Mark 2 1141
2 And many were gathered together , so that there was no longer room , not even near the door ; and He was speaking the word to them .
3 And they * came , bringing to Him a paralytic , carried by four men .
4 Being unable to get to Him because of the crowd , they removed the roof above Him ; and when they had dug an opening , they let down the pallet on which the paralytic was lying .
5 And Jesus seeing their faith * said to the paralytic , “ a Son , your sins are forgiven .”
6 But some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts ,
7 “ Why does this man speak that way ? He is blaspheming ; who can forgive sins but God alone ?”
8 Immediately Jesus , aware in His spirit that they were reasoning that way within themselves , * said to them , “ Why are you reasoning about these things in your hearts ?
9 “ Which is easier , to say to the paralytic , ‘ Your sins are forgiven ’; or to say , ‘ Get up , and pick up your pallet and walk ’?
10 “ But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins ”— He * said to the paralytic ,
11 “ I say to you , get up , pick up your pallet and go home .”
12 And he got up and immediately picked up the pallet and went out in the sight of everyone , so that they were all amazed and were glorifying God , saying , “ We have never seen anything like this .”
13 And He went out again by the seashore ; and all the people were coming to Him , and He was teaching them .
Levi ( Matthew ) Called
14 As He passed by , He saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting in the tax booth , and He * said to him , “ Follow Me !” And he got up and followed Him .
15 And it * happened that He was reclining at the table in his house , and many tax collectors and sinners were dining with Jesus and His disciples ; for there were many of them , and they were following Him .
16 When the scribes of the Pharisees saw that He was eating with the sinners and tax collectors , they said to His disciples , “ Why is He eating and drinking with tax collectors and sinners ?”
17 And hearing this , Jesus * said to them , “ It is not those who are healthy who need a physician , but those who are sick ; I did not come to call the righteous , but sinners .”
a Lit child
Reach Out to Others
Leprosy is a terrible disease . A leper ’ s skin has open sores . In Bible times a person with leprosy was considered “ unclean ” and could not worship God with other people or even live in town . Because of the disease , no one would come near a leper .
Read Mark 1:40 – 42 . Jesus showed that He cared for this leper by touching him and healing him .
Write down the names of a couple of children you know who might feel as lonely as the leper . Then answer these three questions :
Mark 1:40 – 42
1 . Why is he or she left alone ? ( Because he or she is not nice , is dirty , doesn ’ t wear nice clothes , hits people , looks or acts different ?)
2 . How do you think he or she feels ? ( Happy , lonely , afraid , proud , sad , angry , stuck-up , or maybe some other feeling ?)
3 . How could you show that Jesus cares ? ( Smile , talk to him , ask her to sit with you at lunch , pick him for your team , tell others to stop being mean ?)
What will you do to show that Jesus still cares about the lonely today ?