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Jesus Chooses Levi

(Matthew 9.9-13; Mark 2.13-17)

27 Later, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector[a] named Levi sitting at the place for paying taxes. Jesus said to him, “Follow me.” 28 Levi left everything and went with Jesus.

29 In his home Levi gave a big dinner for Jesus. Many tax collectors and other guests were also there.

30 (A) The Pharisees and some of their teachers of the Law of Moses grumbled to Jesus' disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with these tax collectors and other sinners?”

31 Jesus answered, “Healthy people don't need a doctor, but sick people do. 32 I didn't come to invite good people to turn to God. I came to invite sinners.”

People Ask about Going without Eating

(Matthew 9.14-17; Mark 2.18-22)

33 Some people said to Jesus, “John's followers often pray and go without eating,[b] and so do the followers of the Pharisees. But your disciples never go without eating or drinking.”

34 Jesus told them, “The friends of a bridegroom don't go without eating while he is still with them. 35 But the time will come when he will be taken from them. Then they will go without eating.”

36 Jesus then told them these sayings:

No one uses a new piece of cloth to patch old clothes. The patch would shrink and make the hole even bigger.

37 No one pours new wine into old wineskins. The new wine would swell and burst the old skins.[c] Then the wine would be lost, and the skins would be ruined. 38 New wine must be put only into new wineskins.

39 No one wants new wine after drinking old wine. They say, “The old wine is better.”

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Footnotes

  1. 5.27 tax collector: See the note at 3.12.
  2. 5.33 without eating: See the note at 2.37.
  3. 5.37 swell and burst the old skins: While the juice from grapes was becoming wine, it would swell and stretch the skins in which it had been stored. If the skins were old and stiff, they would burst.

Jesus Calls Levi and Eats With Sinners(A)

27 After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. “Follow me,”(B) Jesus said to him, 28 and Levi got up, left everything and followed him.(C)

29 Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors(D) and others were eating with them. 30 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect(E) complained to his disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”(F)

31 Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 32 I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”(G)

Jesus Questioned About Fasting(H)

33 They said to him, “John’s disciples(I) often fast and pray, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours go on eating and drinking.”

34 Jesus answered, “Can you make the friends of the bridegroom(J) fast while he is with them? 35 But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them;(K) in those days they will fast.”

36 He told them this parable: “No one tears a piece out of a new garment to patch an old one. Otherwise, they will have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new will not match the old. 37 And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. 38 No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins. 39 And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for they say, ‘The old is better.’”

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