Mark 2:15-21

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

¹⁵ And as he sat at dinner^[a] in Levi’s^[b] house, many tax collectors and sinners were also sitting^[c] with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. ¹⁶ When the scribes of^[d] the Pharisees saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, they said to his disciples, “Why does he eat^[e] with tax collectors and sinners?”^{(A) 17} When Jesus heard this, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician but those who are sick; I have not come to call the righteous but sinners.”^(B)

The Question about Fasting

¹⁸ Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting, and people^[f] came and said to him, “Why do John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” ¹⁹ Jesus said to them, “The wedding attendants cannot fast while the bridegroom is with them, can they? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. ²⁰ The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast on that day.^(C)

²¹ “No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old cloak; otherwise, the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made.