Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

3 Do you think we are starting again to tell how good we are? Do we need letters to tell about us, as some teachers do? We do not need letters to you or from you to praise us.

² You yourselves are our letter. This letter has been written in our hearts. All people can read it and understand it.

³ All can see that you are a letter from Christ written by us. It is not written in ink, but it is written in the Spirit of the living God. It is not written on pieces of rock, but on the hearts of people.

⁴ We can say this because we trust in God. And we trust in God because of Christ.

⁵ We are not good enough to think we can do anything ourselves. But God makes us able to do it.

⁶ God has made a new start with people. He has given us a new way back to God. It is not a written law. The Spirit gives it to us. The written law brings death, but the Spirit gives life.

¹³ Jesus went out again by the seaside. Many people came to him. So he taught them.

¹⁴ As he went along, he saw Levi, the son of Alphaeus. He was sitting at the place where people come to pay taxes. Jesus said to him, `Come with me.' Levi stood up and went with him.

¹⁵ Jesus was eating in Levi's house. Many tax collectors and bad people also came. They sat down to eat with Jesus and his disciples. There were many who went with him.

¹⁶ The scribes and Pharisees saw that Jesus ate with these people. They said to the disciples, `Why does he eat and drink with bad people?'

¹⁷ Jesus heard it. He said to them, `People who are well do not need a doctor. But sick people need him. I did not come to call good people. I came to call bad people to stop doing wrong things.'

¹⁸ John's disciples and the Pharisees' disciples were fasting [not eating food for a time]. Some people came to Jesus and said, `The disciples of John and of the Pharisees fast. Why do your disciples not do the same?'

¹⁹ Jesus answered them, `The people at a wedding cannot be sad while the man who is married is with them.

²⁰ But the time will come when he will be taken away from them. Then they will fast.

²¹ No person sews a piece of new cloth on an old coat. If he does, the new cloth will tear the old coat. Then the hole is bigger than it was before.

²² No person puts new wine into old wine skins. If he does, the new wine will break the skins. Then the wine will be lost and the skins will be spoiled. New wine is put into new skins.'