Mark 3:1-19

Another time Jesus went into the synagogue. In the synagogue there was a man with a crippled hand. Some Jews there were watching Jesus closely. They were waiting to see if he would heal the man on a Sabbath day. They wanted to see Jesus do something wrong so that they could accuse him. Jesus said to the man with the crippled hand, “Stand up here so that everyone can see you.” Then Jesus asked the people, “Which is the right thing to do on the Sabbath day: to do good or to do evil? Is it right to save a life or to destroy one?” The people said nothing to answer him. Jesus looked at the people. He was angry, but he felt very sad because they were so stubborn. He said to the man, “Hold out your hand.” The man held out his hand, and it was healed. Then the Pharisees left and made plans with the Herodians about a way to kill Jesus. Jesus went away with his followers to the lake. A large crowd of people from Galilee followed them. Many also came from Judea, from Jerusalem, from Idumea, from the area across the Jordan River, and from the area around Tyre and Sidon. These people came because they heard about all that Jesus was doing. Jesus saw how many people there were, so he told his followers to get a small boat and make it ready for him. He wanted the boat so that the crowds of people could not push against him. He had healed many of them, so all the sick people were pushing toward him to touch him. Some people had evil spirits inside them. When the evil spirits saw Jesus, they bowed before him and shouted, “You are the Son of God!” But Jesus gave the spirits a strong warning not to tell anyone who he was. Then Jesus went up on a hill and invited those he wanted to go with him. So they joined him there. And he chose twelve men and called them apostles. He wanted these twelve men to be with him, and he wanted to send them to other places to tell people God’s message. He also wanted them to have the power to force demons out of people. These are the names of the twelve men Jesus chose: Simon (the one Jesus named Peter), James and his brother John, the sons of Zebedee (the ones Jesus named Boanerges, which means “Sons of Thunder”), Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James, the son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon, the Zealot, Judas Iscariot (the one who handed Jesus over to his enemies).