5. Then Jesus said to the Pharisees, “The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath day.”
6. On another Sabbath day Jesus went into the synagogue and was teaching. A man with a crippled right hand was there.
7. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees were watching to see if Jesus would heal on the Sabbath day. They wanted to see Jesus do something wrong so that they could accuse him.
8. But he knew what they were thinking. He said to the man with the crippled hand, “Get up and stand before these people.” The man got up and stood there.
9. Then Jesus said to them, “I ask you, which is it right to do on the Sabbath day: to do good, or to do evil? Is it right to save a life or to destroy one?”
10. Jesus looked around at all of them. He said to the man, “Let me see your hand.” The man stretched out his hand, and it was completely healed.
11. The Pharisees and the teachers of the law became very angry. They said to each other, “What can we do to Jesus?”
12. At that time Jesus went off to a mountain to pray. He stayed there all night, praying to God.
13. The next morning, Jesus called his followers to him. He chose 12 of them, whom he named “apostles.” They were
14. Simon (Jesus named him Peter) and Andrew, Peter’s brother; James and John, Philip and Bartholomew;
15. Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, and Simon (called the Zealot),
16. Judas son of James and Judas Iscariot. This Judas was the one who gave Jesus to his enemies.
17. Jesus and the apostles came down from the mountain. Jesus stood on level ground where there was a large group of his followers. Also, there were many people from all around Judea, Jerusalem, and the seacoast cities of Tyre and Sidon.
18. They all came to hear Jesus teach and to be healed of their sicknesses. He healed those who were troubled by evil spirits.
19. All the people were trying to touch Jesus, because power was coming from him and healing them all!
20. Jesus looked at his followers and said,“Poor people, you are happy,because God’s kingdom belongs to you.
21. You people who are now hungry are happy,because you will be satisfied.You people who are now crying are happy,because you will laugh with joy.
22. “You are happy when people hate you and are cruel to you. You are happy when they say that you are evil because you belong to the Son of Man.