speaking blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
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When Jesus perceived their questionings, he answered them, “Why do you raise such questions in your hearts?
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Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Stand up and walk’?
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But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the one who was paralyzed—“I say to you, stand up and take your bed and go to your home.”
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Immediately he stood up before them, took what he had been lying on, and went to his home, glorifying God.
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Amazement seized all of them, and they glorified God and were filled with awe, saying, “We have seen strange things today.”
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After this he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth; and he said to him, “Follow me.”
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And he got up, left everything, and followed him.
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Then Levi gave a great banquet for him in his house; and there was a large crowd of tax collectors and others sitting at the table
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with them.
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The Pharisees and their scribes were complaining to his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”
31
Jesus answered, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick;
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I have come to call not the righteous but sinners to repentance.”
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Then they said to him, “John’s disciples, like the disciples of the Pharisees, frequently fast and pray, but your disciples eat and drink.”
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Jesus said to them, “You cannot make wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them, can you?
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The days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.”
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He also told them a parable: “No one tears a piece from a new garment and sews it on an old garment; otherwise the new will be torn, and the piece from the new will not match the old.
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And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the new wine will burst the skins and will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed.
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But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins.
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And no one after drinking old wine desires new wine, but says, ‘The old is good.’”
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6
One sabbath
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while Jesus
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was going through the grainfields, his disciples plucked some heads of grain, rubbed them in their hands, and ate them.
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But some of the Pharisees said, “Why are you doing what is not lawful
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on the sabbath?”
3
Jesus answered, “Have you not read what David did when he and his companions were hungry?
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He entered the house of God and took and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and gave some to his companions?”
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Then he said to them, “The Son of Man is lord of the sabbath.”
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On another sabbath he entered the synagogue and taught, and there was a man there whose right hand was withered.
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The scribes and the Pharisees watched him to see whether he would cure on the sabbath, so that they might find an accusation against him.
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Even though he knew what they were thinking, he said to the man who had the withered hand, “Come and stand here.” He got up and stood there.
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Then Jesus said to them, “I ask you, is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the sabbath, to save life or to destroy it?”
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After looking around at all of them, he said to him, “Stretch out your hand.” He did so, and his hand was restored.
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But they were filled with fury and discussed with one another what they might do to Jesus.
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Now during those days he went out to the mountain to pray; and he spent the night in prayer to God.
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And when day came, he called his disciples and chose twelve of them, whom he also named apostles:
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Simon, whom he named Peter, and his brother Andrew, and James, and John, and Philip, and Bartholomew,
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and Matthew, and Thomas, and James son of Alphaeus, and Simon, who was called the Zealot,
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and Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.
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He came down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea, Jerusalem, and the coast of Tyre and Sidon.
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They had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured.
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And all in the crowd were trying to touch him, for power came out from him and healed all of them.
20
Then he looked up at his disciples and
said:
“Blessed are you who are poor,
for yours is the kingdom of God.
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“Blessed are you who are hungry now,
for you will be filled.
“Blessed are you who weep now,
for you will laugh.
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“Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you
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on account of the Son of Man.
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Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven; for that is what their ancestors did to the prophets.
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“But woe to you who are rich,
for you have received your consolation.
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“Woe to you who are full now,
for you will be hungry.
“Woe to you who are laughing now,
for you will mourn and weep.
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“Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is what their ancestors did to the false prophets.
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“But I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,
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bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.
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If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt.
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Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again.
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Do to others as you would have them do to you.
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“If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them.
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If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same.
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If you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive as much again.
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But love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return.
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Your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.
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Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
37
“Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven;
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give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap; for the measure you give will be the measure you get back.”
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He also told them a parable: “Can a blind person guide a blind person? Will not both fall into a pit?
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A disciple is not above the teacher, but everyone who is fully qualified will be like the teacher.
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Why do you see the speck in your neighbor’s
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eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye?
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Or how can you say to your neighbor,
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‘Friend,
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let me take out the speck in your eye,’ when you yourself do not see the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor’s
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eye.